September 2010

AMoR

Simon P

Pro-active Practice

681. Play without much thought.
2. Make a mistake.
3. React to that mistake.
4. Play again.
5. Make a different mistake.
6. React to that mistake . . . . . .

Sound familiar?

Make sure your practice is pro-active by planning what you will do beforehand and by playing slowly enough that you don't make silly mistakes.

Essential Composers/Exercises

I've just put in another thread that I'm practicing Bach. I always do some Bach. It always interesting as there is so much by him to choose from. Not only is it good music but technically challenging too Smile

It go me to wondering, what are the composers/exercises that are so fundamental to your practice that you do them everyday?

Scale Anagrams

We want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

Below are 20 scales and modes. Unfortunately however the names have become a bit mixed up and we need you to help us figure out which scale is which. All the names are written out long hand so for example G# will be G sharp and Ab will be A flat.

Good luck, answers next friday Party

Answers can now be found here  Read more . . .

Music Scales Anagrams

  1. Flat Arm Job
  2. A Medical Floor Mint
  3. Camp Horn Sir?
  4. A Dimly Fix? No.
  5. Android
  6. Iced Lime, Moron!

FP

garysbone

A Year in Bass - Week 6 - Plateaus

This week I outline a couple of exercises which have plateaued. This is common for musicians and if you continue to practice in the right way should resolve itself.

Show Notes

New music for this coming week:
Standing In the Shadows of Motown

This coming week I'll be working on some motown pieces on the back of the Jameson book.  Read more . . .

Back to School - Practice Basics

Back To School Practice BasicsWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

The start of the school year is a time when many people think about learning an instrument. Fantastic! As far as I'm concerned the more people that learn music the better.

Before you jump in and choose an instrument or before you book piano or guitar lessons for your child you need to be aware of a few things:

Cost

In most cases learning an instrument is not free. There may be lesson fees, sheet music to buy, music stands, metronomes and perhaps an instrument as well.  Read more . . .

Back to School - Choosing an Instrument

Back To School Practice BasicsWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

You've decided you want to play. There's an instrument you like the sound and look of. Just jump right in and get one. Right?

Well, actually no.

Assuming you're aware of the commitment required to learn an instrument there are a few other considerations before choosing.

Instrument Size

You might love the thought of playing the Sousaphone but if you are very young or petite this might not be the best choice.

In the early stages of learning an instrument you want to have as few distractions from learning as possible. If the size of the instrument is causing you concern you will likely not progress as quickly as you might otherwise.

Limitations of breath, fingers ability to stretch, weight and other things will have an impact on what you choose. Fortunately there are smaller sizes available for most instruments which can help to reduce some of these issues.  Read more . . .

Metronome Comparison

In answer to the hundreds of questions we receive about which type of metronome to buy, here is a review of a traditional versus modern.

Featured in this film are:
Traditional Wittner Metronome
Planet Waves Full Function Tuner & Metronome
Musical Lite for Android

Not Pulling Strings

We want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

They say "don't judge a book by it's cover". That's a hard thing to do. As soon as we see a cover we form in our minds a picture of what the book is likely to be like.

From the outside Joseph O'Connor's Not Pulling Strings looks to be quite a dry, academic description of his subject. The subtitle: 'Application of Neuro-Linguistic Programming to Teaching and Learning Music' merely confirms that this is what the book will be like.

If you thought this you would, like me, be very, very wrong.

Contained inside is a collection of some of the most pertinent and useful thoughts around practice that I have come across. There is admittedly some discussion of wider NLP issues but these are always done with care and made clear, straightforward and relevant for musicians.

As an example, there is a lot of content about left brain/right brain. That might be interesting in and of itself. What takes this book above others on the subject is the relevance for musicians. O'Connor explains how we can identify our own predilection and adapt our language and teaching styles to suit.  Read more . . .

Fix the reason not the note

69Mistakes are made during practice. That's great as without them we wouldn't know what to improve.

When you do play a wrong note the worst you can do is to quickly correct it and move on without thinking. If you do this you will make the same kind of mistake again because you have not fixed the underlying cause of the mistake.

Instead stop a moment and think about why you made the mistake. Did you know the note? Did you stretch the right distance? Did you concentrate?

Fix the reason and that wrong note will stay permanently fixed.

Link to Us

Below is a selection of buttons and banners which you can use to quickly link to our site. Simple copy and paste the code to your webpage.

Help us spread the word about effective music practice Wink

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How To Practice Music
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Square banner

Back to School - Experimenting

Back To School Practice ExperimentationWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

So you've made a commitment, chosen an instrument and are now itching to get started on the fantastic journey that is learning an instrument.

This is a great time to experiment. Explore your instrument and find out what it can do. Don't worry at this stage about wrong or right just try to spend as much time as you can enjoying and exploring your instrument.

Here are some ideas of the types of experiments you can do:

Dynamics

Dynamics is the word musicians use to refer to how loud music is. There are other terms such as piano and forte but you don't need to worry about these at the moment. Instead try seeing how quietly you can play and then see how loudly you can play. Can you make a really big difference between the two?  Read more . . .

US Proms?

I've been catching some of the Proms from over in the UK on their BBC. Some really great concerts. There was a swinging one by Jamey Cullum. Check it out if you get the chance.

I was wondering if anyone knew of anything similar in the US, can't think of any on West Coast.

Scale Anagrams - Answers

We want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

How did you all get on with last weeks scale anagrams?

Answers are in the attached file below. If you can't see it you need to register for free to access it. We're not providing the answers up front as we don't want to spoil  Read more . . .

Back to School - Listening

Back To School Practice ListeningWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

The best thing you can do when starting out on learning an instrument is to understand the importance of listening. More than anything else your ability to listen will affect if you succeed or fail.

LEARN TO LISTEN!

OK, so not very subtle but it is that important. The more you can develop your listening the more you can tell which areas of your playing need improving. Think of it like this: You go to a lesson once a week with your teacher. You pay them a fee for this. This fee is essentially rent for their ears. You use their ears for 30 minutes so that they can listen and suggest improvements. Imagine if you could listen as well as your teacher . . .

Here are some areas that you should concentrate on when listening:  Read more . . .

Back to School - Get the most from lessons

Back To School Practice ListeningWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

Music lessons are important when you first start to learn an instrument. Be aware however that you need to do more than turn up once a week. If you just go through the motions then you will most likely not improve.

Specific to you

If you have the chance to select your own teacher then try to speak to people that they already teach. Find out if they teach all their students the same things in the same way. If they do you might want to think about looking elsewhere.

Your lessons need to be focused on the things that you need to improve and also take you towards your ambitions, not your teachers.  Read more . . .

Kids Guide to Practice on the way

Kids Guide to Music PracticeWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

Following the fantastic success of the Complete Beginners Guide to Practice we are very excited to announce the Kids Guide to Practice. This new guide will be aimed at younger learners as we believe it is perhaps even more important to learn good practice techniques at an early age.

Based upon content from the Complete Beginners Guide, the Kids Guide will present the ideas in a simple, easy to follow format. It will be bright, colourful, engaging and fun.

Once again the guide will be free for site members to download and will be announced in this months newsletter.

A Year in Bass - Week 7 - Posture

I've made some good progress this week, resolved an issue with my neck and also set myself a difficult challenge for the week ahead Crazy

Show Notes

The version of For Once In My Life that I am going to be working on for the coming week comes from this book. It is excellent. I'd throughly recommend it:
Standing In the Shadows of Motown  Read more . . .

Ensemble planning - or lack of.

Ensemble Planning FailureWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

We talk a lot at How To Practice about how to prepare and plan for practice.

Why then do leaders and conductors of ensembles insist on keeping rehearsal plans to themselves?

How can they possibly expect group members to turn up prepared for rehearsal when they have not explained what is required?

What's the big secret?

I've very rarely seen detailed rehearsal plans provided for players. Imagine the difference that could be made if players knew exactly which specific sections, techniques and musical elements the leader was going to focus on at the next rehearsal?

It's a MASSIVE failing on the part of band leaders and directors. Send your group away with no knowledge of what they will do at the next rehearsal and you set them up to fail.

What do you do with your group? Do you tell them what's expected? Replies in the comments below.

Photo coutesy of Nic McPhee  Read more . . .

Facebook Music Practice Clinic

Kids Guide to Music PracticeWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

Are you a member of the How To Practice Facebook group?

You are?

Great! You're in with a chance of being selected for the Practice Clinic we have there. Every week we are selecting a member of the group at random. This member will be invited to either receive some personal help with their practice or to offer tips and advice to others.

If you're not already a member simply go to the group and click .

See you there!

Music Practice Review Application Form

Thank you for your interest in our Music Practice Review Lesson. In order that we can give you the best possible advice we ask that you complete this form. The form is made up of 5 sections: About You, Education, Music, Practice and How Can We Help.

Very few of the things on this form are compulsory but we would ask that you provide as much information as you can. This will not only help us but will also save time in the practice observation and feedback sessions.  Read more . . .

Music Practice Lessons

Music Practice LessonsDo you need to give your practice a kick start?

Are you dedicated but don't know where to turn next?

Not getting the practice help you need from your current teacher?

With the practice lessons service from howtopractice you can now receive individually tailored lessons to take your practice to the next level. We will not confuse you with technical discussions nor will we get involved in deep musical analysis. We will however help you get the most out of each and every practice session, allow you to get more done in less time and progress faster towards your musical dreams.

Our lessons are not intended to replace instrumental lessons. Your teacher is a specialist on your instrument (or should be) and is therefore best placed to guide you on the finer detail of it's technique. However, in the vast majority of cases they are not experts in practice. Our lessons are like theory, aural and history in that they complement your other lessons and make you a more rounded musician.  Read more . . .

Goal-oriented Practice

We want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

Have you seen those adverts on the internet which proclaim 'Learn Scales Fast!' or 'Master Guitar in a Week' or 'Speedy Piano'? Perhaps like me you also feel that these kind of adverts miss the point and are about sales and marketing rather than education.

Most of these 'publications' come in an e-Book/PDF format for download. It's an easy format to produce and therefore anyone can (and frequently do) write books with wide variations in the quality of the content.

I'm pleased to report that Goal-Oriented Practice is an e-Book that is written and produced in the right way. There is no spin or hype. Just straightforward advice from an experienced music teacher.

The book is primarily aimed at pianists. The first section on practice environment for example, discusses how to be comfortable at the piano and various other examples in the book discuss hand placement, keyboard and piano music. This does not mean however that players of other instruments will not benefit from reading it.   Read more . . .

The 10,000 hour rule - a self evaluation

We want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

Have you heard about the 10,000 hour rule? It is based on an original study by Ericsson et al which found that on average it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in a given field. The research has been further expanded by others (Sloboda etc) to show that ability is largely based on effort and not on any preconceived notion of talent.

Personal Evaluation

This got me thinking - Surely I've done 10,000 hours practice? I achieved a standard necessary to play professionally at the top level. Over the years I've been diligent about my practice and assumed that I'd met 10,000 hours. However upon further investigation the reality proved to be a little different.

I did some calculations from memory on the practice and playing that I did between the ages of 11 (when I started playing) and 22 when I was playing at a professional level regularly - around a 10 year time span. I've estimated how many hours I spent practising, playing in groups, having lessons and other associated activities and learning over the given time period.

The Results

10000 Hour Rule Self Evaluation  Read more . . .

25 Music Practice Links 17th September

We want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

It seems that discussion of practice is blossoming on the web, either that or we're getting better at finding it Wink

Anyway, here is our regular round up of music practice links.

Don't forget if you run a piano blog, guitar tab resource or any other site that has some practice related information then we'd love to hear about it..  Read more . . .

  1. Practicing Your Scales Effectively from Getting There
  2. The Definitive Guide to Building and Maintaining a Repertoire List - Collaborative Piano Blog
  3. 5 Tips For Helping Students Fix Persistent Mistakes - Music Matters Blog
  4. Pony Over the Rainbow Practice Aid - Susan Paradis' Piano Teacher Resources
  5. Real Discipline - The Classical Guitar Blog
  6. Making the most of music lessons - The Musician's Way
  7. Aristotle "We Are What We Repeatedly Do" - Thomas J West
  8. Charting Songs - Jazz Ed Magazine

oboefreak

Practice Break Volume 1 issue 3. October 2010

Kids Guide | Pro Interview | Practice Resolutions
Regulars | Don't Forget

Hello and welcome back to the Practice break newsletter.   Read more . . .

Good listening is always the first step

Good listening is always the first step in the process that creates technique and capability

Snell, Howard., The Art of Practice (Pen Press, 2006), p.33

A Year in Bass - Week 8 - Fantastic Mistakes

Set myself up for a big time fail this week - but on the up side it has meant I've learnt more than in any other week Wink

Show Notes

I'm still highly recommending this book:
Standing In the Shadows of Motown

This coming week I'll be continuing to work on some motown pieces on the back of the Jameson book.  Read more . . .

iPhones as Musical Instruments: Practice Performance

One of the more unusual performances I've seen - though given how much time people spend 'practising' their iPhones everyone should be an expert Wink

Teach you to rock?

Teach you to rock?, Bjornberg, Alf , Popular Music, Volume 12, Issue 1, (1993)

Practiceopedia by Philip Johnston

Practiceopedia by Philip JohnstonWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

'The complete illustrated guide to mastering music's greatest challenge . . . '

'An A-Z of everything students and parents need to know about practicing'

Let's find out shall we.

When this volume fell on my desk I have to admit that I was itching to get inside and read it. I've previously read Promoting your teaching studio, Practice Revolution Practice Planner and Not Until You've Done You're Practice all by Philip Johnston and all, it has to be said, excellent books on practice.

This is a much larger volume than those previously released by Practice Spot - both in terms of it's size (it's not going to fit in any instrument cases!) and also number of pages, running to over 300.  Read more . . .

Copy in Detail

70Many musicians, especially in pop music learn by copying. If you are one of these people make sure that when you copy your favourite music that you get all the details. Don't just play the notes but try to play with the same sound, rhythm and feel as the music you hear. The more detail you can copy the better player you will become.

A Year in Bass - Week 9 - Progress Review

Show Notes

It's my last week with James Jamerson for the time being:
Standing In the Shadows of Motown

This coming week I'll be continuing to work on some motown pieces on the back of the Jameson book.

It's also the last week I'll be using the Friedland book. Ending this will be like losing an old friend Sad(

Music for this week:  Read more . . .

Level Best

Music Volume Levels Practice MethodWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

Having a good range of dynamics can make your performances much more interesting for the listener. There's nothing duller than listening to music that is the same volume or intensity all the way through. Use this method to improve the range of dynamics in your pieces.

Follow these steps to improve the dynamics in a section or piece of music:  Read more . . .

  1. Work out what the middle dynamic is in your piece - it's quite often around mf (or medium loud)

Cultural context in musical instrument learning

Cultural context in musical instrument learning, Cope, Peter, and Smith H. , British Journal of Music Education, Volume 14, Issue 03, p.6, (1997)

10,000 hours?

So has anybody actually made it to this many hours. I was reading the post by Mike where he said how many he had done. I worked out that I have so far done around 5000. Still some way to go for me .. . . Sad

As a pianist I don't get all those extra ensemble hours. . .

Go Play! by Catherine Shefski

Go Play Piano Motivation eBookWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

Another week. Another piano blog. Another eBook.

This one's different though.

In her eBook Go Play! Catherine Shefski issues a call for teachers to better understand the current generation of students. The 'digital natives' are a group of learners who have never known a world without computers, the internet or social networks.

Shefski clearly illustrates why traditional teaching methods (otherwise known as 'teach the way you were taught') are no longer relevant, useful or interesting for today's generation of students. This generation is used to instant sharing of information, a fast pace of learning and being a part of the process that creates new works.  Read more . . .

Music Practice Quote-athon

Music Practice Quote-athonWe want to help you practice better. Our newsfeed will keep you up to date with regular advice. Free personal help is available in our practice clinic and new news and offers can be found in our newsletter.

We're big fans of a good quote here at HTP. That's why tomorrow we are holding our first ever music practice "quote-athon".

The idea's simple:

  • 24 hours
  • 24 quotes
  • So from tomorrow at 1AM we'll begin posting a selection of great practice quotes for your enjoyment.

    Do you have a great music practice quote? Let us know in the comments below Wink  Read more . . .

    What a player does best, they should practice least. Practice is for problems.

    What a player does best, they should practice least. Practice is for problems.

    If you hit a wrong note, then make it right by what you play afterwards.

    If you hit a wrong note, then make it right by what you play afterwards.

    It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it's what you put into the practice.

    It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it's what you put into the practice.

    If you want to become a musician you must practice.

    If you want to become a musician you must practice. There is no other way. There are no shortcuts.

    Ottley, Ron., Now I Love Music Practice (Eileen Margaret Publishing, 2009) Pg 11

    To study music, we must learn the rules.

    To study music, we must learn the rules. To create music, we must break them.

    Practice in living rooms

    The reason so many of us lose our bearings about practising early in life is that we practice in living rooms with other family members in earshot - and healthy practice would simply sound too obnoxious, intrusive, repetitious and unmusical for others to hear without annoyance.

    Westney, William., The Perfect Wrong Note (Amadeus Press, 2003), p.111

    No Music, No Life. Know Music, Know Life.

    No Music, No Life. Know Music, Know Life.

    Music learning can occur without music teaching

    music learning can occur without music teaching

    Green, Lucy., How Popular Musicians Learn (Ashgate, 2002), p.104

    An error may be only an unintentional rightne

    An error may be only an unintentional rightness...Do not get too fussy about how every part of the thing sounds. Go ahead. All processes are at first awkward and clumsy and "funny." Do not be afraid of being wrong; just be afraid of being uninteresting.

    When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him he will win.

    When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him he will win.

    The more a piece affects out heart, the more easily we remember it.

    The more a piece affects out heart, the more easily we remember it.

    Bruser, Madeline., The Art of Practicing (Bell Tower, 1997), p.221

    One day of practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn't do you any good.

    One day of practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn't do you any good.

    Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

    Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

    If you sound great in the practice room, you're practicing the wrong thing.

    If you sound great in the practice room, you're practicing the wrong thing.

    Never ever practice. Always perform.

    Never ever practice. Always perform.

    Simplicity is the final achievement.

    Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.

    As soon as effective listening takes place . . .

    As soon as effective listening takes place, the ear identifies what needs to be done and guides the techniques search for a solution

    Snell, Howard., The Art of Practice (Pen Press, 2006), p.16

    Practice is the best of all instructors

    Practice is the best of all instructors

    The difference between knowledge and skill is practice

    The difference between knowledge and skill is practice.

    What I have achieved by industry and practice

    What I have achieved by industry and practice, anyone else with tolerable natural gift and ability can also achieve.

    If practice makes perfect, and no one's perfect, then why practice?

    If practice makes perfect, and no one's perfect, then why practice?

    Practice doesn't make perfect. It just makes you better.

    Practice doesn't make perfect. It just makes you better.