Practice Resources

OVerloaded with music practice Unpublished

Would you like to be the subject of a future practice clinic? Contact us with any practice problems and we'd be happy to help.

The number and types of things to practice can sometimes seem overwhelming. We often see submissions to the practice clinic like this:

Currently, I
forget to practice and I have been told to practice everyday but
I just find it had to do that and I have trouble warming up my
hands. Also, when trying to perfect my pieces I become very  Read more . . .

The Music Practice Alphabet - Part 3

Lots of Alphabetical Tips for 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.

Moving swiftly along - it's part 3 of the Music Practice Alphabet series Smile

Mental

Not all practice needs an instrument. In fact you can get a lot of practice done without your instrument, on the bus, at lunch or in the bath!! Simply spend time thinking and imagining in detail your perfect performance. You can also use mental time to memorise notes, scales and fingerings - all useful stuff which will be invaluable once you get back to your instrument.

Notes

The right notes are kind of important. Try to ensure that you play correctly more often than incorrectly. Just because you played something right once doesn't mean you can play it like that every time.

Options

Keep your practice fresh and inspiring by ensuring that you always have options in your practice. Try doing things in a different order, learn new music, select music at random or improvise.  Read more . . .

The Music Practice Alphabet - Part 2

Lots of Alphabetical Tips for 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.

Time now for part 2 of our tips in the Practice Alphabet series Smile

Honesty

Honesty is most often missing in the practice room. We are just not good at being honest with ourselves about the mistakes we make. We're also not good at being truthful about how focused our practice is, how much we achieved and how good we really are. Remember, a little honesty goes a long way.

Interesting

You don't have to do the same old things in the same old way when you practice. Mix it up, try different things and take a few moments to play things you really enjoy. You can find lots of ideas on this site, such as bag full of scales, roll up roll up, practice signals and many others.  Read more . . .

Spring Music Practice Links

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's seems like a very long time since our last collection of links - it's high time for another. So without further or do, 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. How many hours a day should you practice - Bullet Proof Musician
  2. The habits of musicianship - Robert Duke, University of Texas
  3. The Nature of Expertise - Robert Duke - University of texas
  4. Working Solo: Problems & Solutions - Getting There
  5. Performance Oriented Practice - Musician's Way
  6. Musical Memory - Level One - Susan Paradis
  7. Practice, then practice some more - Wolf Trap Opera
  8. Learning When to Listen - Music Think Tank

The Music Practice Alphabet - Part 1

Lots of Alphabetical Tips for 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.

Stuck for some inspiration on which direction to take your practice in? Why not let our alphabetical guide to practice assist you Smile

Analyse

Make sure to understand what is wrong with your playing and how you will put it right. Don't make the mistake of plowing through endless repetitions with out analysing your playing between repeats.

Begin

Often the hardest part about practice is getting started. If you are someone who finds it difficult to practice regularly don't get hung up on how much practice you need to do. Instead of thinking about minutes just set yourself the target of picking up your instrument and at least starting to practice every day.  Read more . . .

Free and yet constrained by habit

I have often thought how strange it is that I can be sitting at the piano in my own living room completely alone and free to do anything I want and yet fall into some habitual and unsatisfying way of working.

Bruser, Madeline., The Art of Practicing (Bell Tower, 1997), p.10

A Year in Bass - Week 11/12 - Distance Learning

With the start of the new academic year at most british universities it has been an extremely busy couple of weeks for me. Sadly this has meant less 'hands on' time with my bass Sad

On the plus side I have been itching to play when I do get the opportunity.

Despite this I've not been idle and have continued my bass development. Last week was about learning the fretboard a little better. This week I've been finding out more about the instrument I'm playing. All the while I've also been listening to the player of the month - Paul McCartney (transcriptions to follow next week Smile )  Read more . . .

A Year in Bass - Week 10 - Going Solo

Do you ever have one of those weeks where you simply can't do everything that you want to? Well I've got one of those this week.

I'm working away from home for the whole week, have lots of work to complete and need to practice lots of things other than the bass for paid work that I have in the next few weeks.

All of which does not leave much time at all for the bass.

I'm sure many of you have been in similar situations - you want to practice but genuinely struggle find the time.   Read more . . .

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

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

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

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