How To Practice - Practice Clinic

Practice Clinic

Mike Saville — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:25:49 +0000

Looking for some help with your music practice? Then you've come to the right place. Whether you play guitar, piano, flute or kazoo we can help you practice more effectively.

Simply fill in the form below and click submit and we will get back to you with some specific advice for your situation. The advice is free and we really hope it will help you in acheiving your musical dreams - you may even be lucky enough to be featured in our practice clinic.

Enjoy your practice Read more . . .

Facebook Music Practice Clinic

Mike Saville — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:40:08 +0000

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.

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! Read more . . .

Money, money, money

How To Practice — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:53:54 +0000

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.

No, not an Abba song but a question submitted to the Practice Clinic by a young and enthusiastic musician:

Can you tell me how to earn money as a musician?

Our reply:

Wow, you're very keen and obviously committed to a career as a musician. That's fantastic to hear and you should certainly go for it if that's what you want. Read more . . .

A Question of Timing

Mike Saville — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 05:59:31 +0000

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.

Like many students taking their first steps in learning an instrument today's subject has problems with rhythm.

I would like to play with better with timing and rhythm. Counting and using the metronome correctly.

Our reply:

It's great to see someone of your age committed to learning the piano. It's even more heartening to see you dedicating a regular time everyday to practice. It might not seem like it at times but you will be improving - just stick with it. The rewards of being able to play the piano are definitely worth it. Read more . . .

Variety, to be more accurate

Mike Saville — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:48:26 +0000

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.

Is music your day job? Do you play for a living?

Chances are that you are one of the vast majority of musicians who has a day job where you don't play. This creates a number of issues for practice - not least when to fit it in. It also requires an adjustment of expectations to ensure that your goals are realistic given the time you can devote to music.

Today's clinic subject want's to develop the following skills under these circumstances:

greater range of things in performance. more exciting performances.

Our reply:

It's good to hear that you have the drive and commitment to practice your music after work. If you can, try to make sure that you do so each day. Small amounts each day are much more useful that a large chunk of practice at the weekend.

Firstly I would say that if you want to play a greater range of things in performance then that's what you should do in practice. Read more . . .

Mature Motivation

Mike Saville — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:02:55 +0000

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.

Practice is not just an issue for young learners. Older, more experienced musicians can face dilema's too as a recent contact to the clinic put it: Read more . . .

I am hopeless with routine because I am not preparing for anything at the moment. I can only justify practice when I have a gig on the calendar.

Our reply:

Learning to listen

Mike Saville — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:28:50 +0000

When most people think about music practice they have an image of a musician with their instrument pulling their hair out at tricky passages.

There are a few things wrong with this image. Firstly practice does not always require an instrument. Secondly this image assumes that much pre-practice preparation has already been completed. This preperation will include your practice plan, what you're going to do and how you're going to do it.

There's also another thing missing. Basic skills.

The assumption is that those learning instruments have basic music knowledge, understand some theory and know how to listen. Unfortunately knowing how to listen is not something that is taught very often.

Hence a recent submission to the clinic:

I really like to practice and try to do some everyday. I have discussed plans with my teacher and am using some of the methods from your site to help with my practice. My problem is that I can't hear what is wrong. I think I am playing it right but when I get to my lesson my teacher says I'm doing it wrong. How can I hear what I'm doing wrong?

Our reply:

I'm glad to hear that you like practice. That's a VERY good place to be starting from!! Read more . . .

Students

Dealing with Pre-concert nerves

Mike Saville — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:59:11 +0000

Nerves are something that a great number of musicians suffer from. The prospect of being on show for all to see, any mistakes being amplified can be very daunting for some.

We've had a number of submissions to the practice clinic asking for help dealing with these pre-concert nerves.

Typical of the questions we receive is this from a violinist:

I'm very tense, even when I'm practicing alone. When I'm in my lesson, or on stage, I get even more tense, excited and nervous. My tension causes lots of shifting and intonation problems. I can get it in the practice room, and then on stage its like I'm back at square one because of my nerves.

Our reply:

It's very encouraging to see that you recognise you are tense. I would be more concerned if you were like the many other musicians who do not recognise the tension in their bodies.

Let's deal with the practice situation first. Read more . . .

Practice Help

How To Practice — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:45:28 +0000

On the face of it music practice is very simple.

However once you scratch the surface and begin to realise that no two people will practice in the same way or have the same requirements you being to realise that it is a vast subject.

So where can you go for more specific help with YOUR practice problems?

Luckily we have lots of answers!

Getting startted guide

It's worth taking a look at our getting started guide as this covers common problems that many musicians face. Read more . . .

Community Forums

Students

Christmas Concert Preparation

Mike Saville — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:23:52 +0000

We're getting to that time of year that some musicians refer to as 'silly season' - too many concerts, too much music to learn and too little time.

If you are a musician, teacher or director feeling this way don't worry, there are lots of other musicians out there in exactly the same boat.

We were contacted via the practice clinic by someone who is facing these very problems:

I need some general help with my singing practice but that's not my real problem. I've agreed to do lots of Christmas concerts this year and think I may have taken on too much. Because there are so many I've not practised and don't feel prepared at all. How can I cope with all this work? I seem to have concerts most days before Christmas.

Before we get onto the main issues I guess there is a lesson in organisation to be had here. Leaving things to last minute and taking on too much is perhaps not the best way to enjoy yourself . . .

Workload

I know that most people start planning for Christmas concerts around September. Why is it then that we musicians don't start our own practice at that point? Read more . . .