Practice Tips

Are you stuck on how to practice a song without just playing through it? 

Here is how I approach practicing in an efficient and smart way:

1. Look for clues: time signature, key signature, tempo, or time period.

2. Identify patterns: is it a musical question and answer? Are there a lot of scale patterns, octaves, or skip patterns?

3. Play bite size sections: that can be a line, measure, or even two notes if you need to break it down further.

4. Put it together! First take small passages, then bridge those sections to play longer sections.

They say that 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts. 

What does that means for practicing our instrument?

— 80% of our practice should be on scales, technique, and small sections of music like one measure or short phrases.

— 20% should be on performance type practice. This is running through sections, actually performing in front if people or the mirror, and recording ourselves.