1 - You have to want to improve
2 - It's the practice you do in between that counts
3 - Practice every day, in short sessions
4 - Make sure you understand what you have to do
5 - Then do it!
6 - Vary your practice, and have goals in mind
7 - Concentrate when practising
8 - Don’t play too fast- be in control!
9 - Be your own teacher
10 - Enjoy your music!
11 - SO, SUMMING UP...
You will learn faster (and better) if you understand some basic concepts of how people learn. Pupils should read these points carefully, and parents are advised to do so too. Please help your son/daughter to practice effectively, and therefore get the most out of each lesson.
1
You have to want to improve.
It’s no good wishing you were better if you are not prepared to work at it properly! Note that sometimes you may have to work at a related area of your playing before you can approach the actual technique you are having problems with.
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2
It’s the work you do at home in between that really counts.
Having lessons for weeks on end is not going to achieve very much if you do no practice in between. As a teacher I will keep you on course you in the approach to your instrument, but you are the one who will work to learn how to play it. Your notebook is the tool that enables you to work on the right things each week- my notes and comments in it enable you to be both learner and your own teacher.
There really is no shortcut here- if you don't work between lessons, you're wasting your time. If you work hard, swift progress through the magical world of music is your reward! (And if you don't work hard, you won't understand what I'm on about here!)
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3
Practice every day, in short sessions.
It is an established psychological and physiological fact that we learn things more efficiently (and retain them better) if you work at things in this way. Ten minutes twice a day will help you more than twenty minutes just once. Also, if you cannot spare the time to practice every day then your progress will be very much slower.
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4
Make sure you understand what you have to do.
I will always tell you why (and how) you need to work at something, or why a particular physical position/movement is important. Make certain you understand before leaving the lesson, otherwise you may be wasting effort during the week struggling in the wrong direction. Don’t be afraid to say: “I’m sorry, I don’t get it! Can you explain it a different way?”
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5
Then do it!
Especially in the early stages, there will be physical and musical things that just have to be right. You must take the time to get these spot on, or everything that follows will be very much harder- you can’t build a strong house on shaky foundations. The two main building blocks you need are: (1) good technique to make a good sound always; and (2) solid musical rhythm- no pauses!
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6
Vary your practice, and have goals in mind.
Technical exercises are important, but mix them up with other things: learning pieces, playing to CDs, etc. Set achievable targets for each practice session- break tasks down into small bite-size pieces, and conquer these one at a time. Break the music down into phrases, break exercises down into each physical movement; only put it all together when you can get the separate parts 100% right every time.
Don’t waste time by always starting from the beginning of the piece, either. Work on the bits you can’t do, then put it together. “I can only get into it when I start from the beginning,” is not an acceptable excuse; you must learn to pick up a piece at various suitable points.
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7
Concentrate when practising.
Your practice is not very useful unless you are really thinking about what you are doing. Your brain must do several things when you are playing music- it tells your muscles what to do, but it also evaluates how the last notes sounded (and felt). You create a kind of ‘thinking loop’ that goes like this: (a) play a note; (b) how did it feel and sound? Perfect? (c) use the answers to these questions to play the next note even better. That’s a lot of thinking for each note!
If you don’t do all the steps, you are merely repeating the same less-than-perfect music which won’t help you to improve. If you are tired and cannot concentrate, take a break and try again later.
As you improve, you’ll find that the physical movements become more subconscious and you will then begin to think in larger ‘chunks’ of music (phrases, sections, lead patterns/scales, etc.).
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8
Don’t play too fast- be in control!
The commonest thing I say in lessons is “play it slower”! Following on from number 7 above: if you haven’t got time to check notation/fingers/tone/dynamics etc. as you go along and react to it, then you are playing too fast. You must have a little extra thinking time to cope with small mistakes, otherwise you will go off the rails at the slightest thing. Usually people over-estimate the speed they should practice, and also try and speed things up too quickly. The key is to be in control at all times.
Improvers looking to conquer some of the flashier techniques often say: “Oh, I can only play it fast. It goes wrong if I slow it down.” This is a myth. Take it from me, if you can’t play it slowly, you can’t play it at all! (You’re fudging something, or doing something fundamentally wrong.)
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9
Be your own teacher.
Yes, really! Get into the habit of watching and (particularly) listening to how you play. Also watch for unnecessary tension, whether in fingers, hands, arms, shoulders, body posture, etc. It’s not easy, as you’re naturally very involved in actually doing the playing. (Cassette recorders and video cameras can be useful aids in this). If you see/hear/feel a problem, try to work out what’s going wrong. Break the problem down and invent your own exercises to home right in on whatever’s causing trouble.
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10
Enjoy your music!
As well as ‘serious’ practice, take time to have fun playing music you already know, or just jam around doing whatever you like. Play different styles, have a laugh!
Play for people when you can- performing is different to practising- and always make sure you have one or two easier pieces you can play straight away without too much trouble. Play them from memory if possible, and everyone will be even more impressed!
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SUMMING UP
Be prepared to work! It’s the practice at home in between that really matters. Do some every day, in short sessions. Set up a daily practice routine and make sure you understand what you need to do, and why. Make sure you are working at the things you can’t do well yet.
Vary your practice, breaking hard things into small pieces, and setting achievable targets every day. Don’t play too fast- be in control! Always think about what you’re doing, and listen constantly to the sound you make.
HAVE FUN!
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“Practice & Learning” © Neil Browning 2002
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