Behind the Practice Room Door: Seven Tips For Making the Most Out of Your Practice Time

Practicing my music repertoire can be my favorite or least favorite thing to do. But as a musician, it is one of the most IMPORTANT things for me to do. Without practicing, nothing will ever come of my musical abilities. More than likely, they will never grow and just die away. Practicing is what makes things happen. It makes me be able to hit the really high notes when singing or play the trills precisely on the piano. Performing is the reward you get from practicing. It takes perseverance and persistence to practice but it is so worth it in the end.

The first thing I do when I go to practice is find my favorite practice room. I sigh with relief when it is open and know that I will have a good practice session. I get warmed up and then go at the piece or song I want to work on first. As I practice voice rep I play my melody out on the piano and listen to my voice to make sure I am hitting the pitch dead on. I also am listening to my diction and how my breath support is. I work on memorizing and any sections that need extra attention. When I am going through piano rep I do scales and arpeggios and then work through all my pieces. Sometimes I don't play through the whole piece, just play certain measures that are giving me troubles. I work on fingering, rhythm and tempo.

There is a lot going on in my head when I am practicing. From the repertoire, I am working on to thinking about what I will make for dinner to worrying about the test I have the next day. With all these different things going on in my head while I am trying to practice, it can be hard to focus sometimes. I get distracted easily and often lose my train of thought. There are days I go into a practice room and don't come out for almost an hour. A solid practice down. Then there are other days I have only been in there for maybe fifteen minutes and it seems like forever. Either my voice just is not feeling the greatest and I can't get the high note to sit right or my fingers just don't want to get to the right notes out on the piano. I get frustrated and that gets discouraging which makes me want to run far far away from the practice room. In moments like that, I try to remind myself why I love music. I will pull out a piano piece that I love to play and just go at it; or I will sing through on already learned and polished song. This helps me get refocused and reminds me that I can do this.

“To play a wrong note is insignificant; to play without passion is inexcusable.” Ludwig van Beethoven

I have had to change my mindset when it comes to practicing. I cannot think of it as a chore. If I do, it is not going to be productive. When I HAVE to do something I often don’t do it as well if I am doing it because I WANT to do it. This mindset had to change for me when it comes to practicing. It has taken me a while to figure out the best way for me to practice, but that is okay. It is also okay for you to be figuring out what you need to do to get in a good practice routine. Don’t beat yourself up if you have some bad practice times. Just don’t quit. Keep trying new things to keep you motivated and you will get there.

After almost five years of taking different music lessons in college, I have figured out what practice techniques work best for me. Here are a few tips and tricks:

- Warm up! Don't skip this. Even if you have played or sung a little already that day, give yourself time to warm up to set up a solid practice time. I typically warm up for around ten to fifteen minutes depending on how much I have sung that day and what songs I will be going over. With piano I play whatever scales and arpeggios I am working on to get my fingers warmed up. Find out what works best for you.

- Have a game plan. I try to plan a head what I will go over in my practice times. I think about what I need to be memorizing, if I have any performances coming up or if I have a rehearsal with my accompanist. If you have a general idea of what you will be going over, it will help you keep your time more organized.

- Turn your cell phone OFF. Okay, maybe not completely off but put it on silent with the screen down. I like to set a timer on my phone for however long I have/want to practice, so I don't feel the need to constantly look at my phone to check the time. This gives you solid, undistracted time. You don’t feel the need to constantly be checking your phone to see what time it is.

- Listen to recordings. I LOVE listening to recording of my voice rep. This helps me so much when I am first learning and memorizing new pieces. Go on you YouTube and make a playlist of all the different music pieces you are learning. Whether this is for voice, piano or whatever your instrument is. Try to find professional recordings, so you aren't learning the pieces/songs wrong. You can listen to it while looking at your score or even when you are just doing your dishes at home. This gets the melody in your head so when you come back to the practice room, you already have a good foundation for learning your new music.

- Schedule in practice times. Do not give practicing your extra time, schedule it into your every day. You may think you will find the time, but if you don't plan for it, it probably won't happen. Even if it is just fifteen minute intervals, between classes, three of those would get you a forty-five minutes of total practice time. Also, make a practice schedule and stick to it. Do not plan other things during the time you have set to practice. Make it a priority.

- Get a practice buddy. Ask a fellow musician to practice with you. Meet up at the practice rooms and then sing or play for each other. This not only helps you get comfortable performing in front of others but also gives you the chance to give the other person feedback. You get to work on your listening skills and performing skills. This doesn’t have to be everyday but once or twice a week would be a good start.

- Give yourself brain breaks. If you are having, troubles focusing take a few minutes to do something else. Read a few pages from a book for a class. Lay down on the floor for five to ten minutes (this might seem weird but trust me it HELPS.) Get out of the room: go to the bathroom, get a drink or just simply walk around for a few minutes.

Practicing can be one of the most rewarding and challenging parts of being a musician. It takes lots of time and energy, sweat and tears that we as musicians poor out into the practice rooms. Every musician is unique in how he or she practices. We all have different tricks or quirks on how we get our music learned. Each individual musician has to find out what is best for them. This doesn't happen overnight and takes time and hard work. But in the end when we are out there on the stage performing, it makes it all worth it.