Music Studio

"Perfect Practice makes perfect..."

*Practice is essential to improve in anything and this is especially the case for mastering a musical instrument.  It is not just what is learnt in lessons but more to do with how to practice what has been learnt at home in-between lessons that helps ensure maximum progress.  The approach to practice should be regular and purposeful - and parents play a key role in supporting their children make the desired progress.  No successful musician has achieved greatness by talent alone - it has been achieved with determination, perseverance, parental support and perfect sustained practice!

*Practice should be every day- or as close to that as possible.

*The length of time you practise is also important.  For grade 1 you might need to practise a minimum of around 20-30 minutes each day, whereas for grade 8 this might be around 2 hours per day.  The more practice you do, the better your progress will be.  Practise a couple of times a week and you wont see much difference. 

*Everyone learns differently - but practice literally means repetition, so it is this approach that will give you the best results.

*Not only this, HOW you practise is just as important as how often you practise. For example, just playing through your pieces once or twice wont make much difference, but focusing on a few sections of that piece where you might be finding the coordination, bowing of the finger patterns more difficult will make much more of a difference in the rate you can learn something.  Imagine you have a two bar phrase that you are finding it difficult - start by learning it slowly.  Then gradually increase the tempo as you become more confident at it. You might play these 2 bars 30-40 times in one practice session.  This will help you learn those more difficult passages much more quickly than simply playing through the whole piece a few times and then telling yourself you have done your practice!

*Strive for perfection. If you know a passage isn't as good as it could be, then don't accept it. Did I get it right because i was lucky? Or did I get it right because I can really play it correctly every time? Watch the last video at the bottom of this page!

*Parental support is absolutely essential - no matter what age they are. Most students have to be reminded to practise each day - the best thing to do is to find a good time that will enable you to create a good routine that works in your family, For some this might be before school, for others this might be in the evening. But the most important thing is to stick to the routine as much as possible and have faith that by sticking with it, you WILL improve, even if sometimes the music you are learning might seem really difficult.

*Practice where you have no distractions. Keep phones, laptops, books and other things that might distract you out of sight when you are practising

*Developing your sense of pulse - use a metronome regularly to improve your sense of beat and rhythm

*Lastly, it is those that can be the tortoise rather than the hare that can see the best results. There is no fast tracking in learning a musical instrument. Those students who get to high grades early are almost always those that have REALLY WORKED for it. Talent is always part of it but no 'talented' student has got there like magic without significant work. This is the case for being successful at anything. If you see a 10 year old performing a grade 8 piece at a music concert you can be certain they have really worked for it! It doesn't just come down to talent for 99% of those that learn about Music. For example, I had a student who reached grade 8 by the time he was 10 this year, and whilst we would all say 'how talented is he???'. It came down to his passion and perseverance and determination -  at home he would play for at least 2-3 hours a day ever since he started. Everyday. For him this is his main passion but for another student it might be completely different. We all have different lives and different focuses and aspirations.

*Whatever level you are aiming for, perseverance is one of the most important factors - I have met so many adults that learnt a musical instrument when they were young but gave up and have told me it was now one of their biggest regrets.  Keeping going is the key - the benefits of learning a musical instrument are incredible and life changing both physically, mentally and socially.

*The ABRSM have now released various practice apps designed to help with exam preparation, please click here to see more details of these;

Please watch this TED video about practice for more information about how the brain is affected by regular practice and what you can do to maximise results;

 

Another video about practice in a lecture given by Dr. Micheral. P. Domjan, PhD of Texas University, Austin, USA

 

A TED lecture about practice given by a professional pianist - lots of good advice!