Practice guidance & tips
The most important part of a musician’s life is the time that they take to practice. The amount of time that a person practices is the directly proportional to the amount of progress they make. The general rule is that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in any field. However, this does not mean that any practice equates to progress. The adage “practice makes perfect” is not entirely accurate. It should be “perfect practice makes perfect”.
What IS perfect practice?
NOTE: These guidelines are for an ideal situation. Of course, some points like Eliminating distractions and Knowing how long to practice are limited by individual circumstances, but they should be done as well as possible in order to ensure effective and efficient practice.
What IS perfect practice?
- Practicing with a specific goal in mind. Every practice session should have a desired outcome. Don’t try to perfect everything in one go. Set a single, more manageable goal for the day. (Buildings are built one brick at a time, not all at once)
- Knowing what to practice. When you have a daily practice goal, you need to know what and how to practice in order to achieve that goal.
- Eliminating distractions. Electronics, games, toys, and people are a practicing musician’s worst enemy. During your set practice session, you need your undivided attention on what you’re doing, otherwise you may not get done what you needed to in your allotted time.
- Knowing your limits. There is no better feeling than achieving your goals. However, most of us are mortal and can’t always do what we set out to right away. It’s important to have a healthy attitude towards failure because it’s part of the learning process. Practice is just a series of failures leading to an eventual success.
- Knowing how long to practice. There is a certain range of time where practice is helpful. Under can be unhelpful and over can be hurtful. Like a sponge with water, there is only so much information the brain can absorb before it stops taking anything new in efficiently (do some research on the learning curve and diminishing returns).
NOTE: These guidelines are for an ideal situation. Of course, some points like Eliminating distractions and Knowing how long to practice are limited by individual circumstances, but they should be done as well as possible in order to ensure effective and efficient practice.