Practice time

The way to mastery of our instrument and whether we achieve it or not is not depended on practice time.

The difference between success and failure lies between how we utilize our daily practice, how focused we are on our objectives and whether we are aware of the specific difficulties we must overcome.

Focus and awareness during practice time are the key words for the aspiring musician. Without them the time we spend inside the soundproof room does not reward us with the reward we expect.

I separate general daily work and preparation for a coming performance and would like to concentrate on the former this time, rather than the latter.

It is important to try and plan your practice session not only time wise but also what aspects of your playing are you trying to improve. Take some time before you begin physically playing to think about what you are trying to achieve; were there issues raised by your teacher in your last lesson? Is there a specific technical problem you need to address and does it relate to a piece you are playing?

Take playing scales for example; you can work on intonation, shifting, tone production, vibrato, bow strokes, quickness, physical tension and other issues. What you need to do is decide what you are aiming for every time you play scales. This will make the work less boring and by changing the way you work you avoid mind-bogging routine.

Try to find ways to connect elementary technical work with the pieces you are working on, for example: after working on thirds, shift to excerpts from your repertoire which features thirds.

As for pieces: one of the biggest time wasters is learning a new piece and playing it “only for notes” or “half tempo” for a few days. Although it is a good way for initial practice (I must admit I do not believe in “just the notes” approach) you must bring each line/phrase/bar straight to performance level, even if you can not yet connect the “snippets”.