Practicing

This article by Burton Kaplan discusses 4 steps to practicing (though they are different from the steps Dr. Adams talks about, I think they follow the same line). The author says that “Practicing is a conscious managerial skill…” In order to practice effectively, musicians have to, in a sense, coach themselves. For many musicians, this task is difficult because they’ve never been taught how to practice correctly. The 4 steps listed for practicing effectively are:

1. The technique of observation: Identifying and Prioritizing Problems. – In order to solve problems, students must know they exist.

2. The technique of success at any cost: Setting an achievable goal and finding a strategy to reach it. – Goals shouldn’t be too difficult and frustrating or too easy and boring. When a goal has been achieved, make sure the student tells himself “good job,” as a personal positive reinforcement.

3. The technique of intimacy: Stabilizing the new success. – When success is first achieved in a certain spot, immediately play it perfectly again, before memory fades. This increases the ratio of success to failures, and helps musicians remember HOW playing correctly feels. The students should do this until they can play it perfectly 5 out of 5 tries.

4. The technique of the first try: Testing performance control. – Usually performance dates and times are pre-arranged well in advance, and the student must play whether they feel like it that day or not, and they only get one shot at it. This step is designed for students to set a specific time (similar to when the actual performance will be) and play through everything on the first try – no stopping allowed, until they can do it proudly for several days in a row.

Kaplan, Burton. 2004. Practicing for Artistic Success: Empowering the Student with Self-Management Skills in the Practice Room. “The American Music Teacher.”

Another article titled “Teaching Problem Solving in Practice” says it is important for musicians and music students to practice for a number of reasons including: to build endurance, flexibility, and dexterity. It says students must learn how to problem-solve on their own during practice sessions and gives different techniques for doing this, and goes into depth with how to use slow, metronome work when practicing a difficult spot. Similar to the first article, this one states the importance of students being able to be dependent on themselves when it comes to practicing and improving.

Byo, James, L. 2004. Teaching Problem Solving in Practice. “Music Educators Journal.”

A third article I found entitled “Helping Students Get More Out of Practicing” focused on the motivational aspects of music. Often students won’t practice simply because they don’t feel like it, and teachers need to help them find a way around this feeling. The article gives several tips for successful practice. Some of these are: Setting achievable goals, making practice a habit, Use warm-up time, use a pencil to mark music appropriately, and concentration.

Mauro, Lucy. 2001. Helping Students Get More Out of Practicing. “The American Music Teacher.”

I asked Marty Lanter a few questions about music practice time in elementary through high school students. He said that as far as having ‘practice report cards,’ he only requires them through 8^th grade, and that the requirement is one hour a week. He also brought up that one of the big reasons, especially in smaller schools, for students not practicing enough is because they are spread too thin. “You’re best band students are more than likely you’re best football players, volleyball players, etc.” These students are often busy with all sorts of other activities, and practicing ends up getting put to the wayside. He thinks that the trick is to teach them how to effectively practice early on in their music education to create good habits early. Marty also mentioned that the use of SmartMusic can be a beneficial practice aid to high school students.