There are boundless books, videos, courses and more about how to practice music. How can we choose a way that works for us personally? Or is there just one way we should all practice?

The old school teacher would often have one approach that was mandated for the student. Often, no questions asked. In other words, let’s fill the empty vessel! This was passed on through the hundreds of years and thought of as a legacy. “I’m from the Viennese School” of piano playing” or “I have been taught the true bel canto approach to singing”. Better still, “I’m from the Anton Rubinstein lineage of piano playing” or in more recent years, “I’m an Alexander Technique practitioner. Disciples of hundreds, if not thousands of “schools” or “lineages” still abound!

If you’ve had a teacher, you’ve probably been told to practice at home. The really old-school way is basically just that: practice….and a lot! It’s a bit limiting and doesn’t help if you get stuck or aren’t sure how to break down practice projects and goals. It was all about hours spent and not necessarily well spent.

There is a saying: “Practice makes Perfect”. It’s actually quite a lie. Only perfect practice makes perfect. “Practice makes permanent” is closer to the truth. If you practice something the wrong way, it stays stuck in those neural-pathways. One has to work a lot harder to undo those bad connections and re-wire the brain with a good connection.

So now, down to the plan. First off, stay open. Don’t get a fixed mindset about how you go about learning. As lots of questions both to yourself and to your guides. See what works for you. Give things time. Something might not seem reasonable now but with lots of practice might seem great later.

Listen and watch great musicians. Not just the ones playing your chosen instrument. Learn a lot of music. I mean thousands of pieces of music. A musician is one who knows music. An instrument player like a “pianist” or “singer” knows how to play, but doesn’t necessarily know music or have great musicianship skills.

Motivation is not the tool that makes for great practice. Some days we are motivated and others we are not! Habits are the key; things we do daily like brushing our teeth-whether we like to or not! There is a great book I recommend to my students for habit formations: Atomic Habits by James Clear. The saying: “showing up is half the battle” rings true!

Getting organized for your practice with lists of goals and time units is also fundamental. There are many books and apps that can help structure good lists. A few I recommend are: The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, Keep it Going by Austin Kleon and The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom (this is really fantastic for much more than organizing priorities for lists!). An online app like Todoist is also extremely practical. A practice journal at your instruments side is also helpful for jotting down accomplishments as well as goal setting for each practice session.

Being well rested, without distractions and excited to learn is critical to foundations for good practice. Excitement and enthusiasm help carve out those neural-pathways, but carefully coached repetition is critical. We can’t always practice with a real coach at our side, so we have to become our own coach using critical thinking. Checklists help with this. Asking questions like:

How was my note accuracy?
How was my rhythmic accuracy?
How was my articulation?
How is my balance?
Am I voicing the right notes?
How’s my pedalling?
How’s the style?
Am I paying attention to rubato and other tempo signs?

The list goes on and on. Each repetition can focus on a different aspect, shifting our perspective and helping us know the notes better in different ways.

Malcolm Gladwell publish a book called “The Tipping Point” that discussed the 10,000 hours needed to mastery of something. Although his observations have had some controversy in recent years (exactly how long it takes), we know that years of practice are key to proficiency at the very least! Being psychologically ready to embrace this kind of longterm discipline is critical to success. In other words, having the patience to wait for an outcome and not just throw up your hands and say “it didn’t work for me” or “I really have no talent for it”.

Anders Ericcson wrote a book called “Peak” which is all about practice. I highly recommend reading and applying the principles in this work. Ericcson dispels the concept of the “prodigy” and instead looks at three things:

The goal
The coach
The practice

These are just a few thoughts about “How to practice”. It’s not a manual or a program, just concepts to put into practice. There’s no “Hack” for the work that needs to happen, nor is there any guarantee that some of the practice won’t be boring or tedious. There will be days when you don’t want to practice. We all feel this way sometimes. Those who succeed are the ones who practice anyway!

Happy Practicing!