TEN Practice Tips!
The following practice tips for beginners have been designed to help you get the most out of your music practice time.
1) Practice a little EVERY day; this is far more beneficial than one or two long practice sessions a week.
2) Have a specific time each day that is set aside expressly for your practice. It will then become part of your daily routine.
3) Split your daily practice into smaller chunks, i.e. technical work in the morning and pieces in the afternoon/evening.
4) Learn each piece one phrase at a time. Practice each phrase SLOWLY until you have it, and then go to the next phase.
5) Starting at the beginning of the piece and playing through to the end each time you practice is NOT an effective use of your time! You are merely practising mistakes!
6) Don't practice mistakes, or you will become very good at playing them!
7) Sometimes, start in the middle of your piece and work to the end.
8) Regularly record yourself and listen carefully to it.
9) Practice the tricky bits – not just the bits you like.
10) Listen to your pieces played by great players.
Download your copy of these ten practice tips in PDF format, print it off and give it to your students, or display an enlarged copy in your music classroom or teaching studio.
Practice Log/Calendar
I recently started giving my students a Practice Log. It is both printable and digital! It is like a calendar.
There is one page for each month. It has an area for the teacher to write the goals for the month.
Each day students record what they have practised and how long they have practised.
Depending on each student's circumstance and preference, they can choose to have a printed copy inside their music notebook or a digital version.
My choice is the digital or online practice log because students can't 'forget' to bring it to their lesson!
The Practice Log has worked like a charm to keep my students and me on track!
The most significant benefit has been that my students are now in the habit of creating solid music practice plans and music practice routines.
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