A "HOW TO" PRACTICE PRIMER, PART I
This installment is the first of a mini-series on practice. My intent is to share some ideas that have occurred to me, as both student and teacher, which might aid one in bettering their musicianship. I've met many a student over the years who seemed to be in need of guidance on practice, so I hope that the following will elucidate this topic for my students, as well as any other readers who have stumbled onto the ensuing prose. Though some of what I share in these blogs will be specific to the guitar, many of the points will also be of a more general scope so, regardless of your instrument, I hope there will be some valuable food for thought in it for you.
What should I practice? How much time should I spend practicing? Perhaps you, as did many others before you, embark on the journey of collecting a seemingly endless array of technical exercises, warm-up drills, scales, arpeggios, and proceed to stand that motley lot alongside whatever chosen music of the moment, trying to calculate exactly how you will cram all of these items into a single 30-60 minute practice session. Or, alternatively (and more likely), you've done what many a student has: chucked all of those technical exercises, warm-up drills, scales, and arpeggios into the bin, and simply plunged right into the music! Both approaches are common courses taken with the desired goal being some kind of improvement, be it learning a particular composition, improving finger speed or dexterity, developing various aspects of technique etc. We've all been signposted by wise folks before us that we simply must ‘put in the time to get better!' And yet, countless tales emerge of students whose practicing isn't really getting them anywhere, and worse, they cannot seem to pinpoint why they’ve stalled, citing all the time they've invested.
The reasons for such discontent may be as many as there are individuals practicing at any given moment. Or, it could also be very simple. If you've ever found your sessions to resemble either approach as noted here, then I must posit that such "practice" isn’t really practice. At all.
Before plunging into the dark, damp, and oft-maligned void called the woodshed in this series of ramblings, the first order of business is to establish some essential elements that many well-meaning students (and even some teachers, gasp!) unfortunately overlook. The following points are just some of what should further assist you in achieving quality practice time, and thusly, are worthy of becoming habit:
Have a (reasonably) quiet space reserved for practice.
A common detail students share with me is that their practice sessions often include members of their family listening nearby (and worse, chiming in with various bits of commentary). Now, without doubt, having family or friends to give you a performance scenario simulation is a valuable thing in assisting one’s preparation for an upcoming performance. However, and especially when you are first learning the music, you should consider practice and flatulence one and the same: when you do either, rest assured that what comes out stinks to everyone around except you. (If a family member comes to your defense insisting that it doesn't now, rest assured, the time will come!) For the sake of your own focus, and in consideration of others around you, view your incessant repetitions of a passage or phrase fragment—which undoubtedly are, from your perspective, paramount to chiseling away the rock that will unearth your inexorable genius—as probably having an adverse effect on your nearby listeners, making them rue the day they ever encouraged your musical pursuits (or, ponder the untimely and mysterious demise of your instrument).
So, carve out a space for yourself that is yours alone. If you feel that this suggestion is impossible for your unique case, you may have to look deeper into your situation to find an acceptable solution, provided your musical advancement is a priority at all. It is the opinion of this blog’s author that practice should NOT be a social activity, nor is it actual performance. Some people cannot quite establish a good practice space in their living circumstances for whatever logistical reasons. I’ve had friends who couldn’t practice at home, at all. So, if that’s you, then go to a different location where it is possible to enjoy an interruption-free session. Wherever and however you achieve this, make it a comfortable place where all physical requirements for practice with correct technique are met. Please bear in mind that your space is not created for entertainment; rather, think of it is a laboratory where you can scrutinize the smallest detail, discern your playing with objectivity, and problem solve.
Clear your mind before you practice.
Quite literally, I could write an entire series on this subject alone, including not only my own observations and experience, but those of my many students over the years as well. I will not do this here, but I will advocate that if you have chatter, and have not yet found a way to clear the busy chatter out of your thoughts, that chatter will inevitably compromise your performance, as will the accompanying physical tension that does not help things when trying to learn a physical skill (and can even contribute to forming some potentially bad technique faults which might not have otherwise manifested). A clearer, “slower” (as regards brainwave frequency) mind has been proven to learn with greater facility than a frenetic, ramped-up brainwave state preoccupied with matters unrelated to your music.
Several vastly different ways to approach this goal are worthy of your attempts until you find something that resonates with you. Once you find your winning trick, doing whatever that may be before a practice session will incline you toward a more efficient and generally positive practice experience. You could believe these words, or better still, you could just get after it. Thanks to technological accessibility today, many resources on the subject of relaxation and achieving greater mental clarity are abundant, so do your homework and trust that, when you find what works for you, your endeavor will pay you dividends in your quest for musical excellence.
An extension on this point which is equally important: be aware of any daydreaming or ruminating of thoughts not related to your practice task at hand. If you’re upset or preoccupied, stop practicing at once. Continued practice with it may very well lead to you neglecting aspects of the music or your technique. Not noticing where technical corrections need to be made can and does lead to reinforcing them (i.e. “Practicing with mistakes means you’re getting better at making them,” a pet quotation my students often hear me say).
Time management (or practice with a definite goal for each day).
Let us say that if I had four or five major pieces of music I desired to conquer for an upcoming recital in a few months, those four or five pieces, each with its own density of material, myriad of technical problems, and sheer length of music in need of memorization, I learned that, without any work structure, having those compositions staring at me on a music stand did little but remind me of the overwhelming size of the task that loomed ahead for me. Since feeling overwhelmed doesn't contribute positively to one's ability to focus on learning, I would look at the lot of works to decide on my starting point, choosing a single piece as my 'project' for that particular day. A single read-through would reveal where my problem areas would be, and I would decide what I could realistically achieve. Would measurable improvement be likely attained in a single session, or would I need to commit a longer period of time? The longer you've been playing, the more your experience can help guide you to answer such questions.
Singular focus is the message here. If I had been unable to narrow my concentration, as I see students sometimes do, I'd be focusing very little onto a lot of things, and none of those things would be any better for my effort at the end of the day. Decide what you will do for that session, and commit to doing it. If things are going well in that measurable improvement is coming quicker than you planned, you can adjust your plans for additional work. Likewise, if the amount of time you decided for a difficult passage just isn't achieving much for what you had envisioned, be flexible by adjusting accordingly. If this all seems like commonsense advice, it is. Oftentimes, a part of learning involves one's concentration so greatly that the student cannot see the forest for the trees, so it is only good to take a step back and remind yourself of the big picture.
Shut up and TUNE yer guitar!
I am alarmed to learn of a student only tuning their guitar every so often. This should be done before EVERY practice session, no exceptions. Not doing this is definitely either a result of laziness or plain absentmindedness. And if you checked your instrument and found that it didn't drift out much if at all, then good—you still checked. Stringed instruments, even the best designed and highest quality ones, are subject to natural fluctuations as a result of humidity, temperature, or other factors. Checking tuning ensures that your ear is constantly exposed to the particular sound of being "in tune." Though there is no such thing as achieving "perfect tuning," this fact does not permit neglect. You can get close to perfect, and your ear will adapt to the instrument being regularly well tuned, over time. In turn, that adaptation will afford you to enjoy the immediate sensitivity in any change of tuning on the spot, and that is but one mark of good musicianship. Many types of electronic tuners exist today, from the most advanced precision strobe tuners, to very inexpensive "clip-on" devices designed to mount to either a headstock or even the sound hole of an acoustic instrument without regard for any ambient room noise (the new D’Addario/Planet Waves Acoustic Soundhole Tuner is a new personal favorite for many of my acoustic-wielding students). For more advanced players, the tried and true pitchfork is always an option when batteries and hifalutin tech aren't readily available, and even if you’re unsure on a starting string’s pitch, you can get the other strings in tune to it, at the very least. Even if you play well, have great finger mechanics (chops), and sound reasonably musical, if you’re out of tune, well...you know the phrase “You can put lipstick on a pig.” You will sound sloppy, the aural equivalent of a haggard, hygienically-challenged hobo. Being aware of this, no excuse is acceptable.
Invest in a decent, reasonably priced metronome.
Very rarely do I meet a student who openly embraces this device, and I don't believe this to be a unique observation at all. A bevy of reasons may fuel the infantile whimpering, but without even the slightest regard to those, I do feel it my duty to enforce some metronome work with my students, at the very least when they are with me in their lesson. So, now that I have listed this item as a critical one, let us examine the basic types with their features so that you can arm your practice space with what I affectionately call “The Truth,” that relentless, unwavering beacon of light signaling to save your music's pulse from the ravages of that hovering tropical storm known as your rhythmic inconsistency.
In a world where more and more five year old children have cell phones, I would be remised to exclude mention of the many apps designed to provide this function, which may serve one just fine. However, if you are a student whose phone is blissfully dinging with countless alarms of either an overly demanding job or pearls of social media ego reassurance, this can be another distraction. You can certainly mute those alerts, but another consideration: who also wouldn’t wish their phone’s battery might last a bit longer? Getting a small dedicated metronome that fits nicely in your instrument's case will save your phone’s juice for those crucial Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/text message notifications without which you would certainly perish. When you gear up to practice, put the phone out of sight, and sound (translated: silent mode) without worry; it will be there waiting when you’re finished, notifications and all.
My personal go-to timekeepers include any of the BOSS "Dr. Beat" family (DB-30, DB-60, or DB-90, though the bigger, pricier ones with some lovely advanced features are possibly a bit meretricious for the beginning student), as well as my absolute favorite, the Peterson BodyBeat, which has a “vibe” function, a vibrating pulse that the player can feel rather than hear. More metronomes are featuring this ability, leaving students with less excuses to avoid using it, such as annoyance at the nagging click or beep. Not to mention that rhythm is something you feel above all else, so this amenity makes quite a bit of sense when honing your inner clock. Similarly, "visual" metronomes boast a blinking light pattern to provide the pulse, and some students find this silent visual cue to be a more agreeable reference. Try each approach to see which method best enables you to focus on adhering to the beat while playing.
One last thing regarding metronomes: subdivisions are important. Though use of beat subdivision is certainly not always necessary, they are a great feature when, for instance, dealing with a tempo so slow that the brain has difficulty in rationalizing the pulse, or when working with polyrhythmic passages. Many of the free metronome apps do not offer the ability to subdivide the basic beat into smaller divisions, without an upgrade fee at least. Factoring in the truth that nothing’s cheaper than free, remember that if you’re hesitating to plunk down money for one of the above devices, you likely won’t have to do it again once you do, and investing in your progress is not a flippant expense. Once you decide on the right solution for you, ensure that your metronome has this capability because you will find it useful at some point in your journey. {A separate blog on how specifically to use the metronome is to come.}
The Peterson BodyBeat (with “Vibe” clip) and the Boss "Dr. Beat" DB-60. Both possess loads of useful features yet fit nicely inside a guitar case.
Write out the fingering for BOTH right and left hand.
Naturally this one targets fingerstyle or classic guitarists, and I advise the following with common sense. A simple piece of music may be self-evident and not really necessitate this step. But, if the work is something more complex, or not within your immediate tactile grasp, you may wish to heed this direction, in which case I say: account for every note. Leaving notes up to chance only leaves further chance of error. Though mistakes shouldn’t be deemed the end of the world in performance, as they can happen regardless of preparation, one needn’t throw down a welcome mat and hospitably invite error on account of laziness. {If you are a beginning student, your teacher should do this for you, and help you understand how such decisions are made so that you can do this yourself over time.} In the big picture, this procedure takes a relatively nominal amount of your time. If done correctly, it effectively gives you the performer a blueprint towards a clean, successful repetition, which is what you want and, when tackling that technical doozie of a passage, the thing you most need to accumulate.
Side note: even if you are not a finger-style player, you can take complicated flat-pick passages and devise solutions to tricky picking patterns. Simply analyze where cumbersome moves can either be simplified or isolated for deeper work, and write out the patterns using simple arrows or violin markings employed for the down and up strokes on the music.
I’ve often seen a student who has not made a concrete decision on the fingering of a passage play said passage a number of times, and each time, the right hand fingering is different. The problem with this less-thoughtful approach is that the notes often have a multitude of options as to which fingers grab them. Consistency, which is necessary to memorize music (and more specifically here, for rehearsing the execution of the music) is absent, creating a unique impression in your memory with each passing repetition. Instead, take the time to slowly play through a passage with a variety of conceivable fingering tactics you can muster, looking to find the most logical, musical, and relaxed solution, being also mindful of the ultimate performance tempo. Then, make a decision, and WRITE IT DOWN so that it may become clear to the mind, ears, and fingers. Even if you pride yourself on having a fantastic memory, should you eventually fall away from the piece over a period of time and subsequently decide to revisit it, those written fingerings will save you the time of having to rediscover that specific winning strategy you might later forget.
If you already knew and do all of the above, then I would venture a guess that the map for your musical travels is already well-etched. If not (and I have known many who either didn’t think about the above, or know very damn well but choose not to do it), these simple suggestions should instantly bring some fundamental order to what was likely the chaos many musicians experience, juxtaposing inspired moments of progress with bleak troughs of stagnation. A continuation on this installment will seek to further illuminate the sacred shed beyond these essentials, casting out the damp darkness so that your practice becomes instead an engrossing and thoroughly rewarding journey of self-discovery.