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Recreate your lesson

Submitted by Mike Saville on Thu, 04/12/2008 - 10:43.
34
Remember how much progress you made at your last lesson? Treat each practice session like a lesson to make them really effective. Warm-up, go through pieces, exercises and scales. All the time you are doing this imagine your teacher is there and try to think what they would say about your playing.
 
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Spend time to notice your mistakes

Submitted by Mike Saville on Thu, 20/11/2008 - 22:11.

33Don't be too hasty to fix mistakes until you've noticed what they are. Play the passage again and notice exactly where the problem begins. Play it a further time to notice how it affects your hands and body. Doing this will put you in a much better position to fix the real problem.

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The way you think is the way you practice

Submitted by Mike Saville on Tue, 11/11/2008 - 07:43.
32Poor practice is most often the result of poor thinking. Make sure that you have clear thoughts on practice. Have a plan and know what you want to achieve. Also apply your mind (and ears!) in a very focused way on the task in hand.
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Practice out of tempo

Submitted by Mike Saville on Thu, 30/10/2008 - 08:43.

31Practice if done properly will not sound musical all the time. Practising out of tempo will help. Play slower or faster as needed to analyse what needs to be corrected.

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If you can't hear it in your head you can't play it.

Submitted by Mike Saville on Mon, 13/10/2008 - 15:21.
30
If you can't hear it in your head you can't play it.

Be sure to make sure you can hear notes before you play them. Test yourself by singing the note quietly to yourself first.
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Nine times wrong, one time right

Submitted by Mike Saville on Mon, 29/09/2008 - 09:39.

29Nine times wrong and one time right does not mean a problem is solved.

Aim for One time wrong and nine times right.

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Be Better Today

Submitted by Mike Saville on Mon, 22/09/2008 - 08:52.
28If you don't improve you will go backwards. Make a promise to yourself - Try to be better today than you were yesterday and better tomorrow than you are today.
 
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Listen properly

Submitted by Mike Saville on Mon, 08/09/2008 - 09:08.
27
Mistakes often happen because we don't listen properly. You can avoid this by taking 3 simple steps:

  1. Be able to sing all the notes in a piece.
  2. Listen to the sounds around you.
  3. Take notice of the effect the sounds are having on you.
 
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The Right Way?

Submitted by Mike Saville on Mon, 08/09/2008 - 08:58.
26
Don't get too hung up on the right or wrong way to do something.

As you develop and learn more about your instrument you will discover there are many, many, many right ways to do things. You'll also notice that what you think is the right way will change over time.
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Musical Exercises

Submitted by Mike Saville on Mon, 08/09/2008 - 08:54.

25Many technical exercises can be long, uninteresting and even tedious.

Instead of doing these exercises why not instead pick a section of music from a piece that is similar to your exercise.

Doing this will make the exercise more interesting and invigorating.

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