For many musicians who aspire to play music for a living, practicing their chosen instrument often turns into something of a ritual. Many begin learning a musical instrument at an early age, learning through music tutors and practicing an average of 6 or 7 hours a week.
As a musician’s life continues their level of practice usually increases, and by the time they’re young adults, some musicians regularly practice for 5 or 6 hours a day!
A professional athlete trains to maintain their fitness levels for competitions and an ambition to compete in the Olympics, a musician practices to keep improving their skills so they can benefit from a successful career.
Practicing shouldn’t be an unpleasant task for any musician, rather part of a musician’s everyday schedule – vital for any musician wanting to sustain a career in music.
For many musicians, laying down a set of achievable goals is the first step to a good practice regime as the advantage of having your aims and objectives set out in front of you often helps productivity on those days when the motivation doesn’t flow quite as freely!
For musicians whose time is often restricted, having a set of achievable goals will help hone in on exactly what it is you need to be practicing!
Plenty of musicians’ versions of practicing often revolve around playing what they already know and a large amount of noodling! If you’re one of these musicians, you could consider what skills you don’t possess that would bring you more work as a musician.
For example, sight-reading is a crucial skill of classically trained musicians but has been known to evade pop musicians because they prefer to use tab, chord charts or learn songs by ear.
Below are some tips for a successful practice regime…
ALWAYS warm up
Warming up can greatly reduce the chance of injuries to your hands whilst playing your instrument. Injuries such as Repetitive strain, tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome can (and do!) happen to musicians who don’t warm up properly before playing a gig or even just practicing their instrument.
If you’re an instrumentalist, playing through a few scales or melodies at a reasonable tempo is a good place to start, although there will be many instrument specific warm up techniques that you can look up, such as the “spider technique” for guitar:
Use a metronome
All good musicians have an excellent feel of time and time signatures. Whatever it is you’re playing, you should always play it in time to a metronome, as this will not only improve your playing but can also help the smoothness of your phrasing, as well as working on your own “in built” metronome IE your sense of time when not playing to a click.
Have a set of measurable goals
As previously mentioned, having a set of reachable goals is vital for a musician to keep track of progress. Even if you just manage to practice for one hour every day, with a set of goals, your practicing will be regimented and goal focused.
Practicing your musical instrument is vital if you’re looking to maintain a career in the music industry. Although, (as expected!) practicing for 5 or 6 hours a day can get monotonous, so don’t be afraid to invent games to try and make practicing more fun and exciting!
You should always try to make any practicing goals SMART. Aside from the obvious statement, this is also an acronym for setting goals that are:
S pecific
M easurable
A chievable
R elevant
T ime bound
You can learn more about setting SMART goals for yourself by reading sites like mindtools.com.
Do you have any effective practice routines? What is your theory for practicing your instrument? Let us know in the comments below…
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