AMOGH RAO
ELEMENTS OF A
PRACTICE ROUTINE
We’ve all heard of the concept of perfect practice makes perfect. As musicians, skill is a by-product not just of passion and
talent, but also the effort that goes into developing them. Here, we’ve put together a bunch of important ideas that will help
you improve as musicians regardless of the instrument you play.
Consistency – Approach – Guides –
Everyone’s noticed that when they don’t
play an instrument, speak a language
or play a game for long, they tend to
get rusty. We all have a base level
intellect and skill that takes little to no
effort. Everything beyond that, comes
with practice. The key here however,
is the consistency in practice. It’s
crucial to distribute your sessions and
time in a way that allows you to visit
your instrument constantly without
losing connect. Practicing for 8 hours
straight and then playing after a month
would just bring you back to square
one. Dedicating the smallest amount
of time, but on a daily or weekly basis
will ensure that you don’t stagnate. Probably the hardest thing to do when
setting up a practice routine is knowing
what to practice and how. This varies
greatly not only from instrument to
instrument, but experience and style
too. What remains common is the idea
of very focused repetition. Just playing
songs or jamming is great, but it doesn’t
count as practice. It’s essential to devote
time to exercises, with intense focus
for short bursts of time. A principle
called Pomodoro is great for such
sessions. Essentially, you break up your
entire time into 25-minute sessions,
with 5-minute breaks in between. If you’ve been playing an instrument
for a while, you’ve probably dreaded
the idea of the metronome. The
analogy I use when explaining its
necessity is that of a ruled notebook
versus a plain one. Having lines to
write between helps keep sentences
structured and legible. It’s the same
with having a guide to time. No matter
what you play, having a strong control
of time and incorporating it in your
sessions will immensely improve the
professionalism of your playing.
Recording –
Listening –
I can’t stress enough how crucial your
senses are when it comes to improving.
The most skilled of musicians all
follow the principle of dividing their
practice into 60% listening and 40%
physically practicing. Analyzing
music, opening up to more and more
kinds of music and training your
ears and mind to comprehend the
layers that go into its making, will
do wonders to your actual practice,
making it more effective and efficient.
Maintaining objectivity is always
difficult when trying to measure
one’s performance. While playing
and listening to yourself at the same
time, it’s extremely difficult to pick
up minute flaws accurately. So, it’s
crucial to constantly record and listen
to yourself during sessions and keep
track of noticeable flaws or areas for
improvement.
Practice sessions can be the most
enlightening experiences of self-
discovery and reflection. Keeping
these thoughts in mind have helped
me immensely, and we hope these
takeaways can do the same for you.
REC
26
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com