If you’ve ever sat down to practice and wondered, “What should I really be working on right now?” — in How To Stop Wasting Time, Practice With Intention & Solve Problems Faster you’ll find a simple mindset and structure to transform practice ruts into meaningful progress.
Here are 3 steps to build a better practice session.
1. Start with one clear goal.
- Ask yourself: What is the one thing I want to improve today? Maybe it’s a challenging passage for intonation, clarity under a long slur, or exploring a different shade of piano dynamic.
- Write it down in one sentence. Be specific and include measure numbers or larger sections that you will focus on.
2. Break it into 2-4 short, focused tasks.
For example:
- Practice a passage starting from the end to strengthen it, and then backtracking bit by bit.
- Play the same passage several times with different bow distribution ideas and pick the one that best matches your intended phrasing.
- Video record each version and listen back to see and hear if your idea is working or has potential.
3. Reflect and adjust after each session.
At the end of your practice, write down your observations while you still remember! BE SPECIFIC, especially on what is working – for example:
- Playing measures ‘x to y’ with more bow and contact point ‘z’ made the sound ___. It felt ___. Review this briefly tomorrow and explore more freedom in ___.
- NEW FINGERINGS in measures ‘x-y’. It made the shifts easier and less audible, plus the left hand felt less tense. Repeat throughout the week for muscle memory build-up.
Be sure to put a date on top of your observation page, especially if you have a lot of music to learn. This will help you pace yourself and build each practice session on previous observations, hopefully with more eagerness to explore with curiosity and enjoy the process.
Happy Practicing!