Yesterday, I gave a 3-hour workshop for young musicians in Cologne. We covered time management, mental practice and general practice methods.
The kids practice about one hour a day and some might want to study music after graduating.
They were quite shocked when I told them that "messing around" with their instruments doesn't count as practice. Playing old pieces, always starting at the beginning of pieces and playing through doesn't constitute work for me. It is nice and should be enjoyed but do your work first.
Then I introduced them to priorities and planning, two very important time management principles.
We talked about long-range goals (the competition next year; the audition in two years...), mid-term goals (pick out the pieces for the audition/competition), and short-term goals (learn and memorize the exposition of the first movement).
We also need micro-goals for polishing up our pieces (speed up the trills using a metronome; work each finger to be able to play even trills with every finger...)
Knowing exactly what you are going to work on BEFORE you start is imperative. Don't just start at the beginning, play through until you make a mistake, doctor the difficult part until it "works" and then play on until the next mistake. Dat crazy-man practice!!
It generally helps motivation if you know exactly what you want to work on and how. If it doesn't, work on it anyway! Work on the hard parts first, when you are fresh. Attack the difficulties with gusto, analyze the problems, find solutions. Self-discipline must take over where motivation is lacking.
Don't waste precious practice time! Don't wait until you are inspired! Don't procrastinate!
There are no shortcuts.
The kids practice about one hour a day and some might want to study music after graduating.
They were quite shocked when I told them that "messing around" with their instruments doesn't count as practice. Playing old pieces, always starting at the beginning of pieces and playing through doesn't constitute work for me. It is nice and should be enjoyed but do your work first.
Then I introduced them to priorities and planning, two very important time management principles.
We talked about long-range goals (the competition next year; the audition in two years...), mid-term goals (pick out the pieces for the audition/competition), and short-term goals (learn and memorize the exposition of the first movement).
We also need micro-goals for polishing up our pieces (speed up the trills using a metronome; work each finger to be able to play even trills with every finger...)
Knowing exactly what you are going to work on BEFORE you start is imperative. Don't just start at the beginning, play through until you make a mistake, doctor the difficult part until it "works" and then play on until the next mistake. Dat crazy-man practice!!
It generally helps motivation if you know exactly what you want to work on and how. If it doesn't, work on it anyway! Work on the hard parts first, when you are fresh. Attack the difficulties with gusto, analyze the problems, find solutions. Self-discipline must take over where motivation is lacking.
Don't waste precious practice time! Don't wait until you are inspired! Don't procrastinate!
There are no shortcuts.
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