LISTEN ON –
This week on the podcast, I thought it would be a good time to have a full discussion on some of the benefits of organizing your practice. I dive into my detail in the actual episode, but my practice hasn’t always been the most productive use of my time. I had tools and strategies to break down passages of music and learn how to fix issues, but I didn’t have the understanding of how to plan for long term progress.
There are three benefits that we’re covered in the episode. I’m sure there are many more, but for the sake of simplicity, I chose to stick with three. They are:
Discipline
Planning your practice helps develop discipline and adherence by giving you a solid plan to follow each practice day. Knowing exactly what you want to accomplish and how long it might take goes a long way in helping you find the motivation to practice on days you might not feel like it.
Less Practice Anxiety/More Peace Of Mind
Planning your work out in advance gives you the chance to make sure you will cover everything you need to cover during the week to have your needs met. If you don’t cover certain skills on certain days, you can relax — you know everything is accounted for. You just need to show up and follow the plan.
Developing Your Own Authority
This is a benefit I didn’t know I needed until I started developing it. Simply put, at some point we all need to develop independence in our own practicing process. Learning how to choose exercises, how to play them, when to choose new ones, choosing appropriate tempos are just a few of the variables that we need to understand. In the beginning, most of us have teachers that help guide us. If we don’t put a priority on understanding how to practice, before we know it we’ll be on our own with no idea how to move forward without someone else’s help.
In the episode, I also wrote about programs that I’ve been writing for routines. If you are someone looking for more discipline, peace of mind, authority, or all of the above in your musical journey, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’d love to help you develop a solid plan for your improvement. Here are pictures of two days from my routine, just to give you an idea of what things look like.
I would like to emphasize that this is MY personal routine, designed for MY personal goals. I’m not claiming that this is the best routine that someone can follow. I am saying that if you want something that organizes your exercise and guides your practice like mine, for the price of a lesson we can make one that is customized to YOU. Send me a message via the contact page, or any of my social media pages to get started!
Until next time,
Ryan