There is often little help available for students at music college in regards to making the most out of each practice session and making sure it is effective. I’ve come up with three main points to laying out a good practice routine, you can use the download Practice Planner from my Etsy shop as a template for your own weekly practice routine.
1. Plan
The most important thing about practicing is planning what you will do before you step into the room.
- Divide your practice into elements e.g. technical exercises, scales, pieces.
- Dedicate a certain amount of time to pieces and set timers on your phone.
- Decide what pieces need practicing.
- Which sections need the most attention, include bar numbers for reference.
2. What do you want to achieve?
It’s important to set realistic goals. Don’t set goals that you can’t reach in one session as this will lead to low self esteem and unproductive practice which will become an unfortunate habit.
3. Assess and reflect
Ask yourself these questions at the end of each session:
- What went well?
- Were there any tension/pain/technical problems? Why?
- What needs to be revised next time?
- What needs further development?
- Were there any other problems you encountered?
- Did you achieve your goal?
Here is an example of how I use my practice template:
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