Make a Plan

Make a plan. Show up. Follow through.

Sounds simple, right?

Not so fast, buddy!

If you’ve ever really wanted to achieve something, it takes a lot of work and discipline.

If your plan is to win an audition, that’s great! But how do you go about doing that?

Let’s break it down.

Clearly, you need to practice! So first you put it in your calendar. 10:00 practice. Then at 10:00, you sit down with your instrument. And you start to practice.

But let’s back up to that first part of making a plan.

What will you practice? How will you practice and how long will it take? You need to start breaking your practice goals down.

Way down.

So my plan might look like this:

10:00: Warm-up: scales and arpeggios.

10:15: Beethoven 5, second movement.

10:15: Phase 1: work on intonation with a drone or a tuner. Slow, very slow practice.

10:20: Phase 2: work on exact rhythm (those dotted 16ths and 32nds!). Do it to a metronome.

10:25: Put Phase 1 and 2 together. Think about sound.

10:30: Play some music for fun - I like to play concertos I haven’t worked on for a while!

10:45: Phase 1: work on Don Juan - that pesky first run! Slow practice with paying attention to string crossings. Coordinating right and left hand (I find this super tricky!!)

10:50: Phase 2: work on feeling the larger pulse. First, do it in 4, then in 2.

10:55: Decide to redo either Phase 1 or continue on with Phase 2.

11:00 - 11:15: Take a Break!

Does this seem overly OCD to you? It may be - but studies have shown that one’s attention and retention is greatly improved by structuring practice into 5-minute segments. Our brain doesn’t have time to get bored and start zoning out. And the retention for what you have practiced is actually better when you return to that passage the following day.

So why not give this a try in your next practice session? Set a timer and stick to the schedule.

Let me know how this works for you!

Happy practicing!