Practicing Tips by Bathsheba Marcus Conley


Good practicing habits are essential to developing as a musician. Bloomingdale has assembled a practicing guide, including common practicing problems and their solutions.


1. Playing a section over and over again in order to correct it.

Repetitive practicing alone does not improve your playing. It is not how many times you play something that will correct mistakes, but rather, how you practice it. Repeating a section over and over again simply reinforces bad habits. Always remember that “Practice makes Permanent” not “Practice makes Perfect.”


   2. Playing through an entire work rather than focusing on a smaller sections.

There is a time and a place for playing through the piece you are working on. Remember that playing through a five or ten minute pieces takes five or ten minutes. If you have only 60 minutes to practice in a day that can be 10% of your practicing time. Your practicing time will be much better spent isolating sections and focusing on what you want to improve in those sections. Then as those sections get better you can practice in larger chunks until you are ready to play through the whole piece. That’s not to say you should never play through a work – in order to get the musical sense of the piece you must do this of course. It’s just to say that it’s not necessary to do that everyday while you are learning a piece, especially if you are short on time.


3. Saving the musical ideas for later.

Often we focus immediately on technical aspects – rhythm and intonation, ignoring phrasing and tone until we know the notes. We are musicians because something in what we play speaks to us. Begin expressing that as soon as possible. Remarkably, when you have a clear concept of a musical phrase, technique can fall into place. Aspects of tempo, bowing, breath control and fingering can all improve when you have a clear musical sense of a line.


4. Unfocused practicing.

Letting your mind go somewhere else when you are playing – thinking about the paper you might have to do, or the movie you want to see, instead of actively concentrating on the music. Instead of treating practicing as an activity that is keeping you from something else you have to do, think of it as your “escape” from everything else going on in your life.


Next page you will find some ideas to help you avoid some of these common practicing problems.

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