1. Always have a goal before you start practicing.

Outline what you want to work on the next day each time you finish practicing. Make a list of what sections you want to concentrate on and what aspects of those sections you want to focus on. Then when you come to the music the next day, you are ready to practice. You won’t run the risk of practicing without a goal and you have already established what you will focus on in that session.


2. You do not always have to be at your instrument to practice.

If you commute to school or work you can use that time to look at your music. This is a great way to internalize rhythms or hear a phrase in your head.


3. Always be mentally present at your practicing.

An hour of practicing where you are concentrating well can equal two hours of playing your instrument absently. Always ask yourself questions – where did I make my mistakes and why? Is it a fingering or breath issue? Is it a timing or tempo issue? You may not always have the answers but asking the questions will at least get you to use your time well by trying to solve these problems instead of just playing the same section over and over again.


4. When you first learn a piece – take it slowly.

Although this may seem frustrating, it is really just an exercise in patience. If you learn a piece quickly, you may learn wrong notes and awkward fingerings. The more accurately you learn the piece, the less time you’ll have to spend correcting avoidable errors.


5. Reinforce the way you want to play something.

If you play something through once exactly as you want to hear it – make sure you can do it again before you leave that section. Play it again a few times. That way, when you play it the next day, hopefully you will have established how you want it to sound in your ear. If you leave a section after immediately playing it “right” once, then in a sense all the time you spent on that section that day is wasted, because you haven’t reinforced your work.


6. Start with the section you don’t know, not what you know best.

It’s always tempting to play what you play best. But your practicing can be better served if you start with the section that is newest or most difficult for you. People tend to spend the most time during their practicing session on the first piece they work on. So if you pick the toughest section to work on when you are freshest and work on it consistently you will see great improvements in that part.


7. Specifically regarding intonation: If you have a particularly difficult intonation section isolate the notes without any rhythm.

Play all the notes as whole notes. This way, you are working on just intonation and have taken all other elements which use your concentration out of the passage.		   8. Specifically regarding rhythm: no musician is above counting aloud or clapping.

If a passage has a particularly difficult rhythm, write in your beats. Practice clapping the rhythm, while counting a steady beat. If you can’t get the rhythm in your current tempo—slow it down.


9. Notice patterns in your music.

This is particularly helpful in difficult passages. Is the passage moving up by thirds, is it moving up by half-steps, is the composer using fifths to modulate to a new key? Understanding 1) that a pattern exists and 2) what the pattern is, makes your practicing more efficient because you are no longer studying isolated notes. Instead you understand how those notes fit together.


10. Record yourself.

If you hear yourself on a recording it can often help you solve problems quickly. You can immediately hear if you are out of tune, or not in a comfortable tempo when you listen to a tape. Again you can use your commuting time to listen to these recordings and make notes on what you would like to improve.


Often people approach practicing as a chore, not as fun. As musicians, we often think the fun comes in performing, not practicing. Moving towards efficient practicing also means changing this attitude. Practicing can be fun – in fact, we spend many more hours of our musical life practicing than we do performing. Practicing is where you hone your art and develop the skills you need to become closer to perfecting that art. Of course practicing isn’t always fun, but the more you can shape your attitude to enjoy your time with your instrument, whether you are practicing or performing, the more you will get out of the time you spend practicing.

Most importantly – know yourself. No practicing is more inefficient than the practicing you do if you are too tired or preoccupied with something else. When you come to your instrument, come to it with a clear mind. It is a chance for you to not think about everything else going on in your life and to focus simply on the music at hand. Practicing for four hours every day may not be right for you every day. That’s not to say that some days you shouldn’t be putting in more time – this always depends on how much music you have to learn, if you have a concert coming up, etc. However, making sure you get the most efficient use out of the time you have can take you a long way to making improvements in your playing.

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