Claire Allen, violin
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28 Days of Practice: Week 2: Putting In The Time

11/1/2013

2 Comments

 
This week you are going to commit yourself to practicing every single day. Take a look at your practice chart from last week. Notice how many days you practiced. Tell yourself, right now, that your goal is to turn that number into seven. Seven days of practice. Say it out loud. “I am going to practice for seven days in a row. I am committed to doing this!”

**Modification for those who already practice every day: Set a time goal for yourself. If you normally practice, say, 30 minutes a day and are looking to increase to an hour, then have your goal to be to practice for an hour every day this week.  

The first step is to look at your schedule for this week. If you’re a younger student, someone who has their parents manage their schedule, sit down with them and your schedule and fill out the following chart for the whole week.
28_days_of_practice_week_2_chart.pdf
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Create a reminder for yourself. Post this schedule on the refrigerator at home, set an alarm on your phone or computer, add an event to your calendar – anything you want, something that will remind you at the designated time that it is practice time.

Next, you’re going to need some help. It’s really easy to logic yourself out of practicing, especially if you get busy with or distracted by something else. Ask a parent, a sibling, or a really responsible friend to be your practice partner. Ask this practice partner to ask you if you’ve practiced each day this week. It can be a simple conversation on the way home from school, a question over dinner, even a text message.
Picture
<-- My friend Lillian is my practice partner! You can hear the results of both our practicing on November 17 at our recital! 

Finally, track your practice time on your usual practice chart and check off the days on the chart from this week. Remember, your goal is to practice EVERY DAY! Good luck!


2 Comments
Isabelle
11/6/2013 12:01:36 am

Hello Claire!
Your serie of posts about practicing is being very inspiring. I'm trying to practice everyday of this week - so far, I'm doing good! And 1 hour of practice also... the other thing I`m trying to improve is to engage in ~active~ practicing... I mean, really putting effort and thought in all my actions during practicing - I normally play in auto-pilot mode. I found this a big change. In a few days I could notice my advances.
The problem is, I work in other job and practice at night, and this 1 hour of focused practice is getting me so tired... I`m amazed with the results but I`ve never felt so tired after practicing.
Do you think I should practice less than 1 hour or eventually I`ll get used to it?
I`ll keep following your posts, they`re great! :)

Reply
Claire
11/7/2013 11:53:42 am

Hi Isabelle!
I'm so glad you like these posts! It's good to know that there are people out there who find this stuff interesting and useful.

I think an hour is a really good amount of time to practice. However, it might be a good idea to practice 30 minutes at a time, take a short break and then practice 30 minutes more. Practicing in shorter chunks (you could even do 3 sessions of 20 minutes each) helps you focus more intensely but lets your brain and body rest in-between.

I know from personal experience that it's hard to work and then practice! I like to alternate my practice sessions with either household chores or short episodes of a tv show. For example, I'll play scales and an etude for 20 minutes, and then go do the dishes, and then work on a piece for 20 minutes and then watch an episode of a tv show. There's no rule that says you have to do all your practicing in one big chunk!

Hopefully this is helpful for you! I think you'll really like this week's post. It's all about common practice habits and suggestions for breaking them.

All the best,
Claire

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    Written thoughts on my musical life.

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