Now that we’ve settled into the rhythm of weekly lessons and the other activities surrounding the school year, it is a good time to talk about how to structure practice times in order to get the most out of your talent and playing.

Oftentimes well meaning teachers or parents would say, “you just need to practice more” to a student who is struggling with getting on with their musical discipline. Then the poor, suffering chap lumbers off with his trombone only to find more frustration in his budding craft.

Well, I hope to provide some helpful direction regarding how to practice effectively.  The advice that follows comes from my 31 years as a trumpeter, and 20 plus years as a private lesson and classroom teacher. I’ve picked up a lot of great tips through the years from my own teachers from elementary school through university, and from colleagues in teaching and professional playing.

First things first, your practice area needs to be comfortable. I once had a clarinet student who told me that her dad makes her practice out in the garage. If their garage is anything like mine, that would not be a good environment for comfortable practice. I get it, the dogs might yelp and the cat will run for cover,  but they’ll live for 20 minutes while our budding musician hones their craft.
Make sure that you have a comfortable chair and music stand. No, sitting on the side of your bed with your sheet music propped up on your pillow will not suffice. Trust me, I’ve done it. A firm chair like a dining chair without arms is just about perfect. Not a computer chair that has wheels and swivels. Not a futon that crumples your torso into a 45 degree angle, not the aforementioned side of the bed. Also, ensure you have good lighting. Lastly, keep those pesky siblings and the pesky iPad away! Distractions will turn a potential 20 minutes of good practice time into an hour of next to nothing gained.

Next, have a goal for what you are going to practice doing that session. For example, set the goal that you are going to work on technique and a certain piece of repertoire for that session. As much as it helps to structure practice time, try not to set goals purely surrounding how long you play, but more what you play. How long is secondary. Think of it like going to the gym and deciding ahead of time that today’s workout would be core and cardio. Sure, you may want to spend 20 minutes doing your core exercises and 30 minutes doing your cardio, but getting proper reps done is more important than just time in the gym. So it is with practicing; deciding what you are going to play ahead of time will be more effective than how long you play.

Thirdly, have a time goal. Yes, deciding what to play is important, but you do need time repeating that skill or element to gain mastery. So plan to spend about 20 minutes (for absolute beginners) to an hour and a half (if you’re really advanced) or so for your practice time. Practicing 4 out of 7 days should get you going well. I should mention that rest is just as important as practice; musicians do develop repetitive strain injuries from time to time, so rest is important to remember.

Now that you’ve established where you’re going to play, what  you’re going to play and how long you’re going to play, let’s take a look and how to execute that playing time.

Generally speaking, I like to think that the ideal practice time should be divided into thirds; 1/3 warm-up, 1/3 technical work, 1/3 repertoire. That’s a good general guideline. You can devise your own structure – perhaps 1/4 warm up, 1/2 technical work and 1/4 repertoire and cool down – but it’s good to have a definite structure to the execution of your practice time.

There it is for part 1. Next time I’ll go into detail as far as how I practice and how you may be able to structure your practice in a likewise fashion. Happy practicing!