Mindful Practicing
What is it that makes practicing a joy for some while a bore for others? Some students dread that trip to the practice room while others relish it. I believe it all has to do with the process of improvement and personal growth. No one likes to do work when it feels like work. Especially aimless or pointless work. This is why I believe mindfulness is so important if you want to enjoy your practice time and make consistent progress. Giving your full attention to the task at hand, small or large scale, will make you happier and your practice more efficient.
The first step, before any kind of typical practice occurs, should be creating/setting your goals. This includes knowing what you can and want to achieve and setting a realistic timeline. A teacher or coach can assist you with this (they probably know your potential and optimal learning sequence better than you do, at least in your first year of study or so). Always be specific with your goals and how you intend to get there. Do not be vague. It is not enough to say “I want to be better.” Tell yourself, in as detailed terms as possible, what you want to be able to do. Remind yourself of your goals often while practicing and fine-tune them as you see fit.
Try to be aware of every facet of your playing mechanism as you are practicing. Most of the time, we think we are not succeeding because we have not repeated it enough. But often a trouble spot is so because of something physical. Think about how you are holding your bow, your embouchure, your fingering, your posture, etc. Are these things facilitating your playing/technique or inhibiting them? These physical components are just as important as the mental ones and should not be ignored (again, an experienced teacher may be able to tell you things about yourself that you may not have otherwise noticed or been aware of).
Don’t think about what you “should be able to do” based on past experiences. Try not to become frustrated when you cannot play a certain passage or when things aren’t going exactly as you planned. There is a common saying in social work, “Meet people where they are, not where you wish they would be.” Try meeting yourself where you are. Keep your end goal in mind, and figure out what you need to do, how you need to practice in order to get there. Do not rush the process. Instead try to analyze why you cannot play it right now. Practicing should be a cycle of “doing,” assessing, and then, based on the assessment, repeating or altering the goal. Figure out how you have to approach, frame, or practice differently so that you can make progress and eventually overcome any difficulties you are having. Since you have already figured out how NOT to play it, you are one step closer to mastering it. Of course, a great teacher can help you heighten your awareness of your playing, how to improve your technique, and how to troubleshoot more effectively (with a tool kit they undoubtedly received from their teacher and experience, and so on backward down the line). In any case, this kind of mindful, self-centered (in the best way!) practicing will teach you a lot about yourself and will make your efforts in the future that much more successful.
If you are unsure how to improve your playing, here you can experiment. Try not to repeat ad nauseam. After each new experiment, assess what you liked about it and what you did not. What worked and what did not. What to keep and what to discard.
This also applies on a day-to-day basis, not just within a single practice session. Just because you had something learned the day before does not mean you have it learned today. Don't let this discourage you. Instead, try to view it as another opportunity to learn something about yourself and your own knowledge. Often, forgetting something is an important step to knowing it even better.
This might seem exhausting; constantly analyzing your own actions, and critiquing them. Due to this intense work, you should absolutely take frequent short breaks, after about 20 minutes or so. Even if it is just a short walk around the room, a quick mental and physical break will relieve your body of any tension it may be holding and refresh your mind. Try not to do any other work during these small breaks. Do not e-mail, text, or be otherwise “on.” This break should be just that, a reprieve from all the effort you just put in. Schedule practicing for a time that it cannot be interrupted by anything else, even if it is only for 20 minutes or so. It will be much more productive than a longer session with constant interruptions.
This isn’t to say that every day will produce equally fruitful results. Some days will be very successful while other days will seem like you are hitting a brick wall. This is due to many possible factors (mental and/or physical fatigue, haven’t found just the right practice technique just yet, ego still lurking), but this is part of the process. Plateaus and breakthroughs are a common phenomena in any learning process.
Happy practicing!
SOURCES
https://99u.adobe.com/articles/16431/overcoming-plateaus-on-your-path-to-mastery
Westney, William. The Perfect Wrong Note: Learning to Trust Your Musical Self. Amadeus Press, 2006.