Practicing: Part Three
My Five Tips For A Successful Practice Session
I realized I created a sub series about practicing, yet I haven’t given you tips on practicing. So away we go!
Here are my top five tips for a successful practice session:
1.) Find yourself a practice space.
It can be an office, a corner in your bedroom, a closet - whatever you prefer. There is no wrong answer. Just make sure you have a place where you can focus on your music. I recommend good lighting and a pencil, too!
I have created a practice nook where I am right next to all my scores resting on a bookshelf and my keyboard.
2.) Remove yourself from any and all distractions.
Silence your phone - I realize that I sometimes we need to answer when someone contacts, but try to limit your interaction so you can focus.
Make sure you do not have any screens around.
Unless your music is digital or you use your iPad to study/play /sing your music. I’ve had some scores that were strictly digital, but truthfully, it takes me twice as long to learn music on an iPad.
3. Warm up
Stretch, Breathing Exercises, vocal/instrumental warm ups. I’ll admit, sometimes I don’t need to stretch, but it helps if you can’t clear your mind.
Some days I focus purely on warm ups for phrasing and or legato lines. Other days, a solid ten to fifteen minute warm up does the trick before working through repertoire.
I just recommend you don’t go straight into practicing without warming your body up.
4.) Create a daily goal
What do you want to focus on? How much time do you want to spend? What music do you want to work on?
These are questions you should ask yourself prior to your practice session.
I don’t have a set practice time, but I typically practice anytime after 2PM and 5PM is typically my go-to practice time. However, I’ve practiced as early as 10AM and have had to warm up as early as 9AM.
Some days, I do a run through of my audition repertoire to keep them ready to go. Other times, I focus on certain composers. Lately my Sunday practice sessions have been Wolfy Mozart time.
When learning a role, I work the end of the opera to the beginning. I typically learn the arias and then make sure they are solid so I never face any problems in an audition/performance setting.
I’ll practice anywhere from 30 minutes to almost two hours.
If you are tired, do not push yourself. Any bit of time is better than no time at all :-)
5.) Work that trouble spot
Is that cadenza frustrating you? Are you missing that off beat? Are those seven measures tricky?
Use this time to work them out. Give yourself at least fifteen minutes to go over on those trouble areas. It’s okay to practice that measure over and over again for three minutes. After you work it out, take a break and then revisit it after practicing another part/aria/piece of music. This helps see if muscle memory is working.