Introduction
How do you practice? Were you ever given practice lessons? What about methods on how to break up your time when in a practice room? As musicians, we are all different learners and require a unique process to achieve progress or maintenance in the practice room. I find often that most people who practice are working off of habits, not goals, and certainly not thinking ahead of how to improve their time spent. What is better? An hour spent practicing intentionally or 8 hours spent jamming mindlessly on chops and speed? Obviously an hour spent intentionally with your practice materials is better. But what do you do when you get into the practice room? Start the piece and play until you make a mistake then start over again? As I’ve said again and again, you will be great at starting the piece, and probably lose quality over the duration of the performance. We have learned these practice techniques over years of trial and error, or possibly the feeling of a need to accomplish a certain element of the music in a specified period of time. As a result, we cram our learning, focusing on the big picture before adding the dynamics, nuance, and artistry into the pieces we are working on. In the following writing, I hope you will discover a new method of practicing that can improve your overall playing, as well as increase what you get out of your time spent, hopefully allowing you more time out of the practice room too!
How to Practice for One Hour
Let’s say you have an hour to practice and it is not for something that is mandatory to be learned immediately. Where do you start? Jump right into the piece you are preparing and you may feel uninspired to do any more than get through it. Play for fun and you will maintain skills but not learn anything new. Mastering practice is all about breaking up your time into categories that cover the scope of your study, being sure to leave room for maintenance, sharpening of a skill, as well as discovery and creating something new. Focusing on the smaller picture, a two bar phrase that is troublesome, getting a piece finished before your lesson tomorrow, or checking boxes will leave you feeling stuck in a rut. Music is living and breathing. Your art needs nourished, it can not work all the time, nor can it be on vacation too long without suffering in some way. I truly believe that your practice is incomplete if not given a chance to be challenged, work, play, relax, and be creative. Without these elements burnout is inevitable.
Areas of practice; Warm up, Fundamentals, Exploration, Specific Area of Study
In the current age, glorification of 30 seconds worth of technical and fast playing is prevalent. Fads in music come and go, strong core fundamentals and musicianship never fail.
Warm up: Something simple and slow. A proper warm up should be just that, not something that tests and challenges your endurance, tempo, or brain. It should simply prepare your body to play music. Since it is not safe to jump directly into any physical activity, this will help you set an atmosphere for music making as well as prepare your limbs and mind for what you are about to do.
Fundamentals: What are the core movements, vocabulary, and techniques used in your performance? This is the space to work on these elements. Some will play rudiments, scales, basic strokes, and long tones. Daily care of your fundamentals is similar to that of your dental hygiene routine. When left unchecked, can ultimately lead to break down of your teeth and gums. Blazing through the fundamentals does not reinforce anything good in your playing, and in some ways can just close the window on your attention to detail. Take your time and zoom in on the specific elements of your playing. Give them love and attention and be honest with yourself.
Independence: One of the characteristic traits of being a drummer is having the ability to play multiple things at once. Whole books and teaching styles have been dedicated to things like four-way coordination and one’s ability to hold ostinato patters alongside a moving melody line. To me, independence is not the end-all of your practice time, but there are a lot of advantages to being able to comfortably play multiple rhythms at once amongst the limbs. To challenge this in the practice room and try things more difficult than you may need will ultimately help make your grooving feel easier too. Practice past the level you need to perform.
Authenticity/Specific Area of Study: Now is the chance to work on the specifics. A piece you want to learn, a genre of music you are interested in, a technique that is not part of your ability. Since you are warmed up and have a clear head space, this will serve as the moment to focus. Know what you are practicing before you start and set goals for what you’d like to accomplish that are reasonable.
Practice Tips:
Below you will find some of the best lessons I have to offer for your practicing. The keys to success are deciding what fits into each segment of your practice and enhancing them with the following;
1. Set an intention before you practice. You have probably decided what the first two categories will consist of but be sure to decide before you get to the creative and specific areas of study so you do not waste time later.
2. Be consistent. Study similar materials for a week or two, maybe longer if needed. Jumping from one thing to another will not reinforce anything in your playing other than being disorganized.
3. Lose the ego and perceived audience. Allow yourself to sound terrible if it is in the spirit of growing. When you play what you already know, you are just polishing something that is already shining. Work on the rough areas slowly. Don’t feel pressured by what your peers are doing or that you need to share with the world what you are doing. Keep your head down and stay dedicated to your own craft.
4. Whatever you do, play it slow first!
5. Dynamics are the life of music, don’t leave them behind!
6. Play through your pieces slowly and make notes of what needs attention, go back and work those areas first, then surrounding areas, and finally work on playing the section. Starting at the beginning of a piece and stopping every time you make is mistake is a mistake.
7. Don’t be afraid to walk away. Tomorrow is another day.
8. Keep a practice journal. Stick with it. You will want to keep track of what you have done and where you want to go.
9. In your practice journal, reflect on how things went, what tempos you achieved, and how your felt. You can also use this space for making notes on recordings you hear of yourself.
Closing words:
This is by no means an exact science. As I mentioned, we all need a different approach to master an art. No two people are alike. That being said, I do believe the world’s best artists have the above four practice areas in common. Decide how much time to spend in each one of these areas to curate your inner artist. With trial and error, along with great journaling, you will figure out what works for you and master practicing!