All About Time
Over the past week, we’ve explored finding our why and setting up the perfect practice space for productive practice sessions. We’re feeling inspired, motivated, and prepared! So what’s next?
Two of the questions I hear most often in regard to practicing are:
“How often should I be practicing”? and
“For how long should I be practicing”?
The truth is there are no cookie-cutter answers to these questions. A lot of this depends on you, your schedule, and where you are in your musical journey.
Time Management &
Adding Music to your Busy Life
Most individuals consider themselves to have a packed schedule. You may be a student in school managing homework, clubs, sports, a part-time job, and a social life. Or perhaps you’re an adult juggling a career, family obligations, meal prep, errands, house chores, and get-togethers with friends. Chances are, if you made the decision to learn a musical instrument, you thought through your current schedule and obligations already. You made yourself a priority and felt there was room for music in your life.
But even with the best of intentions, sometimes in the every-day hustle and bustle it can be easy for the hours to fly by and get away from us. Suddenly it’s dinner time and the kids need prepped for bed or, gosh-darn-it, you just need to sit down and watch an episode of your favorite show after a long day (and are entitled to it)! It’s important to take and make time for yourself, too.
So how can we possibly make time for music?
I will share with you what has worked for me. Even if you’re not a pen-and-paper kind of person, I highly recommend giving this a try at least once. Because the act of physically writing something down requires more cognitive activity than typing the same information on a computer, tablet, or phone, more parts of the brain are utilized. This means you are more likely to remember and commit to a written-down task or goal. Putting our thoughts on paper is also a form of mental decluttering, which encourages and improves overall productivity and organization.
I highly recommend utilizing a planner or notebook that has a format similar to the one below. Ensure it contains all waking hours for your specific schedule. If your schedule is different every day, make one for each day of the week.
Once you have your template set up and ready to go, you can attack the next step of this process in one of two ways:
1). If you know your schedule like the back of your hand and it is consistent, write down your daily obligations first. Be detailed. Include things like cooking dinner and time spent getting around before you start your day. Then, where you have any gaps in your schedule without daily obligations, put a box around them to indicate “open” time.
2). Alternatively, you can track what you do for an entire week and write it down as you go. Block off open time but also any space you find yourself doing an optional activity in your down time.
Open gaps of time can also include when you first wake up in the morning before anyone else in your household is awake, lunch breaks, planning periods, and the nighttime hours after everyone has gone to bed, depending on your schedule.
The most important thing here is to identify where you actively have space in your day to commit some time to practicing.
Duration & Frequency
This is where the “how often” and “for how long” questions come into play. If you’re a beginner, I highly recommend daily practice or as close to it as possible. This could mean 5-15 minutes. This could mean two 10-minute sessions at different times of day. It’s not necessary to sit down and play for an hour straight, but the strength and muscle memory that are developed during the beginning stages of learning a string instrument are imperative for your long-term success and will take much longer to develop with inconsistent practice.
If you are beyond the “beginner” stages of learning an instrument, the quality of your practice will always be more important than how long you practice for. This means it's more valuable to sit down and practice something specific and focused for 20 minutes than it is an hour or two of unplanned, haphazard practicing. Practice techniques and strategies are a topic I will do a deep dive on in a separate post, so keep an eye out for this soon! :)
Regardless of your age or years spent playing your instrument, the human attention span for a given task is not a long one. You may find that instead of sitting down for one long practice session, you benefit more for two or three shorter ones spread throughout the day. These smaller chunks of time may make scheduling your practice sessions a bit easier to work with as well. Give it a try and see how it feels for you!
Creating & Refining Your Schedule
You know yourself and your energy levels best. Are you more productive at the beginning, middle, or end of the day? Are the gaps of time in your schedule shorter or longer? On what days do you have more or less stressful obligations?
Take a close look at the open blocks of time you’ve identified throughout your week, choosing times to practice based on this knowledge. Remember to work around your energy. Pre-schedule these practice sessions by adding them to your calendar or as an alarm in your phone. Even a general time like “after work” can be a good start.
We will talk more about what to practice and how to break your practice session down to accomplish specific tasks in an upcoming post. For today, I’ll leave you with 2 quick tips:
1). In general, our brains respond best to a daily routine accompanied by proper sleep hygiene. When possible, try not only to keep a consistent daily schedule but also go to bed and wake up as close to the same time as possible, ensuring you’re getting 7-9 hours of sleep.
2). Practice immediately before your lesson and also after, if only for a few minutes. This helps get you mentally prepared for your lesson, recall any questions or trouble spots you may have, and warms up the muscles in your body, making it easier to play. When you practice after a lesson you are taking any new information you just learned and committing it to memory with repetition. This helps keep new information from getting “lost" between your lesson and the next time you sit down to play.
I hope you found some of this helpful. More soon!
Happy Practicing~
Lisa
Resources & Further Reading/Viewing:
Developing Your Ideal Practice Routine (YT Video)
5 Tips for Building Effective Practice Habits
