Thomas J. West Music

There is one commonality among all performing musicians, whether they are performing as a soloist or as part of an ensemble, and that is the need to practice. Even the simple act of singing a melody or clapping a rhythm requires the brain to simultaneously respond to stimuli, sense the position of the body (proprioception), and coordinate muscular movement. This requires the brain and body to practice the movements through repeated, consistent attempts.

Successful Repetition, Not Just Repetition

"Repetition is our best teacher" was one of the mottos of a fellow band director. I always took that concept one step further - "successful repetition" is our best teacher. Many students and even veteran music performers do not practice slowly and meticulously enough to get the right sequence of muscular movements in the right order multiple times. Most students who are not taught practice techniques simply start at the beginning of a song, play it until they make a mistake, stop, start over, make the same mistake, and continue to repeat. They become experts at playing that spot incorrectly!

Efficient Repetition Is Better Than Lengthy Repetition

We all hear stories about the musician who practices for three, four, five, or more hours a day to perfect their craft. The myth is that the amount of time you practice is what makes you good. It is not the amount of time you spend that has the largest impact - it is how you spend that time that counts. If you practice for 30 minutes, how much of that time is actually spent performing? How many successful repetitions can you accomplish in the amount of rehearsal time you have?

I had a very enlightening experience in the summer of 1995. I traveled to a local high school where one of the junior drum and bugle corps were rehearsing. I watched their rehearsal for about two hours. Then, I travelled to another local high school to see another junior drum corps rehearse. The two rehearsals were night and day - the second drum corps was much more efficient and effective in the way that they practiced. Comparing the two:

The end results of the performance quality of these two groups should be pretty obvious, and indeed that summer they were.

Create Your Own Praciticing System

If you are practicing alone at home, develop your own routine. Be consistent. Find what works for you personally and stick with it. Short, efficient practice sessions regularly accomplishes much more in the long run than marathon practice sessions every other day. The advantage of practicing alone is that you can do whatever you need personally to make the largest amount of progress in the shortest amount of time. The disadvantage of practicing alone is that you have only your own consistency, routine, and self-motivation to make certain that you are making progress.

If you are rehearsing an ensemble, create a system or practice routine that everyone agrees upon. For well-established ensembles, those expectations were put into place long ago and are just continued by the staff and returning ensemble members. For new groups, the leadership must all be on the same page before rehearsals begin as to how to do things, maintaining quality and efficiency of repetitions, and providing feedback to the performers.

Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude

Above all, successful and efficient practicing comes down to individual beliefs and attitude. Personal work ethic determines what you are and are not willing to put into your practice. Keep frustration to a minimum by accepting errors when they happen. Verbally or mentally berating yourself, your ensemble, or your instrument for your own frustration is counter-proudctive. When it all comes down to it, its how you react to the results that matters, not the results themselves. Evaluate, adjust, repeat, succeed. Celebrate small victories briefly. Make mistakes be "opportunities to improve."

To be an accomplished performer of music, whether it is as a solist, an ensemble member, or a director, the process is as important as the final product.

This article (c) 2010 Thomas J. West. All content on ThomasJWestMusic dot com is licensed under a Creative Contributions Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Please contact the author before republishing on or offline.