Alternative Ideas
We all get to a point in our practicing where we stagnate, feel burned out, or are just plain sick of it! This is normal. As musicians, we tend to have the attitude that we “must practice many hours a day, every day or else”! Try a different approach. If we consider that musicians are just ’small muscle athletes’ we can approach practicing like athletes approach workout sessions.
Here are some ideas.
1. Try a 3 weeks on, 1 week off cycle. Make the 3 weeks intense but know that you have a week off coming up.
2. Try the 2-a-day approach. Do one practice session early in the morning and another in the evening. I feel great when it’s 9am and I’ve already done my scales and Sevcik.
3. Listen to your body. If your left hand hurts, do bowing exercises.
4. It’s not always about distance running. Try sprints – practice really hard for 20 minutes then take 5 minutes off. Repeat.
5. Mix it up! Been practicing every day for years from 6-8pm? Try practicing in the morning instead.
6. Get some new exercises! We stagnate when do the same too long. Buy a new etude book. Work on new excerpts. Start your scales at the top.
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feel your fingers touching the strings.
Feel the vibrations through the bow
concentrate on your bow thumb. feel the bow reacting to you.
feel the vibrations of the strings under your left fingers and hand.
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Make up your own warmups. start playing – and really just play around – to find your weaknesses… and then create your own solutions to solve the issues…. This can be more effective than arbitrarily and mindlessly playing through etudes, Sevcik, or other prescribed exercises.
