Violin One on One
Parent's Guide to Music Lessons
Guide to Great Music Practice
Music Know how
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A Guide to Great Music Practice
STEP 4 - Work on It
You know how to set goals, set practise times and warm up, now we talk about the importance to Work on It.
Once you are warmed up, get out the hard stuff and work on it. Some tips for improving as fast as possible:
- Don't practice it wrong! Don't play wrong notes, leave notes out, or play wrong rhythms. This just teaches you to play it wrong.
If it's too difficult to play right, slow it down enough that you can play all the notes in rhythm, correctly, no matter how slow this is.
When you can play it correctly slowly, start speeding it up, but never practice it at a speed that you can't handle.
- Don't just play through your music.
Skip the easy parts; they're easy!
Find the hard parts, slow them down, and practice them until you can play them right at the right tempo.
- If there's something you just can't play at all (a high note, for example), make it part of your warm-up.
Find an exercise that makes it easier to get to that note (or to double-tongue, or to do that giant slur) and do it every day the easy way. Eventually it will start showing up in the harder music, too.
Now read STEP 5 - Cool Down
Catherine Schmidt-Jones attended Rice University, completing a B.A. in chemistry as well as the B. Music and M. Music. Currently teaching brass and guitar privately. Further information can be found at connexions.
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