Tips for practicing.

1. Never practice when pressed. If you have too little time, pick something small to work on, but hold on to your concentration.

2. Make it a habit to work for a short time but to completely concentrate on a short fragment (for instance 4 bars) instead of spending large amounts of time and playing through a piece over and over.

3. Make yourself aware as soon as possible of exactly what in a piece or etude is not going as you would wish and precisely where it is located.

4. Go to work immediately on those parts of the piece (mistakes, hesitations, something you’re plodding through without success), otherwise you will be patterning the bad habits as you repeatedly practice.

5. Do as much as possible with a bad patch: change it, play it backwards, stand it on its head, make something crazy of it. You’re allowed to enjoy this!

6. As you deepen your concentration, keep track of your body and its tensions (neutralize stress reactions, watch your posture, shoulders, throat, etc., breathe out). Reserve a ‘room’ in your mind to monitor these aspects.

7. Never play through pain or through an uncomfortable feeling when you are practicing. These are accurate signals from your body that you have to approach it differently. Learn to turn a disordering factor into a directive factor.
THEREFORE: Use your bodily/mental stress reaction as a gauge to measure whether a passage has really been learned.

8. Never start to practice directly after you have been using the computer. First do something active, like walking, biking or a few stretch exercises.

9. Spend regular time on exercise. Intense movements enable your body to break down and excrete the waste products of bodily functions (which you feel as muscle pain).

10. Train your abdominal muscles to improve your posture when sitting and standing. Train the muscles of the upper back to prevent developing shoulder problems.

11. If you are interested in employing mental techniques in your practice sessions, make sure first that you are able to apply the relaxation instruction which is part and parcel of these techniques. Sign up for a few lessons using the Integrated Practice System!