Planning practice is essential for maximum progress

Planning practice with a particular start/end time doesn't really help you. It makes you frustrated if you are late starting, it makes you concentrate on the clock instead of your goals, it means that no matter how much progress you are making towards your goal you will feel you should be stopping. It is just an extension of the 30 minute myth. What if you are watching a sports match that overruns? Do you miss the exciting ending? Do you watch it and think "Oh well, I missed the start of my practice, there's no point now?" Even if you do go and start your practice will your playing have your full concentration? I don't think so!

Practice by event

Planing practice by event solves these problems. Plan to start practicing 30 minutes after you come home from school or work, or 20 minutes after your homework is finished. If there is a certain TV program you like, start your practice as soon as it is over. Challenge yourself to get a couple of scales done by the time the credits finish. If you get up at variable times during the weekend or holidays plan your practice for 30 minutes after you get up or you finish breakfast. By planning practice around events in your life instead of strict times you find it much easier to stick to your practice plan.

Form a habit

Do you have a very flexible schedule with different things happening each week at different times? You can fill out a practice chart at the beginning of each week instead of working from one all the time. If this is the case try and keep at least one or two sessions fixed to allow good practice habits to form because we all know how hard a habit is to break once we have it!

Plan your practice
Practice your plan

Once you have a practice plan... stick to it. When you arrive home from your lesson each week spend 5 minutes planning your targets for each session. Don't plan for sessions you know you can't make! If you have a session on your overall plan and you know in advance you won't be able to make that one because it is your friend's birthday... don't plan for any practice! The overall plan by event is flexible. There will be times you cannot follow it exactly. It is simply there as a base to work from.

Remember to give yourself clear practice targets for each session during the week. Again... life happens. These may have to be very flexible some weeks. The important thing is to have a plan to start with. As Benjamin Franklin said

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail"

Those few minutes of planning practice each week will save you countless hours of needless practice within a few months and you will actually be making more progress in less time. Now that is worth planning for!

Clear practice targets every week
Lesson Notes and Practice Targets is the best way to make more from your music lesson. With clear sections for teacher's notes, targets for the week, planning practice and self evaluation for students, Lesson Notes and Practice Targets teaches all music students how to make better use of their practice time, helping them achieve more in less time. Click here for more information on the Lesson Notes and Practice Targets book

For more information on making your practice even more efficient, read my book Practice Makes Perfect. It tells you how to practice in an easy to understand format. Click here for more information on Practice Makes Perfect or for $14.97 through E-Junkie's 100% Secure server and receive a text only copy COMPLETELY FREE!