So as I am writing this blog entry, I am sitting in the parking lot of an ice rink while my son is at an 8am hockey practice. He is a disciplined and focused athlete who trains and practices consistently. It is because of him that the notion of practice as applied to a musical instrument is top of mind.

When I think of practice, I often think of a quote from Martha Graham where she states “We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practice living, the principles are the same.”  Sot it is very clear that In order to advance on any musical instrument one has to practice, practice, and practice some more.

The key question becomes what is the level of intensity and the number of hours that is needed in order to advance on a musical instrument or any task for that matter?  The short answer is that it will depend on a number of factors.  Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers states that in order to become an expert at a specific task a person needs to spend 10,000 hours.  Conversely, Josh Kaufman in his book The Personal MBA, argues that “knowing nothing to being pretty good” requires about 20 hours. Hence, it all depends on what level you want to take your playing to.  Do you want to be an expert…or pretty good?

Regardless of how you answer the aforementioned question, you will have to practice in order to get better at any instrument. Many people despite knowing this fact, are reluctant to practice.  They think it is boring, or it is too strict, or it requires too much time.  That is why there are countless ads online promoting everything from 10 min ab workouts, to 6 minutes a day scale practices etc. all aimed at making practices short and concise. Now, I am not necessarily a proponent of these claims but there are some steps you can take to make your practice routine more effective.Acknowledge the Challenge

1. Acknowledge the Challenge. Believe it or not there are some people who are truly gifted and will tell you that they do not need to practice in order to get better.  Case in point Allen Iverson referenced the word practice 22 times in his rant on missing practices. Most of us are not as gifted as Allen Iverson, nor are we musical Cervantes and as such acknowledging the importance of practicing is one of the first steps to getting better.
2. Commit Time. You have to have a plan and set a specific timeframe to practice. The best thing to do is to be consistent and stick to preferably a daily schedule.  But even every other day or 3 times a week is better than nothing. Write a practice plan. Writing it down on a calendar will reinforce the notion that it is a required task. Also, try and practice in the same quiet distraction free environment as possible.
3. Limit The Scope. Too often when learning a musical instrument people try to do too much in their practice and become frustrated. When I learnt to play guitar, I had to learn to read, develop dexterity in my right and left hand, learn scales, modes, ear training, theory and of course learn songs. Clearly one can easily get loss.  By limiting your practice session to specific tasks you will advance quicker and the instrument will be more enjoyable.
4. Have Fun. Remember one of the reasons you learnt to play a musical instrument was to have fun. You should challenge yourself when practicing but always incorporate a fun aspect of why you picked up an instrument. That fun aspect can be to LISTEN to a piece of music that you enjoy, watching a video of a great performance…just doing something that reminds you of why you are putting in the hard work to get better.

It’s fitting that my sons hockey practice got me to think of practice within the musical context because I think hockey great Wayne Gretzky said it best “The only way a kid is going to practice is if its total fun for him…and it was for me.”