Lesson video

Hi, my name's Mr. Pete, and welcome to this lesson on effective practice techniques from the Unit: Introduction to performance.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to use effective practice techniques to improve your performance.

Some of the words that we'll be using in today's lesson are, practice, which is repeating and improving musical skills.

Metronome, which is a device that keeps a steady beat.

Routine, which is a regular practice plan.

And accuracy, which is playing the correct notes and rhythms.

We'll start by exploring effective practice techniques, then spend some time improving your own practice.

There are many ways to practice your musical performance skills, but practicing efficiently does lead to greater progress.

Techniques such as breaking difficult sections into smaller parts, using repetition effectively, controlling tempo carefully, and focusing on specific technical skills can help you learn music more accurately and securely.

It's all about trying to use your practice time really efficiently to get the most out of it and have the maximum benefit to your performance.

Practice plans and regular routines can also help structure your time, build consistency, and ensure steady improvement.

So what kind of practice techniques can we use to make your practice really efficient?

Let's start by looking at breaking a piece down into smaller sections.

When practicing a piece of music, it's useful to break your piece down into smaller sections or chunks to make 'em easier to learn securely.

Instead of just repeatedly playing or singing the whole piece, focusing on short passages that need improvement and then gradually linking them together is an efficient way of improving your playing or singing.

This helps to improve accuracy, fluency, and your confidence more efficiently.

Jacob is learning a guitar piece to make his practice time more efficient, he's breaking the piece down into different chunks.

You can see the score that Jacob is working from below.

So Jacob's thinking, "How can I break this down into small bits so I'm not just playing the whole thing over and over again?

" And here's how he's done it.

His first phrase, chunk one is there.

Then two, three, and four.

Jacob can now focus his practice on one section at a time.

Focusing on a small section allows him to practice it in detail, improving his accuracy and refining techniques such as fingering and expression.

Breaking a piece into chunks also helps ensure each section receives equal attention rather than repeatedly starting from the beginning and neglecting later sections.

It can be quite common, for example, for the end of a piece to be the bit that's practiced the least, because if you're always starting from the beginning, you might not get there every single time.

So by starting in different places and trying each bit a chunk at a time, then you give each section equal attention.

Alex says, "I think I should always practice by playing the whole piece from start to finish because it helps me learn how it flows and it gets me used to performing it properly.

" Do you agree with Alex?

I'd like you to suggest an argument for breaking a piece down into chunks rather than always playing it from start to finish.

Pause the video now and consider your answer.

So what do you think?

How can you convince Alex that breaking a piece down into chunks rather than always playing it from start to finish might be better?

Aisha says, "Playing the full piece is useful for building stamina, but it's not the most efficient way to improve.

If you always play from start to finish, you'll repeatedly practice mistakes instead of fixing them, and difficult sections won't get enough focused attention.

" It's a really good point, Aisha, if you are constantly making mistakes in the middle section and kind of glossing over them when you're practicing, then those mistakes will become part of your performance.

So instead, isolating that one section and breaking it down and practicing it individually can really help to improve and improve your fluency overall.

Controlling your tempo is another important part of effective practice.

If you practice too fast before you are ready, this can lead to repeated mistakes and errors that you make at high speed are often quite difficult to fix.

Repeating these mistakes over and over can cause them to become part of the performance.

So starting a slower tempo gives you more time to think carefully about each section, helping you to play more accurately and to develop secure technique right from the beginning.

Laura is learning a piece on the drums.

The suggested tempo is 110 BPM or beats per minute.

Laura can play the first bar at this speed at 110 BPM, but when she gets to bar four, there's a drum fill, and it's too tricky to play at this speed.

Laura has decided to start learning at a much slower tempo.

She's broken her piece down into chunks and is gonna practice just bar four, that tricky drum fill starting at 70 BPM.

She's gonna loop this section, playing it over and over again until she's really confident at this tempo of 70 BPM, and she'll then increase it gradually, maybe 75, maybe 80, gradually working her way until she's playing it up to speed.

This is much more efficient than just trying it at full speed over and over again.

To help control her tempo, Laura could use a metronome.

A metronome is a device that keeps a steady pulse at a chosen BPM, and it could either be a physical device like the picture of a metronome you see on this slide or a digital app.

Laura should set her metronome to a slow tempo that allows accurate practice, then gradually increase the speed as fluency improves.

A good piece of advice that I always use when practicing a section with a metronome is to set the tempo at the speed where you can comfortably play the hardest part of the section you're working on.

This might feel a little bit slow for some of the easier sections, but it's better to be correct and slower and then gradually speed up rather than practicing in lots of mistakes.

So why is it useful to practice a difficult section slowly, sometimes using a metronome?

A, it helps you play as fast as possible straight away.

B, it prevents you from making any mistakes at all.

C, it helps you improve accuracy before gradually increasing speed.

Or D, it makes the music easier to memorize.

The answer is C.

Practicing slowly sometimes with a metronome helps you improve accuracy and then you can gradually get it faster as you get more confident with that passage.

Breaking your piece into smaller sections and controlling the tempo helps you practice accurately and efficiently.

This also allows you to focus on specific technical challenges, such as maybe a difficult interval, a position shift on your instrument, tricky rhythms or pitches, and you can practice those sections using repetition to make sure those challenging passages are really secure.

Here's some examples of instrument specific techniques to make your practice more effective.

Now, as we go through these, consider your own instruments and think how this could apply to your own practice.

If you play a keyboard instrument like a piano, then practicing hand separately is a really useful technique.

Work on the balance between the melody line and the accompaniment and practice pedaling separately to the playing with your hands to improve control.

For string players, practicing tricky position shifts slowly and silently without bowing can be a great way for your hands to memorize what that shift looks like.

Use open string checking to make sure that your intonation is correct.

Practice bowing separately to control how much bow is used per note.

Wind and brass players might find it useful to practice silent fingering to memorize different patterns.

They might use different tonguing patterns to refine their use of articulation, and they might practice control of long notes to develop their tone and intonation.

Percussion players, consider the rhythms that you are working on and use subdivision to make sure that you are playing those rhythms accurately.

Practice stick control patterns like drum rudiments to get better and improve your technical skills.

Singers might try singing passages with vowels only to focus on tone and intonation.

They might use breath control exercises to work out efficient breathing for this piece.

They might practice just text only rhythm speaking to work out tricky rhythms before then adding pitch.

These are just a few suggestions for individual instruments.

It may well be worth some additional research to see how you can best and most efficiently practice for your own instrument.

Effective practice is regular, is structured and is purposeful.

Using a practice routine and rehearsal plan can help you focus your time on clear targets rather than simply playing through a piece.

Regular practice builds consistency over time, while reflection and goal setting can help you monitor progress and adapt your practice as your performance develops.

It's much more efficient to have a regular practice routine rather than leaving your practice and then trying to cram it in later down the line.

And rather than aimlessly playing sections of your piece here and there, having a structured practice with clear targets and reflection can help make sure your practice is really efficient.

Izzy plays the trombone, and she's working on a performance piece for her GCSE music coursework.

She has decided to practice for 60 minutes twice a week.

Look at Izzy's practice plan.

I'd like you to suggest some improvements to help her practice more efficiently.

So here's Izzy's practice plan.

She's gonna practice for 60 minutes two times a week, and within that 60 minutes, she'll start with a warmup for five minutes, which will involve playing long notes and a scale.

Then she'll spend 30 minutes on a run through playing the whole piece from start to finish.

She'll then spend 20 minutes fixing mistakes, going back to anything that went wrong and repeating it.

And finally, if there's time at the end, she'll spend five minutes playing the whole piece again.

Pause this video now and think, how would you suggest that improves her practice routine?

So what did you think?

How should Izzy improve her practice routine?

Jacob says, "Izzy's practice sessions are long at 60 minutes, but not very regular, only twice a week.

It would be more efficient to practice more often, and for less time.

She could also suggest when during the day she will do this.

" Sofia says, "Izzy should break her piece down into chunks instead of always playing through the whole piece.

This will allow her to focus on tricky passages.

She could also include some more structured technique work for her instrument.

" Aisha says, "For each practice, Izzy should set a clear target, like secure bars 12 to 20 at 80 BPM.

She should finish her practice sessions by reflecting and setting a target for the next one.

" So let's see what that would look like.

Izzy's now revised her practice plan, taking onboard this feedback.

She's now gonna practice for just 30 minutes, but five times a week and she's decided when she's gonna do it.

She says when I get home from school, it's really useful to do your practice at the same time 'cause it can help build a routine.

Within that 30 minutes, she's gonna start with a five minute warmup, playing some long notes to develop her breath control, and she's gonna play a scale in the key of the piece to make sure it's relevant to what she's working on.

She's then gonna have 10 minutes of technical focus, and for this practice session, she's gonna work on bars 20 to 24 and 30 to 32.

First, silently to memorize finger patterns and then slowly with a metronome.

She's then gonna spend eight minutes on musical shaping, refining dynamics, phrasing, articulation, and deciding on breathing points for longer phrases.

She'll then spend five minutes on a full run playing a larger section or even the full piece at a steady tempo aiming for fluency.

She'll finish her practice session with a reflection, identifying something that improved today and setting a target for the next session.

This is a much more focused and efficient practice routine, and she'll find that practicing like this makes her improve even quicker.

Now let's move on to improving your own practice.

Establishing a regular practice routine with clear goals makes practice more focused and effective.

Breaking a piece down into smaller sections and practicing slowly allows for detailed work and improvement of instrumental technique.

If you keep a practice diary with regular reflection, this can help you track your progress and improve the efficiency of your practice over time.

Which of the following do you think best describes an effective practice approach?

A, always playing the piece from start to finish at full speed.

B, breaking the piece into sections, practicing slowly and reflecting on progress.

C, starting with the easy parts of a piece.

Or D, practicing randomly without setting goals.

The answer is B.

If you break your piece down into sections, you slow practice and reflect after each practice session, you'll find you improve more effectively.

Which of the following do you think would make the best practice routine?

A, practice once a week for 90 minutes.

B, practice as often as I can every day whenever I have the time.

Or C, practice five times a week for 30 minutes after breakfast.

The answer is C.

It may appear that option B.

Practicing as often as you can every day whenever you have the time would result in more practice, but often it can be really difficult to keep up a goal like this as it doesn't have any clear structure.

Having a clear structure like five times a week, 30 minutes at a specific time, in this case after breakfast, often results in more practice being done.

So now it's over to you.

Write a plan for your own practice sessions.

Make sure that you include the following, A, when you will practice, how often and for how long.

And make that realistic to your life and your routines.

Don't choose anything you can't fit in.

Make sure you think carefully about when and how long you will practice for.

Include a structured plan of activities, which might include things like a warmup, breaking down difficult sections, practicing at a slow tempo, and some instrument specific rehearsal techniques.

Think carefully about your own instrument and what would be useful spending the time doing.

Include in your plan specific goals for an upcoming practice session and include space at the end to reflect on whether you've achieved these goals and set new targets for the next session.

Once you've then written your plan, spend some time trying it out by practicing your performance piece and then at the end, reflecting on your progress.

Pause this video now, write your practice plan and then spend some time practicing for your performance.

So now you spent some time writing your practice plan and practicing your own performance.

How did you do?

Let's see how some other students have reflected on their practice work in this session.

Lucas says, "Today I practice singing the verse, starting with just the texts to work on rhythms, then slowly practiced a difficult leap towards the end of the section.

I haven't yet perfected the fast rhythms at the beginning, so this should be a target for my next session.

" Jun says, "In my practice time today, I started playing bars 40 to 44 hands separately, to begin with focusing on the challenging ornaments in bar 41.

I then played both hands together using a metronome 75 BPM.

Next time, I'll aim to increase this to 85 BPM through repetition and attention to the right hand fingering.

" These are some great practice reflections where these students have thought carefully about what they've done in the session, been really specific about how they've improved and identified specific goals to work on in their next practice session.

In today's lesson, we've learned that focused practice is more productive than repeatedly playing through the whole piece.

Slow practice, looping difficult bars, and working with a metronome helps to build accuracy.

Planning short-term goals keeps practice time structured.

And a practice plan can help establish routines and a practice diary can help you track your progress.

Well done for your work planning your practice plan, and practicing for your performance in today's lesson.

I'll see you again in the next one.