MENC: The National Association for Music Education

Effective Practice Makes Successful Performance

Author(s): David Pedrick
Source: Music Educators Journal, Vol. 85, No. 2 (Sep., 1998), pp. 33-35
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of MENC: The National Association for
Music Education
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3399170
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 EFFECTIVE PRACTICE MAKES
SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE
Instrumental music teachers can help many students perform successfully by engaging
them actively in a five-step process for effective practice.
~~~We have all heard the age-
old joke in which the cab
driver is asked, "How do
I get to Carnegie Hall?"
He of course responds
without missing a beat, "Practice, prac-
tice, practice." But do we really know
what practice is? Moreover, can we con-
vey to our students the importance of
daily practice without first teaching
them how to make effective use of the
large amounts of time they are spending
in this necessary endeavor?
According to Webster's, "to per-
form or exercise repeatedly in order to
acquire or perfect a skill" is what
"practice" means.1 There is no deny-
ing that repetition is a necessary tool
for the practicing musician. However,
without proper instruction in practice,
students will almost invariably misuse
precious practice time by repeating
their mistakes. Teachers must in turn
correct these and students must then
methodically unlearn them before
anything new can be attempted. This
tedious process can gravely impede
students' progress and lead to frustra-
tion and a lack of confidence.
David Pedrick is an active performer and instruc-
tor of guitar who maintains a private teaching
studio in Oxford, Pennsylvania.
SEPTEMBER 1 998
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or in a studio recital for friends and
relatives.
Accepting performance as the goal
of practice prepares students to com-
mit themselves to a practice routine.
Because daily practice is essential for
consistent musical progress, practice
Withoutproper time should be scheduled accordingly.
Teachers and students should first
instruction in practice, agree on an amount of time to be
students will almost allotted for practicing, and students
can then set this aside in their daily
invariably misuse schedules. Once a mutually acceptable
schedule is in place, students should
precious practice time by make every effort to stick to it.
Although this responsibility lies largely
repeating their mistakes.
with students, encouragement and
thoughtfully sequenced instruction on
the part of teachers can be key to stu-
dents' making effective use of their
practice time.
Performance Is the Goal Components of Practice
Before practice can be truly effec- Music educators recognize that stu-
tive, students need to understand its dents learn through a variety of styles.
goal. That the goal of practice is per- Nevertheless, teachers can help many
formance may seem to be mere com- of their students by engaging them in
mon sense. However, students can a process for practice. An effective prac-
benefit significantly from understand- tice session can be considered to have
ing this objective very clearly before five components, or stages: setup,
embarking on their first practice ses- preparation, warm-up, maintenance,
sion. Moreover, if the experience of and advancement. Students who con-
performing music in the presence of sciously involve themselves in the first
others can be simulated in the practice
stage will become ready to move on to
room, students can increase their the second stage, and so on, through
chances for successful public perfor- the sequence. When students routine-
mances, whether on the concert stage ly follow the sequence, their practice
33
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 goals for the session by asking such
questions as, "What do I need to
accomplish this week?" and "How
much of it can I accomplish in this
session?"
To prepare physically, students
relax their muscles and free themselves
from any physical tension in their
necks, shoulders, backs, and limbs.
This process promotes correct posture
and playing technique and can aid
subsequently in the avoidance of such
debilitating health problems as repeti-
tive-strain injury and tendinitis.
I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..,.,8# ',% :v .-'3... '""'.':. '''' * Warm-up. Only now, with the
tasks of setting up and preparing to
f~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:~ ~ .~'.. ....:-~.'Jt X;;- . rs~
~~~~~~~?~~~~~~ - ' ':.%
practice ....':?x
completed, are students ready
to engage their instruments. If the
instrument requires daily tuning, now
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. ..., |f|;Z/.,-5',..:, ..'

Tetesdindepleto
is the-whres
time for this, for it is vital that
students maintain correct intonation
during
The student should find a quiet place to practice, where he or she the entire
is free ofpractice session.
such distractions
Then, at last, students are ready to
begin warm-up exercises. These exer-
cises serve the simple purpose of rein-
sessions tend to become more effi- troducing students to their instru-
cient, productive, and conducive to ments; therefore, basic fingering exer-
successful performance. cises such as scale patterns are appro-
* Setup. There is a great deal for priate at this stage of the practice ses-
students to do at the beginning of a sion. The students' approach to these
should be neither precipitate nor per-
practice session before playing a single
functory. Rather, students should per-
note. First, they remove all distrac- A complete reading form these exercises in a deliberate and
tions. Telephones, televisions, and
other devices that can hinder their allows students to get a calculated manner, giving special
concentration on the task at hand are attention to technique, form, and pos-
sense of the work as a ture. When students feel sufficiently
turned off or put at a distance. The
reacquainted with their instruments, it
practice room should be a quiet place, whole, to gauge the
is time for them to proceed to the
free of interruptions. Second, students
assemble all materials for the practice
stamina that the piece most important phase of the practice
session.
session in addition to the instrument demands of them, and to * Maintenance. This is the area of
itself. These materials may include a
note sections that they practice that students most often
music stand, metronome, tuning neglect. This stage of the practice ses-
device, recording device, pencils, sheet need to isolate and sion provides time for students to
music, or method books. Finally, stu- review material that their teachers
dents see that everything is in working refine. have already presented. Too often, stu-
order, including the instrument, dents skip this phase, erroneously
which should be well-maintained and
thinking that they can use their prac-
clean. Having everything within reach tice time more efficiently by proceed-
will minimize students' time away ing directly to new material. The
from their instruments once they problem with this thinking is that
begin to play, thereby sustaining con- To prepare mentally, students focus without first maintaining the tech-
centration and focus for the duration
intensively on the practice session at niques already presented by the
of the session. instructor, time spent working on new
hand. Engaging their minds in the con-
* Preparation. With distractions centration and focus required for suc- material is often unproductive, and
removed and the materials gathered cessful practice may involve their progress may be hampered. Reviewing
together and in working order, stu- blocking out a bad day or setting aside allows students to confront the new
dents prepare to practice. This prepa- the frustration of a personal dilemma.2 technical challenges lying in the week's
ration is mental as well as physical. This is also the time for students to set assignment without suffering the

34 MUSIC EDUCATORS JOURNAL

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inevitable lapse in concentration that Students' next step is to read the
practice routines and be prepared to
occurs when students find that they piece through again. In this second
analyze them and offer suggestions for
must backtrack and spend time reading, it is important that they not
improving their effectiveness. While
acquiring or refining skills that they regress. Far too often, students need-
ineffective practice can be discourag-
supposedly mastered in the past. ing enough to teachers, it can defeat
lessly repeat passages by stopping and
During this stage of the practice returning to the beginning of a piecestudents altogether. An instructor's
session, students work to maintain whenever they make a mistake. This failure
is to discuss, demonstrate, and
technique, but this should by no a habit they should break as soon analyze
as practice habits can produce
means be the exclusive focus of their such frustration and lack of confi-
possible. Mistakes need to be isolated
attention. This is also the time toand addressed immediately. Students dence in students that they may give
accomplish this by taking the prob-
practice skills in rhythm, sight-read- up their instruments unnecessarily.
ing, theoretical analysis, and tone
lematic passage out of its musical con-
color and dynamics. Maintained daily,
text and repeating it slowly and delib-
erately until they can perform it three
times in a row without error. Once
they can do this, they should read on,
following the same procedure when
confronting the next musical dilem-
ma. Approaching new material in this
way minimizes the time needed to Mistakes need to be
learn the piece. Moreover, it ensures a
isolated and addressed
better performance by diminishing the
The practice room number of incorrect notes and elimi-
immediately.
should be a quietplace,nating the hesitation between phrases
that results from insufficient repetition
free of interruptions. of specific sections of a piece that
require particular attention.
Finally, when students feel com-
fortable with a piece of music, they
should perform it for the most unbi-
ased audience available-the tape Merely talking about and demon-
recorder. Recording helps students' strating effective practice procedures,
musical progress in two ways. First, it however, may not be enough. Properly
simulates a performance, and therefore sequenced instruction can help to
all of these skills give students the abil-
ity to proceed with new material effi- students experience some of the pres- ensure the series of successes necessary
ciently and confidently. sures that go along with performing. to bolster students' confidence. For
Advancement. Students are now Second, listening to the recording each practice session to be productive,
ready to work on new material. Theirserves as an effective way of assessing the material assigned by instructors
first task is to examine the assigned the performance objectively, enabling must be organized hierarchically. That
exercise or composition and garner asstudents to identify flaws while is to say, students should learn to
much information as possible about strengthening critical self-listening crawl before they attempt to walk. It is
skills
the piece before transferring it to their necessary to evaluate future per- the responsibility of instructors to
instrument. They look at the key sig-formances. design a curriculum that allows each
nature, time signature, dynamic mark- weeks material to build upon the pre-
ings, phrase structure, and any possi-Implications for Teachers vious week's. Only such a curriculum
ble trouble spots lurking on the page. It is important for music teachers is conducive to the confident, effective
Once students consider all of these to take the time to discuss the value of practice necessary to elicit successful
elements, they read the piece from
daily practice with their students. performances from students-perhaps
Moreover, it can be extremely benefi- even a successful performance at
beginning to end, "warts and all."
cial for instructors to teach students
Most likely, they will be painfully Carnegie Hall.
how to practice. Often teachers
aware of hesitations, wrong notes, and
become frustrated with students who
rhythms played incorrectly. A perfect
reading of the piece, however, is notpractice daily but fail to complete the Notes
the primary goal here. Rather, a com-week's assignment satisfactorily. This 1. Anne H. Soukhanov, ed., Webster's II
plete reading allows students to get shortcoming
a might well stem from the New Riverside Dictionary (Boston: Houghton,
poor quality of their practice time
sense of the work as a whole, to gauge 1984).
the stamina that the piece demands ofrather than its quantity. Teachers 2. Aaron Shearer, "On the Primary Intent
them, and to note sections that they should take the time to question stu- of Learning the Classic Guitar," Soundboard
need to isolate and refine. dents in this situation about their 23, no. 1 (1996): 17. ?

SEPTEMBER 1 998 35

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