3 Tips to a Happy Practice
3 Tips to a Happy Practice
by John Dapaah
We all know how important practicing is to us as musicians and artists. It doesn’t always feel good while you are practicing but it surely pays off. Also, it’s not always easy to get up and practice.
1. Leave Your Home – Personally, I get most of my practicing done outside my home (although I have a piano at home). I find it more productive to leave the comforts of my place to go elsewhere to practice. It is more mental than anything – for example, we leave home to go to school work, or anywhere. So why not leave home to practice?
2. Record yourself practicing – Often times, we are our worst critics. No matter how much we improve musically or artistically, in our minds, it’s never enough. Try recording yourself. There have been many instances where I felt terrible about a practice session. But when I listened back to the recording of my practicing, it actually sounded good! It’s funny how harsh we are on ourselves EVEN when we improve.
3. Play for your peers – Having a second opinion is always good. It opens you up to ideas and insight from another perspective other than your teacher’s. When I was in school, I used to play for my friends all the time. We would have informal performances of our works in progress. Not only did that give us the chance to play it in public, we would always get constructive feedback and help us to improve.
On that note, Sing House Studios now offers a practice pass for all vocal students who have faced challenges while practicing. This pass allows you to come to our studio to practice with one of our teachers or senior students for 30-minute practice sessions. You can come up to 12 times (for 30 minutes) every month. You can record your practice session and you will receive a personalized evaluation on what and how to practice. Taking advantage of the practice pass lets you cover all the 3 points we talked about – 1. Leave Your Home, 2 – Record your practices, and 3. Play for your peers. So what are you waiting for? Happy Practicing!
