Advice For Staying Disciplined While We Can’t Be At School
by Berklee Music Student, Jonathan Huber
#1 Play things you are practicing on the piano (or any instrument) as slow as you need to not make mistakes, rather than trying to rush and making mistakes, or starting and stopping. This is a much more efficient way of learning/programming your muscle memory, and ultimately makes mastering a passage take less time.
#2 Find the moments in music that you love the most, and figure out what is going on. As musicians it is our job to connect with listeners through the sounds we are making. If you feel a strong connection to a moment in any recording you should learn what exactly is happening. Then think of every way you can apply the concept to your own playing.
#3 The best musical advice I’ve been given is “The moment you feel like you finally have something is the worst time to stop”. Every new day you get to your instrument you spend a little bit of the beginning getting to where you ended the day before. So if you get something and then stop, the next day you will have to catch up to getting it again. When you get something, keep practicing it for a bit longer, and the next day you will still have it. Shout out to Jake Sherman for the wisdom.
#4 Thinking about practicing is almost as beneficial as practicing. You can analyze music wherever you are, and however you hear it. Trying to think of the progression, melody, or rhythm of the song on the radio in your car is actively helping your ear training skills.
#5 There is always more to learn, that’s the beauty of music. There will never be a point when we are “done”. Constantly strive to be better than you were the day before.
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Bonus tip: Don’t compare yourself to other musicians. This is very difficult, but you must only focus on your own growth. There is no competition in art, we are all just trying to improve ourselves.
