Category Archives: Music

Practice in Front of a Mirror

David Motto’s Practice Tip of the Week:Really Seeing Yourself When we practice, we often feel that our technique is strong and we are playing efficiently. It would be interesting to know if someone watching us practice would come to the … Continue reading

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Long Practice Sessions

David Motto’s Practice Tip of the Week:Making Long Practice Sessions Efficient Advantages of Long Practice Sessions While you can accomplish a great deal in a short amount of practice time, there are advantages to long practice sessions. Aside from the … Continue reading

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Improve Your Ear

David Motto’s Practice Tip of the Week:Four Ways to Improve Your Ear Jazz, pop, and rock musicians play by ear on a regular basis. If you play these styles, you know how important it is to learn music by ear. … Continue reading

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Help Your Memory – Write It Down

David Motto’s Practice Tip of the Week:An Easy Memory Aid Successful Musicians Write Notes to Themselves Some musicians treat their sheet music like an ancient manuscript to be displayed in a museum. They keep it in perfect, pristine condition. Sheet … Continue reading

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The Secret to Sightreading

David Motto’s Practice Tip of the Week:The Secret to Sightreading Many musicians are worried that their sightreading skills are not strong enough. Yet, sightreading is seldom made a regular part of practicing. The Real Goal of Sightreading It’s important to … Continue reading

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Practice First

David Motto’s Practice Tip of the Week:Making Time for Music Too Busy to Practice? If your life is busy, you may find it challenging to “fit in” your practice sessions. Day after day, practicing can take a back seat to … Continue reading

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Avoid the SAD Syndrome

David Motto’s Practice Tip of the Week:Avoid the SAD Syndrome Many musicians have a habit of practicing in a way that will never lead to success in a performance. Their practicing is full of uncontrolled stops and starts. Their playing … Continue reading

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Recognize What You Do Well

David Motto’s Practice Tip of the Week:Recognize What You Do Well Accomplishments vs. Problems Do you recognize your accomplishments and feel good about them? Many musicians are guilty of focusing only on the problems in their playing. It’s important to … Continue reading

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Do SOMETHING Every Day

David Motto’s Practice Tip of the Week:Do Something Every Day It’s important to make practicing a regular part of your life. Even on the days when you don’t want to do anything musically, it’s important to get started. And you … Continue reading

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Redefining Success

One of the things that plagues musicians when they practice is stopping playing, making a quick correction, and restarting. I call this the SAD Syndrome (SAD stands for Stop And Do-it-again), and I’ve seen it happen in my own practicing … Continue reading

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