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 may be in for a pleasant surprise:

Often, just the process of getting started makes you forget your negative thinking and enjoy the practice process.

On other days you won’t enjoy practicing. So what? It’s not realistic to think you will have fun every time you work on your music. You can’t let any negative thoughts get in your way. Even if you don’t feel like being a musician today, just do something!

Can’t decide what to practice today? Then, do exactly what you did yesterday. It doesn’t matter if you feel you are improving or not. Due to the natural shape of the learning curve, you won’t notice improvement on a daily basis anyway.

By being conscientious and paying attention to the details of your playing, you will be making improvement–whether you recognize it or not! Much of your practice time is spent building muscle memory, and your muscles need a constant reminder of the sequences they need to go through to perform accurately.

Even if you are not consciously aware of this process taking shape, it’s important to give your muscles the practice they so desperately need.

There’s no rule stating you have to or you’re supposed to or you should play through a whole piece flawlessly. That’s called performing! Most practicing is about focusing on small details. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Just go get some work done.

If you skip today, it will be easier to skip tomorrow. At that point, you’ll have a negative trend. This cannot be tolerated…

So, do something today! Do anything! Just make sure you practice your music, even if it’s just for a few minutes. After all, my entire Ten Minute Virtuoso method is based on the premise that a small amount of focused effort each and every day is the only surefire way to make meaningful progress.

To Your Musical Success!
David Motto