Practice in Front of a Mirror

Posted on December 13, 2017 by David Motto

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 same conclusion.

Getting Real-Time Feedback

You should have the means to see yourself practice. Probably the best way to accurately watch yourself is to shoot a video and then watch it all the way through. I highly recommend using video, especially for performance runthroughs and at lessons. On a daily basis in the practice room, however, video isn’t always practical.

A simpler way to see exactly what you’re doing while you’re practicing is to watch yourself in a mirror. This gives you real-time, live feedback as you’re working.

When you practice in front of a mirror, you can see if you’re doing something physically that is getting in the way of creating the sound you desire.

4 Things to Look For

Here are specifics to look for in the mirror:

  • Posture: Sit or stand so that your spine is fully supported.
  • Tension: Watch for raised shoulders, clenched jaw, a forceful grip, tight neck, or your arm(s) held in an unnatural position. Even raising your eyebrows can be evidence of tension building.
  • Habits: If your teacher always brings up a specific habit that gets in the way of improving your technique, look for it in the mirror.
  • Confidence: You want to look at ease and in control as you play. Be sure you look like a performer an audience would want to watch.

Be Aware of These Issues

Using a mirror in the practice room can feel unnatural. Watch out for these issues:

  • Use a mirror big enough to see your whole body. You want to see the cause of all issues, especially tension and posture. For instance, if your torso is uncomfortably twisted, it may be the placement of one foot that is causing the problem. You would never see that foot in a small mirror.
  • The very act of looking in the mirror may cause you to change your playing position. Don’t watch yourself the entire time.
  • Place the mirror where it is very easy to see yourself. The mirror is of no use if you must turn 90 degrees to see it!

It’s easier to see a physical issue that affects your playing than it is to feel it. Having a mirror in your practice space lets you quickly see a problem and allows you to see yourself from the outside – just the way your teacher would.

To Your Musical Success!
David Motto

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Long Practice Sessions

Posted on December 6, 2017 by David Motto

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 obvious fact that you can cover more material in three hours than in fifteen minutes, there is a more intriguing reason to experience a long practice session:

There seems to be a mental change that occurs after playing your instrument for about two hours. A kind of clarity, expressiveness, and creativity can well up—seemingly out of nowhere.

Getting in the Zone

Some musicians describe this state as being “in the zone,” the same way athletes describe peak experiences. While in this zone you play in a heightened state of awareness and see new possibilities.

Insights about your technique and phrasing occur. You may notice connections between various items you’re practicing.

You pay attention to your muscles in a special way. Fantastic ideas for a new song, solo, or technique instantly and mysteriously enter your mind.

Whatever the reason for these experiences, they are definitely worth having and seldom occur during short practice sessions.

Playing for long periods of time every day may not be possible for you, but you should give yourself this experience every now and then.

Building Up to a Long Practice Session

If practicing for three hours at a time seems too daunting, you can build up to it. For instance, if you’re currently putting in twenty minutes a day, shoot for thirty. Try that for a week or two. Then, go for forty-five minutes. If you’re practicing one hour per day, try an hour and a half and go through this same build-up process.

For many people, more challenging than the stamina needed for a long practice session is finding a way to have 2 – 3 hours in a row available to devote to music.

If this sounds familiar to you, here’s my suggestion: Schedule the long practice session on your calendar. Make an appointment with yourself to do something that’s important to you. And, keep that appointment!

To make big strides in your playing, the quality of your practicing is the #1 issue to focus on. And radically increasing the quantity of your practicing is another strategy to help you achieve breakthroughs. Long practice sessions – done in the right way – give you both quality and quantity.

Crucial Information about Long Practice Sessions

Scientific research reveals that people have a difficult time focusing and concentrating at the level needed to make improvements in your musical skills for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time.

What this means for us while we’re in the practice room is a strategy that can forever change your musical life.

This is the strategy:

Plan your practice time in 10 minute increments.

If you’re practicing for 60 minutes, think of using your time for six 10-minute items that you will focus completely on.

If you follow this week’s Practice Tip and practice for 3 hours, that will translate to about fifteen 10-minute periods of intense focus (with a minute or two of “off time” in between and a short break every 30 or 60 minutes).

This concept of 10 minutes of highly focused practicing is a central idea in my Ten Minute Virtuoso books. I recommend that beginners (and anyone having trouble practicing daily) play for 10 minutes a day, every day, instead of practicing for one or two hours once a week.

And, if you’re already practicing for multiple hours a day, try the 10-minute high-focus strategy and see if you have more breakthroughs in your playing. I bet you will have those breakthroughs.

To Your Musical Success!
David Motto

Posted in Achieving Goals, Music, Music Lessons, Music Practice Tips | Leave a comment

Improve Your Ear

Posted on November 29, 2017 by David Motto

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. Classical musicians rely on printed music and rarely learn a piece by listening to it.

I believe that all musicians would benefit from improving both skills. Just imagine if you could play by ear and you could also sightread charts. That would give you confidence and allow you to have more fun in every musical situation!

The Many Benefits of Playing by Ear

Among the many benefits of playing by ear are:

  • Memorizing music more quickly.
  • Matching the phrasing of other musicians.
  • Hearing parts besides your own.
  • Learning new genres of music.
  • Strengthening your ensemble playing skills.

It can be especially helpful to listen to recordings of a song you’re currently learning. You’ll hear the approach other musicians have taken with the dynamics and phrasing. You will also be able to hear the music in your mind if you return to your sheet music and practice without a recording.

What to Do in the Practice Room

All musicians can benefit from playing by ear, and your practice room is the perfect place to hone this skill. There is nobody there to judge you, and you can work at your own pace.

This is a perfect skill for you to use my Ten Minute Virtuoso method. In your practice room, for only 10 minutes a day, put on a recording and try one of more of these techniques:

1. Listen to the Melody
As you listen to the melody, find its first note on your instrument and play as much of the melody as you can. Don’t worry if playing the first phrase takes several attempts; it’s normal for this process to be difficult!

2. Practice in the Key of the Song
Play scales and arpeggios in the key of the music you’re hearing. Get used to the specifics flats and sharps you’ll need to control in that key. Feel what it’s like to play these notes while really listening to them.

3. Match Phrasing
Carefully match the phrasing of the musician you hear on the recording — even if they’re playing an instrument different than yours. Being able to hear these nuances and create those sounds yourself is a very powerful skill.

4. Pick Out Other Parts
Try to pick out parts you normally would not play, Play these parts like you’re playing a melody.

Playing by Ear is Freeing!

We must remember: Music is sound. It is not ink printed on a piece of paper.

Playing by ear connects you to this sound and frees you from the rigidity and imprecision of music notation. Plus, it’s fun and empowering to hear something and be able to play it back on your instrument.

To Your Musical Success!
David Motto

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Help Your Memory – Write It Down

Posted on November 22, 2017 by David Motto

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 music is just a tool to help you learn faster. And, tools rarely stay in brand-new condition when used.

Writing in your music is one of the best ways to use sheet music to help you progress as quickly as you can. (If you can’t stand the thought of marking up your music, then make a copy for all of your written notes and keep the original in mint condition.)

Don’t read music? You’ll still find it extremely helpful to write down musical reminders to propel your practicing forward. Use a notebook, my Musician’s Practice Planner, or anything else that works for you.

What to Write Down

There are several items to write down so you have reminders that keep you on track to meet your musical goals:

1. Tough Stuff
You need to clearly define the small areas of difficult music that will need to be worked on. Use a very light pencil mark to circle these sections. Once you have mastered a section, erase your pencil marking.

2. Technical Stuff
Put in fingerings, breath marks, pedaling, shifts, positions, etc. These markings will constantly guide you as you play through your music.

3. Phrasing
Write down dynamics, emphasis marks, and any phrasing ideas you have.

4. Questions
When you practice, questions probably come up. Write them in the music so you can get them answered by your teacher, colleagues, or by doing your own research.

5. Encouragement
Seeing words of encouragement to yourself in your music can have a wonderfully dramatic effect when you play a song.

Jog Your Memory

All five of the above have one thing in common: They help your memory. What you write today will jog your memory tomorrow!

With these reminders in your music, your upcoming practice sessions will be much easier and much less frustrating than if you try to remember everything you did today.

So, keep a pencil on your music stand and use it frequently.

“What Do You Mean – Pencil?”

I know this week’s Practice Tip will sound old-fashioned if you are using iPads, smartphone, YouTube, and other digital tools to read music, listen to recordings, and take lessons.

Whether you’re using paper and pencil or utilizing digital charts while giving voice memos to yourself on your phone, the idea is the same:

Do not trust your memory if you want tomorrow’s practice session to be as effective and efficient as possible. We all need written notes to stay on track!

To Your Musical Success!
David Motto

Posted in Achieving Goals, Memorization, Music, Music Practice Tips | 2 Comments

The Secret to Sightreading

Posted on November 15, 2017 by David Motto

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 spend a little time at each practice session reading something new. (You won’t be surprised to hear this, but I recommend 10 minutes a day.)

Don’t worry about getting every note. Playing all the pitches perfectly is not the real goal of sightreading. The real goal is to go through the music at a steady tempo – without stopping.

Think about it: In the real world of rehearsing and performing with other musicians, everyone needs to know where they are on the chart at all times. You and all the other musicians have to end up at the same place at the same time – even if you missed a few notes!!

The Secret to Sightreading without Stopping

The secret to playing without stopping is constant counting. If you can’t play the notes in one measure, just keep counting and jump back in at the next downbeat. Do not lose your place!

Even if sound stops coming out of your instrument, you are staying in time and following along visually. This counts as “not stopping” when you’re sightreading, so keep your eyes on the page!

Being willing to count even when you’re missing some notes may mean changing your usual concept of playing a song “correctly.” Instead of focusing on playing the right pitches (even if you occasionally stretch time), you’ll need to focus on correct rhythms (even if you occasionally play the wrong pitches).

Keeping this rhythmic integrity in your music will make your sightreading stronger over time. Eventually, you’ll be able to play more and more of the pitches themselves.

Why Sightreading Seems So Complex

Sightreading is an unusual process. Unlike reading language, in which your only task is to interpret the meaning of symbols (letters and words) on the printed page, sightreading music contains an extra element:

Your brain must interpret the symbols (notes) and send messages to your muscles so they can play your instrument.

This is a complicated process. To keep your muscles in shape for sightreading, they need regular practice. Much like speaking a foreign language, sightreading is a “use it or lose it” skill.

So, keep some sightreading materials in your practice area and take a look at them every day.

And, remember: Never stop counting!

“But I Don’t Read Music”

I hear from a lot of rock, blues, and folk musicians who tell me that reading music is irrelevant to them. They play everything by ear and don’t see how reading sheet music could help them be better musicians.

What I’ve found working with thousands of musicians, ensembles, and bands in every genre is that seeing music on paper – whether it’s traditional notation, chord charts, or tablature – can help musicians understand the structure of songs and help them play rhythms accurately.

Plus, there are a lot of great teaching materials that use music notation. If you can’t read music at all, you’re missing out on some very helpful information.

My Advice to All Musicians – in Every Genre

I take a specific stand: Pop and jazz musicians should learn to read, and classical musicians should learn to play by ear and improvise. That way, everyone gets the best of both worlds.

Anything you do musically that makes you uncomfortable can only lead to musical growth. Constant growth and improvement is always the goal for our musical journey.

To Your Musical Success!
David Motto

Posted in Music, Music Lessons, Music Practice Tips, Sightreading | 6 Comments

Practice First

Posted on November 8, 2017 by David Motto

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 other tasks: paying bills, homework, business travel, commuting, shopping for groceries, etc.

Here’s the solution: Practice first.

That’s right. Do your practicing before any of your other activities.

When you do, something miraculous happens. You still have time to finish everything else on your to-do list, and you practiced! That’s much better than skipping your music to do the more mundane things in life.

Effectively Using This Strategy

For some people, this means practicing first thing in the morning. Others might need to practice immediately after work—before returning emails or making dinner or checking that text or logging onto Facebook.

Students can benefit from practicing immediately after school, before homework gets started and definitely before any social media or free-time activities.

This practice tip is one of the most powerful ones around. Don’t underestimate its power! It helps procrastinators and helps people who never feel there’s enough time for their music.

Amazingly, if you follow this advice, you’ll still have time for your non-music responsibilities. It’s as if finishing your practicing gives you more energy and allows you to get everything else done more efficiently!

Benefits in the Rest of Your Life

Plus, there are psychological benefits: You will feel better about yourself, about your day, about your accomplishments, and about your commitment to something you believe in that makes your life better.

And you know that guilt you feel when you skip doing your music? That terrible feeling will be eliminated from your life!

Your practicing deserves to be put ahead of other day-to-day tasks. Try practicing first—even if it feels uncomfortable. The laundry and mowing the lawn can wait!

To Your Musical Success!
David Motto

Posted in Achieving Goals, Motivation, Music, Music Practice Tips | Leave a comment

Avoid the SAD Syndrome

Posted on November 1, 2017 by David Motto

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 is interrupted each time they make an error (or think they’re about to make an error!!).

Stopping and Starting is SAD

I call this process the “SAD Syndrome.” SAD stands for Stop And Do-it-again.

The SAD Syndrome is the #1, all-time, most damaging practice habit that exists for musicians!

While in the grips of the SAD Syndrome, musicians sometimes re-start by going back a few notes, and other times they just forge ahead. Either way, they are teaching their muscles to play mistakes.

Worse yet, during the pause in their playing, some musicians blurt out a quick “Oh” or “Sorry” or “*%^$@#.” These words pass their lips almost unconsciously.

Stopping and starting creates stress and a lack of confidence. It can even lead to memory lapses and stage fright.

If it happens to you, it’s time to build new practice habits!

4 Ways to Avoid the SAD Syndrome

Here are a few suggestions to avoid the SAD Syndrome:

1. Slow Down
Practice at a slow, controlled tempo. When going slowly, you can anticipate and avoid a mistake before it even happens! This will allow you to keep playing successfully. The key here is the word “controlled.” To stay in control you may have to go much, much slower than you think you “should” have to. Please: Be willing to go slowly enough that you stay in control!

2. Practice a Shorter Section
Run just a few bars at a time. When each section is perfect, you can put them together to form longer sections of music. If you have to, run just one bar at a time.

3. Work on Transitions
Make sure you can transition from the end of one section to the beginning of the next section. Too many musicians skip this step, yet it is crucial to your ability to keep going – no matter what – during performances. If the SAD Syndrome plagues you during transitions when you practice, you may be in for a train wreck on stage . . .

4. Keep Counting
Often, the SAD Syndrome occurs because a musician plays an incorrect pitch. Instead of stopping if you hit a wrong note, keep playing in time. Get to the next note, placing its rhythm correctly in your count. Making rhythm, tempo, and counting as important as pitch in your practicing is a game changer.

You Can’t Stop on Stage!

If you’ve found yourself struggling with the SAD Syndrome, try all four of my suggestions and make a big change in your practice techniques.

And remember: Your performances will be a mirror of your practicing. When you’re on stage, you’ll have to play without stopping. So, it makes sense to play without stopping while you’re practicing.

For more information on the psychology behind the SAD Syndrome and how we limit ourselves by our very definition of success itself, read my blog post on how to change your thinking about success.

To Your Musical Success!
David Motto

Posted in Achieving Goals, Music, Music Lessons, Music Performance Tips, Music Practice Tips, Performance Preparation | Leave a comment

Prepare for Any Performance

Posted on October 25, 2017 by David Motto

David Motto’s Practice Tip of the Week:
6 Steps to Prepare for Any Performance

From Learning to Mastery

Once you can control all the notes for an upcoming concert, audition, gig, or other important situation, the practice room needs to become a performance preparation room. During this phase, you go from learning to mastery.

Mastery means automatically performing your music from start to finish and feeling in control the entire time. One of the components of mastery is the ability to perform without stopping — no matter what!

Why is this level of mastery so important?

Because stopping is not an option during a live performance!

The 6 Steps

Here are six specific practice room steps to take if you really want to be a performance master:

STEP 1: Visualization A
Hear the music in your head and feel yourself successfully performing it. Instrumentalists will do this visualization without their instruments. Vocalists will do it without vocalizing anything at all. Any difficult issues during your visualization will probably be real issues on stage. Make sure you feel comfortable throughout this visualization!

STEP 2: Visualization B
Picture yourself performing flawlessly on stage in front of your audience. Feel calm, cool, and collected. Know that you are in control!

STEP 3: No Stopping
Run each section without any pauses whatsoever. This may mean initially going more slowly than you want. So be it. You’re working on mastery, not winning a race.

STEP 4: Control Each Section
Be able to run each section of your music — in any order. If your song has six sections, try each section in random order or backwards from the last section to the first.

STEP 5: Tighten the Transitions
When each section is under control, make sure you can easily transition from one section to the next. Run the last few measures of one section into the first few bars of the next section. This transition itself can even become a Practice Loop.

STEP 6: Put It All Together
Perform the sections in order. However, you don’t have to start by going through the whole song! Again, if your music has six sections, you can do sections 4, 5, and 6 or sections 2, 3, and 4. Try different combinations. Eventually, you’ll easily be able to play sections 1 – 6 (which is the entire song) flawlessly!

Preparing for Performance Success

These techniques will prepare you for performance success. Once you can run all 6 sections of our example song, you are actually doing the same activity as you’ll be doing on stage. You’ve gotten to the end of the practice process!

And, if you keep up the two Visualizations throughout this process, you will be building confidence. This confidence makes you mentally and emotionally ready to be on stage so that all your efforts aren’t simply focused on physical control of your music. Your thoughts and feelings matter when you’re on stage!!

At that point you’ll need to take things to the next level – which I’ll cover in next week’s Practice Tip.

To Your Musical Success!
David Motto

Posted in Achieving Goals, Music Performance Tips, Music Practice Tips, Music Rehearsal Tips, Visualization | Leave a comment

Recognize What You Do Well

Posted on October 18, 2017 by David Motto

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 know what aspects of your playing need improvement. All musicians — beginners and virtuosos alike — want to be better in the future than they are today.

And, make sure you notice the progress you have made.

A Lot is Going Right!

Let yourself know that you’re working hard, that you’re getting better, and that you’re glad you’re going through the process of learning new music and more advanced techniques.

Don’t become one of those musicians who plays an amazing show but leaves the stage down on themselves. Thousands of notes that were perfect, yet they focus all their thoughts and energies on the three notes they missed.

That is not healthy!

A balanced approach is better. Congratulate yourself for what’s going well and acknowledge what needs fixing. Remember that music, like life itself, always has room for improvement—but needs to be enjoyed today.

3 Techniques for Achieving Balance

1. Praise over Frustration
When you’re first learning something and are able to get through it very slowly, don’t immediately get frustrated and say, “I can’t perform this up to speed.” Of course you can’t! You just learned it! Praise yourself for learning all those notes.

2. Balance Your Assessments
When you record yourself, listen back and notice what you’re doing right as well as what needs more work. List five things that went well before you focus on what can be better. This balance will silence your inner critic and make you more objective.

3. Use Positive, Direct Language
Use positive, direct language with yourself as you plan how to improve a specific area of the music you’re learning. It’s better to say, “I need to make sure those E flats are in tune” instead of “Oh, my intonation is terrible.” Vague, overblown statements are not only untrue, they’re unhelpful.

It’s Not About Perfection

Musicians aim for perfection. But, they need to realize that being perfect is not humanly possible.

Since there will always be room for improvement in your musical life, be sure to notice everything you’re already doing well. This will make your pursuit of perfection a happier, healthier journey.

To Your Musical Success!
David Motto

Posted in Achieving Goals, Motivation, Music, Music Practice Tips, Performance Preparation | 3 Comments

Stage Clothes

Posted on October 11, 2017 by David Motto

David Motto’s Practice Tip of the Week:
The Performance Preparation that Nobody Does

Whether your performance garb is white-tie and tails or a vinyl mini-skirt, you need to be sure you can play well in your stage clothes. Hardly anyone double checks this before an actual gig!

Feeling Comfortable at Home

Many musicians practice in the comfort of their own home. They wear sweatpants, shorts, T-shirts. Perhaps they are barefoot. This is fine. You should feel comfortable when you practice. The last thing you want to worry about when you’re practicing is how you look.

Thinking About Being on Stage

At some point, you’ll need to start thinking about playing in public. This means deciding what to wear on stage.

Stage clothing causes problems for many musicians. There are stories of opera singers whose corsets constrict their breathing, backup singers who can’t sit down in their too-tight mini-skirts, rock guitarists who can’t bend their arms in their leather jackets, pianists whose brand new shoes keep slipping off the pedals, and brass players whose suit jackets are so tight they can’t raise their horns to their lips.

You do not want any of this to happen to you.

Instead, you want to feel good when you perform. Try to select clothes so you won’t be too hot or cold. Be sure you can move around easily. Stay away from itchy fabrics. And, if you’ll be standing on stage, wear shoes that are comfortable.

Real Preparation for the Stage Experience

Do a run-through at home or in your rehearsal studio wearing your stage clothes. Even better, have a full dress rehearsal in the performance space itself. (Yes, there’s a reason it’s called a “dress” rehearsal!)

If there are any problems caused by your stage clothing, you’ll have time to make changes before you walk on stage for the real performance!

Going through your music wearing your concert clothing is part of the transition from practicing to performing. You’ll feel more connected to the actual gig and be much better prepared to be on stage.

And, wearing your stage clothes while doing a complete runthrough of the material you’ll be performing soon on stage is the ultimate performance preparation. There’s something that changes in us when we start thinking about how an actual audience will be judging us. They’ll not only be listening. They’ll be watching too. How you look matters to them!

Your Stage Clothing Does Matter

Stage clothing is extremely important. What you wear on stage can define your musical genre and make a bold statement about who you are as an artist.

But, please, make this statement at home first. Don’t let your clothes create a performance disaster…

The Effects of Performers’ Appearance

I wrote an interesting blog post a while back that compares performers in different genres and how they look on stage. It’s fun to compare yourself to others as you decide what to wear.

And, did you know that there’s proof that how performers look on stage affects the outcome of competitions as much as how these performers actually sound? Strange, but true.

To Your Musical Success!
David Motto

Posted in Motivation, Music Practice Tips, Music Rehearsal Tips, Performance Preparation | 4 Comments