Practice makes Permanent

We hear it all the time “Practice makes Perfect” but in reality thats not necessarily true. If you keep practicing a mistake – you will then play that mistake perfectly and we soon find out that whatever you practice makes permanent. It engrains it in your hands and mind and becomes a habit. 🙂

It’s good to remember this when you are practicing so that it might help you to slow down and practice intentionally so that you can practice perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect 

That being said. Here are some quick tips to remember when you are practicing:

1. Go slow – if you get frustrated and go faster there is a chance you will just be playing that mistake faster. Slow down and think through the problem sections so that you can clean up all the mistakes and practice perfect. 
2. Break down sections into bite sized pieces. Whether its dissecting an entire piece by lines or phrases, perhaps going into 2 bar sections. Perhaps it means just reviewing hands separately or even a few notes at a time. It helps to break the problems down into small pieces. You wouldn’t shove an entire hamburger in your mouth and expect to chew it and swallow it properly. So then don’t expect to be able to “eat” the entire piece when you’re learning. Take your time to chew. 
3. Include slow practice with a metronome once you’ve gotten comfortable with the notes and rhythm. This will help you identify weak spots if there are areas you slow down or hesitate. Use this as a way to work on weak sections 
4. Remember its a process, so enjoy the journey as you learn pieces. If you keep practicing it will most definitely improve. 
5. When you feel like you’ve gotten it practice/ perform for your friends and family. When it comes to performing you will 100% have nervousness. It happens to all of us, even the best of us. The nerves never really do go away, but you will get better at “managing” the nervousness. By practicing in front of people often you will get better managing your nerves and get better at performing.

Practicing can be annoying, but it is necessary. Keep at it! 

If you need some help, try keeping track by using a practice log to keep track of when what and how long you practice. You can set challenges and reward yourself when you’ve accomplished your goal!