Tips For How To Beat And Stop Procrastination Before Music Practice
by Ugo Onwutalu,
published:
syndicated: 0 | total views: 644 |
word count: 1226
laesbarhedsindex readability score: Average Readability
on the net: http://www.grademusicworld.com
UNITED KINGDOM, Sep 04 — As the beginning of my previous article on practice says: "practice is a dirty word". The realization that you’ll have to put in the time (in particular, hours) to get the results you want, stop many dead in their tracks before they even set foot near their instrument. It gets all too easy to ’do it later/tomorrow/in the coming days/week’ etc. But think how much more rewarding it must be to make progress on something you were running away from for so song, simply because you took right action, in spite of how you felt beforehand
A
s the beginning of my previous article on practice says: "practice is a dirty word". The realization that you’ll have to put in the time (in particular, hours) to get the results you want, stop many dead in their tracks before they even set foot near their instrument. It gets all too easy to ’do it later/tomorrow/in the coming days/week’ etc.
Before you know, what you should and could have done today becomes what you definitely should have done this WEEK, but as yet, you stll haven’t ’got round to doing’.
Now many articles and tips on procrastination focus on ’Just doing it anyway’ and I agree that forcing yourself to start is the best and fastest way IF you have the willpower. The problem is that from my experience many people can only muster the willpower on an occasional basis meaning that a lot of the time other pressing matters take precedence. Because of this, many may feel they have to constantly ’push themselves’ to get the practice done and that’s a big ask if the requirement is daily. So how else can we get ourselves to practice, especially if we’re feeling lousy?
Tip 1: First, make the commitment by setting aside a time in your day where nothing will come between you and practice.
By making this decision, you psychologically tell yourself sure you really want to do it and are prepared to apportion time to get things done. It is a form of integrity whereby keeping your promise helps you to follow through.
Tip 2: Listen to music or watch videos for inspiration.
When you want to relax or have fun, listening to music will probably be one of the many things you engage in. Now when it comes to motivation, doing this reminds you of why you started learning your instrument in the first place. If you’ve ever had any favorite songs you dreamed of playing, it would probably have arisen from something you saw on tv/live or heard. This is were you have to be in order to rediscover the ’spark’ that will get you inspired to get practicing. Whatever it is you like, listen to it and soak up everything you love about the music.
Tip 3: Set a realistic goal and/or doable task
The next step is to go to your instrument with the sole focus of working on a particular area which will not overwhelm too. Too often, part of the problem is that you might feel what’s required to make progress is too much and therefore ’not worth the hassle’. So you don’t so much procrastinate as simply leave it. Perhaps you hope the situation will improve by itself or you’ll feel mentally better and ready another time. All wrong.
Decide in advance that you will work on an area that’s been giving you the most difficulty but in a way where you achieve small victories. For example, you could be learning a passage in a piece where there’s a scale. Instead of trying to tackle the whole scale at once, insisting on perfection, just break it down into segments and focus on getting comfortable with the best fingering on that area before moving onto the next part of the scale (again focusing on finger familiarity). Eventually, you’ll reach the stage where you can move onto bigger things and even put the whole scale together. However, focus on small things first as a way to get yourself to begin practicing.
Tip 4: Be aware of your thoughts,
This applies to before as well as during practice. Your mind will start to have rationalizations for procrastinating as you think about beginning practice. It will give you seemingly strong reasons to change your mind and do something else. Be aware of this. Also once you do start practicing, it might not be long before your mind has urges to switch to another task. You might have urges to surf the web, look at your mobile to see if anyone’s texted you, make a call, check what’s cooking, eat etc. The distractions are endless. Notice these urges. The key thing is NOT TO MOVE.
Notice your thoughts, but stay still, and let them pass. Your mind will fill up with reasons to stop practicing and these reasons will get so intense that you can easily give in. Instead, let the itch to break from practicing pass. Fight it in a relaxed way by being observant.
Also, be aware of your self talk and body language when you begin practice. Don’t fall into the negative mindset with thoughts of "this is too hard/I’ll never get this right/progress is slow" etc. Resist sighing and poor body language that creates apathy (e.g. slouching, serious face etc). These all contribute to procrastination. Instead, develop a keener posture, more upright and think of how you would carry yourself when engaged in an activity you enjoyed. Replicate that, but with a smile/more positive facial expression rather than a frown.
Tip 5: Reward yourself
This has been mentioned before in various advice for taking action on things we don’t want to do but it does work. Just make sure it is justified and you kept to the standard you set yourself when practicing. Don’t let yourself off the hook or cheat in order to get your reward. The satisfaction only comes from knowing that you truly focused on and practiced what needed to be done for a length of time you should feel did you justice.
Finally, realize you have the brains, creativity and discipline to overcome many of your daily challenges already. There will come days when you just don’t feel like practicing and don’t beat yourself up if you really aren’t up to it. However, there is something to be said for self discipline and even courage in doing things you don’t feel like doing. It gives you a greater feeling of power and control over matters.
After all, if you’re feeling great and motivated, it’s natural you will rush to practice your instrument. But think how much more rewarding it must be to make progress on something you were running away from for so song, simply because you took right action, in spite of how you felt beforehand.
Ultimately, by thinking of ways to improve your playing instead of all the ways not to practice, you can make greater progress than you imagined.
Communicate directly with Ugo Onwutalu, the author of this article. Ask questions, send suggestions, comments, engage in conversation, or perhaps you would like to submit a project.
Click Here to ask a question, send a comment, or proposal.
Once upon a time record companies would hand out a fee to record music they neither understood nor cared about. They wouldn’t pretend to like the music or the musicians involved and they wouldn’t expect too much of a return on&n
I have thoroughly enjoyed my holidays as a time of discovery and reflection... I have busied myself the past couple of weeks with score prep and parts production for ’imprint’ for orchestra. This has been a highly painstaking
If you intend to start learning blues piano, I recommend you work your way through at a few beginners books first. If you don’t have any, there many recommended books that can be found on places like Amazon with the usual reader ratings.
Music selection for an exam/audition is one of the most important you can do. Choose easy pieces and you might be accused of "playing it safe" Choose harder ones and you might be criticized for overextending yourself or being overambitious.
Emerson has been making great home karaoke machines for years. They continue to build on a solid reputation of creating innovative and modern players to suit the needs of the every changing karaoke market. The GM527 DVD/CDG Karaoke Player is an examp
These albums were happening along the time that I was happening. I was really into real R&B and I still am. These type of tunes were very truthful — there's an honesty that went with them. Those artists communicated to people, they were about the
Filters, how do they work? They may be used to make tracks work together in a mix. If two sounds are very similar and they are competing for the same space in the frequency spectrum, then it can be a good idea to apply some filtering on one of the so
Now and then, people ask me for advice on where to begin with the daunting world of classical music recordings. They've heard bits here and there, they\'re curious, they imagine they'd probably enjoy it once they got involved, but they wouldn't know
Talent exists in millions of artists, but there are only a few, who make it to the top. Those few who made it to the top were definitely exquisite talents, but were shaped and projected upwards by professionals in the field of music. New York recordi
If you intend to start learning blues piano, I recommend you work your way through at a few beginners books first. If you don’t have any, there many recommended books that can be found on places like Amazon with the usual reader ratings.
Music selection for an exam/audition is one of the most important you can do. Choose easy pieces and you might be accused of "playing it safe" Choose harder ones and you might be criticized for overextending yourself or being overambitious.
As the beginning of my previous article on practice says: "practice is a dirty word". The realization that you’ll have to put in the time (in particular, hours) to get the results you want, stop many dead in their tracks before they
If you are learning/play a musical instrument, take note, your body is sacred. This is because the act requires certain physical movements as well as a level of endurance, strength and flexibility, especially in practice where repetition is the norm.
This article is particularly relevant for teachers and pupils on how to use audio to help learning of songs on piano. It is important for the pupil to be able on some level to develop good aural skills in order for them to play their favorite songs.
Syndication
tweet
PDF version
Printable version
Publisher HTML version
Discussions (0)
Email Article
Post New Comment