Practice Tip #1 - Create A Ritual

It's no secret the the key to becoming a musician is practice. No matter how much talent we're born with, music is something that must be rehearsed until it's ingrained on a deep level. Practice is so important that it never ceases to be a necessity, even after many years of performance. 

Below is one of many tips that we will be sharing in the coming months on this blog. But, let's start at the beginning:

Create A Ritual

When you sit down to practice, everything from your surroundings to your mental state can have a powerful effect. With this is mind, it's best to create a systematized way of beginning practice that allows you to ensure that you arrive to with clarity and a focused mind. 

Firstly, it's important to designate a practice space. Where will you practice? What does the space feel like to you? Is it cluttered? What could you do to make it feel more inviting to you each time that you sit down to work? A clean, peaceful space has been proven to be the most psychologically conducive for quality focus. Make sure that your practice area is clean and allows you to turn all of your attention to the music. 

Secondly, take a moment and close your eyes. Breathe in and breathe out. Clear your mind from everything in your life. Coming to practice is a very specialized thing. When we manage the transition from our daily lives to practice with care, we can begin to shape the state of mind in which work. This is even more important when considering the varied emotional states that we might be experiencing. Practicing while sad, depressed, angry, tired, sick, or hungry all can hurt your performance. Yet, it falls to us to still practice, no matter what life throws at us. 

While one of our favorite methods of "reclaiming mental and emotional states" is closing our eyes and breathing for a minute or two, there are many others. It's important to find what works for you and then create a ritual that allows you to show up at your best. 

This, simply in itself, will drastically improve the results of your practice time. 

Amidei School Of Music is a boutique music school offering piano lessons, guitar lessons, ukulele lessons, & voice lessons in Ken Caryl and Littleton, Colorado.