Practicing Properly
Thank you for stopping by to read our monthly music blog. At the Colorado School of Music we off your first lesson for just $10. We offer a large variety of instruction and most instruments. We offer piano lessons, guitar lessons, vocal lessons, voice lessons, violin lessons, viola lessons, drum lessons, percussion lessons, ukulele lessons, trombone lessons, tuba lessons, euphonium and other orchestral instruments. We have students come from Denver, Lakewood, Arvada, Wheat Ridge, Golden, Morrison and Evergreen. Please contact us at info@coloradoschoolofmusic.com or 303-526-9865 www.coloradoschoolofmusic.com
There are many ways to practice your instrument. No matter what your instrument is, it is best to practice daily. Even if you can only get 15 to 20 minutes in do it! The more time you spend with your instrument the better. Your instrument should be an extension of yourself. Some instruments are more challenging do to their technique involved. Brass and some stringed instruments fall into this category. Instruments with difficult or challenging technique requirer more consistent practice. I’m a big believer in practicing daily and for at the minimum of 60 mins a day. If you are looking to really improve you should be practicing 2 hours daily. You don’t have to always sit down and practice 2 hours all in a row. Break it up if you can’t sit that long at once. When I was taking lessons back in the 80’s we were told to practice 1 hour a day. In our current society this number has been beaten way down. I here instructors tell there students to practice 20 minutes a day. Im here to tell you will not get better with only 20 minutes of practice time daily. I would say the bare minimum is 40 minutes a day to see progress on a regular basis. Now on to what to practice. When we think of music there are many facets. We have music theory, sight reading, improvisation, technique, chord and scale knowledge and just pure fun and enjoyment of your instrument. Remember to diversify your practice. I like to make categories and allocate a certain amount of time to each. I just gave you 6 different categories that you could practice. If you break each category into 20 minute practice portions you would already have 120 minutes of practice scheduled. This did not include fun and enjoyment time. It good to be disciplined when you practice but remember to make time to just do things that are strictly fun to play or practice. Also take breaks as often as needed. Maybe when you break you have some small reward like a drink or healthy light snack. Schedule your practice may be needed if you continually find yourself say I did get to practice my instrument today or I only got 20 minutes in again. Life is full of distractions and getting your priorities for your life in order. Music is so very rewarding especial when you put the time in.
The more you practice consistently the better you get and the better you get the more fun it becomes. Please contact us to come in for your $10 introductory music lesson from one of our great instructors or myself to learn further about music. We offer guitar lessons, piano lessons, drum lessons, violin lesson, Ukulele lessons, vocal lessons as well as some orchestral instruments and more.
