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For success with a musical instrument you will need a weekly lesson and regularly scheduled practice time. Minimum practice sessions are ten minutes every day for beginners. Your teacher will make further recommendations.
| Hints: |
| • | Set aside a regularly scheduled time each day. Do not leave practicing to chance or interrupt a favorite play time. |
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| • | Several short practice periods per day are most effective. |
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| • | Especially good practice times are in the morning before school or work, and during lunch hour. |
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| • | Expect to repeat each difficult part in the music at least two or three times at different speeds. Merely playing one's music through once does not constitute practicing. |
Rules For Practicing:
You will hear the term "self-discipline" used many times during the course of your lessons, whether in class or private. Unless lessons are followed up with thorough and well-planned practice periods, even though they may be very short, little or no progress can be made. Whether you are taking lessons strictly for pleasure or as a serious student, it is suggested that you attempt to get the most out of both lessons and the practice period. Play your
"old favorites" at some other time in the day, perhaps in the late evening when you are too fatigued to concentrate on lesson material that is challenging. Here are a few suggestions, which, if carefully followed, will without fail produce results:
| 1. | Practice slowly and carefully, thinking constantly of what you are trying to accomplish. |
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| 2. | Avoid playing wrong notes or incorrect time values from the first time an exercise or song is played. |
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| 3. | Concentrate on the work at hand, and avoid automatic practice. |
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| 4. | Practice short sections of a song at a time. |
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| 5. | A few minutes of thorough practice are worth hours of haphazard, careless work. |
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| 6. | Remember that no question is unimportant. That is why you take lessons. |
Both your lesson period and your practice period will be enjoyable if you have the feeling that you are constantly making progress. Rest assured that your rate of progress will be in direct relation to how thoroughly you follow the above rules.
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