It’s a trick question!
In my experience, most students rarely practise at all.
Even from here, I can hear your cries of furious denial!
Of course I practise! And I’m making good progress! I play my instrument three times a day/every day/twice a week/occasionally…
Yes, yes (said soothingly), of course you do! And that’s wonderful. Keep it up, you’re doing great.
But.
Do you remember Humoresque talking about the three Ps? I believe they extended to six P’s in the end. One of them was P for Practice. You can re-read the post here.
In that post, Humoresque defined practice in this way:
When you Practise your instrument, decide on a goal and work hard to achieve it over a set amount of time. If you don’t achieve it in your set amount of time, come back to it next time and go from where you got to last time. Aim to fix problems, make Progress and improve.
Humoresque 4th June 2025
In that original post, Humoresque didn’t explain this statement. You probably read it, nodded in agreement, and moved on to the next paragraph.
Today, though, we’re going to look at what “practising” actually means.
To do this, we must unpack Humoresque’s advice, bit by bit:
- Decide on a goal. This is more complex than it appears in those four simple words. You must identify what needs work, and this might be a very small part of the piece you’re learning, such as getting the timing right in Bar 13 – or it might be something more wide-ranging, such as adding dynamics to the whole piece. So pick out something. Anything. Now write it down. Keep a notebook, or use the one your teacher writes in. Set down your goal in black and white! (This is something my cat does every day…)
I’m going to use those two examples throughout: 1. the timing in Bar 13; 2. adding dynamics to your piece of music. - Work hard. What on earth does “work hard” mean? Well, that depends to a large extent on your goal. I’ll use the examples above to try to explain this.
Let’s say your goal (written down!) is to correct the timing in Bar 13. This must mean that you’ve found the timing tricky, or you’ve been getting it wrong. Has your teacher shown you how to correct it? Have they, perhaps, given you a recording of how it should go? If so, you can “work hard” by listening to the recording and then playing along with it. Finally, you record yourself playing Bar 13 and then compare that with the teacher’s recording.
But if there’s no teacher’s recording, then you probably have counting written on your copy. If not, and if timing is the issue here, you must go back to your teacher and ask for more help. With counting written on your copy, you can now use the Metronome Practice Record to give you a slow click and count aloud as you play.
You’ll notice I said “go back to your teacher and ask for more help”. This is really important. If you don’t have the resources you need to “work hard” on your chosen goal, you won’t be able to achieve it. If this turns out to be the case, shelve that goal until you can get further advice. Choose a new one.
Now for the wide-ranging goal: adding dynamics. Your teacher has asked you to add dynamics to your performance, and this is your stated (and written) goal. Start away from your instrument. Sit at a table with a pencil in your hand and look through your copy of the piece. Are the dynamics printed? Are they easy to read? Do you know what all the letters and symbols mean? Perhaps your teacher has added extra dynamics. Or perhaps you could do this, if you have the experience. Make sure that everything you need to do is written or printed, and that there is nothing either written or printed that you do not understand.
Now go to your instrument and have a go at the first phrase. Make the dynamics sound natural and interesting. This may depend on the genre/period of the music, and (if you’re an advanced player) that’s something you can discuss with your teacher. Nail each phrase, one by one, then join everything together. This isn’t just about making Bar 9 louder than Bar 8! This is about creating a dynamic flow which works for the music. Or, if there are sudden louds or softs, you need to work on the surprise factor the composer wants. Examine the meaning behind the music, and experiment with different versions until you’re happy with the sound.
So “work hard” depends on the goal, your own experience, your teacher’s input, and many other factors. Again, you should write down what “work hard” means to achieve this goal with minimum effort and in minimum time. - Achieve it. Should be easy right? You’ll surely know when you’ve achieved your goal. But you can only truly know this if the goal is somehow measurable. I’ll go back to my two examples.
The timing in Bar 13 needs to be right. This is a binary structure, i.e. it’s either right or it’s not. If even one note is a little out of place, the timing is incorrect for the whole bar. But you need to be able to judge this. This is why I suggested comparing your own recording with your teacher’s recording. You can request a recording from your teacher! Don’t be shy! And remember the rule of BID-BIBU.
BID-BIBU? You can’t have forgotten! Break-It-Down-Build-It-Back-Up. So take that pesky Bar 13 just one note at a time, and fix each note to the metronome click. Is it on the click? Should it be between clicks? If you’re not sure, ask your teacher. Always, always, take it back to your teacher if you’re not sure of something. So BID-BIBU away, and eventually you’ll know you’ve corrected the timing in the entire bar. Goal achieved.
As for the example with adding the dynamics, this is more subjective. I urge you to record yourself in this case as well. Then, an hour or so later, or even the next day, listen to the performance you’ve done. Do the dynamics work? How does it sound? Can anything be improved? Does that sforzando in Bar 84 really come off, or could it be more dramatic? You’ll have to judge these things for yourself, and go back to the drawing board if necessary. But when you’re happy with the sound, it’s done. Goal achieved. - Over a set amount of time. Practising without progress can be demoralising. Don’t let this happen to you. Give yourself a time limit, and – guess what? – write it down! The time limit could be five minutes, twenty minutes, an hour… never longer than an hour though. Set a timer and stop when you hear it ping, no matter where you’ve got to in your practice.
- Come back to it next time. “Next time” could be after a short fifteen-minute break, or next day. Or whenever. But if the goal wasn’t achieved before you had to stop, you need to return to it. Don’t set a new goal or give up on your first one.
- Go from where you got to last time. Actually, you may need to backtrack a little, depending on how long the break has been. Use your judgement.
- Aim to fix problems. Well, that’s the point, isn’t it. That was your goal. If your goal isn’t a “fix problems” one, then it’s not really a goal at all. Think about that.
- Make Progress and improve. Humoresque is keen on the letter P, so Progress is capitalised. “Make Progress” and “improve” are the same thing really. Humoresque didn’t need to put it twice! And the statement will take care of itself. If you achieve your goal, you have indeed fixed your problem, made Progress and improved. Obviously.
That’s it. That’s how to practise. So are you doing that?
The title of this post, “How often do you practise?” really means “How often do you complete the 8-step process I’ve outlined above?” As I said, for most students, it’s hardly ever.
The “write it down” advice is important.
Here’s how it might look in practice:
Example 1
Goal: Correct the timing in Bar 13.
Method: Use the metronome and the MPR (Metronome Practice Record), checking each note or rest against its position in the bar.
Time Limit: Half an hour each day until it’s right.
Measure of achievement: When I count aloud as I play, it all makes sense and fits into the bar accurately.
Example 2
Goal: Add dynamics to the whole piece.
Method: Study the music and interpret the symbols already there. Add some ideas of my own as I go.
Time limit: One hour only, including the recording.
Measure of achievement: Record a performance with dynamics and listen to it to assess how effective my dynamics are.
If this technique seems long-winded and/or cumbersome to you, just give it a try. You’ll find you actually save time and effort. By identifying what you need to achieve and how to do it, you’ll cut down unnecessary time and you’ll make better and faster progress. And by writing it all down, you have a clear structure for improvement to return to whenever you need to.
Please also look again at the other Ps in Humoresque’s original post: Playing and Performance. Effective Practice will help you enjoy your Playing and succeed at your Performance even more than you do already!
Good luck and have fun!
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Humoresque = a whimsical or fanciful piece of music. Be whimsical, be fanciful, but play in time!
This is Humoresque Number 22