Fostering Deliberate Practice vs. “Playing Through”: A conversation with Barbie Wong

There is a place for both playing for enjoyment and focused, deliberate practice to improve our pieces when we’re learning music and practicing, and on this episode of the Time to Practice podcast, Christine Goodner and Barbie Wong have a conversation all about it.

What is deliberate practice?

Why is deliberate practice, a phrase coined by Anders Eriksson, an important aspect of music practice and why does it help explain what might feel hard about music practice for young children?

We tackle this topic, share our perspective, and offer ways to make deliberate practice work and ideas to make it more enjoyable for students, incorporating it into practice. We share a number of practical strategies for parents to implement deliberate practice into home practice sessions. Ideas like: isolating difficult spots, finding ways to count repetitions or use checklists to mark our progress, and incorporating games and creative stories to make the repetitive work more tolerable and engaging for students of all ages. 

To Listen to the full episode you can find the Time to Practice Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Audible, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform. You can also listen directly from the link below:

Other episodes that share ideas about deliberate practice, or how to think about focused practice on specific spots:

Our conversation with flutist Meret Bitticks, where she shares how she used to visually track her focused practice repetitions

Our conversation with Susanna Klein (ping pong balls!)

Links in this Episode:

Find Chrstine’s Books HERE

Find Barbie Wong’s Website HERE

Book – Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, by Anders Eriksson

Join Christine & Barbie in the Musical Nest Community

Resources at SuzukiTriangle.com

Connect with Christine on Instagram

Request a Parent Talk, Presentation, or Book Club Discussion with Christine 

TRANSCRIPT