5 Tips to make the Most of Music Practice During a Busy Time of Year 

This article was originally published as a podcast episode on the Time to Practice podcast. It has been edited a bit for ease of reading in this format. You can listen to the audio version through one of the links below or anywhere you like to stream podcasts.

Here in the U.S., the school year is at a super busy time for teachers, students, and families alike. There are endless end-of-school-year activities, recitals, performances, preparations for summer camps, family trips, festivals, and on and on.

So, in busy times like these, I want to share a few reminders I’d like my own students to remember.

To listen to this Article in its audio format, 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:

#1 Prioritize What to Practice

Going into your practice week, know the top two or three priorities that you want to be working on. You may have many different tasks or assignments on your practice list. Within your list, you’ll want to figure out what your top two or three priorities are. Ask for your teacher’s help if you’re not sure where to start.

If you only get to two or three tasks on a given practice, what should that be? For example, in my own studio, as I’m writing this, we are about two weeks away from our spring recital. So I definitely want our solo and group pieces to be on the top of everybody’s priority list right now.

Other priorities are going to vary by the students. Some students are working on specific technique assignments I want them to get to daily. Of course, its always important to work on technique, but some students have some very specific exercises I don’t want them to skip over.

Some students have a goal of finishing a notereading book. Others are working on polishing pieces for a book graduation coming up. There could be many other priorities that will be individual to each student. When we set our top priorities, it can definitely help make it clear what to practice, especially if time is limited. If you know you just have a set amount of time, knock out those top priorities first. Or, do your warm up routine and then knock them so you’re sure to get to them, especially if time is more limited.

#2 Take Advantage of the Power of Listening

The more you listen to your pieces, the better, especially for Suzuki students, where this is part of the method and the way you are learning your pieces. If times are busy and practice time feels more compressed, I think doubling up on your listening can be such a help! Whether it’s in the car, while eating breakfast, while getting ready for bed (or all of the above) you can keep your brain thinking and learning about your music this way, even in busy times. Even on a day when maybe you do not get a chance to touch your actual instrument, you can be learning and thinking about the music you’re learning. 

#3 Have an On-the-Go Practice Plan

If you have days with many extra activities right now, maybe lots of extra afterschool programs or end-of-the-year activities that take up evening time when practice would normally happen, sometimes it’s hard to get to the instrument as much as you like at home.

Some creative solutions could include:

• Activities you can bring with you in the car What could you have with you to get some kind of practice going on days when you’re on the go?
• Of course, not everyone’s instrument is portable, but I have seen great photos of students practicing the violin, for example, just standing outside the doors of the minivan while a sibling has sports practice or waiting for a sibling’s evening event to get started.
• Bring your note-reading book or music-reading flashcards or music theory along with you to work on the car or while waiting.
• Could you read about the composer of the piece that you’re playing?
• Maybe do some finger or rhythm exercises you’ve been assigned.
• Older students, especially those who are reading music, could use mental practice or study the score while they listen to their piece as a way to practice without the instrument in their hands.

Having a plan for these things in advance is really what makes this kind of on-the-go creative practice work.

If you have a busy day trying to think of these ideas on the fly when you’re about to head out the door can be a challenge. So if you think about this now, what could we have a copy of in the car? What lives in the music bag anyway and could come with us in the car while we have this extra activity this week. Maybe the next day you are home and you can get to your instrument and you’ve doubled up on the note reading or a theory from the day before and you can put your extra focus onto something else the next day when your instrument is in your hands.

#4 Visual Time Blocking

I’m a huge fan of time blocking and thinking about how we can divide up our practice time. Time blocking helps magange time when we’re super busy. It can also help us learn how to balance the time between different priorities and longer stretches of practice we may have. Or, maybe a student is just learning how to practice more effectively or more independently. Time blocking is helpful in all of these cases.

What I recommend is visually mapping out in some way. So let’s say we have 30 minutes to practice and we want to divide our time into three 10-minute chunks. To give a very simple example, I might draw a circle and then divide that into three slices of a pie.

For a young student, I might suggest

8-10 minutes on scales, warmups, note reading

10+ minutes on their recital prep for those students who have their recital in a couple of weeks

10 minutes on review and pieces that we know well and do not want to forget.

Or another way to break down that 30-minute practice cycle could be more like

6 minutes on warmups and scales and note reading

6 minutes on the newest piece that we’re working on

8 minutes on recital prep

10 minutes on our review pieces

There’s not really a right or wrong answer, or a one-size-fits-all answer. What we’re doing is essentially making an educated guess, noticing if these time estimates are working for us, and then adjusting as needed. That gives you a couple of quick examples.

I also think it’s really helpful to use a visual timer of some kind. Sand timers and visual timers can be great for this.

Seeing the time pass can really help students develop a sense of time in the long run. They help us build an internal model of what that feels like to have practiced for that length of time. Also, some people just do not have a great internal model of time tracking and so they can see the time passing and when they should move on the next thing helps with time management in general.

My advice to students is that if we say we’re going to spend 10 minutes on review and it’s been 9.5 minutes or the time’s almost up and you feel done, then go ahead and move on. If it’s been more like two or three minutes, that is certainly a sign your teacher would like you to spend more time on this chunk. Maybe you need more ideas of how to practice that task, which is fair and a good conversation to have with your teacher, but that’s definetly a sign to go back and do more.

Finally , if there is a segment of practice that you don’t get to for whatever reason, make sure to make a note to do it the next day so you don’t skip the same task two days in a row.

I think the busier we are, the more strategies like this to organize our practice can help. Also, ideas like this take pretty advanced planning, organizing and time management for developing brains to do on their own. So my note to you, if you are a music educator and think your students might find it helpful, is to keep in mind that the best way for our students to learn to implement a system like this is for us to model it for them and talk it through with them, maybe practice doing it together in the lesson.

If you;re a parent or caregiver who supports your child in practice, you can do them same and help them think about what needs to change or how to adjust over time with questions like:

Was that enough time? Did that work? What would we change the next time? The more a supportive adult coaches a student through it, talks to them about it, helps them problem-solve, the more they’re going to be able to do that for themselves in the future.

You can help your child create this idea and make it work for them, and coach them through over months and years it might take. Once they can really adopt this for themselves, they have developed a fantastic life skill: how to manage their time, whether it’s music practice or any number of other projects in the future.

#5: Remind Yourself of Your Bigger Goals

When times are busy, it’s very easy to let practice and practice goals slip, often for really understandable reasons.

As a parent or caregiver, we may be just trying to get everyone fed and out the door in time for the school day, get everybody enough sleep, or gather whatever items are needed to go to school that’s different than normal right now.

Sometimes we are in survival mode with our time and our schedules and our own brains as adults are very taxed with all the planning and extra things that we are trying to keep track of. So, reminding ourselves of our goals around music can really help us remember to make the time and to put in the effort to get started, or hit play on the recording, or pack those activities in the car so we can have that practice time on the go.

Maybe you could take a moment and think about your goals right now or do this with your child if they’re old enough to help you come up with a goal together or just name the goal and you help them post it somewhere you and your child can see the goal.

Do you have a recital to prepare for? Are you attending an institute or a summer camp and have music to prepare before you attend? Do you have a book graduation you’re working towards? Are you learning happy birthday because a loved one’s birthday is coming up and you want to surprise them and have a musical gift to present?

There’s so many options that could go on this list large and small. I think it’s great to have goals or milestones to look forward to and to celebrate. And I think they’ll be especially motivating for your child if they’re meaningful to them. So naming those, reminding ourselves of them, putting them somewhere where we can see them.

So perhaps you could post that on the music stand, on the wall in your practice space, on the refrigerator where you could see it. I hope you can put this idea to use and make it work for you!

Links in this Episode:

Be a part of the Summer Podcast Series by sharing your own practice tip or tip about motivation for practice SIGN UP TO PARTICIPATE HERE

SIgn up for the Monthly Newsletter: SuzukiTriangle.com/Newsletter

Connect with Christine on Instagram

Be a part of the Summer Podcast Series by sharing your own practice tip or tip about motivation for practice SIGN UP TO PARTICIPATE HERE