Welcome to our Practice Tips!

*For younger students, keep practice sessions short. It is ok for your student to only practice for 10-15 minutes at a single session! Pushing them too far in practice times can backfire and discourage or dishearten your student.

*If your student balks at the thought of practice, we have a mind trick to help them... Tell them to just practice for 3 minutes! It is such a short time that usually they will agree and (typically) go far beyond the recommended time just because they got started! If they get to the end of 3 minutes and want to stop, then at least they practiced!

*Practice your basics, not just songs! You don't have to practice every finger exercise or scale every day, but pick at least one or two to warm-up that day.

*Pay attention during your warm-up! To what? You may ask. Pay attention to your technique, hand/finger placement, tone quality, etc. Don't think of the warm-up as just something to get through. Great warm-ups can take a musician from good to great!

*Practice small sections! Practicing 1-2 measure phrases is a great way to work out problem spots.

*If you make a mistake, don't always start back at the beginning! Work the problem spot first before putting it all back together.

*You don't have to practice the entire piece/song every day. If you need to have a short practice session for whatever reason, pick a spot that needs some work and actually work on it rather than just doing a run-through.

*If you are a wind instrument player, take a couple of minutes to do a cool down and a couple of face stretches at the end of a long practice session. Just like going to the gym for your body, your face muscles need a little TLC after a tough session!