Maybe this is another reason why your Interleaved Clicking Up™ system is so effective. The microbreaks are built in while the practicer clicks up the metronome. My tendency for a very long time has been to practice small amounts of music obsessively, i.e. try to force all the progress to happen right there on the spot before moving on. The work you share on this channel reminds me that practicing should not be, and cannot be, a "grind". I have to practice effectively with the time I have, maintain realistic expectations, and do what I can to facilitate the brain doing its thing, i.e. good night's sleep, breaks, etc.
This is exactly right! Thank you for putting this so perfectly. :) The trademark on my interleaved clicking method up gave me a good laugh, so thanks for that, too. :)
It's Fall 2024, and the algorithm only just now brought this old "fossil" and self-learner of about a year and a half to you. So glad it did. Am not surprised by the results of the study. I kinda stumble into this short break routine minus the analytics. When I do, the outcome is invariably better. Thanks😊 l look forward to viewing more of your channel. Love how clearly and succinctly you presented this. All the best!
I'm so glad you've found that breaks work well for you! Thank you for being here on my channel - I hope you find that my videos are helpful to you in your work! :)
After I developed my chronic illness I was forced to take constant breaks when learning 'like art or programming' my breaks were every few minutes for an hour and then a large break in between and I feel like I've learned more in the last year than I have almost ever in my life. I used to just study for hours and hours when I was in college and I never seemed to keep what I studied or improve at all, but after implementing more breaks into my life I've gotten so much better at practicing and learning. I remember listening to this series a few months ago and I felt like my learning curve was perhaps just coincidence and unrelated to how much rest I put between sessions. But I now feel strongly that micro breaks and mental visualization has overall done a ton of good for my brain. I wish I could convince my cousins to take more breaks but in a school environment where homework and tests are constant it's a little tough to relax and take a proper rest between classes. I hope we learn more about how important rest is in between learning and allow kids to relax a bit
Thank you so much for sharing your personal experience with this! I'm so glad you've seen the power of these learning/practicing methods for yourself! You're right, it's really hard to convince other people to use them, especially when the culture of school is often promoting the opposite. Hopefully someday your cousins will listen to you!
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed my videos! I would say the microbreaks happen automatically in interleaved clicking up because you have to keep stopping to adjust the metronome (and sometimes to figure out how much you should be playing next). If they don't happen automatically, I would either just stop for a bit after each new tempo or at the end of each step. Hope this helps!
In my experience, breaks seem to work well at both the micro and macro levels. At the micro level, I came across the same paper and have been doing something similar to your routine. I've improved more in the last few months than in the previous few years. I'm a Vipassana meditator, and simply move into meditation mode during breaks, focusing on sensation in the body. That way I get a double benefit - more effective practice and a little more time for meditation! At the macro level, I become a bit bored with my primary instrument and set it aside for a few years to take up the violin. (I'm only an amateur, so am able to indulge my whims!). I returned to it recently and was amazed to discover that I was playing FAR better than when I last set it down. The difference really was striking - and very gratifying... I suspect that this was partly the break, which allowed my CNS to absorb the previous relatively hard practice I had been putting in. And perhaps also the interleaving effect, where the fiendish challenges of learning something as hard as the fiddle had spilled over into the different but related skills of my other, keyboard-based instrument.
Thank you for this! Yes, it works at micro and macro levels (I discuss more macro-level stuff in the other videos in this series on taking breaks and the mechanism behind it). I'm so glad you've experienced this for yourself in your own work!
Awesome! I also have been using frequent breaks (30 sec every 5-7 minutes) in my practicing for the last weeks and it has helped tremendously. Now that I tried your method with the more frequent 10sec breaks, I‘ll never look back again - it works even better! Thank you so much :)
I came across this method independently of this study but I use the exact same method in my own practice and recommend it to my students. It works well. Massive gains in less time.
Great stuff as always Molly - so good to hear about practice tips that actually beneficial and are scientifically verified - I remember discussing this with you last year - if only more musicians would take notice!
I too am passionate about the study of the brain as I believe that an adult who starts playing the violin late with certain tricks can unexpectedly have a leap forward that no one would expect. Signed up!
Hi Molly, hope you’re doing well. I’m using your practice techniques to this day. Four of them I’m using: 1/ interleaving clicking up 2/ taking more breaks 3/ going back-and-forth on different sections during the same practice session instead of beating it to death 4/ after a few days of very intense practice on a section, leaving it alone for a while, and then coming back to it I ran across another young teacher who has a totally different take on how to pick up your speed and I was curious what you thought of it. I am going to give it a try because frankly I’ve been working on a Chopin etude for nine months and I have reached a plateau that I can’t get over so hopefully another technique will help me with it (either that or I have to resign myself to the fact that I am not at the level to be playing it at all which somebody has suggested to me, but I refuse to believe it ) he talks about the technique in the first part of the video you don’t have to watch the end of it cause he’s just demonstrating and basically doing his own practice session with the technique so you can see how it works, but it seems totally different than yours. He thinks it works. Let me know what you think if you have time to watch the short initial explanation. Thank you! th-cam.com/video/A_Z3vMUta_c/w-d-xo.htmlsi=yVCHIiP2KNp3oTXn
Hi there! :) I'm so glad to hear you're using these practice techniques. Thank you so much for sharing this video with me! What he says makes a lot of sense to me. I'll have to try it out myself and see how it feels!
Thank you for posting this info... My question is what is happing during the 10 sec break??? I put my music on a loop (a loop that has the music that I want to duplicate) and leave it going during the break and listen to it... would I be better to turn the music off?? Thanks!!
Hi! Sorry for the delay in responding to your question! During the 10 sec break it would be better to turn it off and do nothing. Ideally you want your brain to have a complete break. I usually get a drink of water or stare out the window and watch the animals in my yard. :)
Fascinating, and something I shall definitely try. Did studies consider how much was attempted in one "go" before the break? E.g. learning the difficult part of a solo a bit at a time, and then trying to play all of it?
In the study I discuss in this video, they were learning a 5 key-press sequence, so they had to do it as many times as possible (accurately) in the 10-second practice sessions. Most of the studies on spaced learning have pretty easy tasks like this, or (like in the surgical studies discussed in earlier parts of this series) they don't explain how complicated the skill was, so I don't have a good answer for you. Your question is a good one, though, and something that should be studied in musicians! In my own practicing, I use the method described in this video to fix all of the individual errors first. Once they are fixed, then I put everything back in context.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I get highly distracted and take a lot of pauses because of ADD(Attention Deficit Disorder) and after a while I get mentally exhausted and give up. Do you have any advice for me?
Hi there! :) Thanks for your question! How long is a while? Regardless of how long it is, though, I would stop practicing well before you get mentally exhausted. Try setting a timer to stop before you get to that point, take a much longer break, and then come back again later. Practicing takes A LOT of executive function skills, which are a challenge for those with ADHD, so you need to give yourself plenty of time for your brain to rest and recharge. :)
Hi Molly, So you'd practise a pattern 3 times, take a 10(ish) sec break, then practise again 3 times and when there are no mistakes you'd move on to doing the same pattern but with 3 sets and 2 breaks right ? so if you make mistakes in the very first set of 3 repititions (before the 10 sec break) would you keep going with the pattern until no mistakes and then do 10 seconds or just make all the mistakes and then do the 10 seconds anyway... repeating until no mistakes made.
Thanks for this question! If I'm trying to solidify something, I do it 3 times and then take a microbreak. If any of those 3 have mistakes, I have to go back to zero and none of those three count. If they are all correct, after the microbreak I do 3 more. If those 3 are correct I go practice something else entirely. I will come back to that pattern later to check in on it (and usually repeat the 3x | break | 3x thing). It's only if I've done incorrect reps and have to start over that I do 3x | break | 3x | break | 3x. If I make a mistake, I stop immediately and assess as precisely as I can what caused the mistake. I may have to experiment to find a solution. Once I find a solution, then I restart my repetitions. Sometimes the solution is obvious and I don't have to experiment to find it, in which case I make sure I'm focused on what I need to do to play it correctly and then I restart my repetitions. Hopefully this answers your question! :)
Thanks for this question! They used a technology called MEG (magnetoencephalography) to measure their brain activity while they were practicing and during the breaks. I'm not sure if you want a detailed description of how MEG works, but you can likely Google and find much better explanations (and even videos) than I'm able to provide here for you! :)
Hi Molly! Are there any studies about how many pieces/exercises/etc you should practice during, let's say, 1hr? Is it beneficial to focus on 1 thing only? Split your hour by 20 minutes intervals? Or maybe even spend 5 minutes per piece?
It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish. It's always going to be better to focus on a few different things within a practice session and switch between them than just focusing on one thing (as this series of videos as well as the one on random practice explains). But how often you switch depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you are close to a performance and testing out performance readiness, switching more often will probably be more beneficial. If you have trouble focusing, forcing yourself to switch every 5 minutes so that you have to be really efficient with your time can work well. But if you get too rigid with it (never practicing anything for longer than 5 minutes), that can get in your way, too.
@@DrMollyGebrian thank you! Yes, that makes total sense. In terms of playing faster, for example, I sometimes feel that X minutes is too much, and sometimes that it is not enough. So better not be too rigid and take as much time as you need with breaks, but not too much :)
Hi, great video. I am learning a jazz melody by singing with the tune inside my head. Then after the melody is over pausing the track. Taking a 10 second break. And then doing it again. Is this a correct way of using the method you explain?
There isn't necessarily a "correct" way. It sounds like what you are doing would be beneficial. I would also practice by listening to the track, taking a 10 second break, and then trying to sing it (either outloud or in your head) without the track playing at the same time to test how well you remember it.
I’m wondering whether I should practice for 10 seconds and then take a 10-second break, or if I need to spend equal time on both (for example, 30 seconds of practice followed by a 30-second break). Could practicing for 3 minutes and then taking a 10-second break work too? I’m curious which method is more effective. Would a longer practice time with a short break have the same effect? Thank you so much
This is a great question and is something several people have asked me. The research on these microbreaks and what is going on in the brain during them is relatively new (the microbreaks paper came out in 2021), so scientists are still figuring this out. I'm not sure anyone has a good answer for you right now. I would say that more breaks are always better than fewer breaks and to take advantage of the findings from the microbreak study (that the brain repeats what was just being practiced), the chunk of music should be relatively short, like a bar at most. In the microbreaks study, it was a 5-note pattern (it was key presses on a computer keyboard and not notes on a piano, but that difference is immaterial), so something extremely short. Hope this helps! :)
I heard you talk about this on your ViolaCentric podcast appearance, and it blew my mind! I’d be fascinated to also hear more on what you said in that interview about the mirror + the research you briefly mentioned about the problems with simultaneous feedback. For me, when I didn’t use the mirror for a while I could definitely feel what was going on more sensitively.
Yeah, that research is really interesting! I'll have to do another videos series on that. Not until next summer at the earliest, though, unfortunately. :( I only have time to make these when school is not in session.
@@AidanMmusic96 It's usually called "knowledge of results" and "knowledge of performance" in the literature. If you do a Google Scholar search with those search terms, you'll get a bunch of papers.
@@DrMollyGebrian Thanks so much! Something else I was wondering: are you still marrying this to the techniques you discussed in your other videos (interleaving etc)?
@@AidanMmusic96 Yes, definitely. But I don't do all of the practice techniques all at once. Each one is a tool that has a time and place depending on the problems you are trying to address in your playing. Just like you wouldn't use a hammer, screwdriver, pliers, sandpaper, wrench, and a tape measure just to change a lightbulb, you need to pick the right practice strategy for the job at hand.
Hi Molly, i’ve been using your techniques regularly especially the clicking up and it seems like if I do a very intense say 8 to 16 bars of intricate runs ( I am a pianist) by the time I tack on the last measure I am exhausted. Is that usual to feel drained after you’re finished? Actually, so tired that I didn’t feel like I gave the last bar or two justice, and the overall speed is still not up to or a little past tempo which I feel like I can come back next time and do that and the accuracy wasn’t perfect either and will revisit them today. Ty!
Hi Micki! Do you mean physically drained or mentally drained? It's completely normal to feel mentally drained. If you feel physically exhausted, probably you are playing with excess tension that will likely lead to injury at some point, so that would be worth talking to your teacher about.
I tend to record all my practice and stop to listen back after about 30 seconds to 2 minutes. So practise for 30 seconds (say), then listen for 30 seconds. Does that count as a break?
Yes, although it would be more of a break if you didn't do anything and just let your mind wander. :) We tend to think that mind wandering is being lazy or wasting time, but it's actually really important for solidifying what we've learned.
I changed from listening to my 30 second recording straight away to staring out the window, or looking around the room rather vaguely, first and then listening. Just taking that extra bit of time, I definitely found my practice sessions much more relaxed; I was less impatient or frustrated with mistakes. So I enjoyed my practice more. Being a beginner, I can't really judge if I improved my playing more quickly than usual, but I was certainly nicely surprised how much progress I did make. I will carry on using this approach. Thank you.
Maybe this is another reason why your Interleaved Clicking Up™ system is so effective. The microbreaks are built in while the practicer clicks up the metronome. My tendency for a very long time has been to practice small amounts of music obsessively, i.e. try to force all the progress to happen right there on the spot before moving on. The work you share on this channel reminds me that practicing should not be, and cannot be, a "grind". I have to practice effectively with the time I have, maintain realistic expectations, and do what I can to facilitate the brain doing its thing, i.e. good night's sleep, breaks, etc.
This is exactly right! Thank you for putting this so perfectly. :) The trademark on my interleaved clicking method up gave me a good laugh, so thanks for that, too. :)
It's Fall 2024, and the algorithm only just now brought this old "fossil" and self-learner of about a year and a half to you. So glad it did. Am not surprised by the results of the study. I kinda stumble into this short break routine minus the analytics. When I do, the outcome is invariably better. Thanks😊 l look forward to viewing more of your channel. Love how clearly and succinctly you presented this. All the best!
I'm so glad you've found that breaks work well for you! Thank you for being here on my channel - I hope you find that my videos are helpful to you in your work! :)
After I developed my chronic illness I was forced to take constant breaks when learning 'like art or programming' my breaks were every few minutes for an hour and then a large break in between and I feel like I've learned more in the last year than I have almost ever in my life. I used to just study for hours and hours when I was in college and I never seemed to keep what I studied or improve at all, but after implementing more breaks into my life I've gotten so much better at practicing and learning. I remember listening to this series a few months ago and I felt like my learning curve was perhaps just coincidence and unrelated to how much rest I put between sessions. But I now feel strongly that micro breaks and mental visualization has overall done a ton of good for my brain. I wish I could convince my cousins to take more breaks but in a school environment where homework and tests are constant it's a little tough to relax and take a proper rest between classes. I hope we learn more about how important rest is in between learning and allow kids to relax a bit
Thank you so much for sharing your personal experience with this! I'm so glad you've seen the power of these learning/practicing methods for yourself! You're right, it's really hard to convince other people to use them, especially when the culture of school is often promoting the opposite. Hopefully someday your cousins will listen to you!
I have to say that I LOVE all this. Using science is the way to go! How do you work these micro breaks into interleaved clicking up?
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed my videos! I would say the microbreaks happen automatically in interleaved clicking up because you have to keep stopping to adjust the metronome (and sometimes to figure out how much you should be playing next). If they don't happen automatically, I would either just stop for a bit after each new tempo or at the end of each step. Hope this helps!
In my experience, breaks seem to work well at both the micro and macro levels.
At the micro level, I came across the same paper and have been doing something similar to your routine. I've improved more in the last few months than in the previous few years. I'm a Vipassana meditator, and simply move into meditation mode during breaks, focusing on sensation in the body. That way I get a double benefit - more effective practice and a little more time for meditation!
At the macro level, I become a bit bored with my primary instrument and set it aside for a few years to take up the violin. (I'm only an amateur, so am able to indulge my whims!). I returned to it recently and was amazed to discover that I was playing FAR better than when I last set it down. The difference really was striking - and very gratifying...
I suspect that this was partly the break, which allowed my CNS to absorb the previous relatively hard practice I had been putting in. And perhaps also the interleaving effect, where the fiendish challenges of learning something as hard as the fiddle had spilled over into the different but related skills of my other, keyboard-based instrument.
Thank you for this! Yes, it works at micro and macro levels (I discuss more macro-level stuff in the other videos in this series on taking breaks and the mechanism behind it). I'm so glad you've experienced this for yourself in your own work!
Awesome! I also have been using frequent breaks (30 sec every 5-7 minutes) in my practicing for the last weeks and it has helped tremendously. Now that I tried your method with the more frequent 10sec breaks, I‘ll never look back again - it works even better! Thank you so much :)
I came across this method independently of this study but I use the exact same method in my own practice and recommend it to my students. It works well. Massive gains in less time.
Great stuff as always Molly - so good to hear about practice tips that actually beneficial and are scientifically verified - I remember discussing this with you last year - if only more musicians would take notice!
I too am passionate about the study of the brain as I believe that an adult who starts playing the violin late with certain tricks can unexpectedly have a leap forward that no one would expect. Signed up!
I hope my videos are helpful to you! :) I love that you started playing the violin as an adult. It's never too late to start!
Thank you Molly Gebrian for these research based tips, they are gold to me.
I'm so glad you find them helpful! :)
I'm going back through all of the AVS videos that I missed and wow, what a gold mine. Thank you, Dr. Molly Gebrian!
Thank you so much, Joe! :) I hope you find helpful stuff in here!
Hi Molly, hope you’re doing well. I’m using your practice techniques to this day. Four of them I’m using:
1/ interleaving clicking up
2/ taking more breaks
3/ going back-and-forth on different sections during the same practice session instead of beating it to death
4/ after a few days of very intense practice on a section, leaving it alone for a while, and then coming back to it
I ran across another young teacher who has a totally different take on how to pick up your speed and I was curious what you thought of it. I am going to give it a try because frankly I’ve been working on a Chopin etude for nine months and I have reached a plateau that I can’t get over so hopefully another technique will help me with it (either that or I have to resign myself to the fact that I am not at the level to be playing it at all which somebody has suggested to me, but I refuse to believe it )
he talks about the technique in the first part of the video you don’t have to watch the end of it cause he’s just demonstrating and basically doing his own practice session with the technique so you can see how it works, but it seems totally different than yours. He thinks it works. Let me know what you think if you have time to watch the short initial explanation. Thank you!
th-cam.com/video/A_Z3vMUta_c/w-d-xo.htmlsi=yVCHIiP2KNp3oTXn
Hi there! :) I'm so glad to hear you're using these practice techniques. Thank you so much for sharing this video with me! What he says makes a lot of sense to me. I'll have to try it out myself and see how it feels!
Thank you for posting this info... My question is what is happing during the 10 sec break??? I put my music on a loop (a loop that has the music that I want to duplicate) and leave it going during the break and listen to it... would I be better to turn the music off?? Thanks!!
Hi! Sorry for the delay in responding to your question! During the 10 sec break it would be better to turn it off and do nothing. Ideally you want your brain to have a complete break. I usually get a drink of water or stare out the window and watch the animals in my yard. :)
Fascinating, and something I shall definitely try. Did studies consider how much was attempted in one "go" before the break? E.g. learning the difficult part of a solo a bit at a time, and then trying to play all of it?
In the study I discuss in this video, they were learning a 5 key-press sequence, so they had to do it as many times as possible (accurately) in the 10-second practice sessions. Most of the studies on spaced learning have pretty easy tasks like this, or (like in the surgical studies discussed in earlier parts of this series) they don't explain how complicated the skill was, so I don't have a good answer for you. Your question is a good one, though, and something that should be studied in musicians! In my own practicing, I use the method described in this video to fix all of the individual errors first. Once they are fixed, then I put everything back in context.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I get highly distracted and take a lot of pauses because of ADD(Attention Deficit Disorder) and after a while I get mentally exhausted and give up. Do you have any advice for me?
Hi there! :) Thanks for your question! How long is a while? Regardless of how long it is, though, I would stop practicing well before you get mentally exhausted. Try setting a timer to stop before you get to that point, take a much longer break, and then come back again later. Practicing takes A LOT of executive function skills, which are a challenge for those with ADHD, so you need to give yourself plenty of time for your brain to rest and recharge. :)
Hi Molly, So you'd practise a pattern 3 times, take a 10(ish) sec break, then practise again 3 times and when there are no mistakes you'd move on to doing the same pattern but with 3 sets and 2 breaks right ? so if you make mistakes in the very first set of 3 repititions (before the 10 sec break) would you keep going with the pattern until no mistakes and then do 10 seconds or just make all the mistakes and then do the 10 seconds anyway... repeating until no mistakes made.
Thanks for this question! If I'm trying to solidify something, I do it 3 times and then take a microbreak. If any of those 3 have mistakes, I have to go back to zero and none of those three count. If they are all correct, after the microbreak I do 3 more. If those 3 are correct I go practice something else entirely. I will come back to that pattern later to check in on it (and usually repeat the 3x | break | 3x thing). It's only if I've done incorrect reps and have to start over that I do 3x | break | 3x | break | 3x. If I make a mistake, I stop immediately and assess as precisely as I can what caused the mistake. I may have to experiment to find a solution. Once I find a solution, then I restart my repetitions. Sometimes the solution is obvious and I don't have to experiment to find it, in which case I make sure I'm focused on what I need to do to play it correctly and then I restart my repetitions. Hopefully this answers your question! :)
How did the study figure out what was going on in the brain during those 10 sec breaks?
Thanks for this question! They used a technology called MEG (magnetoencephalography) to measure their brain activity while they were practicing and during the breaks. I'm not sure if you want a detailed description of how MEG works, but you can likely Google and find much better explanations (and even videos) than I'm able to provide here for you! :)
Hi Molly! Are there any studies about how many pieces/exercises/etc you should practice during, let's say, 1hr? Is it beneficial to focus on 1 thing only? Split your hour by 20 minutes intervals? Or maybe even spend 5 minutes per piece?
It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish. It's always going to be better to focus on a few different things within a practice session and switch between them than just focusing on one thing (as this series of videos as well as the one on random practice explains). But how often you switch depends on what you are trying to accomplish. If you are close to a performance and testing out performance readiness, switching more often will probably be more beneficial. If you have trouble focusing, forcing yourself to switch every 5 minutes so that you have to be really efficient with your time can work well. But if you get too rigid with it (never practicing anything for longer than 5 minutes), that can get in your way, too.
@@DrMollyGebrian thank you! Yes, that makes total sense. In terms of playing faster, for example, I sometimes feel that X minutes is too much, and sometimes that it is not enough. So better not be too rigid and take as much time as you need with breaks, but not too much :)
Hi, great video. I am learning a jazz melody by singing with the tune inside my head. Then after the melody is over pausing the track. Taking a 10 second break. And then doing it again. Is this a correct way of using the method you explain?
There isn't necessarily a "correct" way. It sounds like what you are doing would be beneficial. I would also practice by listening to the track, taking a 10 second break, and then trying to sing it (either outloud or in your head) without the track playing at the same time to test how well you remember it.
I’m wondering whether I should practice for 10 seconds and then take a 10-second break, or if I need to spend equal time on both (for example, 30 seconds of practice followed by a 30-second break). Could practicing for 3 minutes and then taking a 10-second break work too? I’m curious which method is more effective. Would a longer practice time with a short break have the same effect?
Thank you so much
This is a great question and is something several people have asked me. The research on these microbreaks and what is going on in the brain during them is relatively new (the microbreaks paper came out in 2021), so scientists are still figuring this out. I'm not sure anyone has a good answer for you right now. I would say that more breaks are always better than fewer breaks and to take advantage of the findings from the microbreak study (that the brain repeats what was just being practiced), the chunk of music should be relatively short, like a bar at most. In the microbreaks study, it was a 5-note pattern (it was key presses on a computer keyboard and not notes on a piano, but that difference is immaterial), so something extremely short. Hope this helps! :)
Thank you so much
I heard you talk about this on your ViolaCentric podcast appearance, and it blew my mind! I’d be fascinated to also hear more on what you said in that interview about the mirror + the research you briefly mentioned about the problems with simultaneous feedback.
For me, when I didn’t use the mirror for a while I could definitely feel what was going on more sensitively.
Yeah, that research is really interesting! I'll have to do another videos series on that. Not until next summer at the earliest, though, unfortunately. :( I only have time to make these when school is not in session.
@@DrMollyGebrian That's fine! Where can I find this research? I'll look into it in full!
@@AidanMmusic96 It's usually called "knowledge of results" and "knowledge of performance" in the literature. If you do a Google Scholar search with those search terms, you'll get a bunch of papers.
@@DrMollyGebrian Thanks so much! Something else I was wondering: are you still marrying this to the techniques you discussed in your other videos (interleaving etc)?
@@AidanMmusic96 Yes, definitely. But I don't do all of the practice techniques all at once. Each one is a tool that has a time and place depending on the problems you are trying to address in your playing. Just like you wouldn't use a hammer, screwdriver, pliers, sandpaper, wrench, and a tape measure just to change a lightbulb, you need to pick the right practice strategy for the job at hand.
Hi Molly, i’ve been using your techniques regularly especially the clicking up and it seems like if I do a very intense say 8 to 16 bars of intricate runs ( I am a pianist) by the time I tack on the last measure I am exhausted. Is that usual to feel drained after you’re finished? Actually, so tired that I didn’t feel like I gave the last bar or two justice, and the overall speed is still not up to or a little past tempo which I feel like I can come back next time and do that and the accuracy wasn’t perfect either and will revisit them today. Ty!
Hi Micki! Do you mean physically drained or mentally drained? It's completely normal to feel mentally drained. If you feel physically exhausted, probably you are playing with excess tension that will likely lead to injury at some point, so that would be worth talking to your teacher about.
mentally drained not physically. good to know. i just love your techniques!
I tend to record all my practice and stop to listen back after about 30 seconds to 2 minutes. So practise for 30 seconds (say), then listen for 30 seconds. Does that count as a break?
Yes, although it would be more of a break if you didn't do anything and just let your mind wander. :) We tend to think that mind wandering is being lazy or wasting time, but it's actually really important for solidifying what we've learned.
I changed from listening to my 30 second recording straight away to staring out the window, or looking around the room rather vaguely, first and then listening. Just taking that extra bit of time, I definitely found my practice sessions much more relaxed; I was less impatient or frustrated with mistakes. So I enjoyed my practice more. Being a beginner, I can't really judge if I improved my playing more quickly than usual, but I was certainly nicely surprised how much progress I did make. I will carry on using this approach. Thank you.
@@jacquigough6641 This is great! :)
interesting