5 Steps for Efficient and Effective Practicing
Mindful practice is all about cultivating conscious habits and awareness. Developing positive practice habits involves three components:
Deep observation – Our bodies are part of our instrument. Being able to notice how we are feeling in our bodies – without judgment - while playing our instrument is essential to understanding our habits.
Pause – A pause can be magical. It gives you a moment between stimulus and response to clarify your intention of action and the space needed to change a habitual pathway. In a sense, it gives you the freedom to change.
Direction – When you are consciously directing, you are practicing playing the way you want to play.
5 Steps for Efficient and Effective Practicing:
Where is your body in space and time right now. Become aware of what you are feeling in your whole psycho-physical self. Pause. Let an answer come.
Sense the ground
Sense your breath
Be aware of your peripheral vision
Sense the eight corners of the room
Get curious! Let whatever came up during your pause become a clear concept of what you want to work on.
Ask a question. “I wonder what would happen if....”
Give something a try!
What did you notice? Remember, whatever you notice - it’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s just information.
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Cultivating awareness allows everything to be practicing! Mindfully practicing being aware of how you are sitting in front of a computer can directly relate to how you sit in rehearsal. Practicing awareness while picking something up off a table can also inform how you pick up your instrument. How we use our bodies in our everyday life is how we use our bodies when we play our instruments. What we practice in our everyday life transfers to our performance more than just what we do in the practice room.
Make practicing count!
