When practicing it is important to have specific things to focus on during practice sessions.
Quite often we go through a song, find challenging sections within the song, struggle through these, get to the end of the song and then go through it again. This doesn’t achieve much as you continue to struggle through these difficult sections.
What you need to do however is to “chunk” the song into parts, and then focus on the parts that are giving you difficulty. Once they are resolved, then go through the whole song.
Below are 10 steps you can follow to help you with your practice:
1. Listen
Listen to the performance of a piece or section of a piece.
2. Diagnose
Where are the problems?
3. Choose
What should I fix first?
4. Isolate
Find the problem “bite” to fix in five minutes
5. Simplify
What can you do to get more comfortable with the problem?
6. Repeat
How many times do I need to repeat this drill to get it right?
7. Connect
Place the corrected “bite” back into the section of music.
8. Generalize
Are there any similar problems in the piece to fix?
9. Retain
What do I need to remember to do in practice to fix this problem?
10. Set Goal
What will you accomplish with this song in the next week?
Congratulations! You are now a successful Problem Solver!