Our 100 Days of Practice Challenge - in the Students' Words

Last time, I shared my takeaways from latest 100 Days of Practice Challenge. My students who have completed their first 100 Days of Practice Challenge have submitted their surveys. Here’s what they have to share on practising for 100 days in a row:

What was the easiest part for you about the challenge?

• The easiest part about the challenge is for when you don’t have time so you can do a very little practice or just listen to your music, also that other instruments that I have play [count].

• Doing finger practices or listening to my pieces on the days I was busy.

• Remembering to practice every day.

• I was allowed to play whatever I wanted.

• Finding something to practice every day.

• The easiest part of the challenge for me was finding a type of music to practice, whether that be theory, listening to pieces, marching band or piano.

• I started the challenge as I was preparing for my exam, so the motivation to practice daily was very strong.

What was the hardest part for you about the challenge?

• Trying to play the piano every day. Especially when you do not feel well.

• Having to practice every day.

• Playing without a break.

• Theory. Definitely.

• Finding different things to practice every day.

• The hardest part was practicing for long amounts of time.

• Sometimes just finding the time!

Has your playing changed since participating in this challenge. If so, how?

• Yes, I believe it has because I am getting things a lot faster.

• I don’t think so.

• Not since the 60 day challenge.

• No.

• Yes it has. It has improved technically.

• Yes, my practices schedule has become more consistent and regular.

• The approach to getting time to practice. It is less “Oh I have to practice,” and more part of the daily routine and have a set time rather than “Oh I should practice.” Also if it is late or I am tired I will still practice and often, “Oh I’ll just do 15 minutes,” becomes 30 - 45 minutes.”

Have you noticed or discovered anything interesting about your musical journey since starting this challenge? If so, what?

• I discovered that we are around music all the time from playing instruments to going outside and listening to the nature.

• No.

• Not since the last challenge.

• I improve best when I spread out the practice of that one thing.

• I have noticed that once I have gotten into a steady routine of practicing it is easier to make time for it.

• Practices are more relaxed but also more productive as I will stay longer on one thing and feel I have to log everything, as I know I will practice again the next day. If I don’t practice I feel I’ve missed something.

Any other comments, questions, or suggestions to make the practice challenge better next round? Or other practice challenges/projects?

• Maybe being able to take a break if they have something major like exams.

• Instead of practising continuously, maybe there can be 1 day of rest.

• Have break days.

• Nope

• I enjoyed the challenge. Even when the exam was over I kept it going. I feel it gives me time/permission to not only work on exam pieces but all other fun pieces. As of today,my 100 days has expanded to 130 days.

My students have decided to continue with either a 60 Days of Practice Challenge or a couple of 30 Days of Practice Challenges (with a break in between). They don’t want to lose their momentum now that they’ve got their practice groove on.

Thank you to my students Haley, Kateri, Henry, Claire, Erika, Edel, and P for sharing their feedback here. I should point out that Edel is an adult student, so it has been a delight to hear about her weekly discoveries in the practice room and with the music meetups she participates in.

100 Days of Practice Challenge 2019 - Day 70 Check-In

My practice trackers tell me that I hit Day 70 of my #100daysofpractice challenge yesterday. So much for doing a post at the midway point. All I can say is that spring is a busy time musically. Better late than never.

100 Day Music Practice Challenge (Round 2) So Far

Things are chugging along, but real-life musical commitments (along with just real life commitments) have been taking precedence over the trio of pieces that I wanted to highlight this challenge. Prior to Spring Break, I buckled down and recorded teacher demos of most of my Grade 1 - 6 students’ repertoire. With music festivals and exams coming up, getting clips up to help my students finetune and polish was more important than learning Papillons. I guess that’s just a reality I have to accept as a music teacher and choir musician.

I am now on the roster to play the piano at funeral services at three churches. On one hand, I feel sad, seeing that I started gigging by playing at weddings and banquets. You know, happy occasions. Now, I’m sending people off. However, there is honour in giving the departed a fine send off musically, so I’ll do the best I can.

Of the featured trio, Happy Together is furthest along. I have learned the song on voice, ukulele, and cajón. Although I am still tripping on a couple of chords and lyrics, I am getting close to being able to record a virtual performance.

Papillons? Ugh. I performed the Introductzione and No. 3 at last month’s studio piano party. It was OK. I am learning to relax my hands on those blocked octaves, but it’s nowhere near ready to be brought up to speed. Nor do I have any desire to. I am currently learning No. 7. It’s slow and that’s fine. Once I have learned it, I’ll call it a day and put it away.

I dusted off Leyenda (Asturias) from Isaac Albéniz’s Suite Espagñola. It’s the last piece that Mrs. Ginzburg taught me during our time together. Enough time has passed that I think I have something new to bring to it. Plus, I simply love the piece, whereas, I don’t like Papillons.

Danza del gaucho matrero has been placed on hold until I have finished Papillons. That should happen this week. I do want to have the entire Danzas Argentinas relearned by the end of this challenge.

With Easter fast approaching, my practising will be dominated by music for Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil) and Easter Sunday. Although my brother and I are splitting the bulk of the piano duties (the other pianist is taking the last service - yay! - because I plan on being home, fast asleep for that one), I will probably sing and/or play the cajón for the services I am not playing piano.

March 2019 Music Practice Tracker

Lots of dots = lots of progress, in some areas. Credit: R-M Arca.

Easter Triduum Prep

There’s a lot of music needed for the services on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday. Credit: R-M Arca

Singing Practice

My ear training drills have been paying off. My a capella singing is stronger than in years past. Credit: R-M Arca.

Happy Together

Singing and ukulele seem to go hand in hand. Well, until I trip on a chord or a word, that is. Credit: R-M Arca.

Cajón practice

I’m so glad I picked a percussion friendly piece for my non-dominant instruments. Credit: R-M Arca.

100 Days of Budo Practice Challenge So Far

I am facing the same challenge that my piano students face: how to fit enough physical practice time into the week. Although I do notice an improvement overall because of my increased budo study time, nothing really beats committing things to muscle memory through repetition.

Camera sensei continues to be my best friend during at-home practices. However, with weapons that range from 20 inches to six feet long, I am limited by ceiling clearance and space. If I break another light fixture or accidentally slice a plant, my kouhai (juniors) will never let me live it down. Thankfully, spring is here and I can go train at a nearby park. Just in time, really. We will be doing martial arts demonstrations at the Calgary Expo later this month, so I better kick things up a notch. Ka Muso Kai will be demonstrating all of the arts we practice: Iaido, Jodo, Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu, and Choken Battojutsu Kagéryu.

March Budo Practice Tracker

More dots but the majority are in the “Study” column. Need to change that up this month. Credit: R-M Arca.

Checking Angles

There is so much math in Iaido that it’s not funny. Here, I’m checking my angle before completing the cut. Credit: R- Arca.

Mic Stand to the Rescue

Not only is my mic stand a camera stand, it also serves as my training partner in Jodo. It goes into Chudan very nicely. Credit: R-M Arca.

Lots of Swords

One of my kouhai got his iaito recently. That prompted this “dojo family photo” after training. Credit: R-M Arca.

Brain Dump Time

After a seminar or a really good class with sensei, writing down all the tips is critical. At least, it is for me. Credit: R-M Arca.

Looking Beyond the Practice Challenge

As I listen to my students and myself play, it is wonderful to see and hear how much progress we have made. However, as the year ramps up, physical, emotional, and mental fatigue will become a bigger challenge to face. We have all learned different ways to practice, but we are noticing the need for taking some time off. Rest gives us that time to reset, refresh, and come back to our work with a fresh perspective.

We will all have to figure out what that ideal balance is. For me, I think musically, it will be six days a week, with five days being on my instruments and one day dedicated to scorestudy and/or ear training. Budo-wise, I think it will shift to five days a week, with three days physical training and two days of study. The breakdown will vary depending upon what else is going on, but the main thing I will take moving forward is planning my practices so that everything gets worked on regularly.

Although having said this, I may just carry on with daily on both fronts but take a day off when I need a day off. I just need to make sure that I don’t go beyond three days off. Violinist Jascha Heifetz once said: “If I don't practice for one day, I'll know it. If I don't practice for two days, the critics will know it. If I don't practice for three days, the whole public will know it."

100 Day Music Practice Challenge - Students

Three of my students have completed their 100 Days of Practice Challenge, with a handful expected to wrap theirs up this week. The remainder are slated to complete their challenge around Easter. I will share their reflections once they have turned in their surveys.

Some of my students have opted to do another 30 Days of Practice Challenge, working in a break before doing another round. Others have decided to complete another 60 Days of Practice Challenge - with a little break before and after the challenge.

The general consensus for next year is that we will do a 100 Days of Practice Challenge but it won’t be consecutive days of practice. Obviously, if a student opts to make it 100 consecutive days of practice, they’ll reach their goal more quickly than someone who takes a few days off. I do hope that students do take a day off here and there though. Resting our minds and our bodies is just as important as practice frequency. It’s a fine balance.

To find out more about my 100 Days of Practice Challenge Rules, check out my Reflecting on My First 100 Days of Practice Challenge post.

To follow my 100 Days of Practice Challenge, head over to Musespeak Studio’s Instagram:

Our 30 Days of Practice Challenge

As I mentioned in my post about this year’s Maestro’s 2018/19 Studio Challenges, my students and I are are doing a new practice challenge this year. Last month, we started a 30 Days of Practice Challenge. The practice challenge was inspired by concert violinist Hilary Hahn and her 100 Days of Practice Challenge on Instagram:

I felt that my students need to build up their chops a bit before they are ready to tackle the 100 Day Challenge. Enter Stage 1: the 30 Day Practice Challenge.

The premise is that students commit to practising 30 days in a row. Healthy days, that is. Sick days won’t count against them. I told my students that I didn’t want them anywhere near their instrument if they had a fever or felt like puking. It would be a wasted effort. Better to concentrate on getting well. They’ll earn $200 Maestro Bucks once they complete the challenge. If they miss a day, then they must restart the count.

Some of my students are close to wrapping up their 30 Day Challenge, so I think it’s a good time to share some of our discoveries, observations, and lessons.

The Challenges of Practice Tracking

My students have to maintain a practice diary or log of some form. Most opted for the paper diary, although some are using it in conjunction with the Practice Buddy app.

Initially, most started by using the Practice Buddy app, but some students experienced glitches which resulted in lost practice log entries, and some practice sessions do take place when students are separated from the mobile device that had the app. Then, there were cases when students forgot to start the timer on the app or forgot to keep up with their paper log entries. The conclusion was that a paper log was still required.

Paper Practice Log

This student very quickly abandoned the Practice Buddy app in favour of paper practice log. Photo by R-M Arca.

Practice Feedback

This student maintains a paper practice diary but uses the Practice Buddy app when she wants me to listen to a practice clip.

Practice Buddy

This student also uses a paper log and the Practice Buddy app.

Practice Makes Consistent

The Practice Buddy app has been useful in giving students a relatively easy method to send me practice clips for feedback during the week. It’s been fun on my end listening to the clips, hearing my students’ progress, and giving them cute stickers in addition to feedback.

A handful of my junior intermediate students are very close to completing their 30 Days of Practice Challenge. They should be wrapping it up within the next week or so. They are pretty excited about their bonus.

They do a combination of practising at the piano as well as theory and using some music apps such as Note Rush, Note Works, Music Reading Essentials, Perfect Ear, and Tenuto. Their progress has been steady in their repertoire, theory, and technical exercises. I hope that they are as pleased with their progress as I am.

My upper intermediate and advanced students are having a tougher time at practising every day. They get a roll but then something comes up and they miss a day or two. I’ve suggested that they install one of the abovementioned apps and to visit the Student Repertoire Playlist I created on YouTube.

Having said that, they are still maintaining a good practice frequency for the most part, so it’s still a winning scenario as far as I’m concerned. A couple of students thought of a way to do some scorestudy on the go, which I thought was pretty brilliant.

Walking the Talk: My #30daysofpractice Challenge

Oftentimes, it seems like there’s never enough time for music teachers to dedicate to work on something new or hone their skills. I think we wind up looking for ways to push ourselves into preparing something to perform: like joining a music teacher performance group, playing in a church choir, accompanying other musicians, deciding to prepare for a concert/workshop/piano camp, and joining an ensemble. After all, it doesn’t matter if it’s the teacher or student, we need a goal to work towards.

It is in this spirit that I decided to take up the challenge along with my students. Then, I needed to find a way to make my practice log accessible to them so that they could see that yes, I’m working through trouble spots and scales, just like they rest of them. I decided follow Hilary Hahn’s example by posting every day to the studio’s Instagram account:

I still used the Practice Buddy app as a timer but maintained my Practice Tracker in my Bullet Journal so that I could keep track of what I practiced each day.

The paper form of my practice tracker lives in my Bullet Journal. Photo by R-M Arca.

I completed my 30 Days of Practice Challenge yesterday. At breakfast, I was discussing with my brother the takeaways from my journey. Here they are:

Practice makes consistent: This isn’t anything new. This is something that my brother and I both learned as we worked towards our ARCT in Piano Performance through the Royal Conservatory. It’s something that we learned through years of budo. Anyone who practices an art or is an athlete know this lesson well.

All areas improved: With the challenge, I practised my other instruments more regularly. In fact, two of my most popular posts in my 30 day challenge was for the ukulele (Day 10) and cajón (Day 27).

My technical chops are nearly back to where they were when I was taking jazz piano lessons. Ear training, rhythm, sight-reading, chording and improvisation skills improved too. That’s all well and good, as I need to have my chops up to snuff this year.

Learning and sharing with musicians: Partway through my challenge, I started to follow posts with the #100daysofpractice, #30daysofpractice, #cajon, and #ukulele hashtags. The result is that I got neat practice drills, grooves, and ideas from other musicians. Abigail Raber (@passionate_harpist) inspired me to break out the metronome more regularly. Karina Mandock (@theoperaticcatholic) made me feel normal as her practice sessions are similar to mine. And I just love listening to Minoustics clips.

On the flipside, each time I post a practice clip of the Game of Thrones Medley arranged by Jarrod Radnich, people ask where I got the music from. Maybe I should ask for a commission on sales as a result of my practice posts.

It really wasn’t that hard - once I made the commitment: It didn’t help that I injured my lower back last month, which affected my practice length. However, I used my “light practice day routine” as I was healing. This is comprised of any combination of scorestudy, listening to either my students’ repertoire or my own, ear training, or rhythm work. It is a bit of a bonus that I also work at concerts through my side jobs, so I get to listen to fantastic music performed live and call it practice.

When I was just using my Bullet Journal to track practices, I still wasn’t practising daily. Nor was I tracking on a regular basis. Somedays just got away from me. Other days, I talked myself out of it, saying I was too tired or needed to get something else done instead. However, once I made the commitment to my students and to those who followed my 30 Days of Practice online, I couldn’t skip. I mean, it would look really bad if me the teacher, reneged on the challenge, right?

My Practice Log

Day 1: Practice Buddy photo | Day 2: In Christ Alone Recording Photo | Day 3: Practice Buddy photo | Day 4: Scales | Day 5: Arpeggii | Day 6: Cajón drill | Day 7: Scorestudy photo & video | Day 8: Game of Thrones Medley | Day 9: Pirates of the Caribbean | Day 10: Someone to Lava & Sonata in G Minor, Hob. XVI:44 | Day 11: Sonata in D, op. 12 no. 3 | Day 12: Perfect Ear app | Day 13: Perfect Ear app | Day 14: Mass of Glory | Day 15: Game of Thrones Medley | Day 16: Sonatina in D, op. 36 no. 6 | Day 17: Perfect Ear app | Day 18: Nocturne in e minor, op. 72 no. 1 | Day 19: Anthem | Day 20: Choir practice photo | Day 21: Perfect Ear app | Day 22: Pirates of the Caribbean | Day 23: Seven of Hearts | Day 24: Prelude & Fugue in d minor, BWV 851 | Day 25: Spanish Alleluia | Day 26: Des pas sur la neige | Day 27: New cajón groove | Day 28: Choir practice photo | Day 29: Perfect Ear app | Day 30: Sonatina in D, op. 36, no. 6, 1st mvt.

The Next Practice Challenge

Tomorrow, I’ll treat myself to some calamari from Opa for completing my 30 Days of Practice. I was planning to give myself a few days off before beginning my next practice challenge, but since I’m playing piano at church this weekend, I can’t. Well I could but I want to play the parts to the Mass of Glory better than I did last time, so I better carry on.

Stage 2 in Maestro’s Practice Challenge is a 60 Days of Practice Challenge. I decided a couple of days ago that I’m actually going to jump to Stage 3: the 100 Days of Practice Challenge.

It will be interesting to see if any of my students opt to do the same. Should they decide to proceed to Stage 2, they will get $500 Maestro Bucks upon completion. Although some may need to restart, they should be able to complete the challenge by Christmas Break and enjoy a break before their first attempt at the 100 Days of Practice Challenge.

After completing Stage 3, they will receive $1,000 Maestro Bucks to spend at Maestro’s Market. Jumping to Stage 3 now means they can potentially earn more Maestro Bucks by the end of the year, completing two Stage 3 rounds and possibly a Stage 2 Round. However, jumping to Stage 3 now means that they’ll be in the same boat as me - practising over the break. If they are doing a piano exam, it would be wise for them to maintain a practice regime over the break.

As for me, there’s no point in doing the 60 Day Practice Challenge. Between studio recording projects, piano parties, a Christmas recital, and Christmas Masses, I have plenty to work on from now until past New Year’s. Making the #100daysofpractice challenge should be doable.