mindful practice

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Reflecting on My First 100 Days of Practice Challenge

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Reflecting on My First 100 Days of Practice Challenge

Last Thursday, I completed my first 100 Days of Practice Challenge. As I went straight into it after my 30 day challenge, I had practised for 130 consecutive days.

Was it hard? Yes and no. There were definitely days in which it was 11:30 at night and I hadn’t gotten to any practising because of other commitments. There were days when I could only do a short practice. But once I made the commitment to my students and online, I felt honour-bound to see it through.

Did I make any life-changing discoveries? Nope. If you do something regularly, you’re going to see some improvement. There are countless studies on that.

If anything, this challenge was an opportunity for me to get back in touch with the way I used to practice at university and whilst preparing for my ARCT in Piano Performance. Here are a few things that stood out as I look back on this challenge…

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On Becoming a Bulletproof Musician

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On Becoming a Bulletproof Musician

The theme at last week’s group classes was becoming a bulletproof musician. The idea has been percolating in my mind ever since I discovered Dr. Noa Kageyama’s blog on performance anxiety and mindful practice, called The Bulletproof Musician.

Turn Off the Autopilot When Practicing Music!

Now I know what my teacher meant when she kept reminding me to listen to what I was playing. If you aren't listening to the music you are creating, how do you know if it's any good? Learn more about mindfulness-based musicianship..

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Time Saving Technique Practice Idea

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Are you stuck between studying for tests and logging in much needed time on practicing technique? Try this idea that came up during one of my lessons last week.

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Music Practicing 101: Organized Practicing

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On behalf of music students and music teachers everywhere, I'd like to send out a huge thank you to piano teacher Josh Wright. He put together these two videos about organized practice.One thing my students hear me say - a lot - is to figure out how much time they can dedicate to practicing for a particular day, set their practice goals for that session and determine how they will assess whether they've met their goals."Mindful practice" is also key to practice efficiency. Let's face it, if you're paying attention to what you're doing, you'll meet your goal a lot sooner than if you're just noodling around, waiting for that timer to go off.For those still trying to figure out how to set up music practice goals and how to organize their practice time, look no further:

Organized Practicing - Part 1

Organized Practicing - Part 2