So much to do in so little time! Sound familiar? Here are a few of my favorite ways to get the most out of a practice session when I'm short of time and my mind is wandering.
Cereal. Milk. Eggs. Broccoli. Bag of salad. Crap! That was supposed to be G#!
Anyone else ever made their grocery list while practicing? Gazed out the window during De la Sonorite? Or maddeningly been able to think about literally anything other than the piece of music in the practice room?
"I need to practice but I can't focus".
Whatever the reason, distractions happen.
So, if you have ADHD like me or just get distracted, here are a few of my favorite practice tips:
No More Mindless Repetition: Opt for Interleaved Practice
Blocked practice is what most people think of when they enter a practice room. You spend a large block of time in the room on a set of activities and you complete all repetitions of that activity before moving onto the next thing. So, you work on that 12 bar passage for 30 minutes until you feel you've made progress on it and it's gotten better (cleaner, faster, whatever your goal). After you feel good about it then you move onto the next passage troubling you for the next 30 minutes (or however long it takes you to feel you've made sufficient progress). If you're tired or you're having trouble focusing this can often lead to a cycle of mindless repetition.
Interleaved practice breaks up tasks and switches between them faster. The benefits of interleaved practice are many, but one of the most important is that it helps you strengthen recall and by challenging you to change tasks more rapidly and the mental effort helps quicken the learning process. The brief relearning process you go through when moving between tasks helps prepare for the material to be more easily recalled and accessible in performance. In the practice room this could look like using the same hour of time as above but switching between the two passages more quickly. You could spend 10 minutes on passage A and then 10 minutes on B for 3 rotations through each (ABABAB= 60 minutes) or 5 minutes (ABABABABABAB=60 mins).
*ADHD pro tip: interleaved is great for promoting faster recall, avoiding repetition fatigue, and practicing changing tasks. Set a timer and force yourself to change tasks! The shorter the timer the less time you'll have to get stuck in a groove and avoid mindless repetition. This method also forces you to be productive in that set amount of time!
Pajama Practice
Ok, hear me out because this is for real! I started what I call "Pajama Practicing" a few years ago and it actually made a difference and helped with memorization!
Tuesdays are usually a no practice day for me. At least since starting grad school a few years ago, Tuesdays have been so slammed with classes and lessons and teaching, that squeezing in time to actually practice for my own stuff was impossible. Which was problematic considering my lesson was at 9am Wednesday morning! Eventually, late one evening while stressing for an upcoming concerto competition I decided to sit in bed and practice. My logic was "well, the brain processes the information and all the things you learn during the day while you sleep, so even if I'm not actually playing I'll still be mentally practicing and thus before bed will process it in my sleep."
So, without playing a single note, I sat in bed with my flute in my hands and practiced the spots where I had been having memory slips. I pulled out a full score and a few recordings and "played" along in the 30 or so minutes right before bed. Put everything back up and then went to sleep. And the next morning in my lesson I didn't have any memory slips!
I really, truly thought it must've been a fluke but I use pajama practice frequently with my flute and piano repertoire to practice away from the instrument. Plus, pajama practice includes comfy clothes, a mug of tea, a sleepy puppy dog to snuggle with, and a favorite candle-- what could be more ideal?
The Magic of Sticky Notes and the Practice Journal
My last tip for this post is about the magic of sticky notes and the practice journal because they really come in handy. The sticky notes I use for all of the thoughts that pop into my mind while I'm practicing. These thoughts go on sticky notes- the ones I can't quite let go of but are taking my mind out of the practice room to hold onto them for the minute I pack up my instrument (e.g. pick up Lili from daycare, return library books, paper due tomorrow).
I usually keep a sticky note pad on my open flute case and write the thought down and go back to practicing. At the end of the session I can refer back to my sticky note as the first thing post-practicing.
I started keeping a practice journal about 6 or 7 years ago and though my formatting has changed over the years and I've used various methods of keeping track, a good old lined journal and note taking by hand really does the trick for me. There are several reasons I've kept up with a practice journal:
It helps me track what I've accomplished. Whenever I feel like I haven't made progress in the practice room or tackled many of my goals I can flip through past pages and see for myself what I've worked through. I even keep track of metronome markings.
It helps me build consistency and reflect on my playing. When I take notes in my practice journal I'm not just listing the things I did (but ok, yes there are a lot of entries that say "T&G E.J. 4 @ 132") I'm also writing about how it felt while playing, any observations I made while playing, and in general how it went. If I'm tense that day, I jot it down.
Different task between repetitions. We all have those hard passages we drill over and over again but if you sit there and just repeat the lick without breaks in between you're not really setting yourself up to truly absorbing the value of all those reps. To avoid mindless repetition I'll keep a tally and mark between each or move a paperclip to the other side of the stand. Something to break my attention and "reset my brain" between repetitions.
Organizing my practice beforehand in the journal so I know what I'm going in to do saves time and helps me be more efficient.
*ADHD Super Tip: plan what things you want to practice ahead of time to avoid decision fatigue! As busy musicians we have a lot of different things to practice at any given time and it can be hard prioritizing. Go in with a plan knowing what you are going to work on rather than relying on "What am I in the mood to practice?" You can be as vague as "2nd mvmt. of Mozart" to as specific as "Mozart 2nd mvmt. mm. 112-146"