I sent out a practice tips to students and parents a few weeks ago highlighting some of my favourite practice tips. Lo and behold, not even a week later and I realized that I had forgotten to include my MOST important practice tip. !!! I love it so much, it even has it’s own built incatch-phrase; “3 is the Magic Number”.
If you’d like a more thorough explanation of why this rule is cool, see below. Or just try it out! Whatever you chose to practice, do it 3 times in a row. Done! You are on your way to musical awesomeness. You are welcome. 😀
OPTIONAL TEACHING RHETORIC
Practicing must, by definition, include repetition; you can Google it. As either a noun or verb, practicing involves habit, regularity and repetition. It isn’t surprising that students will tend to make the same mistakes repeatedly. This can be fixed with focused isolation of difficult sections. This seems obvious, but when you are faced with a challenge that initially seems insurmountable, it’s helpful to just break things down and take some baby steps. Just do it 3 times in a row, each time you practice, and it will start to get better. Go to the harder parts first, spend more time there by taking it slower. Get comfortable with the harder spots, even modify them if necessary. In the end, the only thing that matters is that the player of the instrument is receiving joy from that action, and we can all tell that the best thing is to be an AWESOME musician and create a reaction from an audience.
So try incorporating the Magic Number 3 into practice sessions; it is magical what practicing does! A fine component of art; the magic of practicing. An auditory alchemy, blending of the physical body with the intangible and soul that beats uniquely in the hearts of humankind.