Musician's Toolkit #2

Rebecca from

Hi everyone!

I am posting a series of notices with some general advice for musicians, especially students, of any age and performing ability. I hope you find them informative and helpful.

Like the last post, this one covers PRACTICE.

So it's almost the end of the holidays and your instrument might be gathering a little dust after time away from it. Even if you really love playing, you might be feeling a little reluctant to jump back into practising after your holiday routine. Sound familiar?

If your practice room as been a little, let's say quiet, during the holidays and you have a lesson next week, here are some tips to help you jump right back into regular practice.

1. Listen to some recordings featuring your instrument. Hearing the sound of your instrument being played at a high level may be enough to get you practising. If there is a work or a song that you love listening to and want to perform, listen to it a few times and if the piece is within your capabilities, find or arrange the music if you can and get practising!

2. Plan and vary your warm-up routine. In any musical training, classical or otherwise, there should always be a routine within practice, including a proper warm-up. However the warm-up doesn't need to stay the same for an extended period of time. After a few bowing/breathing exercises (or whatever you do to warm up the muscles you use most), play through a scale you find easy, followed by a couple more scales and arpeggios of other keys you might be working on. If you have a large repertoire of scales, practise different keys each day.

3. Start small and gradually increase your practice time. Depending on how long your practice sessions were before the holidays, chances are your muscles will have lost some stamina, so this is something you need to rebuild. Start with a shorter session, say 15 or 20 minutes, then the next day practise for 30 minutes, followed by 45 minutes and so on. If you re-start your practice with a longer session, you might develop cramps or fatigue quickly.

4. Grab your concert diary! This means concerts to watch and perform in. Ask your teacher if he/she is planning at student recital at the end of the year, and if there is one planned, decide soon what you're going to perform in your spot. If you have an exam coming up, you should practice performing your repertoire in public anyway, so take any opportunity possible to perform for an audience and get some constructive feedback.

As for concerts to watch, check the website or Facebook pages for orchestras, bands or ensembles you like to watch. Sounds obvious but you’d be surprised at how easily you can miss out on concerts that you would have really liked to attend.

So hopefully after reading these tips you might feel more motivated to start practising again and, if you have an upcoming lesson, feel more prepared. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a message via Neighbourly. If you feel inspired to learn the cello and want to find out more about this instrument, please let me know and we can set up your free consultation. In the meantime, happy practising and I’ll be in touch.