Music Practice Tips

Our lives tend to get increasingly busy. Whether it’s with school, or work, the sign of success these days seems to be how busy we are. Often what that leads to is a decrease in practice time, so we need to find ways to increase our practice time in a busy life.

It can be rather tricky, especially if you’re playing immobile instruments such as pianos, or loud instruments such as drums or trumpets. I’ll tackle a few issues here, starting off with replacement instruments.

Replacement Instruments

I don’t mean dropping what you’re doing and learning a more practice-friendly instrument. No, what I mean is finding a way of practicing your instrument that doesn’t make any noise. There are plenty of electronic instruments out there these days. Electronic Drum sets are becoming more and more common, and electronic keyboards are even cheaper than ever. String players can get silent instruments from Yamaha or just about any electric violin, just plug it into headphones. Yamaha also does a Silent Brass system, so your brass instrument won’t make a sound

So now that we’ve got instruments that make no sound, we can now practice at night, and not worry about waking up family/neighbours.

Practice at Work/School

This may or may not be an option for you, depending on your workplace, and your instrument. There’s a few ways to tackle this - you could arrive at work an hour early, and do some practice before settling down to work (this has the added bonus of beating the peak hour traffic), or you could practice during your lunch break (just don’t forget to eat). String players and woodwinds are probably the easiest because they’re relatively small and quiet, where as a trumpeter might like to bring along the Silent Brass system from Yamaha. Pianists might like to invest in a cheap electronic keyboard that’s light and easy to carry. It probably won’t have the same feel as a piano, but you’ll still be able to do some practice. Percussionists - get yourself a practice pad and practice your strokes.

Truly Silent Practice

If you don’t want to shell out on extra equipment, there is a way to have truly silent practice. Just don’t play the instrument. The trick here is that you can still practice, while not playing. You won’t be able to do all your practice like this, but there are things you can do. Almost everyone can practice fingerings, and if you’re really good you won’t even need an instrument at all. I often find myself practicing fingerings on my forearm.

You can also visualise the score, run through your performances in your head, or even study theory. It will all help your practice.

Have you got any tips on how to manage your practice time in a busy lifestyle?