"Don't Make Me Practice"

Misconceptions and Miscommunications of Every Musician's Least Favorite Thing

“Practice” is a loaded word. For some, its an exciting way to showcase their discipline and hard work. For others, it’s something to be avoided at all costs. Today, I want to temporarily remove the weight of the word so we can better understand how to approach it in a healthy and fulfilling way.

To start, let’s look at the purpose of practicing. At its core, practice is just about repetition; repeating an action over and over again ingrains it in your mind and your hands so you can execute it better at a later date. This is why so many teachers assign practice time and make their students fill out practice logs—to ensure that plenty of repetition occurs.

However, this definition of practice revolves around “execution” and assuming that playing a piece perfectly is the only goal. Most of us aren’t in this to achieve the perfect performance; chances are, you just like to play, right? What would happen if we replaced the constraints of “practicing” with the joy of “playing?” Whenever we set our hands on our instrument, we are learning—why not learn from a place of joy rather than a place of self-criticism? 

You’ll find that this topic comes up again and again, and for good reason. We’ll keep exploring how to have a positive, joyful relationship with our instruments in later newsletters.

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