Moving forward with an exercise.

  1. Ryan Zerby
    Ryan Zerby
    How do you determine when it is time to move forward with an exercise? A couple of times I thought I had an exercise, but then my skill level increased, and I realized there was a whole new level of mastery available to me on that exercise. If I waited until I "mastered" an exercise, I would never get past the first one... and at the same time, I don't want to zoom ahead and be sloppy in everything.

    My current solution is a variation off of spaced repetition, where I'll rotate exercises in and out of my current practice set so I'll keep revisiting old ones and won't get too hung up on newer ones. I devote a set period of time to each active exercise each day, with a stated goal in mind. If I reach that goal, then I rotate the exercise out and rotate a new one in. If not, then I'll try and determine if I am close to my goal, or if I should pick a more modest one.

    What are you guys doing?
  2. Gelsenbury
    Gelsenbury
    Your current system doesn't sound bad at all. I certainly don't think that mastery learning is a suitable method for practising on a musical instrument. After all, even the simplest scale will sound better as your fluency and touch improve over time.

    Personally, I must admit to not being the most systematic learner. I mostly practise tunes, albeit ones that are suitable for my skill level (and in most cases have been selected for tutor books for that reason!). The closest I get to "exercises" most of the time is to repeat tricky bars in a tune or do a bit of improvising (in the widest sense). I'm sure I could improve faster if I put my mind to it, but I just play for fun.

    Having said that, spaced repetition features in my practice too. Time and time again, I have dug out tunes that I had put aside in frustration, to find that a fresher start and more experienced fingers made a noticeable difference.
  3. Didge
    Didge
    Spaced repetition? I'm pretty sure there's a group on here for that.

    Your way sounds very efficient, and if I were you, I wouldn't be too worried. As long as you're having fun with it, that's probably the fastest way to improve. Either way, with an attitude and habits like you have, I'm sure you'll zoom ahead of those of us who just like to sloppily putz around with tunes and just go wherever the wind blows, metaphorically speaking.

    That being said, this is all coming from a mandolin player of less than a month xp Your request may be better answered in the spaced repetition group or somewhere in the forums.
  4. Ryan Zerby
    Ryan Zerby
    I'm actually the second guy to join the spaced repetition group, already. I like spaced repetition, I just don't think the existing software will help with the development of muscle memory, as it is tweaked to help with regular memory and the requirements are different.
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