How to practice with limited time...

[dadsaster]

I'm a recent beginner mandolin player. I have around 30 minutes to 1.5 hours to practice per day (depending). I would like to develop a plan to maximize the efficiency of my practice. I don't get bored playing scales or arpeggios.

Rather than asking for personal opinions on best practicing practices, I'm looking for a book or source that is backed by science and addresses practice. I tried searching the forums but haven't found much (The Practice of Practice being one).

Thanks for any ideas.

[Tobin]

I think there's a lot to be absorbed by this series of articles: The Art and Science of Effective Practice.

It's written for clawhammer banjo players, but the concepts apply across all instruments. The author, Dr. Josh Turknett, is a neurologist who happens to be a very talented banjo player. He has a passion for melding his experience in medicine/neurology/"brain stuff" with musical training to help people learn how to be better musicians. He addresses your concerns on practice, and yes, it's backed by science!

[dadsaster]

I think there's a lot to be absorbed by this series of articles: The Art and Science of Effective Practice.

It's written for clawhammer banjo players, but the concepts apply across all instruments. The author, Dr. Josh Turknett, is a neurologist who happens to be a very talented banjo player. He has a passion for melding his experience in medicine/neurology/"brain stuff" with musical training to help people learn how to be better musicians. He addresses your concerns on practice, and yes, it's backed by science!

Tobin - these articles are amazing. I hope everyone on this site reads through them. It's really helped me gain clarity about structuring my practice.

[gtani7]

Tobin's link is excellent. You can also look at forum member Nate Lee's list, including Practice of Practice and Effortless Mastery: http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...me-in-practice

(and you can search that subforum's archives for lots of excellent threads)

Another is Klickstein musician way, Gallwey Inner Game of Music and https://www.amazon.com/Passionate-Pr.../dp/1587900211

_________________________

Notreble the bass site, has some good ones: http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2014/02...ctice-routine/

and http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2011/10...onal-practice/

[JonZ]

I found that banjo article to have a lot of problems. For example, he suggests that playing with a metronome is a good test of mastery because it shows that you can attend to something else while playing. In fact, the metronome is a crutch that allows us to stop attending to tempo and focus on other aspects of playing. For a real test, try reading the newspaper out loud while you play; you will see the difference.

He makes a lot of these types of errors. I would check out the Bullet Proof Musician website instead.

[Tobin]

"Errors"? That's a tad harsh. I think it's just a difference of opinion, or a different way to look at it.

Playing with a metronome requires extreme focus on the timing of the clicks and trying to match them. I find it virtually impossible to practice with a metronome if I'm still having to think about where my fingers go, or how the tune goes. One needs to be pretty much on autopilot with the tune and the instrument mechanics in order to hone in on the metronome. So in that respect, I think he has a valid point. I don't see a metronome as a crutch at all. If it were, everybody would be constantly talking about how easy it was to play with a metronome, instead of how difficult it is.

[keithb]

In fact, the metronome is a crutch that allows us to stop attending to tempo and focus on other aspects of playing.

Many many excellent players and teachers disagree with you here

[Mark Wilson]

I don't see a metronome as a crutch at all. If it were, everybody would be constantly talking about how easy it was to play with a metronome, instead of how difficult it is.

Before I started using backing tracks and playing with others I wanted to have that metronome going. It felt like a crutch at the time. I only use it now to force me to play slower when working on a tune that feels ragged.

[JonZ]

Many many excellent players and teachers disagree with you here

Fortunately, we do not need to rely on anyone else's expertise to answer this question for ourselves.

Try this. Use a silent blinking metronome. Start your tune and stop looking at it until you get to the last few measures. Were you able to maintain the designated tempo without the metronome's assistance? If not, the metronome helps you maintain tempo.

[Nashville]

Try this. Use a silent blinking metronome. Start your tune and stop looking at it until you get to the last few measures. Were you able to maintain the designated tempo without the metronome's assistance? If not, the metronome helps you maintain tempo.

JonZ, I think you have completely missed the purpose of a metronome.

[dadsaster]

I found that banjo article to have a lot of problems. For example, he suggests that playing with a metronome is a good test of mastery because it shows that you can attend to something else while playing. In fact, the metronome is a crutch that allows us to stop attending to tempo and focus on other aspects of playing. For a real test, try reading the newspaper out loud while you play; you will see the difference.

I have to also respectfully disagree. If reading the newspaper out loud while playing a tune is a test for mastery then I have never mastered a tune. I think you are confusing mastery with automaticity.

[Mark Wilson]

I'm a recent beginner mandolin player. I have around 30 minutes to 1.5 hours to practice per day (depending). I would like to develop a plan to maximize the efficiency of my practice. I don't get bored playing scales or arpeggios....I tried searching the forums but haven't found much (The Practice of Practice being one).

Thanks for any ideas.

The Practice of Practice has a chapter devoted to your problem of not enough free time to practice. Good read with some helpful practice ideas imo. Best value on kindle

[KEB]

There are a lot of ways to use a metronome. Use it as an alternative for a Bass player, playing on the 1 and the 3 and you can practice paying attention to external meter and practice "playing with others". Use it clicking only on the 1 and you have 8 8th notes to keep even throughout. Heck, you can even use it to click at the start of every 4 measure phrase for a real test of tempo.

You don't need to play 1 click = 1 note.

[JonZ]

JonZ, I think you have completely missed the purpose of a metronome.

Did I miss it in some ineffable way?

[JonZ]

I have to also respectfully disagree. If reading the newspaper out loud while playing a tune is a test for mastery then I have never mastered a tune. I think you are confusing mastery with automaticity.

"In neuroscience parlance, when a skill no longer requires our conscious mind for its execution, it is said to have become “automatic”. This can be tested for experimentally by having a subject perform the skill in question while their attention is diverted elsewhere. If there’s no decline in performance, then the skill meets the criteria for automaticity. If performance declines, then more practice is needed."

I can tap my foot automatically while reading the newspaper out loud. That ability is automatic.

I agree there is confusion, but it is on the part of the author. What he describes doing with the metronome does not a test automaticity. The metronome is providing the tempo, so you don't have to think about it. Playing along with a recording would be similar, except it would be providing you with even more information.

There are many things you need to do to play a song "correctly". Maintaining the tempo is one of them. All things being equal, it is easier to maintain a tempo with a metronome than without.

[jshane]

There are many things you need to do to play a song "correctly". Maintaining the tempo is one of them. All things being equal, it is easier to maintain a tempo with a metronome than without.

But that assumes that one uses a metronome to maintain tempo. If one plays music with a rigidly defined tempo-- as dictated by a metronome-- it sounds and feels mechanical.

In my opinion, the best musicians are always subtly (or not) manipulating tempo, playing slightly ahead/behind, or stretching/compressing, in order to evoke maximum emotion from the music.

So, I think a metronome is best used to provide a tempo with which to work.

I guess that I am uncomfortable with the notion that playing automatically is a good thing. I'd rather work on a piece until I can "get through it" lyrically rather than automatically--- even if it means that I must play it slower, or practice it longer, than otherwise.

[Tobin]

The metronome is providing the tempo, so you don't have to think about it.

I disagree. When a metronome is present, one has to listen to it and match it. That requires attention to an external reference. Just like when playing with a group, one has to pay attention to the tempo that the group is playing, and match it.

Playing without the metronome is more automatic, where we rely on our internal sense of rhythm. It may or may not be perfect, but at least it puts us on autopilot.

[JonZ]

But that assumes that one uses a metronome to maintain tempo. If one plays music with a rigidly defined tempo-- as dictated by a metronome-- it sounds and feels mechanical.

In my opinion, the best musicians are always subtly (or not) manipulating tempo, playing slightly ahead/behind, or stretching/compressing, in order to evoke maximum emotion from the music.

So, I think a metronome is best used to provide a tempo with which to work.

I guess that I am uncomfortable with the notion that playing automatically is a good thing. I'd rather work on a piece until I can "get through it" lyrically rather than automatically--- even if it means that I must play it slower, or practice it longer, than otherwise.

I don't see how this relates to using a metronome to test automaticity as the article recommends.

[JonZ]

Tobin, playing without the metronome means you do not have to maintain tempo. So yes, it is easier. You can, for example, slow down at the harder parts. But using a metronome to provide tempo is not a test of automaticity as the author describes it.

Playing with a metronome tests weather you can play at a steady tempo. That's all.

[Bill McCall]

I use a metronome all the time as a great practice aid, read the brainjo lessons and subscribe to the Bulletproof Misician. But the best practice advice I have gotten is the distinctly unscientific "Evan (Marshall) plays the way he does for a reason." He has a schedule/log and spends half his time on warmup and technique, 25% on new repetoire and the remainder on existing repertoire.

For me, a player with a model worth emulating.

[jshane]

I don't see how this relates to using a metronome to test automaticity as the article recommends.

It probably doesn't.

I was more commenting on what might go into practicing with limited time. Practicing lyrically might enhance one's musicality. I am not sure what automaticity provides -- it seems like the opposite of what I love about playing music-- but testing for it seems a poor use of limited practice time.

[JonZ]

I use a metronome all the time as a great practice aid, read the brainjo lessons and subscribe to the Bulletproof Misician. But the best practice advice I have gotten is the distinctly unscientific "Evan (Marshall) plays the way he does for a reason." He has a schedule/log and spends half his time on warmup and technique, 25% on new repetoire and the remainder on existing repertoire.

For me, a player with a model worth emulating.

And it probably comes out to something like 4 hours, 2 hours and 2 hours.

[danostrowski]

Tobin, playing without the metronome means you do not have to maintain tempo. So yes, it is easier. You can, for example, slow down at the harder parts.

As a beginner, I don't find this at all to be the case. I've begun playing with a metronome to keep me playing artificially slow and it's much harder than just playing at a regular pace. You have to know the tune well enough to be able to keep in sync, and even then sometimes I lose my place because I'm focusing on keeping the pace in sync and sounding every note well.

So at least initially, I think it's helped me quite a bit because while I can keep OK time on my own, my tone has improved even in the short while I've been using it and I know the tunes better.

Perhaps it's different for other skill levels / talent...

[JonZ]

Playing with a metronome tests whether you can play with a metronome, not "automaticity" as the author of the article describes.

[Fretfet2]

This is a fantastic article! Reassuring that my head might be working even if I'm not presently playing. Amazing information! I am circulating this article. It is one of the gems found on the Cafe.