Save Dessert for Last: How to Practice

What is the best part of any meal? One word: dessert! Music teaches us not to rush, but to trust and enjoy the process. The most important repetition you do as a musician is getting your instrument out every day and doing a short warm up. Once you start practicing you should be ready to apply various techniques, creativity and problem solving. Try beginning a 20-minute practice session by playing only the hard parts, and then end the practice session by playing something fun and easy. One teacher called this “starting with a meal and finishing with dessert.” Perhaps your metaphorical meal happens over the course of the week (for example, 6 days of short practice sessions and 1 day of free play). Jazz pianist Kenny Werner encourages students to practice effortlessly while focusing on two of the following aspects: playing perfect, entire songs, and full speed. Here are a few ways of structuring your metaphorical musical meal (or practice session):

Try to play your entire song slow enough that you can play it almost perfectly without stopping. This is ignoring the need to play at full speed. Good teachers remind their students (and themselves) to “play slowly.” Try to play small sections of your song perfectly at full speed. This is ignoring the need to play the entire song. Tip: keep referring to full speed with the help of a metronome. Lastly, play your entire song at full speed. This is ignoring the need to play perfectly. In this case, we are forgetting about mistakes and allowing ourselves to just play. Don’t make a habit of doing this, but try it once in a while. Cultivate good practice habits and enjoy your dessert!