In the book, Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool, one of the major behavioral differences between experts and amateurs in almost any field is the concept of deliberate practice and not necessarily talent. This is great news for potential and current musicians as we cannot necessarily control the talent or innate ability we possess, but we can control the way we practice. This also amounts to bad news because the concepts of deliberate practice can seem broad and vague.
Athletes often have an unfair advantage over musicians, as their coaches and athletic directors are usually present and able to formulate deliberate practice and exercises based on their observations of the needs of their teams and individual athletes. Additionally, coaches attend practice for hours every day; directing, demonstrating, correcting, and planning.
Unfortunately for musicians, most teachers can only be with a student for the duration of the lesson and practice is usually directed and monitored by the student themselves. While the teacher gives learning content and exercises to practice, the student has to self-monitor mistakes, apply strategies to correct errors, decide which errors to focus on, attend to time management, etc. The student must also be privy enough to identify when they cannot correct their own errors and ask the teacher for help at the next lesson; not just waiting for the teacher to notice. So often, this is why we have young, immature musicians as well as adult amateurs whose practice sessions consist of playing through pieces a few times, making errors, and hoping that tomorrow is better. They haven’t been taught any different or they lack consistent self-discipline. A world-renown solo cellist I have had contact with over the years has pointed out the concept that “Practice Makes Permanent,” during the masterclasses he conducts. If you practice your mistakes over and over, you risk making your errors permanent and difficult to change.
Deliberate practice involves identifying errors or passages that need improvement in any or all of the key concepts of rhythm, pitch, sound, and style. I’m borrowing the idea of these 4 all-inclusive concepts from my instructor. Of course these can be broken down into sub-components such as bow control, vibrato, shifting, etc. You’ll find that as you practice, you get better at identifying areas of need as your listening and self-analysis skills improve. Truly, it can be difficult at first. Once areas of weakness have been identified, the musician needs to make a practice plan. TwoSet Violin founders Eddy Chen and Brett Yang created “The Practice Journal” which is a book that helps with time management and goal setting as well as self-analysis by identifying what you did well, what you need to improve on, and a section for writing notes. This was a great start for me but personally I needed more direction deciding HOW to tackle errors and mistakes that I had identified.
I highly recommend the book Practicing for Artistic Success by Burton Kaplan. Kaplan, who is a “Professor of Violin and Viola at the Manhattan School of Music and The Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, CUNY” (1) founded a “practice retreat” in upper New York state that teaches musicians of all types how to develop deliberate practice. For those of us who cannot attend his music camp, he literally wrote the book. Approximately one hundred pages long with templates, reproducibles, and appendixes, Mr. Kaplan teaches the musician how to self-analyze, chart, apply suggested techniques and strategies based on need, manage daily practice, memorize, and prepare for performance. Once you have used the process for a length of time, you may find that you will not need to refer to the book on a consistent basis because deliberate practice techniques and strategies become second nature with self-discipline. However, a review of the book from time-to-time or as needed is recommended. In the meantime, I have several favorite practice strategies and tips I have used over the years and I’ll highlight those briefly.
Repertoire Selection- For a time, I was trying to teach myself repertoire and using bowings/fingerings written into whatever edition I had bought of a certain piece. Very quickly I learned that I didn’t possess the correct technique for that piece and that many of the great cellists had giant hands so some of their suggested fingerings might not be reasonable for the typical cellist (Fun Fact: The same solo cellist I referred to earlier has a left hand is considerably larger than his right; a natural adaptation). Rostropovich had enormous hands and edited many solo works. Additionally, if you are an intermediate cellist and you attempt the Dvorak Cello Concerto, it is very likely that you will be disappointed in the time, effort, and level of achievement that it takes as well as possibly injuring yourself. Stick with material within your range of learning/ability or pieces prescribed as a part of your systematic curriculum by your teacher. I have found that good teachers have little tips and tricks that make the impossibly difficult passages within reach.
Time- I have musician friends that have been under the impression that they must practice for hours and hours. As a result, these friends also developed repetitive injuries which cut their education/career short. I have heard a few professional cellists say 3 hours max with frequent breaks as a suggestion. Some days you will not have a lot of time, but a little practice is better than none. Work smarter not longer.
Warm-ups- My teacher gave me a daily warm-up collection that briefly works difficult but frequently used skills such as string crossings in thumb position, octaves and scales in thumb position, and finger independence exercises. Sometimes I add a variation or a new exercise, sometimes I don’t, but it’s brief: maybe 20 minutes long to complete. These frequent/difficult exercises allow for quick learning as they come up in etudes and solos and are easily generalized.
Prior Learning- Watch for passages and phrases that appear to be new and overly difficult. You may find that it is a skill you have already learned and you just haven’t recognized it yet as a familiar pattern. As an example, I had a young student that was struggling with a fast scale in the Haydn in C Concerto. As a part of her warm-up practice, I assigned her the same scale that she had done many times before, just not in the context of the concerto. The next week, I pointed out that the scale she had done beautifully in warmups was also the scale that was in her concerto. Those prior knowledge neurons connected and the problem of the solo scale became no more.
Practice slowly- Practicing slowly allows you to pay attention to several things at once or focus on one concept such as sound, intonation, rhythm, and style. If you are practicing a fast passage slowly, use the bowing technique that will be utilized when played fast to develop that habit. Once my fingers/brain have established the pattern, I experiment with playing it fast and then returning back to slow until playing it fast without mistakes becomes comfortable. I usually don’t use the strategy of subtly increasing the metronome speed over time.
Rhythmic Practice- Having trouble getting your fingers to move quickly enough or at the right rhythm/independent of each other? Try playing the passage with a repetitive dotted eighth-sixteenth note rhythm. Then reverse the pattern by playing the 16th first and the dotted eight note last in the pattern. This ensures that your fingers have played previous and succeeding notes together rapidly. Go ahead and attempt the passage at the written rhythm. Repeat as needed.
Compartments- These are places where you literally come to an abrupt stop in the middle of a musical passage. Basically your brain needs a moment to process where you are at and what is next. Try playing the passage rhythmically as suggested in the previous tip. Another option you can do independent or in succession to tip #6 is to play the passage in the correct rhythm. As you come to the part where you tend to stop, try to play just a touch further than the stopping point. As you do this, repeat the passage adding a note or a few at a time, or add a pattern of notes if possible. Eventually, you will move past the compartment and play the passage without stopping.
Appropriate Play-Through- Lastly, there is a strategic use for “playing through” a piece, etude, or solo. I found this extremely helpful as I had moved into the 95%+ mistake-free phase of learning. (You will make mistakes and you will have areas of your piece/solo that didn’t go as well as you planned. Yes this even happens to the pros, but they do a good job pushing through and it is less noticeable). As I prepared to perform a piece, I like to play through the piece many times within a month of performance without stopping. If I make a mistake, I push through the mistake(s) and keep going with the least disruption possible. This helps your brain move into a type of “focused automaticity.” Basically, this means that you can maintain focus on all parts of the piece, but once you start, you move into a sort of “autopilot” that helps immensely if you have performance anxiety. Just start playing and within a relatively short amount of time, the process takes over.
Once I started taking control of my practice sessions and forcing myself to behave and follow my practice plan, I saw immediate, increased achievement from day to day and week to week. It can be hard to be self-disciplined; some days are just better than others. Don’t beat yourself up over “less-than-stellar” practice days because those days are a part of being human and are learning experiences in themselves. In spite of those days, you will see improvement. Take a look at some of the resources mentioned and try it out for yourself!