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12 Tips to Help You Sight-Read Better

Have you witnessed your music teacher or friend take out a sheet music, read it for the first time, but play it flawlessly? Sight-reading is a difficult but valuable skill to master. Good sight-reading skills make learning a new song less challenging and allow you to venture into new areas of music and vastly expand your repertoire. But how do you improve on your sight-reading? This article will introduce 12 tips to help you take your sight-reading to the next level! General Preparation – Techniques to practice outside of your sight-reading sessions   1. Practice scales, arpeggios, and chords As … Read more

Practice Guide to Become a Better Musician

We all know that practice makes perfect. Therefore, it is important to learn the right way to practice. By incorporating the right habits, you can make your practice sessions more efficient, and thus improve more quickly. In this article, I will be introducing my article series, Making The Most of Your Practice. This series of articles will help you set realistic goals, overcome your weaknesses, and develop your musicianship so that you can become a better player. Why should you practice your instrument? Before we look into the right ways to practice, we need to understand why practice is important. … Read more

Making the Most of your Practice: Make Your Music Groove with Tempo Changes

Aside from dynamics and articulation, what other musical elements can we use to make music groove? This article will answer this very question. Pulse/Tempo Pulse is one of the most obvious ways in which popular music and classical music vary. Popular music is commonly characterised by a steady pulse; any changes in tempo are usually sectional and rubato is not used as often as in classical music. Classical music is more susceptible to changes in tempo. Rubato, rallentando, accelerando, and other such changes in pulse are more commonly used and are imperative in creating the desired expression. Regardless of these … Read more

Making the Most of your Practice: Make your Music Groove with Dynamics

Groove? Groove is a word familiar to most musicians and non-musicians, but it is a concept shrouded in ambiguity. “That band grooves!” or “This doesn’t groove at all” are the sort of things that people say to express an opinion or feeling about music. However, groove is certainly not abstract, but it covers so many musical aspects that it is easier to comment on groove than to single out each aspect. This article will define the word and look at key aspects which create groove. All music should groove but not in the same way. In popular music, groove is … Read more

Making the Most of your Practice: The Metronome – Part 2

In my previous post I introduced you to the Metronome and shared a technique that I call ‘metronome reduction’. Metronome Displacement In many ways Metronome Displacement is similar to Metronome Reduction. You’ll be playing at a moderate or even fast tempo while the metronome is set to an extremely slow tempo. The metronome will be your guide, informing you whether or not you’re in time. I highly recommend starting this exercise after step 6 of Metronome Reduction (a click on beat 1 of every bar), that way you will have had enough time to internalise your starting tempo. The key here is … Read more

Making the Most of Your Practice: The Metronome – Part 1

The ability to play in time, one of the most fundamental skills that a musician must develop, is to play with a consistent, even, and steady pulse as well as playing rhythmic phrases with accuracy and precision. Playing with good time is just as important in solo playing as it is in an ensemble environment. Without a good sense of time, the music will lose its momentum, fluency, and ultimately its groove—a word we will discuss in a future next article. Given that time is such an important skill to develop, as musicians we should know exactly how to develop … Read more

Making the Most of your Practice: Practice Planning

Having decided on some short-, medium- and long-term goals, let’s think about how to structure your practice. This structuring could take written form by means of a practice diary or plan. But, if you are confident in your ability to remember what you’ve been practicing, how far through a goal you got, etc., don’t feel obliged to write down your plans. Personally I find that writing down my practice routine helps maintain focus, even if it’s just a few simple retrospective notes once I finish practicing or playing. Optimal Practice The fact is that there is no definitive answer as … Read more

Making the Most of Your Practice: Goal Setting for Musicians

Setting Practice Goals I believe that goal setting is a fundamental skill that needs to be developed in order to get the most out of your practice time. What you practice or play, how you go about it, and how much time you spend doing it should all be determined by a series of short-, medium- and long-term goals. These goals don’t have to be written or even spoken and will inevitably vary among different learners. There are no right or wrong goals; we all learn differently and have different inspirations, and our goals should reflect this. This article will … Read more

Making the Most of Your Practice: How to Make Practice Enjoyable

We all practice to improve on something we decide to do and achieve the goals we set out for ourselves. Yet a surprising number of my music students often tell me “Brendan, what/when/how should I practice?” Let’s be clear on something; for me practicing is like any other skill—you have to learn how to do it. Learning how to practice can make your practice session a lot more fun and enjoyable. Practicing correctly also saves you time. You will know what to focus on and make the most out of your practice session. Imagine if we were all born with this amazing ability … Read more