Practice resistance (Part 2/2): Overcome negative thoughts with these practice tips
My name is Trudi, and I’m a music teacher in Truly Musical, a music school based out of Arklow, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. I primarily teach piano, as well as general musical theory, and I blog regularly about all things related to the craft of teaching and playing piano. My lessons prioritise the development of the student musically, and although I am classically trained, I encourage students to explore all styles during their time with me.
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or are looking to start your journey into music; I’m always happy to share my tips!
Steps to consider when facing the resistance
First, stop being so mean to yourself, you don’t need to berate and scold and get frustrated. Everyone progresses at different paces, don’t compare yourself to others, you are not identical to anyone else. You can’t change everything all at once, so if you currently do absolutely no practise from week to week, start with 10 mins a day, after 2 weeks you won’t feel 20 mins pass, then 30, and so on. Stop focusing on the negative of the day and feel good about all the other little victories you had that day instead.
Secondly, the hardest part is to begin and keep going. Just like an artist staring at a blank canvas, or a writer at a blank page, sitting at the piano can be daunting. The fear lies to you though, never believe it, ever. Next time you have a thought from the fear, write it down and look at it, “people will laugh at me”, “my teacher will be disappointed”.
Let’s take these lies apart, shall we?
Who will laugh? People you know or people you don’t? If you know them and they laugh, they are not worth your thoughts or energy. If you don’t know them, who cares? People laugh at strangers falling, they never consider if they are really hurt, that’s crowd mentality, don’t take it to heart. Your teacher is only disappointed if you don’t try, they want to see you improve and learn more. We get great satisfaction from watching our students grow, improve and find joy in their musical abilities.
Lastly, and most importantly — set a routine, every day at a certain time, you practise piano for the time recommended. Stick to it, groove it, and you’re sure to astound yourself. Just give it time!
And remember….
There will be days when practise did not go well, but you will persevere. In order to have those good days you must show up every day, sit down and begin, put your fingers on the keys and start to play, a scale, a tune, improvise anything really. But you must show up every day and put in the time. Within 2 weeks the routine will be normal, and the next challenge is to keep it going.
To keep motivation up, do not listen to the fear it doesn’t want you to improve. If you played yesterday do you need to practise again today? Yes, you do. As soon as you give in once to the fear it is even harder to resist the following day. Fighting the fear or the resistance is a daily battle, it does not go away, you must be constantly vigilant to missed practises or ineffective practise processes.
“The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed” — Steven Pressfield the War of Art
Closing with a few tips to help you build a practice routine that works!
Set a practice time — set a time to practise, stick to it, have a daily routine and be at the piano at the start time. When you set your practise time, that is your job every day at that time, practising and learning, nothing else matters until practise is finished.
Make a practise plan — Practise with a plan, know what you are going to work on. Use the notes from your lesson, and then add a few activities which can be picked from each day to make it more interesting for yourself. Activities like sight reading a song you want to learn outside of lessons, playing along with backing tracks, playing with other musicians, composing, improvising, games for ear training or note/interval/chord recognition.
A sanctuary for practice — have a clean environment that is calm and quiet to practise in, the same as studying and working. Respect the space you work in!
Practise every day — yes, give yourself a lighter day once a week if you really don’t feel like it, but play, just start, it’s easier after that.
Your memory window closes — do not skip a day of practise directly after a lesson, or when learning something new. Memory retention drops dramatically after 24 hrs, and 72 hrs later it’s almost zero, and you’re back to square one! This is the same for studying.
Be organised — have everything you need to practise at the piano before the start time.
And remember….
Having a daily routine in place helps you push past those uneasy feelings that stop you from practising, they never go away, even professional players feel the resistance, but you get used to overcoming it. Best of luck in your practising, and feel free to reach out to me through my contact details on the site if you wish to learn more, ask any questions, or if you’re interested in studying music with me at Truly Musical, Arklow, Co. Wicklow.