Practice Routine Break Down and Feedback
In my last post I wrote about the practice habits I am trying to develop with my students. The idea is that each week my students are going to plan a practice routine that consists of four areas of their music making – tune/warm up, technical studies, repertoire (solo and concert music), and perform/create. At the end of the week, they are going to submit their logged practice routine for me to review and provide them with feedback. The log will require them to reflect on their practice after each session. The students should write down how they budgeted their time during their routine and then plan what they need to work on in their next session. The goal of this weekly assignment is to help students be goal oriented when practicing and to use their practice time efficiently and effectively to make the best progress they can. In class we are continually modeling good practice habits and discussing strategies so that they (hopefully) know how they should work on their music at home in order to make progress.
Practice Routine Break Down
As I briefly introduced in the opening, in order to help my students focus during their practice time, I am having them break their practice session down into four areas: 1.) Warm Up, 2.) Technical Studies, 3.) Solo Repertoire and Concert Music, and 4.) Perform/Create. I work with middle school students who are often very busy and have many different activities. While practicing doesn’t need to adhere to a strict time frame, I am encouraging them to practice for thirty to thirty five minutes. The idea is to give them a time frame so they can keep track of their progress and goals and not spend too much time just playing through their concert music – which all kids love to do! I am trying to help them picture their practice the same way many of them might experience a sports practice – a time to warm up, drills, scrimage, and a cool down. Therefore, the break down of their session might look something like this:
- Tune and Warm Up (5 minutes)
- Technical Studies (10 minutes)
- Solo Repertoire and Concert Music (10 minutes – 12 minutes )
- Perform/Create (5 minutes – 8 minutes)
I am working with the students and giving them instruction in class on what they should focus on in each of the four areas as we go. This breakdown is a rough sketch. I’ve told the kids that if they want to spend more time they certainly should. If they only have fifteen minutes, I have told them that they should still practice and try to work through their routine, but cut the time down on each area or pick what is most important to get to that day given their time constraints. Now we will dig into what materials and strategies I am suggesting my students utilize during their practice.
Warm Up
During their warm up time we have been discussing what specifically is the focus of a warm up. It is to help the students to “get their sound,” loosen up their muscles, and tune their ears, mind, and body to their instrument and each other. Here are some of the ideas and content I have given to students that could be used as warm up material.
- Long tones
- Scales played with different rhythms and bowing patterns as taken from the worksheet I created called Bowings for Right Hand Development
- Daily Warm Up for Strings by David Allen (great resource!)
- Essential Finger Patterns in first position, a series of finger patterns I created for class study.
Technical Studies
I have expressed to my students that technical studies should be practiced to help them advance their technique. In my teaching I like to spend units of study on a specific key with short etudes in that key. I might pull these materials from resources like the Essential Elements series, New Directions for Strings, Strictly Strings, as well as many others. I haven’t specifically found a method that suits every need in the classroom, but have found some great resources, studies, and pieces in each of the above mentioned methods. Sometimes I may write my own studies for the class as well if I want to focus on a specific technical area. Lastly, this area of their practice might also include some short bowing studies and shifting studies.
Solo Repertoire and Concert Music
During this block of time the goal is for students to spend time working on music from our small group lessons and also in preparation for our concerts. I pull a lot of materials from the Suzuki methods for the students to play and work up to a performance level. Although I am not a trained Suzuki teacher, I greatly appreciate the philosophy of learning and also the approachability of the repertoire. Additionally, students should be working on learning their music little by little, measure by measure. They should be playing the music slowly and correcting any problems and then piecing it all back together. These are concepts we discuss and model in class regularly.
Perform/Create
During this time I want the students to end their session where they put into play the things they have been working on. My goal is for them to be free to just create and play a piece, perhaps what they were working on or another piece all together. I’ve suggested they play through a piece, create a song, spend some time improvising, perform for a parent or friend, or record themselves playing. I want them to apply their practice and also end their session with something that they really love to do.
Student Feedback
In the past weeks I have asked students to provide a written reflection on their progress and the use of the practice routine log. I asked students to write down how the practice routine has benefited them. I was very surprised and happy to receive a good amount of positive feedback from the students. Many of them said the routine was helping them know what to practice and focus on. Several students said that last year they would just open up their binder and play through their music and be done. Several students shared that they are now focusing on specific tasks and know what they should practice to get better. This was very encouraging and I was glad to hear the routine is helping them to succeed.
As music educators we are striving to cultivate students who are independent musicians who are able to problem solve and think for themselves in order to make progress. Through this practice routine process I am guiding my students towards critical thinking, helping them set goals, and make progress in their music making. When students are able to utilize the tools we are giving them for their own means, they are demonstrating a deep understanding and demonstrating mastery.