Three Reasons Your Music Practice Routine Sucks

Having an effective practice routine is really the only way to improve your skills in a consistent way. But, here’s the thing: most peoples’ routines really, really suck. When your routine sucks, your practice will falter, you will stagnate more often, and you won’t improve at the rate you want to. That’s where I come in! Let’s talk about the reasons your practice routine sucks and how we can fix them.

Many musicians and music students struggle with consistency, lack of focus or inspiration, and ignoring the fundamentals when they practice. So, with that in mind, they’re basically repeating the same thing over and over again, leaving their practice to be unproductive and uninspired.

Reason 1: Lack of Consistency

Inconsistent practice is the biggest issue that most people struggle with. The reason why it’s important to maintain a consistent schedule (even if it’s only once or twice a week), is because your muscles and knowledge will atrophy. It’s just like going to the gym - if you go to the gym randomly every few weeks, you’ll never actually make gains, because the muscle you built during one gym session will, in essence, go away, and can’t be built upon.

Sporadic practice also doesn’t allow a routine to be built. If you’re practicing randomly without any real focus, you’re not actually learning anything new. You’re simply repeating the same thing over and over again. And what do we say about those that repeat the same actions over and over again expecting different results? I recall something about insanity…

So, let’s first and foremost work on developing a consistent practice schedule. If you’re a planner or calendar type of person, set aside a specific amount of time on specific days, mark yourself as busy, and work on your craft specifically during that time. Again, once or twice a week is perfectly acceptable, as long as you’re doing so every single week without fail. If you’re more of a “go with the flow” type of person, find some down time that’s pretty consistent during the week. What do you do while your parents are making dinner? Do you go home for a lunch break at work? Or maybe you’re more of a morning “chill” kind of person that has some down time after you wake up before you go to work or school? Those are perfect times to set a consistent “habit stack,” if you will. Habit stacking is basically triggering one action with another. So, when dinner goes in the oven, break out your instrument and spend some time working on your craft.

Speaking of your craft, let’s move on to our next reason.

Reason 2: Unfocused, Uninspired Practice

Lack of focus and lack of inspiration are the next big issue with most peoples’ practice routines. Beginning your practice with a lack of clear direction, quite honestly, a lack of fun or enjoyment in what you’re doing, can lead to repetitive practice with no clear direction forward, therefore frustration and wasted time.

So, first and foremost, let’s make sure you enjoy the things you’re working on. If you don’t, why would you want to work on them? So, finding pieces that bring you joy and inspire you is important. If you’re unable to do that, maybe consider adding something fun to the end of your routine - some improv, playing pop pieces or working on that one “bucket list” piece that you aren’t sure you’ll ever make it to. Even find ways to gamify your routine using dice, spinners, and other games. Find enjoyment!

Secondly, let’s start your practice each time with a clear plan. What would you like to accomplish? What are you planning on tackling? Are you going to provide yourself with break times? Write it down and follow a plan!

Practicing with a clear direction, a plan, and an element of fun can help you spend your time wisely, which brings us to the third reason.

Reason 3: Ignoring Technique, Fundamentals, and Variation

Ignoring technique, fundamentals, and the elements of variation in your practice keeps you from moving forward. I know that most people don’t enjoy working on technique or tone, however in order to see progress in our repertoire (the real fun, right?) we need a solid plan to build finger dexterity, articulation, intonation, and tone production. Technical proficiency IS just as important as musicality because one simply doesn’t live without the other. Without technical exercises and fundamental training, you can’t play the notes on the page, therefore you don’t have the skills to interpret them adequately.

So, find ways to build technique and fundamental exercises like articulation and tone into your practice routine, however, don’t just do it mindlessly. Create a plan that changes what you’re working on regularly. Change the technique exercises you’re working on every 2 weeks. Work out of a progressive articulation or etude book. Work on a different tone register every couple of days. Change things up! You can gamify this with spinners and dice as well, letting fate decide.

V. Conclusion

Your practice routine may be falling short simply because you’re not being consistent, you’re not making a plan, you’re lacking inspiration, and you’re skipping the fundamentals. Paying close attention to these problems can help you get back into a better routine, build a solid foundation on your instrument, and propel you into the stratosphere of musicianship.

Take a moment to reflect on your current habits and build some routine, inspiration, and fundamentals into your practice time. I promise, that doing this will help you begin moving forward again and help you hit your goals.

If you’re interested in a more one-on-one approach to restructuring your practice routine, check out Talent Tuneup, a 3-day Foundry for building your practice plan into something sustainable, propelling, and fun. Click here to learn more about the class and upcoming programs.