Re: [Harp-L] Practice Makes Better -- Part 6

[Elizabeth Hess <TrackHarpL@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Someone asked me off list to describe my current practice program.  I am omitting the exchange that led up to the query, but am taking the liberty of sharing a simulacrum of my response with the list (just in case anyone else is interested).  This is what's working for me right now:

I "suit up and show up" nearly every day.  This is a mental "trick", but for me it works.  I find that if I separate the decision to be at my practice spot from the actual decision to practice, the practicing almost always happens.  If it doesn't, I don't agonize over it.
I take lessons.  I have a teacher whom I like and who makes me feel liked and respected as a person and a musician.
I practice tasks, not time.  For a given exercise, the ideal for seems to be four times through:  Once to get back almost to where I was yesterday, once to consolidate yesterday's ability, once to improve over yesterday, and once to consolidate the gain.  If an exercise is particularly hard, I might try another one or two times, but then I let it go until the next time.  For the past several months I've been bringing it in at between 1 and 2 hours per day.
I go for accuracy before speed.
I practice in small bursts when the spirit moves me.
I don't practice at the same time every day, but I do better when I practice earlier in the day rather than at the end, and  *usually*  I practice a day's tasks in the same  *relative*  sequence, e.g. exercise & shower, breakfast (and floss & brush my teeth, TMI), practice, then whatever for the rest of the day.
Sometimes I stop when I start to feel fatigued but don't feel finished, so that I have a hook for the following practice session.
Sometimes I ask myself to press on, so as to make some headway even when I think I can't.
I find that "working gently" works better for me than working hard.
I keep a brief daily log called "Where Does the Time Go?", and it's a small but real reward when I can include "practice harmonica" in the list of a day's accomplishments.
I "think harmonica" a great deal of the time -- imagined lines along with the radio, or even an entire imaginary band.  I hum.  I sing when no-one is listening.
If I'm really stuck, I try to look my resistance straight in the eye and ask myself, "What do you need?"  Taking action to clear an obstacle (mental or practical) can count as practicing.  Sometimes I have to clear more than one obstacle before I can get myself back on track.
I play out at open jams:  Making music with other musicians reminds me of WHY I do this:  For fun.  When I practice regularly, I like my own music better, and don't bore myself with the same old licks all the time.
Periodically I take the time to put my goals and/or my general thoughts about my harmonica playing in general into writing.  This helps me stay focused.  Occasionally I find that I've written something I didn't "know" consciously, and I will make a change because of it.

That's all I can think of at the moment.  For years I've been interested in how people learn and in what sorts of practice techniques work for different people, and not just harmonica or even music.  The way I see it, the more ways I know about, the more choices I'll have if or when I need to adjust my approach.  My bottom line is that if I'm not practicing, there's something wrong with the regimen, and I should change it up.  The best practice regimen is one that I will actually DO.  Some is better than none, it all goes in there, and it's all cumulative.

Elizabeth H. (aka "Tin Lizzie")