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The Two Main Ways To Practice Your Instrument
Does practice make perfect? I think this statement was probably made at some point by someone who was not a musician. It is by far one of the greatest lies told to humanity about practice. As most of my students can recite my view is that practice makes permanent. And to follow this statement I will often say, “how you practice is how you play.” With this in mind let’s talk about the two types of practice: Developmental Practice and Performance Practice.
Developmental Practice
It is obvious that we have to practice in order to develop the habits of playing the guitar. The issue is that we too often do not realize that we are creating habits any time we play the guitar! When practicing we are either getting better or getting worse. There is no in-between. We are either moving closer to our desired end result or further away from it. The more times we repeat a movement or note the greater it will become embedded into our playing.
Developmental practice includes everything from technical work (scales, arpeggios, etc.) to our repertoire. The idea is that you will be constantly building the habits that will eventually lead to performance. Do not be fooled by saying that performance is not the goal! Even if you just play for yourself, you are playing to perform at some point. Take a look at the following quote.
Nobody but yourself is responsible for your playing. It’s all in your hands! Practicing and performing are not separate and different activities for which different rules apply, but two moments of the same activity: making music. Performance anxiety will shrink to practically nothing when you transform your “practicing” in “performance.” Practicing is, then, the process of transforming “difficult passages” into “easy” ones.
Eduardo Fernedez – Eduardo Fernandez: Technique, Mechanism, Learning
Practicing Performance
From the above quote, you can see Eduardo Fernandez’s belief (from his book Technique, Mechanism, Learning, pg. 37), and my belief, of the connection between practicing and performance. With this connection, it is important to prepare yourself for the psychological side of performing. This allows us to anticipate the feeling and mood as much as possible before stepping out on stage.
When I was in college I would set up two spotlights in my dorm room (of course my roommate was usually not there) and point them towards an empty chair. That was my concert stage. I would walk out to the chair, bow, and take my seat as if I were actually on stage at the performance. Then, I would play through the concert with as much energy as I could imagine for the performance. To further enhance the experience, I would add a recording device to record my every note. All of this created an environment as close as possible to my next event.
By setting up these performances I was able to focus on the inner dialogue that sabotages our efforts during a concert. By preparing for as many as possible beforehand, I was able to control them during the actual performance.
You’ve Got To Do Both Ways Of Practice
In order to be successful on stage, you must be successful off stage. This begins with the developmental practice and ends with performance practice. Both, of course, are not one time events but are a continual part of your development as a guitarist.
I have two degrees in guitar performance and was privileged to study under Aaron Shearer, Tom Kikta, David Skantar, Ken Karsh, Tim Bedner, and currently Christopher Berg. Outside my editorial work on this blog, I teach full-time across many genres including classical, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and metal.
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