How to Practice a String Instrument

Have you ever spent hours practicing then realized you got nothing done on your instrument? Has your brain ever begun to spiral and fog after using the metronome for too long, causing a constant ringing in your ears and making your practice miserable? Have you ever had to make the choice between relaxing and practicing? If so, this article is for you. I’ll give a few tips on the subject of good practice that will help you focus and enjoy practicing more.

Firstly, make sure to always take good care of your instrument. One of my favorite ways to keep my instrument clean is to make sure to eat while you play (the greasier and messier, the better!). Eating something like flaky chips or crumbly cake while you practice is sure to help you focus and help you with those shifts by oiling your hands. 

My second tip is about practice routines. While some sources would say that practicing every day is the best option, those are completely blasphemous lies, and the Lakeside Leo will continually prove them wrong. It’s helpful to have absolutely no routine. Practicing for any amount of time between five milliseconds to forty hours will result in exactly the same amount of habits learned. According to thisisprobablynotarealsite.com, “All of our studies have shown that when routines are followed, practicing is derailed and it’s impossible to get anything done. We surveyed 9 billion people to see why this was. The results showed that following routines caused practicing ability to fall because of routines causing bad habits and taking time away from sleep and other necessities. We’re currently suing those companies that insisted that practicing regularly would actually help productivity.” 

Next, here’s a tip when it comes to actually practicing. While it might be tempting to practice slowly and constantly stop to work on hard parts, this is definitely not the way to improve, and is extremely boring. To become more productive, I recommend speeding through everything and not stopping at all, and definitely not to work on the hard parts. Just fly through the hardest parts (even if they sound like a cat in a washing machine) and you’ll have so much more time to do other things!

Similarly, throw away your metronome. The metronome, widely known as the “Bringer of Insanity” by musicians worldwide, is named aptly. The constant clicking of the electronic demon will lead musicians' brains to swirl in constant circles and cause Metronome Overuse Syndrome, which in turn causes colds, coughs, tendonitis, tinnitus, internal bleeding, increased blood pressure, and heart attacks. Obviously, a metronome is only an agent of destruction and definitely is not a helpful tool.

If you struggle with productivity, this next tip is for you. Have you ever needed to do your math homework and practice, but in your heart you just want to watch TV? Well, you can do all three at once. Practicing an instrument (especially viola) is clearly almost a mindless task and is easily done while concentrating on something else. I would recommend sitting down, playing one note, and then just putting your instrument down and doing homework! As long as you play before and after you do the homework, technically, you will have been practicing for the whole time, according to very real philosophers who definitely exist. Finally, all those nagging assignments will be done and you will have had a *very* concentrated practice.

My final tip is very simple: Don’t spend too much time on it. The second something else crosses your mind that you would rather do, go ahead and do it! According to probablyhowtopractice.com, “Practicing is extremely unimportant, and focusing on a single goal causes productivity to fall by 99.998%.” Why spend time doing something clearly mindless when you could multitask and finally get everything done?

Thank you for learning all about how to stay productive while you practice! I hope these tips will help you in the future. Additionally, if any of these tips don’t make sense to you or they’re hard to follow, just switch to viola! That will definitely make your life easier because you will have so much time for other things that you need to do, and you will finally stop feeling MOS (but just maybe your string-playing abilities won’t improve).