Tips for Practising: Finding Inspiration and Making Every Minute Count

The first word you might think of when you hear about a musician who practises a lot is 'discipline'. But dig a little deeper and the word would actually be inspiration: a piece they couldn't stop listening to, a player who blew them away, a sound they wanted to make their own. The best practice starts with inspiration, then turns it into focused, enjoyable time with your instrument.

Here are some tips for making practice fun and efficient, for musicians of every age, and especially for young people.

🎧 Start with Inspiration

Before you think about scales or exercises, think about the music that excites you. Inspiration is the fuel for everything else.

• Listen widely: explore recordings in your instrument's style and beyond it. A violinist might listen to the Sibelius Violin Concerto, or a jazz saxophonist might listen to Hank Mobley's 'Soul Station'. Articles about both these works are in previous blog posts!
• Find a musical hero: watch videos of great players on your instrument. Notice how they sound, how they move and how much they enjoy it.
• Hear music live: concerts, gigs, and our own Café Concerts and end-of-term performances. Seeing someone a little further along the path is one of the most motivating things there is.
• Keep a 'wish list': jot down pieces, songs, riffs or moments you'd love to be able to play one day.

🔄 Turn Inspiration into Practice

Inspiration fades if it isn't used, so the key is to connect what excites you to what you do in the practice room.

• Pick one thing from your wish list and make it a mini-project: a melody, a riff, an opening phrase. Small and achievable beats big and overwhelming.
• Connect your inspiration to your pieces. Try to link the things you're inspired by to the pieces you're learning. Your teacher will be able to help you with this.
• Learn something by ear. Working out a tune from a recording is brilliant training for your ears, and it means you're practising music you genuinely love.
• Ask 'what would help me play that?' If your hero has a beautiful tone, long notes suddenly have a purpose. If a piece is fast and exciting, scales and technical exercises become the route to getting there. Technical work makes much more sense when it's linked to music you want to play.
• Share it with your teacher. Tell them what you've been listening to. Most teachers love talking about music and are happy to build lessons around the music their students are excited about.

⏱️ Little and Often

Short, regular sessions are far more effective than one long session before your lesson. Your brain and muscles learn best through repetition spread over several days.

• Keep it manageable: for younger children, 10 to 15 focused minutes is plenty. Older students can build up gradually, perhaps splitting longer practice into two shorter sessions.
• Make it a habit: practising at the same time each day, such as after school or before dinner, makes it part of the routine rather than another decision to make.
• Keep your instrument handy: if it's out on a stand rather than buried in its case, you're much more likely to pick it up for a quick play. Once you start practising and feeling the benefits, this becomes an inspiration in itself, and improvements are quickly noticed by others!

🎯 Practise with a Purpose

Efficient practice means focusing on what needs work, not just playing through what you can already do.

• Set a goal for each session, for example, 'today I'll get bars 9 to 12 smooth and precise'. I personally choose three things or 'topics' I'd like to work on over the course of a week.
• Find the tricky bits and zoom in. Work on a few notes at a time, then join them up.
• Slow it down. Playing slowly and accurately builds speed far more reliably than rushing. A metronome is your friend!
• Don't always start at the beginning. Otherwise the opening gets polished and the ending never does. Always practise the things you can't do!
• Finish with something you love, so you end on a high and look forward to next time.

🎲 Make It Fun

Practice and play aren't opposites. A little creativity goes a long way, especially for younger musicians.

• Improvise and compose: spend a few minutes making up your own music using the notes you're learning. There are no wrong answers!
• Record yourself: listening back is a great way to hear what's working, and comparing recordings over a few weeks shows just how far you've come.
• Play for others: family, friends, or even the cat. A mini home concert gives practice a purpose.
• Play along: backing tracks and recordings make practice feel like being in a band.

👨‍👩‍👧 A Note for Parents

Your encouragement makes a huge difference. Be curious rather than checking up: ask what they're working on, or request a performance of their favourite piece. Praise effort and persistence, not just results. For younger children, a simple practice chart can work wonders, and sitting with them for part of a session helps them stay on track. If practice becomes a battle, have a chat with their teacher, who will be happy to help find a way forward.

🌱 Why It's Worth It

Regular, inspired practice brings rewards that reach well beyond the music itself.

• Progress you can feel: nothing is more motivating than playing something today that you couldn't play last week. Progress fuels enjoyment, and enjoyment fuels more practice.
• Confidence: knowing your part well means you can relax and enjoy performing, whether in a lesson, a group or a concert.
• Focus and resilience: learning to break a challenge into small steps and stick with it is a skill for life, not just for music.
• Better group playing: when you're more secure with your own playing, you can listen, respond and really enjoy making music with others.
• Wellbeing: time spent absorbed in music can be calming, satisfying and a welcome break from screens and busy days.
• A lifelong companion: the habits you build now can keep music in your life for decades to come.

🎵 Over to You

This week, why not try just one thing: find a piece of music that excites you, pick a small part of it, and make it your mini-project. Bring it to your lesson, play it at a Café Concert, or share it with your group. We'd love to hear what inspires you!