Here is a compilation of practice tips I have obtained from other musicians*, as well as from personal experience. Whenever I get frustrated while practicing, I can almost always find a way of getting out of the rut on this list.
I hope, if you are an instrumentalist, they are of some help to you also.
- Don't let your intellect learn your music for you. Just because your brain knows that something is supposed to be a certain way, doesn't mean that your body knows it yet. One friend told me that your mind learns something quickly and forgets it quickly, while your body is slow to learn something but will remember it forever. This concept is one that I think has really changed the way I practice. I found that if your body knows how to go through the physical motions of playing a piece, your mind is free to mold the music.
- Sing! Use your instrument to imitate your voice. I think that singing leads to a much more natural and familiar way of playing. It also forces you to form your own ideas on phrasing, and helps you to really analyze your own playing.
- Examine the score away from your instrument.
- Form a musical and imaginative interpretative concept of the goal toward which you will work.
- Focus on only one problem at a time when practicing. Trying to work on more than one tends to get frustrating, and quite frankly, you don't get much done. (Believe me, I know.)
- In order to save time, instead of reading through, take the first eight or twelve measures. Examine carefully for phrasing, type of bow stroke(s) to be used, accents, fingering, and individual problems of left and right hands.
- Practice fast passages slowly with vibrato to preserve vitality of sound. Practice melodic passages non-vibrato for accuracy, then with vibrato on every note.
Practice the entire piece in small sections in this manner. Every time you stumble, examine whether the mistake was caused by a special technical difficulty or whether you slipped a cog in concentration.
- If you find a special difficulty within the passage, determine whether the problem is in the left hand or right arm, or both! Isolate it for even more intense work. Master the special difficulty before going back to practice the section as a whole. Be willing to work on even tiny fragments of a passage for total mastery- "over-learning"- for that extra margin of security and for ample technical resources. Remember: the chain is never stronger than its weakest link.
- NEVER LET REPETITION BECOME MECHANICAL! IF YOU ARE TIRED, STOP FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES OR SO.
- Every time you begin practicing any section, go over it for accuracy at a slow speed. This also lets you think about the details of the section; for example, phrasing and how you achieve it.
- Work with the metronome to increase speed gradually, never leaving a speed until it is perfect. Be willing to practice difficult right arm passages on open strings. Practice slurred passages in separate bows and fast detache passages slurred.
- Remember that the object and inevitable result of practice is the establishment of the habit of playing a certain thing in a certain way.
Do not establish the wrong habit.
- ***Even when working slowly and carefully, keep in mind the elements of mood and feeling.***
- The playing of music on an instrument is a very complex function, including as it does the spiritual, the intellectual, the emotional, the imaginative and the physical powers of the player. This complexity must be practiced.
- There should be times for playing through the piece, study, or section without stopping. This will serve to develop continuity and consistency in performance, and also to point up the parts and details which need further work, as well as helping a number of the technical and interpretative details fall into place.
- Budget time, and work on schedule.
- Don't feel guilty about taking breaks when practicing. If you're tired, whether physically or mentally, you're not going to get anything worthwhile accomplished. After years of trying to find a certain way of budgeting time when practicing, I've come to the conclusion that it's not possible...you just have to go with what feels right to you. Some days I can go for an hour to an hour and a half without a break, some I need one every 20 minutes. I think I found out that if I try to make myself go a certain length of time, the quality of the work I do goes down.
- *Very important!!!!!* Regular practice is of utmost importance for satisfactory progress, whether it be one hour a day or four hours a day.
- You should be able to hear or feel progress each day after working on something.
*Sources: John Gilbert (via Daniel McAtee), Internet Cello Society, The Art of Cello Playing by Louis Potter, Cello by William Pleeth, The Art of Cello Playing by Louis Potter, Jr., ME.