I recently received an email asking if I had heard about deliberate practice and suggesting that I should speak a little more about this. And, after looking into this a little more, I realized that even though we may never have used those exact words to describe effective practice strategies, our philosophy here at The Flute Practice is essentially a system of deliberate practice.
That being said, I think there is some room to take a specific deep dive into deliberate practice, looking at what it is, how we can use it to boost our practice, and how to practically integrate it into our daily practice.
What is deliberate practice?
I believe that the biggest enemy in our practice is mindless practice. That’s the type of practice where you repeat things over and over, without thinking about it, or perhaps even while thinking up your next dinner recipe…
Simply put, deliberate practice is exactly what it sounds like – a focused and methodical way of practicing that helps you reach your practice goals by thoughtfully considering the problems and using effective and appropriate strategies to solve them.
Perhaps this sounds boring, until you really get into it and discover the joy in it.
There is a wonderful formula that I have seen used in various forms when discussing deliberate practice. It can be applied to almost any area of our practice.
The deliberate practice formula:
- Find and analyze the problem. This may involve playing through a section of a piece or playing a scale and first exploring the problem. I love this part of practice! All that’s required is an open, curious mindset. You’re on an adventure to find something to improve.
- Choose and apply a remedial strategy. This is where things get really creative. You get to choose a fun and innovative way to tackle the problem. We have a whole resource with lists of ideas called our Practice Toolbox to help you with this (access it here!). The important thing is that you have considered the problem and chosen an appropriate strategy to experiment with. It does not need to be perfect, so just try it. This could include playing in different rhythms, isolating a specific tricky fingering or playing a section slowly with a sense of calm in your fingers.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy. Not all strategies will work and assessing the usefulness of the strategy is crucial. You will want to ask yourself: Do you feel the strategy is helping to solve the problem? Is there an improvement or perhaps a deeper understanding of the problem? Did the strategy have the opposite effect and make things worse (this does happen!)? Evaluating the usefulness of a practice strategy is often easier said than done, because, very often, the results will not be immediate. Sometimes, you will need to rely on the old ‘tried-and-tested’ strategies and trust in the process.
- Repeat steps 1-3 until you have completed your practice session for today. Perhaps the strategy did not work or, perhaps, you want to try a different strategy to help you approach the problem from a different perspective. The struggle here is knowing when enough is enough.
This brings me to the next important part of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is not just a process. It’s a whole mental shift. It’s learning to work deeply, effectively, and purposefully rather than ‘working hard’ or practicing enough. I believe that 5 minutes of deliberate practice is worth more than hours of mindless practice. I have no science to back this up, but experience has shown me just how much we can get out of thoughtfully approaching a problem and working at it.
The trouble is that we are going to be fighting the dopamine centers of our brains just a bit because we will most likely not see immediate results and boy oh boy, do our brains love that instant gratification! In fact, deliberate practice can often feel less effective than other types of practice and this can be hugely frustrating. Frequently, when students don’t see that instant progress, they end up over-practicing or giving up and returning to mindless practice instead because they just don’t know when to stop.
This is unfortunate because research has shown that deliberate forms of practice are so much more effective than simple repetition. For more on this check out this wonderful blog post by Noa Kageyama showing how effective practice serves us better in the long term than the short term.
So, when is enough enough? The short answer is, never. That’s just the reality of practice. The slightly longer answer: you’re asking the wrong question.
Rather ask yourself: How long do you think you can realistically keep up this deep level of learning before your body and mind get tired?
Deliberate rest is part of deliberate practice
Research has shown how important rest is in the learning process. If we are going to learn to work smart and not hard, we are going to want to get the most out of our brains and bodies, and resting is a critical part of this.
Rest could mean something as simple as taking a 2-5-minute break during your practice session, right up to taking a few weeks off from your flute completely. Incorporating rest into your practice routine is wise and necessary. We have a great blog post on this topic too- check it out here.
Here is a golden rule of practice that I like to follow:
When your brain or body feels tired: stop!
Round about now, you are probably feeling how I often feel when it comes to these types of discussions. You have an idea of what deliberate practice is but no real idea of how this will actually translate into your practice sessions. So let’s get really practical…
The deliberate practice session
We are going to break this up into an easy-to-follow system. Oh, I do love systems!
Step 1: Decide on a practice routine. Not everyone loves a set routine, but having specific areas or blocks of practice that you know you need to work on each practice day is important. For example, you may decide to have one block for scales, one block for your pieces, and a space for technical work or long tones. If you decide ahead of time that you are going to spend 10 minutes on each area, the answer of when is enough enough is easily resolved! When your 10 minutes are up, it’s time to move on. Of course, you may not always set the time limit, but knowing that your body and brain capacity is limited, and knowing you still need to cover the other areas of your practice, you will be much more likely to know when to put something aside.
Step 2: Set achievable goals and plan. Deliberate practice has to start with setting attainable goals for yourself. These can be bigger practice goals but honestly, it’s the small simple ones that really fuel my practice. Before every practice block or practice session, I decide what I want to work on and what I want to get out of it. Let’s say I have my 10-minute scale practice in front of me. My goal might be to learn a new scale or practice a very specific list of scales. Or perhaps I want to spend the next 10-minute session improving a specific passage in a piece of music I am working on. You can see how this would connect to the deliberate practice formula. I have defined the problem and set the objective, I have chosen a plan of action and off I go.
Step 3: Apply the deliberate practice formula to your practice as you go. If you haven’t already, it is time to apply the formula. For example, you may have decided you want to improve your B minor scale. You play your scale and ask yourself: what could I improve? What one issue do I want to work on? Then, you analyze the problem you choose to address and determine which practice strategy may help. Now you play it again with your new strategy and assess the results. Instead of playing the scale through five times, you may have only done it once or twice. This is enough for now. You will rinse and repeat tomorrow and over time, you will start to see those results.
Here is a description of what my practice plan may look like:
Session 1: Do my cascading scale exercises on Bb from The Flute Practice Scale Book (10-15 mins)
Purpose/goal: Warm up; find freedom and balance in my body; listen carefully for any finger combinations that may need some extra work.
Strategies employed during the session:
Release tension and facilitate the warm-up:
- Walking around the room as I play to free up the body (playing from memory)
Technical challenges in the scale:
- Play high-register portions of the exercises slowly
- Rhythm practice in the high registers of the scale exercises
- Play the top octave notes slowly with calm relaxed fingers
Take a 5-minute break
Session 2: Prepare orchestra music for rehearsal (10-15 mins)
Purpose/goal: determine which areas need the most practice and get an overview of the music.
Strategies employed during the session:
- Listen to the recording to get an idea of the final tempos for each section of the music
- Work through the score and determine which areas will likely need work
- Play through the marked areas and reassess if they need more work
Take a 5-minute break
Session 3: Practice the top 3 most difficult sections of the orchestra music (10-15 mins)
Purpose/goal: Learn the notes; speed up the passages; identify and start working on technical challenges
Strategies employed during the session:
- Played through small chunks of the section slowly, with calm fingers
- Practiced the runs in different rhythms
- Identified the patterns and memorized small chunks of the music
- Worked with a metronome to keep fingers even and gradually speed up
Take a 15-minute break
Session 4: Play through old pieces fairly mindlessly, for fun! (20-30 mins)
Purpose/goal: Have fun!
Strategies employed during the session: Just play!
Do I really sit down and plan every session in this much detail?
Absolutely not. I have had a lot of practice doing it and this process of analyzing and applying a solution has become almost automatic. However, in the beginning, it may feel like a bit of work and you may need to do a bit more planning than you are used to. Once it becomes part of your practice it becomes something that gives you a sense of purpose and accomplishment rather than a chore. So if you are not convinced yet, give it some time.
You may still feel like I have just taken all the fun out of playing. After all, sometimes just playing through things mindlessly is what makes it fun! Take a look at my 4th session. I regularly encourage my students to take time to just play for fun. I think it is completely fine to sometimes decide to just play and not think. We just do not want this to be your default state of practice. We want you to consciously choose this type of practice knowing it is fun and will help grow your love for the instrument.
Phew, well that was quite the masterclass on practice! If you want some great resources to help you on this journey, download our Flute Practice Toolbox here and get access to great practice ideas and our free practice plan template. As always, happy deliberate practicing! 😉
Responses
One of my goals for this year was more consistent practice. I have been using your Practice Journal and it has helped me stay focused and have more balance in my practice routine. Thank you for this article. I found your example especially helpful. Still looking forward to your next level of courses!
Thank you! Me too. There are quite a few that are so excited to get started so we are looking at how we can make it happen soon. But, intermediate is the next level on the cards either way!
Nicely done. I’m a beginner, so my practice sessions are quite detailed and may not include all the sessions you mentioned, but that’s OK. I start with a C major scale, to check my embouchure and tone. I might do some harmonics. Then I choose a piece I’m interested in practicing. I sight-read it first to isolate the issues and decide if the level of the piece is reasonable for me (I’ve only studied for 1 year). I also make my decision based on what type of things the piece includes. For example, I have a lot of trouble identifying and fingering notes above the staff, so I’m deliberately working on a piece (Elegie by Anderson) that has passages with those notes. I then go over those high note passages until I can finger them in rhythm. Then I can go back and play the piece and see if there are other problems (usually fingering in time to keep the rhythm right!). Then practice that until I can do it. Lather, since, repeat until I’m happy with how I’m playing the piece through. By this time, usually an hour has passed, so I might just stop. Or I play something I already know how to play, just for enjoyment.