Understanding the Four Types of Practice Dr. Jospeh Montelione Florida Tech University montemusic@gmail.com
“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” We all know the answer, of course, is to practice! But what is practicing? Is it the repetition of an exercise? Is it drilling a difficult excerpt? Not necessarily—as an educator, I believe it is essential to teach students how to recognize the four types of practicing. Most students know what to practice but lack the ability to identify the correct type of practice. Identifying the correct type of practice will make efficient use of their practice time to yield their desired result. As we well know, practicing is the mindful, efficient use of time spent improving technique and mastering artistry. In most cases, younger students are challenged with making the most of their practice time. They play their part with a scale or two thrown in, then perhaps something fun if there’s still time allocated to practicing. In fact, many will play an exercise or a musical excerpt repeatedly until they feel they “get it right,” at which point they either move on to something else or pack it up. This way of practicing—through drilling music and rote exercises—may result in some improvement, but it will not yield sustainable, concrete ownership of the technique needed to express the inner artist. There will always be an abundance of sheet music to practice; because of this, students believe that this is where their focus should lie. While it clearly is important to practice the assigned ensemble piece, merely getting better at that particular piece of music will not address the fundamental needs the student must have in order to build a solid musical foundation. Whether the student is hoping to improve, or if they’re there just for fun, regardless of their reasons for being or belonging, students need to learn “how to practice” and not necessarily “what to practice.” In other words, they need to practice “smarter” and not “harder.” This is most effective when the student understands the different types of practicing. TEMPO
There are four different types of practicing—Discovery, Conditioning, Reinforcement and Repertoire. Discovery is where the most amount of time should be spent when a student chooses to practice. In a private lesson, the teacher will take the time to explain and showcase a variety of concepts on how to achieve a goal. The hope is that by the end of the lesson, a student will, in theory, understand “how” to do it. Discovery is realizing how to apply the concept/theory into a reality, and typically involves a student’s weakest area of playing. For example, if an area of weakness is sound and the exercise is long tones, then Discovery involves a student playing a long tone until the desired sound matches the ideal sound. At this point, it is not about playing the long tone, it is about discovering how to match the sound in the student’s head and using the long tone as a means to help get him or her there. Educators need to explain to students that discovery doesn’t necessarily condition a student’s body for peak performance. Rather, it only allows a student to actualize a new concept taught by an instructor—this is due to the majority of time spent on a passage or exercise ending up being a complete failure. Yet, the failure helps the student propel closer to mastering the preferred result. So, once a student has grasped the discovery level, they move on to Conditioning. Conditioning is the process of taking the discovered concept and acclimatizing a student to perform in the newly discovered way of playing. Conditioning involves a mind focused on replacing the old habit into a new habit. I strive to condition students into only playing in the newly discovered way—this is not achieved by focusing on the mistake or the failed attempt, rather it is achieved by detaching from the old and yielding to the process of how to play in the new way. In the condition phase of practicing, obstacles are the things students see when they take their mind off of the new way of playing. 50
MARCH 2021
