The Practice Revolution

Getting great results from

the six days between music lessons

Philip Johnston

Sample Only: Table of Contents

To order your own copy of The Practice Revolution,
go to www.practicespot.com

PracticeSpot Press
www.practicespot.com

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The Practice Revolution

Published by
PracticeSpot Press
PracticeSpot Pty Ltd
52 Pethebridge Street
Pearce ACT 2607
AUSTRALIA

Copyright © 2002 by Philip Johnston

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or

distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or
retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Cover design by Whizzbang Art

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 0-9581905-0-X

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Acknowledgements

T o my students, past and present, who have been part of more

than a decade of study, experimentation and laughter that
has made this book possible—but who also had to put up with
being guinea-pigs for all the not-so-good ideas that didn’t make it
into this edition.

Also with long overdue thanks to my parents, Christine and

Merv, who have been tireless sources of encouragement and
inspiration on every step of my various mad adventures.

And a special thanks to my wife Katherine, who continues to be

both my muse and greatest source of delight—for her constant
support, her unconditional faith, and for being oxygen for the fire
whenever I come bouncing into the room with “I’ve had a great
idea!”. Katherine, none of this—none of this—would be possible
without you.

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The Practice Revolution

Contents

Introduction

Why a book on practicing?............................................... 13

1. To The Barricades ......................................... 15

1.1 The Quantity Myth....................................................... 16

1.2 The Revolution Begins............................................... 19

2. Giving Better Instructions ............................... 21

2.1 The words with the power to shape their week........ 22

2.2 The importance of being specific.............................. 23
2.3 Challenges, not requests............................................ 26
2.4 Making sure you’ve been heard................................. 28
2.4.1 Making it memorable to read......................................... 28
2.4.2 ...and checking that your efforts were actually read...... 29
2.4.3 Retelling instructions..................................................... 30
2.4.4 The Chair of the Week Ahead....................................... 31
2.5 Giving them ownership over Instructions................. 31
2.6 Involving parents in the process............................... 33

3. Common Practice Flaws ............................... 35

3.1 Introduction................................................................. 36
3.2 Chopping Wood with a Spoon................................... 37
3.3 Shiny Object Polishers............................................... 40
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 3.4 Sheep Counters.......................................................... 45
3.5 Speed Demons............................................................ 49
3.6 Gluttons....................................................................... 52
3.7 Drifters......................................................................... 57
3.8 Skimmers..................................................................... 62
3.9 Clock-Watchers........................................................... 66
3.10 Autopilots................................................................... 71
3.11 Pattern Practicers...................................................... 75
3.12 Always from the Top.................................................. 78
3.13 Bad Bricklayers......................................................... 82
3.14 Ignoring the Map........................................................ 84
3.15 Red Light Runners.................................................... 88

4. Why Students don’t Practice ......................... 93

4.1 Introduction.................................................................. 94
4.2 Time Management Skills............................................. 95
4.2.1 The Moon Project.......................................................... 96
4.3 Reading Problems....................................................... 102
4.4 Lack of Parental Help.................................................. 105
4.5 Parental Interference................................................... 107
4.6 A week with wings....................................................... 110
4.7 Impossible workload................................................... 111
4.8 Not clear on what they are hoping to achieve.......... 112
4.9 Discovering that practice doesn’t work..................... 114

5. Using the Right Tools ..................................... 117

5.1 The Body Designers Lesson...................................... 118

5.2 Three steps to choosing the right tools.................... 120

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The Practice Revolution

6. Learning the New Piece ................................ 123

6.1 Defining the Task......................................................... 124

6.2 Reframing..................................................................... 125
6.2.1 Proving that the piece is easy........................................ 126
6.3 The Level System........................................................ 130
6.3.1 Preparing for The Level System.................................... 130
6.3.2 Meet the Levels............................................................. 132
6.3.3 Recording the Completed Levels.................................. 134
6.3.4 The Level System at the lesson.................................... 135
6.4 Nightmares First.......................................................... 136
6.4.1 ...or for some students, in reverse................................. 137
6.5 The Tabletop Challenge.............................................. 137
6.6 The Power of Recordings........................................... 138
6.6.1 How recordings can transform your students’ practice.. 139
6.6.2 Using recordings to help students learn new pieces..... 141
6.6.3 Making your own recordings......................................... 142
6.7 Scouting....................................................................... 143
6.8 Shooting the movie..................................................... 146
6.8.1 Hit and run..................................................................... 147

7. Making the Piece Reliable ............................. 149

7.1 Defining the Task......................................................... 150

7.1.1 Embracing the fear........................................................ 150
7.2 Pressure through games............................................ 151
7.2.1 Games as a vehicle for defining consequences............ 152
7.3 The impact of games on practicing........................... 152
7.4 The limitation of Pressure Games............................. 154
7.5 The Seven Stages of Misery....................................... 155
7.5.1 How this game works.................................................... 155
7.5.2 The “Almost Home” syndrome...................................... 156
7.5.3 The need for occasional “Time Out” calls..................... 157
7.6 The Great Race............................................................ 158

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 7.6.1 How this game works.................................................... 158
7.6.2 The Imaginary Dice as a confidence barometer............ 159
7.6.3 Variations on The Great Race....................................... 159
7.7 Tic-Tac-Toe................................................................... 160
7.7.1 How this game works.................................................... 161
7.7.2 If the student wins the game......................................... 161
7.7.3 If the students loses the game...................................... 161
7.7.4 If it’s a draw................................................................... 162
7.8 The Ledger System..................................................... 162
7.8.1 Setting a target - winning the Ledger System game..... 164
7.9 The Lap......................................................................... 164
7.9.1 How this game works.................................................... 165
7.9.2 Reacting to errors.......................................................... 165
7.9.3 Variations on this game................................................. 165
7.10 Card Games............................................................... 166
7.10.1 The Towers of Mozart.................................................. 166
7.10.2 The Towers of Haydn.................................................. 167
7.11 The Twenty-Minute Consequence............................ 168
7.12 Hangman.................................................................... 169
7.12.1 Variations on Hangman............................................... 170
7.13 Tweaking the challenges for the games.................. 171

8. Memorizing it ................................................. 173

8.1 Defining the Task......................................................... 174

8.2 The Theory Accelerant................................................ 175
8.2.1 How does the student use this technique?.................... 175
8.3 Lessons from Platform Games.................................. 176
8.3.1 How games consoles teach students to memorize....... 177
8.3.2 The platform game practice mechanics revealed.......... 178
8.3.3 Turning their practice into a platform game................... 180
8.3.4 Once they have won their game.................................... 182
8.4 The Scribe.................................................................... 182
8.5 The Sketch................................................................... 185

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The Practice Revolution

8.6 The Migrating Book..................................................... 186

8.7 The Steamroller............................................................ 187
8.7.1 Limitations of this method.............................................. 190
8.8 A parade of small pieces............................................. 191

9. Speeding pieces up ....................................... 193

9.1 Defining the Task......................................................... 194

9.2 The Metronome Method.............................................. 195
9.2.1 Countering the “Impossible” Myth................................. 195
9.2.2 How the Metromone Method Works............................. 195
9.3.2 Ensuring that the student is ready for this technique.... 196
9.2.4 Recording the maximum speeds................................... 197
9.2.5 “Snakes and Ladders” Metronome Method................... 198
9.2.6 The limit of usefulness................................................... 199
9.3 When a section resists the Metronome Method....... 200
9.3.1 Uncertainty about what the notes actually are.............. 200
9.3.3 Largo-only fingerings.................................................... 201
9.3.3 Technical immaturity...................................................... 202
9.3.4 Accidental doubling of the speed.................................. 203
9.4 The Halflight Technique.............................................. 204
9.4.1 Training your autopilot to play fast for you.................... 204
9.4.2 So how can this help the student play faster?.............. 205
9.5 Learning on the bike................................................... 206
9.6 Rhythmic Distortions................................................. 207
9.6.1 Dots.............................................................................. 208
9.6.2 Splurts.......................................................................... 209
9.6.3 Accents......................................................................... 209
9.7 Redefining 80%........................................................... 211
9.8 When all else fails....................................................... 212

10. Taming tricky bits ....................................... 215

10.1 Defining the Task...................................................... 216

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 10.2 Knowing your enemy................................................ 216
10.2.1 Distillation................................................................... 216
10.2.2 Define the problem moments...................................... 217
10.3.3 Create a range of tactics............................................. 217
10.3 Making things harder to make things easier........... 219
10.4 Taking a break............................................................ 220
10.5 Switching tactics....................................................... 220
10.6 Ten hours, head down and trust.............................. 221
10.7 When all else fails...................................................... 223

11. Making the piece their own ........................... 225

11.1 Defining the task........................................................ 226

11.2 Score trawling............................................................ 227
11.2.1 The wrong person has been doing this job.................. 227
11.2.2 Solving the neon sign problem.................................... 228
11.2.3 Creating interpretation geography............................... 229
11.3 Experiments............................................................... 230
11.3.1 How experiments work................................................ 231
11.4 Writing the script...................................................... 233
11.4.1 Using this as a practice technique............................... 233

12. Preparing for performance ........................... 237

12.1 Defining the task........................................................ 238

12.2 Dress rehearsals........................................................ 238
12.2.1 The post-dress-rehearsal analysis.............................. 239
12.2.2 How many dress rehearsals should they have?.......... 241
12.2.3 When should they take place?.................................... 242
12.3 Establishing a Plan B................................................ 243
12.3.1 How this technique works............................................ 244
12.3.2 Practicing for seamless transitions.............................. 245
12.3.3 The true benefit of establishing a Plan B..................... 245

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The Practice Revolution

12.4 Slow motion replays (in advance!).......................... 246

12.4.1 How this technique works........................................... 247
12.4.2 Rotating the focus....................................................... 247
12.4.3 Why replays help, and when to use them................... 248
12.5 Getting comortable with starting............................. 248
12.5.1 How this technique works............................................ 249
12.4.2 Combining the elements.............................................. 250
12.6 Head games............................................................... 251
12.6.1 Creating a showoff list................................................. 252
12.6.2 Visualizing the entire experience................................. 254
12.6.3 Creating flags of highlight moments on the score....... 255
12.7 The Blitz Week........................................................... 255
12.7.1 Identifying the targets.................................................. 256
12.7.2 Commencing the blitz.................................................. 257
12.7.3 Testing after the blitz................................................... 257
12.7.4 The aim of such a blitz................................................ 258

13. Project Management .................................... 259

13.1 The need for project management skills................. 260

13.2 Creating Checkpoints............................................... 261
13.2.1 Defining the Checkpoints............................................ 261
13.2.2 Checkpoint # 1: Getting the week moving early.......... 262
13.2.3 Checkpoint # 2: Getting to lesson-ready..................... 263
13.2.4 Transforming the role of the parent............................. 263
13.2.5 Acknowledging the achievements............................... 264
13.2.6 Building the checkpoint lists........................................ 264
13.2.7 Having students construct their own checkpoint lists.. 267
13.3 Countdown Charts.................................................... 268
13.3.1 Time distortions and your studio................................. 268
13.3.2 How to build the chart................................................. 270
13.3.3 Stepping Stones.......................................................... 271
13.3.4 Studiowide Countdown Chart...................................... 273
13.3.5 Teaching students to build their own chart.................. 274
13.4 Daily Planning............................................................ 276
13.4.1 The Checkpoint division.............................................. 277

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 13.4.2 The Practice Diary....................................................... 278
13.5 Alternatives................................................................ 279

14. 21st Century Options .................................... 281

14.1 Providing Support Between Lessons...................... 282

14.1.1 The Studio Website..................................................... 283
14.2 Building your site in 5 minutes................................ 284
14.3 Online Practice Instructions.................................... 286
14.4 Practice Planner........................................................ 287
14.5 Infinite Stickerbook................................................... 288
14.6 Message Center......................................................... 289
14.6.1 Midweek Encouragement Checks.............................. 289
14.6.2 Suprise Checkpoint items.......................................... 290
14.6.3 Lesson Afterthoughts.................................................. 290
14.6.4 Progress Updates....................................................... 291
14.6.5 HELP! Messages........................................................ 291
14.6.6 Blanket “Good Luck” Messages.................................. 292
14.7 Countdown Chart...................................................... 292
14.8 Studio Newsletter...................................................... 293
14.8.1 Create your own Features with Practice Hints............ 294
14.8.2 Give effective practicers a pat on the back................. 294
14.9 Other tools................................................................. 295

15. The Role of Parents .................................... 297

15.1 More than just policing............................................. 298

15.2 Be interested............................................................. 299
15.3 Encourage................................................................. 300
15.4 Reflect........................................................................ 300
15.5 Steer........................................................................... 301
15.6 Enthuse...................................................................... 301
15.7 Progress Checks....................................................... 303
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The Practice Revolution

15.8 Knowing when not to help........................................ 304

16. Towards Independence ............................... 305

16.1 Introduction................................................................ 306

16.1.1 Looking back............................................................... 307
16.2 Choosing from the Menu.......................................... 308
16.3 Adding new dishes to the Menu............................... 309
16.4 Choosing their own goals......................................... 310
16.5 Allowing students to specialize............................... 311
16.5.1 Awarding independence “certificates”......................... 312
16.6 Moving to assistance-on-demand........................... 313

17. Where to get more help ............................... 315

17.1 The Offical “Practice Revolution” Website............. 316

17.2 Some highlights from PracticeSpot.com................ 317
17.2.1 PracticeSpot Theory Sheet Center.............................. 317
17.2.2 Creating your own free studio website........................ 317
17.2.3 Rhythm Gym............................................................... 318
17.2.4 The PracticeGuide...................................................... 318
17.2.5 Web’s largest Dictionary of Musical Terms................. 318
17.2.6 The Manuscript Genie................................................. 319
17.2.7 Studio Policy Collection.............................................. 319
17.2.8 Music Crosswords...................................................... 319
17.2.9 The Web’s First Online Music Psychologist................ 319
17.2.10 Sightreading Central.................................................. 319
17.2.11 Online Scales Manual................................................ 320
17.2.12 “For Teachers” article archive.................................... 320
17.2.13 Chord Wizard............................................................ 320
17.2.14 Notereading Wizard................................................... 320
17.2.15 The Infinity Rhythm Machine..................................... 321
17.2.16 ...and lots more.......................................................... 321
17.3 Also by Philip Johnston............................................ 321
17.3.1 Not Until You’ve Done Your Practice........................... 321
17.4 For More Information, Conference Bookings etc... 322
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