I have stated over and over that the hardest part of practicing a musical instrument is getting started. Sometimes you have to “just do it”. I am assuming no one reads to the end of the blog, so I will repeat this story here. When my kids were young and I would be in charge of their practices. I would tell them “Just play 10 minutes. I’ll set the kitchen timer”. I would set it to 30 or 45 minutes (depending on their age). Neither of them ever stopped practice before the timer went off and neither ever complained about my tactics. Only a year ago when we were in the Colorado mountains in a cabin, one of my kids (in their mid 20’s now) said “Do you remember when Mom…?” I was really surprised because neither of them ever mentioned anything to me about this.

To me, this story proved that the hardest part is getting started. Once you start, you enjoy playing. The same goes for myself.

Sometimes I am enthusiastic to practice, but I am usually so busy that it is another thing to fit into my schedule. I know that once I start, I will probably be practicing for 1 to 2 hours, so it is sooo hard to get started. Another thing that makes me procrastinate is if I have played a piece so much, I am tired of it, or if what I need to do feels extra hard and I can’t do it.

Telling myself, I’ll just play for 15 minutes gets me started, then I don’t stop. I can get myself started by setting very small goals, like working on four difficult measures. Then I always keep going. One time I played a segment over and over and over. I couldn’t increase the speed at all and still play it correctly. It was a finger twister (as opposed to a tongue twister). This was late at night. I was so annoyed with my lack of ability that I didn’t touch my flute for 3 more days. When I picked it up, I not only could play it, but I could play it up to speed - a much higher speed. I will repeat this story when I present my sleep on it practice tip.

Keep practicing.

Becky