Many students find it difficult to fit practice into their life

It isn’t always easy. There can be many obstacles to overcome. We can have limitations on our practice time due to work, school or family and even neighbours! We have to fit our practice around multiple situations. So how do we find time?

The best way is to be flexible and do what works for you. If you find that routine works for you, set yourself a routine you can stick to but maintain flexibility at the same time. For instance, if you allocate an hour before work or school and get up late, don’t skip your practice because you can’t fit the full hour in. 15 minutes is still beneficial. Even 5 minutes. You have to work with what you have.

If you set yourself a goal of 30 minutes a day and you only clock 15 minutes that is no reason to give up altogether. You have to work with what you have. And if you are one of my students you should already have quite a few practice techniques that you can use to make effective use of your practice time.

If you are not really the routine type:

Practise as often as you are able even if it is only 5 minutes here or there. You can of course set yourself a longer practice goal of 30 minutes or an hour, but sometimes that can be discouraging. If 5 minutes can get you to your instrument, all the better, often the 5 minutes will turn into something a lot more.

Make sure you enjoy your practice. A mixture of fun and challenging tasks is important (a teacher can help with this), so plan and organise your practice and you will likely not want to miss a session. Happy Practising!

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