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Regular practice is essential to making good progress on any instrument. Much like revising different areas of study and listening to different pieces of music, time must be set aside for regular practice. However, as well as practising regularly it is important to practise effectively. Here are some suggestions for how to create an effective practice regime.

Long term - practice timetable

Little and often is the best way to practise. If you are a busy person, come up with a timetable for your practice. Will you practise every day or once every two days? Will it be at the same time of day, or will it depend on the day of the week? Sometimes it is more effective to practise at the same time each day. Everyone is different, so you must decide what works best for you and then stick to it.

Medium term - aims

If you have an instrumental or vocal teacher, they will help you with your aims. However, it is important that you take ownership of your targets and deadlines. You will need to set aside a lot of time to practise and then polish your performance. As well as learning your specific piece, you will probably need to build up your technique through exercises such as scales, arpeggios and other essential technical exercises. These are as essential as your performance piece itself, and should not be ignored in favour of spending more time on your piece.

Short term - practice sessions

Many students make the mistake of just trying to get through their pieces when they are practising. Students sometimes gloss over errors or try to get through tricky passages without really addressing the technical skills they need to acquire. The following is a good model for a practice session:

• Warm up. Play scales or arpeggios, or a combination of the two. Technical studies which focus on specific instrumental techniques will also be helpful.
• Take any tricky passages from your chosen piece and work through them slowly. Remember that if you can’t play the music slowly and in time, it is unlikely that you will be able to play it at the correct speed when you have performance nerves. If a passage is tricky because it is quick, don’t force yourself to play the passage at the final speed too quickly. Make sure that you are confident and build up slowly. If a passage is demanding because of a specific technique, for example double stopping on a string instrument, you can use technical exercises to help improve your general skills and then apply those within your performance piece.
• Practise your piece in sections to ensure that you don’t gloss over any details. Make sure that you practise the link between these sections as well.
• Finish by going through the whole piece so that you have a good idea of the level of stamina required for it - especially if it is a longer piece.
• If you need an accompanist, or your music is an ensemble piece, make sure that you schedule regular rehearsals with the other musicians. You must know how your part fits with those of other players.
• Record yourself practising so that you can listen to finer details, such as tempo, dynamics and phrasing.