Mr. M's Blog ......."Go Practice!"

The phrase "Go Practice!" has been spoken to students ever since the first teachers attempted to "teach" their students how to play or sing music. When broken down to it's origins, the phrase is useless to students, especially those who are beginning musicians.

​As a first generation college student, I remember walking into the library at my undergraduate university at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the Fall of 1984 and seeing hundreds of students busily reading, taking notes, making outline and study guides and came to the harsh realization that I possessed none of those skills. Not only did I lack the skill set "to study", I also lacked the knowledge of the what, how, when, where and even why to study.

It may seem odd at first to "lay musicians" that I could have even been accepted to an accredited music school with a great reputation without knowing anything about practice or study habits...but I knew that I was not alone in my plight. Many fine young people at IUP during the mid 1980's were fine "players", but also shared my situation as first generation collegians from small rural towns where access to those with college backgrounds was limited. My high school "guidance counselor" suggested I go work at the U.S. Steel Plant in 1983 and make money instead of college. The plant closed only a few years later eliminating 3,000 jobs and literally killing the economic viability of my home town.

Many students, like myself were able to cultivate their "natural abilities" to hear and recreate music at first or second hearing in rehearsals with others in ensembles, but often experienced difficulties with solo literature to prepare for our lessons.

I will continue to post to this blog to dig deeper into the ways that I can help my students make sense of..."Go Practice!"

The 3 PDF documents below serve as a start to the journey of how to make sense of "Go Practice!" Blog updates will break these steps down to help me and my students achieve their musical potential through the development of practice skills.

Top 10 Practice Tips

Top 10 Practice Tips Book

3 Biggest  Practice Mistakes