How to Make a 15 Minute Practice Session Count
You can get a lot of shit done in fifteen minutes. If you don’t have a lot of time but you still want to get something done on your instrument today, consider sitting down really quickly and crossing just one thing off of your musical to-do list. Here’s how:
Have a plan. Knowing exactly what you’re going to do will help ensure that you actually get something done with the little time that you have.
Do a quick warm up, and make it relevant to the goal you’re trying to achieve. For example, play the scale from the key of the thing you’re working on.
Your goal should be something measurable and attainable. Learn one measure at a certain tempo could be one. Add articulation in a certain passage could be another. It all depends on what you need to get done.
An example of a 15 minute practice plan should look something like this:
Goal: Learn chromatic passage at measure 53
Warm-up with chromatic scale long tones and exercises (5 minutes)
Play four notes at a time accurately starting at 60 beats per minute
Play 8 notes at a time accurately
Play 12 notes at a time accurately
Play 16 notes at a time accurately
Bump up the tempo five clicks than repeat
After fifteen minutes, you’ll have learned one measure more than you did before. This is just one example. You can apply this to any piece of music with any type of practice technique.
