7 Ways for Musicians to Stay Positive about Your Progress

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As we achieve a certain level of accomplishment, the details that we focus on in practice become more and more subtle. It can be hard to stay motivated to practice, because it's harder and harder to see results.

When I was a kid my piano teacher put gold stars on my music in every lesson. Where are my gold stars now???

I asked my piano teacher, Dave Leonhardt, about this. Here's a list of his ideas and mine.
  • Keep a note pad, and write down something you did well. 
  • Record/videotape yourself. Study your recording. After I get over the initial "cringe factor," recordings are some of my most valuable tools. And if you keep them organized, you can compare old and new, to get perfect snapshot of your progress.
  • At the beginning of your practice session, make a point of noticing how you are playing something you set out to practice. Then notice how you do it at the end. 
  • Take notes of what you're working on every week. If you feel you're not making progress, going back through your notes can demonstrate that you do have things under your belt now that were difficult a few months ago.
  • Find a way to start and end your practice session feeling good. Give yourself a gift of a piece of chocolate or a cup of tea before you practice. At the end, play something that you do well for a few minutes. Or, if you told yourself you'd practice for 20 minutes or an hour, tell yourself "Great, I did that! I'm done with that!" 
  • Having a trusted observer (i.e. a teacher) give you the feedback about your improvement is always great. Not all teachers are the best at this. And some of them (us) forget. I need to remember, too, that my experienced students need as much positive reinforcement as kids, and maybe even more!
I'm sure it won't be hard come up with a similar list of positive ideas for my aikido practice...

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