This year, I face several challenges getting back into a good practice routine. One, it's been a while. Honestly, with all that happened in 2018, I wasn't practicing enough to keep up my skill and stamina at all and the thought of taking on a full hour practice session is overwhelming. Two, I do not have a piano in my home. I have a keyboard, but I don't enjoy practicing on a keyboard like a do on a piano and there are limitations to what I can practice on the keyboard. I do have a pisno at my studio, but am not able to be there all the time to practice. Third, I had not been singing for a long time. With the health things I was dealing with and the subsequent surgery/recovery, deep breaths and using my ab muscles to help support my voice was not realistic. All of these are legitimate issues, but I do not believe in surrendering to obstacles. So, here is my strategy.
First, I am committing to do a little every day, both for piano and voice. This way I can get back into the discipline of daily practice and start rebuilding my stamina. Second, I am committing to playing warm ups and exercises on the keyboard on days that I am not in the studio. This will help with the discipline and it makes me have to pay attention to scales and chords, etc, without the frustration of not being able to play pieces the way I want to on a keyboard. Third, I am committing to doing vocal warm ups everyday. I may not have the stamina for a full on vocal practice session, but I can do five or ten minutes of warm ups to build up my strength again. I've also found that when I have done the vocal warm ups, I'm much more likely to be singing as I go through my day, which is always a good thing.
The next steps are to schedule in practice sessions at my studio. I know I need to make them shorter than I generally like, but that can also serve as a challenge to make them as efficient as possible.
The main thrust of this strategy is to do SOMETHING. Any step in the right direction is progress, so I chose to make progress everyday, no matter how little it feels like.
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