It's easy to get into mindless practice habits. Play the song three times or play for 30 minutes, and spend the time not really focusing and improving. Here are a few strategies to help keep focus during practice time.
1) Prepare your space. Make sure you have all the scores, pencils, water, etc that you need so you don't have to get up and go looking for something.
2) Put devices away. Unless you are legitimately using a metronome app on your phone while you are practicing, set it out of reach.
3) Set a timer for a reasonable length of time. How long do you have to practice? Set the timer for that long and don't look at the clock until your timer goes off. Just practice.
4) Practice to goals, not time repetitions. Decide what you want to accomplish in the time you have, and keep working on that. Maybe you want to get hands together for these eight measures. Only work on those eight measures until you can play hands together correctly. If you have more time, move onto a new goal. Practice the section until it is easy, then move on.
5) If you need to get up and move a bit, go ahead, but tap rhythms or observe the score or imagine what the piece sounds like. Do something productive while you get your wiggles out.
These are a few things that help me be focused in practice. What strategies do you use?
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