Ever wonder why practice often doesn't
"stick" from one day to the next?
Find out how to get permanent gains from every practice session
I have to ask my teacher WHAT?!
I was probably 13 or 14. And one afternoon, as my lesson was wrapping up, my mom suggested that I ask my teacher if he could explain to me how to practice.
It was completely mortifying. I mean, I’d been playing the violin for over a decade at that point. How could I not know how to practice?
My teacher looked confused too. After all, I was getting better from week to week. Maybe not as rapidly or as consistently as I should have. But still, something was clearly happening during the week.
Dagnabbit...mom was right
In hindsight of course, my mom was right. Because unlike my teachers, who never got to see what my “practicing” actually looked like during the week, that’s pretty much all my mom heard. And she could tell that whatever I was doing, was not what practicing ought to look like.
And if I was being honest with myself, I probably would have admitted that I knew something was missing too.
Because whether I practiced for one hour or three, I never knew how I would sound from one day to the next. Would the string crossings sound clean? Would the double stops be in tune? Would I hit that high note?
And though putting in more time did seem to increase my odds somewhat, it still felt awfully random. I mean, sometimes I would practice more and sound worse. And other times, I’d practice less and sound better. And with no clear link between what I did in the practice room, and how I sounded in lessons or performances, it was difficult to develop any trust in my playing. Or even muster up the motivation to practice in the first place.
What I was missing…was the understanding that effective practice is a skill
For years, I assumed that if I just put in enough time, or did enough repetitions, something, somehow, would eventually click, and I’d sound better. It wasn’t until my senior year of college, that I started to wonder if the problem was less about the time I was putting in and more about my approach to practicing.
But all I had was a vague notion that there must be a better way to practice. And no clue what that might actually look like…
Err...what does effective practice even look like?
Looking back, the answers all seem so clear (darn you, hindsight!), but the problem is that effective practice strategies are not always the most intuitive ones.
There are some strategies, for instance, that help us sound better faster – but don’t actually lead to long-term, stable improvements. Meanwhile, there are strategies that feel like they are slowing down the learning process – but lead to more durable, and consistently reliable performance.
What?!
Practicing can be...fun?
It took several years for everything to click, but I gradually came to discover that top practicers approach practice quite differently than most. And that practicing can be a much more engaging, creatively satisfying, and strategic process than I ever realized.
I began seeing a direct link between my efforts in the practice room and day-to-day improvements. Which was really empowering, gratifying, and gave me tons more confidence on stage. It made performing feel less like an anxiety-inducing crapshoot and more of a thrill. Which in turn made daily practice feel more meaningful. And motivating. And maybe even fun. Well, fun-ish, at least.
Two decades later...
It’s been over 20 years since I finished my masters at Juilliard and made the jump to psychology, but I still remember how satisfying it was to feel my relationship with practicing and performing change in such a positive way. And in the years since, I’ve only continued to learn cool things about effective practice that I wish I would have known all those years ago.
So if you’ve often wished you could have a better relationship with practicing, make steadier and more efficient progress, and avoid getting stuck on quite so many of those demoralizing practice plateaus, I’d love to share with you the most useful concepts and practice strategies that I’ve found in the research on effective skill learning.
Practice That Sticks is a 3-module course which will guide you, step by step, through several of the most practical and useful strategies that musicians can apply from the research in psychology and motor learning.
So if you ever find yourself wondering how it is that you can sound great in the practice room or in rehearsal, but still be frustratingly inconsistent in performance….or have difficulty staying engaged and focused during practice sessions…or feel like things are progressing at a snail’s pace despite the hour and hours you’re putting in…you’ll learn why this is happening, and how to begin developing more effective practice skills instead.
And what will you be learning, exactly?
Here's what you'll learn
Part 1: Effective Practice
How to make effective, focused practice a natural habit
You’ve probably heard of deliberate practice, and even read up on it – but what is it exactly? Like, how does one actually do it? And is there an easier, quicker, non-willpower-zapping way to integrate it into one’s daily practice, without slipping back into old mindless practice habits?
- You’ll learn a strategy from the computer science world, that will help you stay in an effective practice loop.
- You’ll also learn how to use a 3-phase practice model that comes from research on basketball players, that will help you work through and solve particularly vexing technical challenges more efficiently – and successfully.
Part 2: Retrieval Practice
How to nail a passage the first time - not on the 2nd or 3rd try
Finally getting a passage to sound just right is no small feat. But getting it right on the very first run-through? Without a few warmup or “practice” attempts first? That’s a whole other challenge. One that doesn’t necessarily require more time or repetition – just a very different approach. Where the emphasis in practice shifts to retrieving skills, as opposed to learning new skills.
- You’ll learn three strategies from the research on motor learning, that will not only make it easier to become more organized and strategic with your practice time…
- But also accelerate your learning, build more confidence in your ability to get things right the first time, and even help you stay more effortlessly focused in the practice room. Especially if you’re the sort of practicer that’s prone to getting bored and distracted…
Part 3: Performance Practice
How to make your playing more pressure-proof
I used to think that if I practiced diligently enough, the nerves would disappear, and I’d be as cool and confident as great performers appear to be on stage. The reality, of course, is that simply practicing more doesn’t automatically translate into becoming a better performer. Hence, the need to shift our efforts towards more performance practice.
- You’ll learn how to organize your practice so that it better prepares you for the unique demands of performance, and enables you to test out your repertoire to ensure it’s truly performance-ready.
- You’ll also learn how to listen to recordings in such a way that you’ll cringe a bit less, and maybe even start to enjoy it (?!).
- And finally, you’ll try out a strategy that’ll help you pinpoint hidden weak spots and potential sinkholes, before they can cause you any trouble on stage.
What's inside the course?
Video Lessons
The course is centered around 16 videos, which will walk you through the research, theory, and the application or “how-to” of strategies that top practicers use to maximize their progress.
Each video averages 4 minutes in length, and none is longer than 11. Meaning, you’ll be able to get through the whole course in about an hour.
So if you’ve ever gotten overwhelmed by information overload and had difficulty completing courses in the past, this course is for you. I’ve done my very best to make it as easy as possible to progress through the lessons in easy-to-process, actionable, bite-sized chunks.
Practice Challenges
The other main component of the course are the printable “Practice Challenges.”
Eh? What are Practice Challenges, exactly?
Well, have you ever had the experience of reading about an interesting concept or strategy in a book, and getting really excited about it, but when it’s time to actually put it into action, things fizzle out? Where you either get stuck trialing and erroring and spinning your wheels until you lose steam, or sometimes never even get started, because you’re not sure where to begin?
To ensure this doesn’t happen to you, there are five week-long “Practice Challenges” in the course to help you put the major concepts into action.
Through step-by-step instructions, worksheets, and bonus tips, the challenges will help you put your new strategies into action, and keep your inner “procrastination monkey” from taking charge.
Is Practice That Sticks for you?
You could spend weeks, months, years, and heck, even a whole career exploring the incredibly rich literature that exists in the area of learning and skill development. And if you’re looking to take a deep dive and geek out about this sort of thing, that’s awesome – and this is probably not the right course for you.
Practice That Sticks is more of a quick and dirty, no-fluff, give-me-the-most-essential-strategies-and-techniques-you-can-in-the-least-amount-of-time sort of course. Where you’ll learn all the concepts that will make the most difference in your practice and playing, in just over an hour.
It’ll take longer than that to apply and master your new practice skills, of course, but you’ll be able to jump right in and start making concrete changes to your practice pretty quickly, without getting overwhelmed or lost in the details.
If, on the other hand, you’re looking to level things up further, in particular when it comes to shrinking the gap between practice and performance and playing more optimally under pressure, the Performance Psychology Essentials class (live) or Beyond Practicing course (self-paced) may be more what you’re looking for (see the FAQ below for more details about the differences between each course).
The Bulletproof 30-Day Guarantee
And what if the course sounds pretty terrific now, but when you dive in, you quickly discover that it isn’t quite what you were looking for?
The course is guaranteed for a whole 30 days. So if this ends up not being such a good fit, just let me know, and I’ll be happy to process a full refund. Easy peasy.
Get Started Today
WHAT is PWYW pricing?
Pay What You Want means that you can name your own price at checkout (minimum $10). So if you want to pay $10, you pay $10. If you want to pay $49 (the original price of the course), or some other price, it’s totally up to you!
WHY am I doing this?
I think that the world is a better place when more people are making music. And having a more consistently positive experience in the practice room (and on stage) is a really important part of this – because we’re more likely to quit if practicing feels futile and performances are anxiety-ridden crapshoots. 😆 I can’t promise that this offer will continue forever, but my hope is that minimizing the cost of the course will make it possible for more people to experience a little more joy in music, regardless of age, level, or experience.
Practice That Sticks
The essential strategies used by top practicers & performers
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PWYW
Pay What You Want ($10 minimum)
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16 Concise Video Lessons
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Printable Worksheets & Workbook
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Lifetime Access
Frequently Asked Questions
Practice That Sticks lays out the essentials of effective practice, and is essentially Module #1 of Beyond Practicing or Session #1 of Performance Psych Essentials.
And while a foundation of effective practice is essential for performing effectively, there’s much more that performance science has to offer. So Beyond Practicing goes waaaay deeper into the practice strategies and mental skills (like building confidence, managing nerves, getting into the zone, etc.) that are integral to shrinking the gap between practice and performance and making sure that you’re able to perform closer to your full potential on stage as well.
Performance Psych Essentials does the same, but in a live, cohort-based, group learning environment with weekly live sessions and homework, where we explore the absolute most essential skills from Beyond Practicing.
So if your primary focus is centered around learning your instrument and getting more satisfaction out of your daily practice, and playing for others is not really on your radar at the moment (whether that means weekly lessons, playing for friends and family, or formal concerts and auditions) Practice That Sticks is probably a perfectly good place to start.
But if one of your goals is to be able to play more confidently, more freely, and at a more consistently high level in front of others – especially under pressure – Beyond Practicing (if you prefer to learn on your own) or Psych Essentials (if you learn better in a group), will provide a more complete set of skills and techniques related to effective learning AND performance.
If you’re having difficulty deciding, feel free to email me, and I’ll do my best to answer any questions you might have. And no, I won’t just try to “upsell” you to either of these courses by default. After all, it could be that in your circumstances, neither course is the right fit!
No problem. Just email me, and I’ll do my best to answer them!