New School Year: Practice on Day 1

by Sean Stone-Ashe

Every year when the calendar turns over to August, we get feelings of excitement and optimism (and hopefully not too much dread) for the new school year ahead. A new year of school undoubtedly means meeting new people, learning new skills, and hopefully offers an opportunity for personal growth and goal setting.

For those of us who participate in music, it’s easy to align new musical goals with the new school year, whether the music takes place in school or outside of school in settings like private lessons.

While each year, I am inspired by the goals my students set at the beginning of the year, it is rare that those goals actually come to fruition in a timely manner. One of the reasons that I suspect contributes to this lack of change is procrastination.

For students, it is understandable to put off some personal goals at a time when they are hammered with new responsibilities, homework, and beginning-of-year tasks to ensure a good start to the school year.

Sometimes students will miss lessons in the first couple weeks of school, or claim to not have time to practice during these first weeks.

However, I would like to propose a different approach to the beginning of the new school year. Rather than waiting until you have less on your plate to start a new practice routine, start it right away on the first day of the new school year. Even if this time feels busy, it is so important to establish your practice routine as an important part of any day.

By establishing your routine from day 1 of a new year, it also makes it psychologically easier to continue as the year goes on, and avoid falling into one of the following classic pitfalls.

Firstly, when we allow ourselves time to ease into a new routine at the start of the year, we are actually
simultaneously getting used to a different routine that does not include practice. This means that when you attempt to add practice at a later time, it feels like more of a chore amid your already settled routine.

Another common pitfall when establishing and maintaining a practice routine is falling off the wagon. I remember when I was in college taking philosophy classes, we were always assigned a large number of pages to read in between classes. Typically, I was great at keeping up with the reading at the start of a new semester, but it was inevitable that I would miss one reading at some point due to my busy schedule, or perhaps out of laziness.

As soon as I would miss one reading assignment, I quickly got used to the feeling of not having to read between classes, and would have a challenging time resuming my reading schedule. Sometimes, I never got back to completing my assigned readings for the whole semester.

With the sheer number of obligations we all have, it is easy to let music get de-emphasized in a daily routine. Especially if practicing music is not something you are graded on, it’s easy to not prioritize practice as much as homework, or even over free time.

However, you simply have to find time every day to practice if you want to be successful in music. Hopefully, practicing music is a source of joy for you, and you feel accomplished when you have completed a new piece of music, or even just practiced as part of your daily routine.

As we get ready to begin an exciting and hectic new school year, plan to start practicing your music on the first day of school. Even if you have homework for classes, and even if you are exhausted at the end of a long and stressful day, find the time to pick up your instrument and make progress on whatever you have been working on.

You might find that by establishing that good habit on the first day will make it easier to maintain that schedule as the year marches onward.

Follow this link to read more about Importance of Practice Routine in the life of the musician: https://www.centuryfinearts.com/2024/08/14/my-experience-with-being-rusty/