Depending on what musician you ask, the idea of practicing can illicit a wide range of responses. When I asked my students about their practice routines, I hear a lot of “eh, practicing is going okay”, or “I know I should do it but sometimes I forget”, and once in a while I’ll get something like “oh yeah I love it! But…I don’t have much time for it”. Actually quite a few of my students have mentioned that they do enjoy practicing certain things, but it’s hard to find time for it.
It seems like that feeling of being too busy starts with the 8am-ish to 3pm-ish grind of going to school as a child, and honestly, it never really goes away! I’ve also heard students say “sometimes I’m just too tired after school, sports/band/after-school stuff, and homework”. And years ago I would have sarcastically thought “oh really? You, a child, are too busy?” But the more I think back to that time, the more I think about the times that I had sports and after-school activities going on, practices, rehearsals - it really was a busy time! And who wants to practice on the weekends?!
So what I’ve been thinking about lately is that even though we’re all busy (and we tend to stay that way for weeks and months at a time without a break), we still get around to doing things that we enjoy. For me? Video games. Playing music. Rehearsals. I make time for those things because I know they’ll be fun. So does that mean…practicing drums, or guitar, or piano isn’t fun? The answer here is complicated. Sometimes it’s just not! Sometimes it feels like a slog, and that happens whether I have a million other things to do, or an entire day free!
With that said, what I’m asking myself (and my students here in a couple of hours) is the simple question of “is practicing fun? Are you enjoying it?” Again, I think the more I perceive something as fun and enjoyable, the more I’ll do that thing first and let other things slide or put them off until later. There’s only so much time in the day, and the thought of doing something boring or that I have to do just plain stinks. And I think asking the question “well how can we make practicing our instruments more enjoyable?” is a great starting point toward wanting to do it and building some intrinsic motivation.
A question I usually ask at the beginning of each lesson is “what did you practice the most this week?” It’s not a terrible question. I’d say 50% of the time it gets us to the answer I’m really looking for - but today I’m going to be a little more direct and ask “what have you really been enjoying lately as you’ve been practicing?” And I bet I’ll get a couple of “I don’t know’s”, maybe a mumble here and a grumble there…but for the most part, I think it will be a good way to move more in the direction of what motivates each musician.
I have a lot more thoughts on this, but I’ll table it for now and report back tomorrow!