7 tips for effective music production

The quality of practice is far more important than quantity. The old adage “practice makes perfect” only applies if practice itself is perfect. Here are his 7 tips to make your practice more effective and efficient.

slow movement practice
Our body’s muscle memory allows us to physically execute movement patterns with little or no conscious involvement. Examples of muscle memory include walking, biking, typing, and of course playing musical instruments. Developing this memory requires training the muscle in the form of repeated conscious instruction from the heart. First, the mind must learn patterns. The mind then has to “teach” the patterns to the muscles.

The mind must first control all movements of the muscles. The more precisely the movements are controlled, the faster the muscles develop muscle memory. Slow practice can also teach the mind to relax the “antagonizing muscles.” Antagonist muscles are muscles that move in opposite directions. By relaxing antagonistic muscles, you can reduce tension, make performance faster and easier, and prevent potential injuries.

Practice with small cells
An “exercise cell” is a finite set of movements. A music cell can be anything from a few notes to an entire piece. When practicing, it is important to practice small cells with only a few notes. Practicing small cells limits the amount of information your muscles have to learn at once.

It also facilitates focus and concentration of the mind.

Link the end of one cell to the beginning of the next cell
For the muscles to develop a sense of continuum throughout the music, the last movement of one cell must be the first movement of the next.

Practice each cell in a spurt
Once the muscles learn the pattern, they will be able to perform it without conscious control. Initiate the pattern with a conscious command to move your muscles in bursts.

don’t practice mistakes
For each repetition required to master a movement pattern, it takes 7 times his number of repetitions to change the pattern. If you make a mistake during practice, stop. See the pattern in your head. And further reduce the speed of your movement. break between repetitions
Between repetitive activities, breaking up the repetitions with short breaks helps the mind to focus more.After 2-3 repetitions, pause for about 30 seconds and refocus.

Frequent breaks and “do not practice too much”
B. F. Skinner and other experts have found that the mind’s ability to learn significantly declines after prolonged periods of intense concentration. Studies show that studying for long periods of time (i.e. more than 4 hours) can deplete the brain chemicals needed for learning.

Therefore, it is best to take frequent breaks (about every 20-25 minutes he takes a 5 minute break) and in a row he practices no more than 4 hours. Using these techniques can dramatically improve the quality of your practice. You can use your time more efficiently and get more out of your practice.