Practice in Heaven? (A Tribute)

For the past two days, I have been contemplating whether or not musicians have to practice in heaven.  For real.

Yesterday, around 11:15am, my grandma, beloved by so many, kissed her life on earth goodbye and went to heaven.  I have no doubt whatsoever that she is in heaven.  She's been a faithful follower of Christ her entire life.  And what a beautiful life she lived.

(This is a picture a picture, but one of my favorites of Nanny and me from my wedding day.)


Next week will be her 86th birthday. Of her 86 years of life on earth, my dad guesstimated that she played piano for 75 years.

Now, if there's one thing I know about my Nanny, it's that she was a great piano player.  She was never afraid of the challenging pieces and always practiced more than anyone I know and made lots of notes in pencil on her music.  If it's any indication of how much she loved music, up until a few weeks ago, she still taught piano lessons and took them herself.

I am the woman I am today in part because of her.  There are so many traits about my Nanny that I try to emulate on a daily basis, such as her zest for life, her courageousness, and her frugality, but it thrills me the most that we both share such a passion for music.

I haven't always enjoyed practicing my music.  But, now knowing that she's in heaven, I feel like practicing will be a little less of a chore for me and a little more of a reminder of my grandma and her love of music.

And so, I wonder if she has to practice in heaven.  Because you can't convince me otherwise that she is the piano player for heaven's choir.  I wonder if the music played and sung in keys nonexistent here on earth just come naturally.  Or if she still takes a moment (whatever that equates to in heaven) to go through the celestial score in front of her.

I miss you, Nanny.  I will keep your music alive here on earth, and I will think of you each time I sit down at my own piano.  I hope to join you in a heavenly duet someday.

(A picture of my Nanny's piano where she practiced daily for many years of her life.  I will especially miss her signature style of playing those ivories.)

The Power of Purposeful Practice

How's that title for alliteration? The Power of Purposeful Practice.  What a magnificent sounding phrase!  Sorry, I couldn't help myself!

I really do mean to write about something important today.  Something that many people, myself included, don't often enjoy.  That's practice.

Yesterday, I taught a piano lesson to a young girl.  It was only our second lesson together, but she did something that absolutely astonished me.  She played all of her songs from the previous week with confidence and told me she had already prepared for this week's songs ahead of time.  Translation: she practiced!

All of you piano and voice teachers out there can now join me in a dance because you know how wonderful it makes you feel when a student does what you ask them to and more!

After the lesson, I bragged on the girl to her parents, telling them she is going to be great at the piano.  And I truly believe that because she has the drive to do the hard work.  She's going to practice and that is only going to make her better over time.

Now, confession time: I often struggle with practice myself.  As organized as I consider myself to be, I am still the Queen of Procrastination.  Often before a Thursday night choir rehearsal, I wait until Thursday afternoon to review my set list and prepare what I'm going to teach.  But on those rare occasions that I prepare a few days ahead of time, I find myself feeling much more confident and prepared when it's time for choir rehearsal.  This leads me to believe that practice brings confidence.

Ah, but not just any practice will do.  The title of this post is "The Power of Purposeful Practice".  Meaning, the practice has to achieve some sort of goal to be the most effective.

For instance, if I am working on learning a new Mozart song on the piano, I could sit down and try to run through the entire song at first practice.  Honestly, I would probably get frustrated and not look at the piece for a few months (true story!).  OR, I could sit down and commit to practicing fifteen minutes on the first eight measures of the song.  My outcome will probably sound a lot better, and I'm more likely to show up for practice the next day if I've achieved my mini goal.  One example demonstrates practice without any clear purpose; the other demonstrates a purposeful practice.

This technique of purposeful practice doesn't just work for playing the piano or singing.  It can translate into any area of your life where you'd like to see improvement.  Even little five minute purposeful practice sessions each day can add up very quickly.

To implement purposeful practice into your life, try these easy steps:

1. Set a purposeful practice goal. Example: "I want to learn to sing the first verse and chorus of my favorite song".

2. Set a time limit. Example: "I'm going to work on this for the next twenty minutes".

3. Set a timer and practice.  When the timer goes off, stop the practice and evaluate whether or not you've met your goal.

4. Repeat Steps 1-3 every day, setting new practice goals as you need to.

We've all heard the saying "practice makes perfect".  Although in some cases that might be true, I propose a new saying: "purposeful practice makes confidence".

What are you waiting for?  Go practice purposefully today!

30 Minutes to a Better You!

Sometimes in this crazy life, you might be lucky to get thirty minutes to yourself in a day. But, sometimes that is really all you need to make some significant strides on your musical goals.

Recently, I've been experimenting around with a business idea that has to do with goal-setting. In the process, I've been trying out different methods to help me achieve some of my personal musical goals. The first idea I had was to declare the month of April, "Make More Music Month". I know that sounds a little silly, being that my full-time job as a choral director involves singing and piano and when I'm not at school, I'm usually at church making music there. Really, though, my whole purpose for "Make More Music Month" was to focus my effort on some of my personal music goals and to be more present and aware when I am engaging in a musical activity.

Once I decided on "Make More Music Month", I came up with some key goals I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to spend more time working on some of my original songs that weren't completely finished. Also, I wanted to get some good practice time on some piano music I needed to learn to site read quickly.

Next came the practical application: how could I implement these goals in an already jam-packed schedule? I am reading this great little book I picked up on goal-setting, and out of it, I got the idea to schedule 30 minute increments into my weekdays for the specific purpose of working on my music. I even went so far as to set my iPad timer for 30 minutes and work until the timer beeped at me.

The first night I tried this , I confess I was concerned that I would get bored or would hit a creative block. And it did take me about 10 minutes to get into a good flow. But once I got there, I had no problem working until the timer went off. The next few times I used the 30 minute technique, time flew by so quickly, I ended up spending almost an extra hour in my music room because I had become so engrossed in the task at hand.

The result so far has been minimum effort on my part (I can do anything for 30 minutes), but maximum creativity and drive. By working against my self-imposed deadline, I am subconsciously priming myself to be more productive. And on those nights when I have only 30 minutes to spare, I don't feel guilty for quitting when the timer goes off. I've still logged my time for the day. As a result of this method, I can already say that "Make More Music Month" is a success. I have finished writing of one of my new original songs, written choral parts for it, and laid down a scratch recording. I have also made great strides in a piano piece I will be playing for one of my high school groups at State MPA. And I've had a lot of fun in the process doing what I'm most passionate about.

I believe this method can be valuable for any goal, but maybe it could serve as just the method you need to kick-start your own musical projects. Need to learn a new song? Employ the 30 minute rule for the next three days, and you'll probably come away knowing the song inside and out quicker than you thought. Want to study a new vocal technique or research new vocal warm-ups? Try the 30 minute rule. Set the timer and see how much information you can dig up online before the timer goes off. The 30 minute rule can even be great for a practice vocal session. Thirty minutes is the perfect amount of time to get in a great vocal workout or lesson.

I hope this method gives you great success and increases your productivity! Here's to becoming a better singer/ musician... thirty minutes at a time!