Musicians: Do You Love the Place Where You Practice?
Make your practice space somewhere you want to be.
Do you have a hard time sitting down to practice? Maybe it’s time to give some thought to the place where you spend all your practice time. If you’re practicing in some dank, dark basement, and the cat pees on your music, of course you don’t want to go there!!
All kidding aside, if you give your practice space a critical look, you’ll probably find several small improvements you can make — and maybe even some big ones — to make it more inviting. Here are a few thoughts:
- Make sure you have enough light.
- Get a mirror and place it so you can check out your hand position and posture.
- Can you reach out and grab the things you need: pencils, computer or phone, post-its, something to record with, music stand?
- Is your chair comfortable?
- Think about adding some artwork that inspires you.
- Keep a whiteboard or a corkboard.
- Make sure there’s a notebook handy.
- Make a place for your stuffed animal.
Do what you can to make your practice space your own. I love my practice space so much, I just take random photos of it and keep them on my phone.
If you make your practice space a place you want to be, you’ll be really excited about going there.
My book, Best Practice: Inspiration and Ideas for Traditional Musicians, is full of ideas to help you improve more quickly and play with more joy.
It’s written for any musician, playing any instrument, in any genre at any experience or skill level.
Here are a few chapters in Best Practice where you’ll find more about creating a great space to practice.
17 —A Space of Your Own
156 —A New Environment
29— A Mirror
Judy Minot is a musician, teacher, and the author of the book Best Practice: Inspiration and Ideas for Traditional Musicians.
Judy has played and practiced piano since she could reach the keys, training in classical playing until age 16. She now plays traditional music in various settings on a number of instruments, and gives workshops and classes on Best Practice ideas all over the world, both virtually and in person.
Judy spent her working life in broadcast television and digital marketing. She holds a 4th degree black belt in the martial art of Kokikai Aikido and is a certified yoga teacher.
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