Mental Alertness in Practicing

The thing that must be impressed on the student above all else is the necessity for complete mental alertness during practice. It happens only too often with too many students that the mind wanders to different spheres while the fingers and hands are engaged in mechanical routine-functioning and endless repetitions. Practice of this kind, lacking both direction and control, is a waste of time and effort. Not only does it not achieve what it sets out to do, but also it can sometimes be positively harmful. Mistakes are repeated over and over again, and the ear becomes impervious to faulty sounds. Whenever such a type of practicing (where mind and ear are not on the job) has become deeply rooted habit, a great effort of the will must be made to make the mind and ear become completely and constantly alert. Where insufficient attention is due only to a state of tiredness, all that is needed as a cure is a different organization of practice time and material – a change, so to speak, in the practice hygiene. General rules in this respect cannot be well formulated.

It does not make sense to demand dogmatically that every student should practice a certain number of hours according to a certain rigid schedule. Requirements and possibilities will vary greatly in individual cases: one student is free to organize his day solely around his/her violin practice. All that can be stated in a generalization is that individually the student has to find out by intelligent experimenting what is best for him/herself. He/she should not, however, become inflexible by rigidly sticking to the same routine. There is no necessity to have a set pattern for the sequence of practice material, for example, scales first, then etudes, then repertoire. There is no reason why this order should not be modified and practice started with pieces and ended with scales as long as all of the work is done that should be accomplished. Mixing the material and not dwelling too long on a single item will often help to keep the mind fresh longer. It is important, of course, the the practice time is utilized well throughout, and that practicing becomes a daily habit. Regular, daily practice will put the student much farther ahead than will long, intense periods irregularly and spasmodically spaced.