Summer Playing Goals

As summer approaches, you’re probably thrilled with the prospect of long stretches of free time- you’re finally done with school! But if you’ll remember back to last summer, you will probably begrudgingly agree: summer usually means the school schedule is replaced with an even more busy schedule, filled with all sorts of events and family get-togethers and such.

Here’s the real question, though: how do you deal with playing over the summer? Some take private lessons over the summer, and with my students I ALWAYS advise this, even if there have to be long gaps for vacations and conflicting events. The reason I do is for a singular reason: entropy.

Entropy:

1. Lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder.

If you don’t practice over the summer, gradually the skills you’ve gained over the course of the school year dissolve into a pile of mush. And let me tell you… SUMMER is the BEST time to be developing your skills and keeping up practicing. If you want to start the next school year being able to sight-read that new music with the best of ’em, here are some tips for creating a summer goal:

1. Pick a goal.

It can be scale- related, learning a new skill that’s been hard to practice over the school year (vibrato, anyone? Spiccato bowing?)

2. Choose attainable mini- goals over the course of the summer.

Give yourself some guideposts! Don’t just set  a goal and forget about it,  but tell yourself each month (or week, or 2-week section) you’ll have a specific goal to reach in the process of reaching the ultimate goal before the start of the next school year.

3. Develop a plan for attaining the goal.

Set practice times, whether hours per week or otherwise. Give yourself a mini-reward for meeting a guidepost, like a new mute or going out for ice cream. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s something that works well to actually motivate you to DO IT. If your weakness is peanut M&Ms, then don’t let yourself have any until you meet your hourly goal for the week. Or the day. 🙂

4. Meet with a teacher (or friend!) who can help you with pedagogy.

Have someone available who can check up on you, just to make sure you’re moving along and ensure your goal is progressing. If your goal has anything to do with vibrato or position work or right-hand skills, have the person check to make sure it functions correctly. Remember- a habit is much harder to break than to form, so be sure whatever habit you’re forming is in the correct method.