Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could help me.
I am a percussionist and pianist.

I have been having a lot of gigs recently and been quite living in the moment. Next year I am starting at a conservatoire and figured I would take the holidays out to practice some desperately needed (in my opinion) technique practice.

The problem is, I just seem to have ground to a halt! I feel that I am not all that good and just feel a bit down.

Does anyone have any advice on getting some confidence back and getting back into a practice routine?

thanks
M

I should take my own advice, as it did work when I did it, but I found the best thing to do was draw up a spreadsheet with a clear structure of what you need to accomplish in your practice sessions, going through each part and ticking it off as you go (ticking things off feels good!).

This worked brilliantly for a few months, but I now seem to be getting a bit lazy and haven't been doing them....

Re: Confidence, pick up some stuff a bit below your current level, always works for me Constantly playing at the very upper edge of your ability does have a tendency to make you feel useles sometimes!

Could you either a) find some kind of summer school to go on or b) set up 2 or 3 consultation lessons with players you admire over the summer as noth a motivator to practice beforehand, and an inspiration to practice afterwards?

Hi micky-d
It is a pleasure to enter music conservatoire!
Anyway, is it percussion or piano?

I think you should have some fun other than music. Go play with your friend or spend holiday with your family. Just do some fun you enjoy other than music.

When i feel so unmotivated/lazy to practise
I watch many great performances on youtube.
That's really motivate me to do better and better

Hi Micky-D,

Hope you get your mojo back soon. I play the violin, not piano or percussion, but have had motivation-issues too, at times. I found what helped was playing some of the old pieces I used to find hard. It was great to realise that I had improved enough to make them fairly easy.

I also found, putting the text book stuff to one side and finding some music I wanted to play for fun, enjoyment helped me get back into the routine of playing as playing stopped being "a chore" for want of a better phrase when I was playing "for me." I hope this is of some help.

Good luck and congratulations on the conservatoire place.