HOW SHOULD WE PRACTICE? KEVIN H.

CHIANG
JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY

KEY FINDINGS SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Metacognition can greatly improve the efficiency of What is the most effective method of learning the
practice (Hart, 2014). notes in a passage?

Students that spend time deliberately practicing are What is the most effective method of increasing
more likely to find their practice efficient and rewarding the performance speed of a passage?
(Miksza, 2006a).
Does practicing less of the same exercises and
Musicians that have experience from a university patterns each day lead to more efficient practice
music program are still likely to lack skills in long term, or would it benefit students to vary their
forethought, assessment, and self-reflection (Mornell practice drastically day to day?
et al., 2020).
How does increasing the amount of practice
Students that dedicate themselves to improvement are sessions while keeping the overall practice time
more likely to use non-standard practice techniques the same affect effeciency?
(Smith, 2005).
How does varying these practice strategies affect
Students may not improve in their sight reading ability both short-term efficiency and long-term
simply by sight reading more (Zhukov, 2017). retention?

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE Have students repeat sections, mark their parts,
Introduce metacognition to students - not necessarily by
explaining it to them, but perhaps by providing them varying and perform whole-part-whole exercises, as
levels of worksheets to get them to start thinking about their Miksza (2006b) found these behaviors in groups
practice, much like Hart (2014) did (see the QR code in the of students that played with more accuracy.
lower left of the poster). These worksheets can even be
molded in the Self-Refulated Learning framework that StGeorge et. al. (2012) found that high level
Hatfield et al. (2017) discuss; there could be separate strategies can become more efficient when
before/after worksheets and maybe even worksheets to fill students understand the rationale behind the
out while practicing. high level strategies and explore it for
Hart (2014 also mentioned that supervised themselves. Teach your students effective
practice may be beneficial to help students strategies for individual practice, but also
develop practice habits, with supervision encourage them to dive into the thought behind
waning as students become more skilled
those strategies and create their own exercises.
at practicing. Teachers may also want to
Encourage them to ask themselves: "What makes
model practice habits in YouTube videos
these strategies work, and how can I apply them
that are sent to students with commentary
to this section? "
on what the teacher is focusing on while
practicing an exercise.

HART (2014) WORKSHEETS

Hart Jr, J. T. (2014). Guided metacognition in instrumental practice. Music Educators Journal, 101(2), 57-64.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Hatfield, J. L., Halvari, H., & Lemyre, P. N. (2017). Instrumental practice in the contemporary music academy: A three-phase cycle of Self-
Regulated Learning in music students. Musicae Scientiae, 21(3), 316-337.
Miksza, P. (2006a). An exploratory investigation of self-regulatory and motivational variables in the music practice of junior high band
students. Contributions to Music Education, 9-26.
Miksza, P. (2006b). Relationships among impulsiveness, locus of control, sex, and music practice. Journal of Research in Music Education,
54(4), 308-323.
Mornell, A., Osborne, M. S., & McPherson, G. E. (2020). Evaluating practice strategies, behavior and learning progress in elite performers:
An exploratory study. Musicae Scientiae, 24(1), 130-135.
Smith, B. P. (2005). Goal orientation, implicit theory of ability, and collegiate instrumental music practice. Psychology of Music, 33(1), 36-
57.
StGeorge, J. M., Holbrook, A. P., & Cantwell, R. H. (2012). Learning patterns in music practice: links between disposition, practice strategies
and outcomes. Music Education Research, 14(2), 243-263.
Zhukov, K. (2017). Experiential (informal/non-formal) practice does not improve sight-reading skills. Musicae Scientiae, 21(4), 418-429.