Hey Reader,

The school year is really hurtling to an end for me this year, which is why I’m a week late with this newsletter. Amidst the frantic pace of end-of-year wrap ups with students, last reed orders to finish before the summer, and onboarding to a new lesson scheduling platform, I just didn’t have it in me to come up with anything interesting to write about. (The burnout is strong!) I’ve also been struggling to find the willpower to sit down and practice.

I’m not sharing this as a way to brag about my busy and successful professional activities, but rather because I have performances coming up in the next couple of weeks and I still need to practice even though the last thing I want to do is haul myself into the practice room to break in these new reeds that I already hate but have to use.

So today I’m going to share a few tricks I use to get myself practicing even on days when I really really don’t want to.

1. Pursuit of long term goals

The easiest way for me to get into a practice session when I just don’t want to is to remember my long term playing goals and the progress I’ve already made.

One of the elements of my playing that I’m always working on is multiple tonguing. I feel quite proficient at double tonguing, so I’ve been working more on triple tonguing. Sometimes I play my long tones just so I can get to the part of my practice where I work on triple tonguing a little bit to prove that I can still do it and maybe a tiny bit better than the last time I worked on it.

This method really works for me because I’ve already seen the outcome of slow, incremental progress over time. I feel very zen when I think about how slow and incremental the progress can be sometimes, because I know that it’s working even if I can’t tell I’m getting better in the moment. It’s a practice of divorcing yourself from the day’s outcome as you work towards a greater end goal.

How to leverage this for yourself: Make a specific goal. Write it down somewhere. Maybe tape a note to the inside of your reed case. Maybe tape it to the wall in your practice space. Put the physical note of the goal somewhere you’ll see it regularly so you don’t forget/as inspiration!

2. Being prepared for that thing that’s coming up

Maybe you need a performance on the calendar to push you into your regular practice routine. That’s common for many musicians! Even I use upcoming performances as motivation to get started sometimes (like the past month).

How to make this happen for you: Scheduling a performance at your church or community center or local retirement home could be a low-pressure performance venue where you don’t need to play for very long, but will give you the motivation to practice.

3. The 5 minute hack

I learned about this in researching hacks for neurodiverse brains that have troubles initiating tasks. The 5 minute hack suggests that you commit to doing something for just 5 minutes and giving yourself permission to stop at the end of those 5 minutes. The proponents of this hack say that often once they get started they’re really enjoying the activity and choose to continue for the fun of the activity itself.

This happens to me sometimes. When I don’t have a big goal or it’s not interesting enough, or I don’t have a performance to prepare for often I just give myself the task of playing scales for 5 minutes to be a better player. Then an hour goes by and I’m working on a random etude book I downloaded from IMSLP and my embouchure is tired but I don’t really know why.

The key to making this work is the permission to stop the activity after 5 minutes no matter what. You have to mean it that it’s OK to stop or it won’t work.

4. Playing for fun rather than for practice or purpose

Most performers agree that there are different ways we play our instruments, most commonly practicing (working on problems, drilling techniques or sections, allowing yourself to stop midway at a mistake and fixing it) and performing (playing without stopping no matter what, even if it’s just in your home). I think we don’t spend enough time just playing for fun. For no outcome other than the enjoyment of the music being made and the activity for its own sake.

This summer I’m really looking forward to just playing some music that I’m interested in rather than practicing or performing. This is when I dig out old or new music I adore and just play through. It’s a really nice way to spend an hour and I don’t get to do it very often during the school year so I treasure the time.

Another way to do this is to meet up with friends and play ensemble music just for fun. I used to live around the corner from a flutist friend and we would meet up just to play duets for fun. Highly recommended.

This one may already work for you if you’re playing for the fun of it! But you may also benefit from making music with friends, so maybe reading this newsletter is your prompt to text your musician friend to set up a time to play together.

What are your ways to keep practicing even when you don’t want to? Do you do anything that I didn’t mention?

Until next week,

Alli

Hey, Reader, Do you have any burning questions about playing oboe? Reply to this email and ask, and you might see the answer in the next newsletter!

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