Mental practice has been so helpful for me in honing my mind in the practice room. Here’s how I do it.
What is mental practice?
Mental practice is the method of strengthening your brain connections to be able to play a piece of music more comfortably and confidently. Since the music starts from the musician and the instrument is just the tool used to create the music, the musician can practice without the instrument.
Here are 4 ways I mentally practice.
4 Methods
1. Visualising the notes
This is my favourite way to mentally practice. I put my hands together and, as I am thinking through the notes, put pressure on the fingers that have to do with each note. My brain can then visualise what that feels like and it’s easier to do it with my instrument.
This is something that I always do quite slowly. I never do it fast because I am strengthening the patterns in my brain.
2. Solfege
If you are familiar with “do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do,” then you know what solfege is. Each syllable corresponds with a note, and then you say the notes with their syllables in the patterns of the music. Much like the first strategy, this helps to visualise the music and strengthen the connections in the brain.
This can either be done with fixed “do” (“do” as the note “c”), or movable “do” (“do” as the tonic of the key).
3. Using theory
When we see a sea of notes, it can feel really daunting. We tend to want to hang on to each note and we end up getting stuck.
Using theory to understand what the notes are actually doing is really helpful with this. I often sit with the music and annotate the theory behind it. Then when I am ready to play it, the notes make more sense, rather than seeming random.
4. Score study
Okay. Let’s say you’ve got your part down. But how does it fit in with the rest of the music? That is where score study comes in. This is the practice of looking over the score and seeing how the different parts fit in with each other.
I often do this whilst listening to the music. That way I can see the music and understand how it sounds all put together.
Score study is a great tool for understanding the overall musical picture.
These should be balanced with physical practice with an instrument. A musician shouldn’t practice only mentally, but rather find a balance between the two ways of practice.
I wish you all the best in your practice!
Eleanor
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