080 - 14 Ways to Practice Away From Your Instrument

2025-02-12

When you think about practicing, what do you picture?Maybe you think about your instrument in the living room or your favorite practice room at school. Maybe you picture your studio with morning light streaking across the floor or in the evening with a few lamps casting a cozy glow. Certainly, practicing happens in all of these spaces. But it can also happen at your desk, in the car, at the breakfast table, on a walk, in a carrel at the library, or in a classroom where no instrument is present. How? Because practicing is more than the mechanics of playing an...

When you think about practicing, what do you picture?

Maybe you think about your instrument in the living room or your favorite practice room at school. Maybe you picture your studio with morning light streaking across the floor or in the evening with a few lamps casting a cozy glow.

Certainly, practicing happens in all of these spaces. But it can also happen at your desk, in the car, at the breakfast table, on a walk, in a carrel at the library, or in a classroom where no instrument is present.

How? Because practicing is more than the mechanics of playing an instrument. Practicing involves all the different components of musicianship—many of which can be practiced and developed away from your instrument.

It all starts by thinking a little more creatively about what practicing can look like.

In this episode, you’ll learn about the importance of thinking in music plus 14 practical ways to practice away from your instrument (for students, teachers, and music professionals alike).

For show notes + a full transcript, click here.

Resources Mentioned

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through some of these links.

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (Cal Newport)

The Music Man (1962)

Speaking the Piano: Reflections on Learning and Teaching (Susan Tomes)

The Gordon Institute for Music Learning

How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens (Benedict Carey)

Ep. 023 - How to Practice Efficiently in 30 Minutes Or Less

Ep. 039 - The Secrets of Interleaved Practice: What We Can Learn From Cognitive Science

Ep. 60 - How Do We Approach Mistakes in Music Teaching & Learning?

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