Questions For Success

How much time during practice do you spend working out what you want to sound like? Do you take time between repetitions to clarify your ideas, or do you prefer to play as much as possible?

Many musicians understandably put most of their focus and attention on the exercises and pieces they are working on during practice each day. Of course, these form the basis of a solid technique, which help to expand musical ideas, and enable you to play the chosen repertoire to a high standard.

However, I’ve found that the progress retained from a session can be hugely impacted by the amount of time spent in structured reflection. I’m not talking about slacking off mid-practice and daydreaming (although the occasional powernap has huge learning benefits!😴) I’m talking about conscious and deliberate reflection and planning, in order to make each repetition the highest possible quality.

For me, reflection is perhaps the most important part of my routine, either directly in the practice room, or following on after a performance. Without any form of reflection, learning tends to happen more by chance, rather than working through issues logically and meticulously. This is where asking yourself the right questions throughout each practice session is critically important for continued learning and development. 🤔

But what do I mean when I say, “asking the right questions?”

More often than not musicians can become very judgemental about their own playing, believing that this is necessary in reaching the lofty standards they set for themselves. While it is important to maintain high standards and pick up on technical or musical issues that inevitably come about, simply changing the type of questions you ask yourself can significantly improve your chances of success.

The questions that provide us with the most value in the practice room are those that promote curiosity and learning. So if you want to gain the most benefit from a session, try asking yourself these 3 questions immediately after playing something:

RESULT - WHAT result did you get, both intentionally and unintentionally?

Although this step does require some judgement to diagnose problems, it is important that the answers you get from this are as specific and objective as possible (this is where recording yourself can also be of huge benefit.) General or vague answers like “I didn’t play that passage well”, or “That sounded good” does little to pinpoint areas needed for improvement, or for reinforcing good habits.

Whereby answers such as “I was slightly ahead of beat 1 and 2 in bar X, and my intonation on the D in bar Y was quite sharp” gives you concrete things to address in subsequent repetitions.

REASON – WHY did you get that result?

Now that you’ve examined what went well and what didn’t go to plan, you can come up with potential reasons why you got the result that you got.

Perhaps the tempo rushed in bar X because you forgot to subdivide?

Maybe the D in bar Y was sharp because you didn’t have a clear idea of the pitch center throughout that section?

Sometimes you may not be able to come up with reasons for your results, but this is OK! The goal of this step is to simply start the problem-solving process, and to try and come up with any potential causes for the outcome. If you’re drawing a blank, still try to think of ANY possible solutions. Some possibilities you come up with might be right, and some may not work. But it’s important to get the cogs in your brain moving, and eventually more accurate evaluations will pop into your head over time.

RESPONSE - HOW can you get a better result next time?

This is the fun bit! Now you can give yourself license to experiment, and come up with creative solutions to the problems that arise. As many of you would know, there are often multiple potential solutions when tackling a problem, so leave no stone unturned! However, changing only 1-3 things for the next repetition will give you a much better idea as to whether your chosen possible solutions are actually effective or not. Trying 10 different things all at once will only lead to confusion and overwhelm, and won’t give you an accurate idea of what actually works and what doesn’t. Take your time and go through each possibility with care and focus, and you’ll find out what works best for you.

These 3 questions have been the bedrock of my practice for years, and have enabled me to take steps in my playing with far less reliance on my teachers, colleagues, or the conductor to give me the answers. Although asking yourself these questions might seem time consuming and disruptive at first, eventually they will become more automatic, and appropriate solutions will arise much quicker.

This approach is also backed up by the research, with motor learning studies finding that skill development tends to occur quicker if there is between 5-20 seconds between each repetition, as opposed to a second or less between each one. Why? Because conscious reflection provides far greater clarity, focus, and purpose for each repetition, leading to significantly better results. The additional few seconds between reps also means that your body can take a quick break, despite the brain still ticking over. 🧠

The beauty of this simple reflection strategy is that it can be used at the micro level i.e. after each individual repetition during practice, as well as at the macro level i.e. after an entire practice session, following a performance, or reflecting back on a week’s amount of practice and planning. Therefore, adding this 3-question strategy will quickly turn you into a more self-reliant learner, an effective problem-solver, and help you become your own teacher in no time! 🤓

My Top 3 Questions

RESULT - What result did you get, both intentionally and unintentionally?

REASON – Why did you get that result?

RESPONSE - How can you get a better result next time?