Great article on practice habits

This is a great article about what attributes a great musician has when they practice from The Musician's Way Blog.

http://musiciansway.com/blog/?p=4586

What I love about this article is the lists of "deep learner" attributes vs. the "shallow learner" attributes.  Mr. Klickstien nails it on the head for me, and explains it better than I ever could.  But I was thinking that it might be beneficial to abbreviate each list so that they can be posted on a music stand while a student practices (as it is right now, its a bit too wordy for that purpose).  Maybe something like a "practice do's and don't's" list:

This is what I came up with:

Do:

• Set goals
• Isolate problems
• Be aware
• Pay attention to repetition
• Listen to yourself
• Strive for consistent excellence
• Relax and channel anxiety in a positive way

Don't:

• Practice without a purpose
• "Play" through music
• Get distracted
• Repeat sections ad nauseum
• Listen inconsistently or poorly
• Let things slide
• Let performance give you negative anxiety

I know I have been a culprit of one or two things on the "don't" list recently, and the last one is especially hard.  If you read my last post, I wish I had this list when I was in my undergrad program.  Looking back, I was hitting more of the "don'ts" than I was the "dos"!  But I honestly didn't know any better.  Makes me sad, because I feel like I lost a lot back then because I didn't have the proper guidance.  This is why I try to instill good practice habits in my younger students.  They may hate it now, but I know they will thank me for it later in life!

In other news...exactly 9 weeks from yesterday until I leave!  Its getting so close that now I'm having some anxiety about it.  I get the butterflies in my stomach every time I think about it.  Can't tell if its excitement or nervousness...or both.  Probably both.  I can't believe its almost here!