Daily Practice Schedule

Hi all :smiley:

So, when I started practicing today, it occurred to me that ever since I started playing it’s been unstructured. I’d grab one of my notation books or work on something I had memorized or do some kyokubiki, or just work on bachi technique, but my practice I realize has never actually been structured in a “do this, this, and then this” kind of way.

Having just always played what I felt like at the moment, I feel like some pieces I’ve learned are getting a bit left behind and my playing them has suffered a bit.

So, for your guys’ daily practice schedule, what do you do? Just curious so I might be able to work in some more structured elements to my practice to keep this from continuing.

Thank you!

I’m honestly the same way. I practice everyday if I can and the pretty much just work on whatever suites my fancy at the time.

I often swap what i’m doing on the fly since sometimes i’ll get frustrated and move do something else for a bit before swapping back. I actually read it was better to practice this way as it is more conducive to learning or something.

So for example, today I was practicing Kyle’s sweep drill from the last shamisen live while also practicing my jongara or parts of kita no hibiki, then maybe practice a scale or something. I’ll also take small breaks in between to give my brain and wrist a rest. I do think that some more structure would benefit and i’ll try it out tomorrow.

I was thinking something like five mins for one thing (scale, jongara, etc) then play one song you have already “mastered” as a transition into the next five minute practice. Or something to that effect. Try to spice up what you do in those five minute blocks every session, if you wanna try it too.

Thanks for your thoughts! :smiley:

I didn’t know switching and coming back like that was considered helpful, that’s good to know! I should probably take little breaks too, I can get pretty frustrated after playing a godai piece (especially my jongara) five times only to make the same mistakes despite trying to correct them :stuck_out_tongue: but little breaks do help and I need to work that in more rather than just trying to power through and make the same errors.

I really like the five minute block idea, that’ll be sure to vary my practice and get a lot done while still giving ample time to everything I think, especially if I set aside another five minutes later on to come back to it like you were saying.
I don’t want to overwhelm myself of course but that sounds great!
Thanks again :smiley:

I review the songs I know from memory, playing each a few times. If I stumble, I’ll listen to a recording or check my notation.

If I have a performance coming, I’ll focus in on the songs I plan to play, repeating them seven or eight times. I don’t take breaks unless I grow tired (or my finger gets raw).

If I don’t have a performance coming, I like to work on learning new pieces. So after reviewing what I know, I’ll pick a song to work on. First by playing along with bunkafu and a recording/ humming but gradually moving just to memory/my singing.

Songs that are particularly long, or heavy on slightly nuanced phrasing (looking at you, Mugiya Bushi) get broken down into the component phrases and practiced individually before being put together - I essentially follow the method you see in a lot of the school house lessons. Learn a phrase, connect it to the rest, move on.

I generally don’t do specific technique practice. I largely prefer to tie technique practice together with song practice. Like, it’s fun to kamashi up and down the neck, I find it’s more helpful for me to learn it in the context of a song and where it can fit into other pieces.

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Thanks for your thoughts as well! It’s really helpful :smiley:

Actually one of the reasons I asked is because I have a performance coming up, and was a bit worried that my focus on readying a new version of my jongara and aiya Bushi had taken a toll on many other of the Minyō I play haha

But I have been lacking that perseverance come to think of it and maybe that’s it. I’ll probably strike a balance between Tino’s 5 minute block idea and your, for lack of a better way of putting it more ファイト! method :stuck_out_tongue: though I really do need to focus in on one task at a time, so that’s some great advice, thank you!

I also see I need to work on that idea of breaking it down more, that sounds really helpful compared to how I’ve been doing it. I was working on Nanbu Tawaratsumi Uta recently and kept playing pretty much the entire thing, and starting from scratch when I made a mistake to try and reinforce what I could do and get over that wall so to speak but I think I’ll spend some time cutting it into chunks to best learn.
I’ve done the same as it pertains to technique, I totally agree on it being more useful to learn in terms of application.

My methods worked well enough for a while I guess but as performances are becoming more of a concern for me I need a more methodical approach and your comment really helps!
Thanks again! :smiley: