If you love music, take it with you!
Play Guitar on the beach. Jazz Saxophone on the lake. Bring your Bassoon to grandma’s house, why not? The key to making the most out of practicing an instrument is without a doubt consistency. Practicing for 20 minutes bit each day can be much more helpful than practicing for two hours before a lesson. Most of the time, working in 20 minutes each day can be fairly simple. All we need to do is arrange a time in our daily lives when all we need to focus on is practicing. However, this routine can get very broken up by something like a week-long vacation, and can be difficult to bounce back from. There are measures you can take while on a vacation that will ensure consistent practice upon returning to reality.
1. Take the instrument with you
Some instruments are definitely easier than others to travel with. Traveling with a harmonica is practically a no-brainer whereas traveling with a drum set could prove to be more difficult. If the instrument is travel-sized, by all means, bring it along! You never know when there could be an opportunity to get some light practicing in. check this out for travel related information. If your instrument happens to be a drum set, bring a pair of sticks and a practice pad. If you are practicing piano, try to bring a small keyboard along for the ride. Practicing on something is certainly better than practicing nothing!
2. Bring the sheet music
If you are working on a particular piece, bring the music with you! This can be especially helpful on long car rides or plane rides. It never hurts to give the sheet music another once-over. By just looking at it without playing anything, something new might just pop out at you! This could also be a great opportunity to practice some sight-reading. See if you can hum the melody by just looking at the music. Bonus points if you’ve never played the music before!
3. Listen to music
This is my personal favorite. Just because you are away from an instrument doesn’t mean you can’t listen to other people playing music. This is a great opportunity to get inspired by a song or an artist. There is nothing better than discovering that new song that you can’t wait to sit down and play. Maybe you are listening with a purpose – to discover new music that you would like to practice in your lessons. Listening to music gets you thinking about your lessons and if you’re thinking about your lessons, chances are you are going to start practicing right when you get home!
Even though you’re away doesn’t mean you can’t make some progress with your lessons. Whether it’s physically playing your instrument, reading your sheet music, or listening to music that you’d like to play later, there is always time on any vacation to think about your music lessons. When you have an instrument to play that is sitting at home waiting for you, coming home is not so bad after all!
