“But I Don’t Want To!”: How to Get Yourself (or Your Kid) to Practice…

One of the most frequent problems my students ask me about is how to get inspired to practice.  Old, young, serious and casual cellists alike come to me in frustration: “But I just can’t find the inspiration to practice right now/ever/this month/today etc. etc.”  Parents ask even more often how to get their child to practice without a battle.  Here’s the thing—there’s a hard truth about being a cellist, about the practicing it takes.  It’s not always fun.

It’s hard to get started.  You don’t feel inspired to practice all the time.  Don’t feel bad—you know that student next to you in the practice room who’s there every day without fail?  He’s not more inspired than you, you’re not missing the I-Love-To-Practice gene.  Parents—you know that mom who says “I never have to tell my child to practice—she never fights me when I say it’s practice time!”  I bet you all the money I have in my wallet (granted, it’s more scrap paper than dollar bills but anyways…) that they’re lying.  They may not realized it, but they are.  Here’s the thing that works: routine.

You know how it’s not really all that hard to brush your teeth every night? Maybe when your child was very little it was tough to get them to do it but now it’s just a part of the evening? That’s because it’s just part of your routine.  Same with getting up and going to the office, or school.  If it’s 8am you know it’s time to go right?  You don’t sit there wishing you felt “inspired” to go and then stay home if you don’t (most days!).  Same thing with practicing.  When I was growing up my cello practice was from 7-8am each morning and 4-6:30pm every day after school (unless I was at music lessons).  Sundays it was from 8-11am.  Every day.  Same time.  There was never a battle of “I’ll practice later!  NO, practice now!” with my mother—it wasn’t her who was saying it was time to practice—it was the clock.  If there’s no choice about the when, there’s a lot less to fight about.  Now I practice first thing in the morning—I drop my daughter off and go to the hall and practice until rehearsal starts.  There’s no “when will I practice?” “How long should I practice?” “Hmmmmm, maybe I’ll practice after I do these other 10 things…”  Nope, practice time is from x hour to x hour.  If you need to set a daily alarm on your phone, do it. You don’t schedule other things then, don’t make plans with friends for until after your practice time is over.  It’s like any other appointment in the calendar and it can’t be changed.  Too bad.

This is how I still manage to practice consistently no matter how much I don’t feel like it.  Here’s the honest truth—it I waited to practice until I felt like it, or felt deeply inspired to practice I’d never ever manage to do it consistently.  So instead, I make it just a routine part of my day.  The practice room is where you should find me most days starting at 8am.  You see, it’s not hard to choose to practice when there is no choice.  If it’s 8am, it’s practice time.  Every morning the same routine—drop my daughter off and go practice.  Same time.  Every day.  Yawn…