It’s a challenge to practice regularly, and if you do, you might still feel like you’re not getting the most out of your practice. Students often go home from their lesson with a long list of things to work on and as soon as they sit down to play, they either can’t remember what the list contained or they don’t know how to start on it.

Enter practice journals! There are many ways to keep a practice journal, but here’s what we recommend to get started. Once you get in the journaling routine, feel free to make edits that help your practice get even smoother, and let us know how it goes in the comments or on Facebook!

1. Start with a notebook or binder that is dedicated only to your practice. In addition to your journal, you can also include sheet music, information about upcoming performances, and anything else relevant to your playing. The important piece is that you reserve the notebook only for musical purposes—no grocery lists popping up in the middle that will break the flow. This separation of your music notes from other papers will help you mirror that effect in your practice mindset by keeping your thoughts focused and present without distractions.

2. Take notes as you work through Fiddle School and during your private lessons. Musical amnesia hits hard as soon as you set down your instrument and walk away from a learning session, so set yourself up for success and write down a list of things you need to work on as they come up. This could be technique exercises, learning a new part, or fixing a trouble spot in a certain song, among other things.

3. Before you begin practicing, write out a plan. It should start with an intentional warm-up (this could be a Practice Pal, some one-note jam, or other exercises) to get you in gear for the skills you want to build that day.

Next, write down tunes and technique that you’d like to check in with. During this part of your practice, you should play slowly and do many attentive repetitions to solidify good technique. It’s also a great place in your practice to use the Practice Circle concept found in Lesson 12.

Next, plan to learn some new material if that’s in your routine that day—otherwise, it’s plenty to work on solidifying tunes you already have. Again, slow and steady wins the race here.

Lastly, write down tunes that you want to play through start to finish a few times. This last portion is important, but is only a piece of the practice (for many people, this is often all they do when they practice, so be sure to give lots of attention to the other steps as well).

When you practice, follow the agenda you’ve written out for yourself, more or less. If something unexpected comes up that you want to work on, that’s okay. Just be sure that you’re not falling for your brain’s trickery if it tries to distract you into noodling or playing repetitions in a zombie-like state of disengagement (this can reinforce bad technique and leave you feeling unaccomplished).

After you finish your practice, cross off each item that you visited on your practice agenda and write down some things you found to work on in the next day’s practice. Do this day after day, and you’ll have a great record of your progress. You’ll also get a better handle on how to improve even more efficiently in the future.

How do you organize your practice? Let us know in the comments, and happy practicing!

I love rosin, and lots of it, so you’ll have to excuse me if I get a little sappy here. But folks often have lots of questions about this topic: When should you rosin? How much is too much? What’s the point of rosin, anyway?

Never fear! I’m here to answer all your rosin-related questions and help you avoid any sticky situations. Oh, yeah: this is also just a great excuse for me to make lots of puns. I hope that resin-ates with you.

What is rosin and what does it do? Let’s start with the basics: rosin is a sticky substance made from tree resin. It most commonly comes in cake form, although you’ll occasionally see it as a powder, and it’s the magic ingredient that makes the tone of the bow on the strings sound so good. When you draw the hair of the bow over the string, the rosin on the hair heats up and melts momentarily, allowing the bow to create more friction and thus more vibration with the string. And voila: sound comes out! Without rosin, your bow will sound quiet and won’t grip the strings. Because of this, rosin (and frequent applications of it!) is a must.

What kind of rosin is right for me? Rosin comes in light and dark varieties. The darkness of the rosin relates to how “grippy” it will feel on the bow. While many classical musicians prefer light rosin, fiddlers often gravitate toward darker rosin for the big, beefy tone it produces. It’s okay to experiment with different rosins until you find one you really like, but you can also find our rosin recommendations in the Fiddle Lounge.

How do I rosin? First, tighten your bow enough that the stick won’t rub the rosin when you apply pressure on the bow. Using a good, steady bow grip, hold your bow in your right hand and your rosin in the palm of your left hand. Start at the frog and use short, firm strokes to work your way up to the tip of the bow. Don’t be too ginger here: your bow can withstand some pressure and you’ll get a much better coat of rosin when you put some oomph into it. You can work up and down the bow with these short, firm strokes a couple times; then finish with a few smooth strokes along the entire bow. Ta-da! That’s all it takes.

How often should I rosin? Every day or every other day is a good rule of thumb. Most people don’t use enough rosin; don’t be one of them. And this brings us to our next question…

How much is too much rosin? If you have too much rosin on your bow, you might notice heavy rosin buildup on your fiddle and strings or a kind of gritty sound. If this is the case, no big deal: just wait a couple days and let the excess wear off with playing. No harm, no foul.

A well-rosined bow makes your playing easier and more enjoyable to listen to, so tree-t yourself to some good rosin! Last pun, I promise. After reading this, I hope you’re well on your way to becoming a rosin fanatic like I am. Now break out your fiddle, rosin up your bow, and get playing!

“I swear I could play this at home when I was practicing by myself! I don’t know why I can’t do it in my lesson.”

Sound familiar? It’s common to practice hard all week, play well at home, and then fall apart at lessons. But you can avoid this pitfall! Read through these tips to help keep your cool in unfamiliar settings.

1. Establish solid muscle memory. Often, students practice a piece until they feel like they understand it mentally. Maybe they’ll play through it until they can “get it,” or make it through without mistakes. At that point, many people stop practicing for the day, assuming their work is done. But when you finally “get it”—make it through your tune the way that you want to—that’s when you should keep repeating it. Practice it over and over until you don’t have to think your way through it so much as feel it. I bet you didn’t expect to read a Bruce Lee quote here, but it was too relevant to pass up: “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

2. Slow your roll. When you play somewhere you’re unaccustomed to, whether it’s a lesson, a jam, or a contest, take as much time as you need to gather your thoughts. Give yourself time to find a comfortable position, tune, and settle down before you play. As you’re fiddling, keep this slowness and intention in everything you do, from placing your fingers to moving your bow to following the tune in your mind. By slowing your entire playing process down, from the time you pick up the instrument to when you put it down, you start from a place of calm and give yourself the best chance of success.

3. Use deep breaths. Breathing exercises are an old standby for focus and calm. My personal favorite is a technique called “box breathing:” breathe in for a count of four, hold your breath for four, breathe out for four, and hold the exhale for four. Repeat this, increasing the count if it feels comfortable for you.

4. One at a time. It’s hard to focus all at once on the many elements of technique that you may be working on in your practice, especially when you’re in a different setting. It’s okay to narrow your focus to one or two things while you’re playing; in fact, you’ll probably play better that way than if you tried to keep everything in your mind at once.

5. Clear your head. When you go to a lesson or a performance, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by intrusive thoughts. “Did I practice enough? Is she judging me? Oh man, here comes that spot I always mess up.” But these kinds of inner voices are only harmful. Instead, embrace positive thoughts and let go of perceived judgment. “I have worked really hard. I’m proud of myself. I love the music that I’m making!” These kinds of uplifting thoughts will bolster you and you’ll be amazed how much better you feel and play.

Next time you go to a lesson or get onstage, take these tips to heart and remember why you play in the first place: to enjoy it!

Breaking up is hard to do, in the famously catchy words of Neil Sedaka. With that haircut, I’m sure he would know.

But here’s the good news: when it comes to habits, the opposite is true! Breaking up your good habits into smaller chunks will make your life so much easier.

In this habit hack, we’re sharing the best time management strategies to make new habits stick.

Try working toward the goals you set for yourself in smaller chunks throughout the day instead of one large one. For example, if your new goal is to play 45 minutes each day, try three 15-minute chunks. I’ll bet you find yourself more engaged, efficient, and effective.

Anyone incorporating new habits is doing some major neural trailblazing by developing insulation (myelin) around their new neural pathways. The more they use a certain pathway, the more insulated it becomes and the easier the new habit is to maintain. (For more on this, check out the book The Talent Code.)

But even though we need to practice many repetitions to cement new habits, research shows that practicing longer is not the best way to go. Instead, short bursts of practice usually work better for the brain. They allow you to stay engaged and focused much better. So take a break or three! 

Practice while you’re sharp so you can make real progress. When you start to fade, put your fiddle down and come back to it when you have the brainpower to make real improvements.

We need to talk. 

Oh, lighten up. It’s time for our fourth post in the habit hack series–that’s all we had to say. And today we’re talking about talking, because if you want to stick with a new habit, one of the best things to do is tell others about it!

What habit goals have you set for yourself lately? Shout ’em from the rooftop! No, really, that’s the fourth habit challenge: let someone know about your new habit. It could be the Fiddle School community, a close friend, your mailman…

Actually, maybe not the mailman. Depends on how close you guys are. But you get the idea.

Getting motivated to change your routine is one thing, but staying motivated is a whole ‘nother question. When you let other people know your intentions, you’re more likely to stay accountable once the newness wears off.

What’s more, letting people know about your new good habits is a great way to set yourself up for celebration down the road! A month from now, when your friend checks back in with you about “that thing you were doing,” you can proudly tell them that you’ve stuck with it. That’s a great feeling.

Remember that good habits snowball. When you let others know about the changes you’re making in your own life, you share your positivity and momentum. Spread the love and tell a friend what you’re working towards! You may just give them the push they need to chase one of their own aspirations.

What new good habits are you making part of your routine? Tell us in the comments!

What do you and this adorable little fellow have in common? You might be biting off more than you can chew! 

If you struggle with setting realistic goals, this habit hack is for you. Did you miss the first two habit hacks? You can find them here and here. 

For this habit challenge, set a goal for yourself you know you can achieve this week– not in a month, and not through unrealistic means, but this week. Make sure it’s something you can attain by working towards it regularly at a sustainable rate. Some examples:

• “I will memorize two more parts of my new tune.”
• “I will practice scales every time I warm up.”
• “I will listen to new music that inspires me every time before I practice.”

Tell us your bite-sized goals in the comments!

Often, when people set goals, they think of their loftiest aspirations:

• “I’ll learn a new language.”
• “I’ll shred at the gym for an hour every morning at 5.”
• “I’ll place well in a fiddle contest.”

But those goals seem a little different when you look at the big picture:

• “I’ll learn a new language before my cousin’s wedding in Mexico next month.”
• “I’ll shred at the gym for an hour every morning at 5, even though I go to bed at midnight and I haven’t been to the gym in years.”
• “I’ll place well in a fiddle contest, even though I just started playing this year.”

Now they sound a little… harder, shall we say? Actually, I think the word would be unrealistic. There’s a difference between the two: when something’s hard, you know you can get there with dedicated work. When something’s unrealistic, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, no matter how much crazed effort you put into it.

So here’s the trick: you can make your goals hard, but don’t make them unrealistic. 

When you consistently take on small challenges, you can do hard things while still being realistic about your expectations. After doing this for a long time, the things that were once unrealistic will be within your reach. 

To sum it up: I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t aspire to awesome, sky-scraping goals. I’m just telling you that the way there is by a staircase, not an elevator.

What small step can you set as a goal this week? Tell us below!

As humans, we’re defined by our habits, so it’s in our best interest to make those habits as positive as possible. That’s why we wrote this 7-part habit series to help you achieve more with your routines!

Today we’re talking about habit cues, the sneaky component of habits that can either keep you stuck in a rut or lay the foundation for constant progress.

For this second habit hack, choose a practice cue and stick with it. Play every morning after you brush your teeth, every day after lunch, or first thing when you walk in your door at night. Don’t want to use an activity as a cue? Make an event on your calendar, set a reminder on your phone, or do it the old-fashioned way and leave yourself a Post-It.

What cues work well for you? Tell us below!

Examining your personal habit cues is perhaps the best thing you can do when you want to build a new habit or kick an old one. Remember the anatomy of a habit? It looks like this:

1. Cue or trigger
2. Action
3. Reward

We often don’t see habit triggers at work; for example, when you pick up your phone to check the time, how often do you also end up checking social media? Cues like these are sneaky, and they can lead little actions to snowball into rock-solid routines.

If your habits were an iceberg, your actions would only be the tip of that iceberg. Your habit cues, which often go unnoticed, are the nearly invisible bulk of the iceberg lurking beneath.

That invisible bulk of cues is why you can’t change a habit simply by trying to change your actions. Instead, you have to address the big picture, and that means taking a close look at underlying triggers.

This might seem overwhelming, but don’t worry! Just like the reward part of the habit loop, habit triggers can work in your favor. Over the next day, try to recognize all the triggers that lead you through your daily routine. When you recognize your habit cues, whether they’re good or bad, you have the power to consciously respond to them.

The most powerful thing you can do to hack your practice habit? Intentionally build a consistent practice cue into your daily routine. After a while, it’ll feel so natural you won’t even notice it anymore.

What are your best (and worst) habit cues? Tell us in the comments!