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!