My name is Tom Heany. Shortly after my first piano lesson I started practicing, and I'm still at it. In fact, I wrote the book on practicing. It's called First, Learn to Practice and it's available from bookstores and online booksellers.
The oldest recordings of music are well over 100 years old. The oldest examples of written music are 4,000 years old. The oldest musical instruments we have are more than 37,000 years old. People have been making music, all over the world, for a long time. And that means that all that time they’ve been practicing.
About Practicing is an introduction to the thoughts and experiences that shaped my view of practicing. In First, Learn to Practice I boiled them down to Seven Big Ideas and Seven Good Habits. I can't sum them all up in one sentence, but here's the First Big Idea:
If you're not enjoying your practicing, change it until you are.
If you practice, or if you teach people who practice, or if you're the parent of someone who practices (or, in all cases, should practice), I hope you'll find something helpful and interesting here.
My understanding of practicing grew in part out of my own experience practicing various musical instruments for many years. I am also interested in how the brain and mind work, and in how people learn. My layman’s learning in these two areas has helped shape my views. I can boil those views down to a few main themes that underlie everything else:
The oldest recordings of music are well over 100 years old. The oldest examples of written music are 4,000 years old. The oldest musical instruments we have are more than 37,000 years old. People have been making music, all over the world, for a long time. And that means that all that time they’ve been practicing.
About Practicing is an introduction to the thoughts and experiences that shaped my view of practicing. In First, Learn to Practice I boiled them down to Seven Big Ideas and Seven Good Habits. I can't sum them all up in one sentence, but here's the First Big Idea:
If you're not enjoying your practicing, change it until you are.
If you practice, or if you teach people who practice, or if you're the parent of someone who practices (or, in all cases, should practice), I hope you'll find something helpful and interesting here.
My understanding of practicing grew in part out of my own experience practicing various musical instruments for many years. I am also interested in how the brain and mind work, and in how people learn. My layman’s learning in these two areas has helped shape my views. I can boil those views down to a few main themes that underlie everything else:
- Practicing is an important, effective, stimulating, satisfying and, most of all, enjoyable activity. It takes study and thought (and practice) to learn, and it’s worth the effort.
- Practicers develop habits, attitudes, disciplines and beliefs that can improve every other aspect of their lives. Many elements of character – optimism, persistence, honesty, discipline, commitment, autonomy – are everyday tools for people who practice.
- Practicing is the responsibility of the practicer – not the teacher, not the mentor and not the parents. The sooner the practicer takes charge, the better.
- Practicing is the study and mastery of motion. It is how we develop the physical skills that then allow us to perform music. In performing, the head is in charge, but practicing is all about the body.
- Most people who take up an instrument will spend more time practicing (either well or not so well) than performing. If you are going to devote a large portion of your life to something as demanding and self-contained as practicing, you should (a) enjoy it and (b) do it well.
About me
I have been involved with music my whole life, as a student, a teacher, a player, a writer and, yes, a practicer - for 13,000 hours, give or take. For 16 years I was the Director of Programming for the National Music Foundation, where I developed and ran the American Music Education Initiative and the Berkshire Music Festival.
As a contributing editor for the National Guitar Workshop, I wrote about musical subjects ranging form the Grammy Awards to Tuvan throat singing. For WorkshopLive, NGW's online learning platform, I interviewed guitar, bass and piano teachers about their views on practicing, performing and playing.
I have created content for online courses in beginning guitar, folk music, bluegrass and country music, and advised the Boy Scouts of America on the requirements for the Music Merit Badge. I've taught guitar, performed in the rockabilly band Real Gone, arranged the music of George Gershwin and Duke Ellington for solo acoustic guitar, and written more songs than I can count.
As a contributing editor for the National Guitar Workshop, I wrote about musical subjects ranging form the Grammy Awards to Tuvan throat singing. For WorkshopLive, NGW's online learning platform, I interviewed guitar, bass and piano teachers about their views on practicing, performing and playing.
I have created content for online courses in beginning guitar, folk music, bluegrass and country music, and advised the Boy Scouts of America on the requirements for the Music Merit Badge. I've taught guitar, performed in the rockabilly band Real Gone, arranged the music of George Gershwin and Duke Ellington for solo acoustic guitar, and written more songs than I can count.
