Don’t be fooled by the price. Music Practice: The Musician’s Guide to Practicing and Mastering Your Instrument Like a Professional by David Dumais is not a cheesy little booklet full of half-baked ideas with no meat on their bones. It’s a concise but thorough look at how to make the most of your practice time, no matter what instrument you play.
The book starts at the logical beginning of setting goals for your music practice. To quote:
Goals not only help you stay organized—they give you direction.
In this chapter, you will find ideas for writing goals in a useful format, viewing deadlines correctly, and crafting a plan to reach your goals. Not every suggestion will work for everybody, so take what you can benefit from and leave the rest.
After a chapter on tips for keeping your practice sessions interesting, dig into some meaty exercises to help you master key skills:
- Rhythm and timing.
- Ear training.
- Speed.
- Public performance.
- Memorization.
If you master every single exercise in this book, you will be one amazing musician!
Rounding the book out nicely are several chapters tying everything together, nutshelling the key points, and providing a picture of how the pros become great.
If you are serious about achieving excellence in music, regardless of your preferred genre or instrument, this book is well worth the nominal cost. Give it a try!
Homestead on the Range 