This article extra is part of the feature article 30 Day Practice Challenge Redux.

Time Management

Download our practice log to help track your progress.

Make an appointment. Dishes, email, laundry, errands—it’s easy to let everything else on your to-do list push practicing to the bottom. If you schedule your practice time in your calendar just as you would a doctor’s appointment or coffee with a friend, it goes from being an “if-I-have-time” task to a must-do appointment.

Schedule practice time when you are at your best. Are you an early bird or a night owl? Ideally, you want to practice when you are mentally and physically at your best each day, and avoid practicing when you can’t focus mentally or are physically worn out. Your best might be right after breakfast and coffee, or in the quiet calm of night. Whenever it is, try to schedule some practice time each day (or night).

Pin your back against a wall. Some people work better with a looming deadline. So if you need to light a fire under your practicing, commit to a public performance. Nothing inspires dedicated practicing like a looming concert date.

A little practice every day is better than cramming. Cramming never worked in school, and it doesn’t work on the harp either. The only way to develop a full and consistent sound is to build the muscle memory you need to repeat the same technique motions fluidly every time you play.

Practice in small sections. Focused, short practice gets better results than long, sloppy practice.

Maximize Efficiency

Practice practicing. Practice takes practice. Approach your practice sessions the way an athlete would. Warm up, do technique exercises, and identify and work on deficiencies before you start playing the game—er, music.

Rethink your practice order. In what order do you practice your pieces? Favorite pieces first? Maybe you save the best for last? Perhaps you start with your shortest piece and save the long ones until the end? Try practicing in order of the focus and energy required. Maybe you are learning notes in a new piece or memorizing a section—those will take a lot of concentration, so work on them first, then move on to pieces you are working on with less intensity—pieces you are polishing or maintaining.

Save run-throughs for dessert. It’s tempting to start your practice session with a run-through of your favorite piece. But unless you have a concert tomorrow or your piece is already perfect, a run-through isn’t going to help fix problems. Work on sections first—perhaps starting in a different place each day—and save run-throughs for an end-of-practice reward.

Play it 10 times perfectly. Do you ever practice something until you get it right and then move on? Think of it this way: if it took you, say, 10 times to get it right, that’s nine times you got it wrong—not exactly a confidence booster or a great way to build muscle memory. Instead, play slowly enough to be perfect and don’t move on until you’ve played the passage 10 times in a row perfectly. (Try using M&Ms as counters, and reward yourself for perfect practicing!). Now you have the confidence to know you’re going to nail that passage!

Practice perfectly. Aim to practice perfectly, so that you aren’t reinforcing bad habits. Don’t accept buzzing, wrong notes, or sloppy playing.

Repeat, repeat, repeat. Repetition is the key to building muscle memory. But remember, practice makes permanent, so be sure you’re doing it right!

Practice smarter, not longer. It doesn’t matter if you practice one hour a day or 10, if you’re not practicing smart. Have a plan and work on what needs work, not what you can already play.

Identify problems. While it’s always fun to practice what we do well, you can make the most of your 20 minutes of technique practice by quickly identifying your problem spots, and focusing on those areas instead.

Keep a practice log. Set goals for each practice session and write down what you accomplished. Download our free practice log to help keep track.

External Environment

Take a look in the mirror. Pull your wardrobe mirror out of your closet and set it up next to your harp. Being able to see how your hands are working from a different perspective can help you make adjustments in your technique.

Get in the zone. Make your practice time a distraction-free zone. Before you sit down on your bench, eat a snack, take the dog out, silence your cell phone, change the laundry, grab a glass of water. When you sit down at the harp, make sure you have everything you need within reach—pencil, metronome, tuner, tuning key, music, and laser-like focus!

Create an ideal space. Does your practice space make you happy? Is it free from distractions and interruptions? Take some time at the beginning of the year to make your space a place where you want to be and spend time.

Mind and Body

Take a breather. We practice difficult techniques to make them feel natural and effortless in our playing. Breathing deeply with a musical phrase may not feel normal or comfortable to you, so practice it just as you would any other technique. Before you play a note today, practice some long deep breaths at the harp. Breathe in slowly through your nose without raising your shoulders, then breathe out at the same slow pace.

How are you feeling? As you practice, check in with your body. Are you holding tension anywhere in your hands or arms? How about elsewhere in your body—your neck, back, or even your face? Relaxing while you practice will help you avoid fatigue and even injury that can occur over time.

Practice mindfully. Where are your thoughts when you’re at the harp? If you’re thinking about what to make for dinner, you’re not getting the most out of your practice time. Empty your mind from everything but the task at hand. If this is difficult for you, choose a technical element to focus on, such as the feeling of your finger on the string, and try to refocus on that element every time you catch yourself thinking non-musical thoughts.

Gain Perspective

Listen to a recording. There’s a saying in the jazz world that the best players are those with the biggest record collections. There is no question that listening to many different players will help you be a better player. Plus, listening to someone you admire play passages that you may be having trouble with will provide encouragement that those spots aren’t so difficult after all.

There is nothing difficult. There are only new things, unaccustomed things.

—Carlos Salzedo

It’s not difficult once you learn how to do it. Having trouble with a particular skill, like harmonics? Instead of getting frustrated, take a cue from harp legend Carlos Salzedo, and remind yourself that it won’t be difficult once you learn how to do it. Trust yourself that it will come with steady, slow, and correct repetition.

Make it fun. There’s no rule that says practicing has to be a chore. Look for ways to make practicing more fun. Use rewards (like that  M&M trick we mentioned earlier!), games, or anything else that helps you keep your focus on the music and enjoy spending time behind the harp.

Play it slowly. Raise your hand if you’ve ever zipped through a problem spot and thought to yourself “I’ll fix it later.” Why not fix it right now by playing no faster than you can play perfectly?

Get out the metronome. Not only is the metronome useful for checking rhythm and tempo in your solo pieces, but it’s also an invaluable aid for helping with technique practice, like a scale exercise. Choose a tempo for your scales even slower than you think you need—perhaps allowing for one click per note—and use the metronome to help keep you honest. Increase the tempo only when you’re playing flawlessly.

Write on your music. Always keep your pencil handy as you practice. Write notes to yourself on your music. Your score should never look new. A well-marked piece of music will help you remember all of the little nuances that you are practicing into the piece.

Don’t start at the beginning. Despite what you learned from the song “Do-Re-Mi,” the beginning is not always the very best place to start when it comes to practicing. Instead, zone in on problem spots and tackle them first.

Record and listen to yourself. When you listen to yourself play without the distraction of actually playing, what do you hear? Does it match what you hear while you’re playing? Are you happy with the sound you hear on the recording?

Incorporate technique exercises into your daily practice. Technique exercises are like leafy green vegetables; you may not like them, but there’s no denying they’re good for you.

Step away from the harp. You can practice many harp skills away from the instrument. Take closing for example. Open and close your hands in front of you so you can see how your fingers close. Make sure your fingers aren’t curled up and you can see your nails. Make sure your hands are relaxed and your fingers are closing comfortably into your palm and your thumb rests on your second finger.