No matter what age or stage you’re at there will always be days when practising the viola seems like an insurmountable task. Like a surprising number of things in life the thought of ‘doing the thing’ is almost always worse than actually ‘doing the thing’!
With that in mind, here are my top tips for getting over that first hurdle of picking up your viola and getting started as easily as possible.
Have a dedicated practice space and leave your viola case open if you can
Try to eliminate as many distractions and barriers as possible and make starting viola practice one step. If you need to do a big tidy up or find a room or fight for space your chances of actually getting started are massively reduced.
If you don’t have a place where you can leave your instrument out safely then the next best thing is to keep your viola with everything you’ll need to practise it. This is another way to save time and avoid distractions – no need to lose time and energy hunting for your music/ stand/ metronome when they’re all neatly stored together where you need them.
Habit stacking
You might not know it but you already habit stack – a great example is the order you do everything to get ready for bed means you never have to ‘remember’ to clean your teeth.
Think about your day or your week and find a moment you can tag 10 minutes of viola practice onto – maybe it’s the last 10 mins before dinner, the first thing you do when you get home or between eating breakfast and getting dressed.
If you’ve been learning the viola for a year or less then 10 minutes is plenty of time! Don’t get fooled into thinking you need hours at a time; an hour a week split into six, 10 minute sessions will make a much bigger difference to your playing than a single chunk the night before your viola lesson!
Know your limit and make your own definition of success
One of the things that makes learning the viola so exciting is there is always more to learn. This is also what makes practising on a daily basis overwhelming.
At the start of a practice session set yourself a clearly defined, completable task such as a time limit, a number of repetitions or a performance. Then, when you’ve achieved that goal, put your viola away and enjoy the feeling of a good job, well done.
