Practice usually includes:


Review of known material/technique-- Warmup: Relaxed playing through oldies to keep them fresh and to be able to start from what is played/sung well before moving on to next step.

Development of known material/technique-- Jamming: Improvisation, experimentation, creative play.

Exploration of new material/technique-- Non-critical learning: Noodling around to find what may work.

Assessment of repertoire, by piece-- Critical thinking: Is a given piece ready to perform in public? Do adjustments need to be made in key, technique, skill in order to bring a piece to ready?

Farewells-- Letting go: Putting piece(s) to bed for some length of time if it is not ready for development

Playing with others-- Musicianship: Periodic sharing of material to see how it goes in group. Cuts across all of the above.


Any given piece can be in any one of these phases and/or move through them.

~Susan