How To Finally Commit to Music Learning in 2024.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🎉
For a lot of people, starting the year means setting another New Years Resolution and one of the most popular New Years Resolutions is to start or pick back up that dusty musical instrument that’s been sitting in the corner of the room.
Giving yourself a new goal for the year and a start date (1st January) sounds like a great way of kicking yourself into action. However, 9% of people quit after just the first week of setting a New Years Resolution, 43% quit by the end of January and a massive 90% of people don’t make it to the end of the year!
So why is it that so many people quit on there New Years Resolutions and how can you stop becoming another statistic this year?!
1. What Are You Aiming For?! 🎯
One of the biggest problems that New Years Resolutions don’t account for is clarity! For many people they have the idea of starting something new but don’t really consider what they are working towards (other than continuing indefinitely).
For those that have a goal already, the goal is often something like “I want to get to grade 8 on the piano” or “I want to play Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3”. - These types of goals (although exciting and motivating in the short term), become very difficult to sustain because the everyday work that you need to put in can feel like it is not getting you any closer to your goal!
So to give yourself the best chance of success this year, try to be really clear on what your goals are, and most importantly, pick something that you can do in the next 6-12 months!
Here are some great outcome based goals to work towards in 2024!
If you are a complete beginner:
- Grade 1 Piano (an obvious one)
- Be Able To Play A Specific Pop Songs By Ear
- Be able To Improvise A Jazz Or Blues Solo
- Be Able To Write Your Own Song
- Grade 5 Music Theory
- Learn To Sight Read Grade 1 Level Sight Reading Exercises
If you have played before:
- Take The Next Grade
- Nail All Of Your Scales
- Learn A Specific Piece Of Music
- Learn To Sight Read A Grade Higher Than Your Current Level
Remember that it’s important to set something that interests you. The main reason for setting an outcome based goal is so that you know which direction you are heading in!
2. Small Input Goals - Consistently! 🎹
A longer term outcome based goal is there as a way of orienting yourself without looking too far up the mountain! However, a more important type of goal to set is an input goal! This is particularly important for beginners, because it’s hard to know how long a goal might take if you’ve never done something before, but you DO know what effort you can put in!
An input goal is a goal based on what effort you are going to put in! Setting input goals is how we form a new habit and it helps to combat that feeling of resistance we get as we start to lose that initial motivation! The key to this is to be really conservative with what you expect from yourself!
Did you know that it takes 21 days to form a new habit and it takes 90 days to make the new habit a lifestyle change? Starting a new habit or a new routine doesn’t need to be a big commitment, holding back, starting small and having room to add more will get you through that 21 day and 90 day period!
How many times a week is it feasible to practice?
How long can you practice for each time you practice?
To start with, take an extra day off of how many times a week you can practice. So if you can practice 5 days a week, do 4! If you can practice for 3 days a week, do 2! Also try reducing the amount of practice time you think you can manage by 25%. So if you can do 40 minutes per practice session, do 30 minutes. If you can do 20 minutes per practice session, do 15 minutes.
After 21 days, when you have your new habit all set up, then add that extra day back in and after 90 days add the extra 25% to your practice if you still feel like you can add that extra time!
The real task with input goals on a day-to-day basis is to do what you said you were going to do and just get the sessions ticked off! If you start to feel too much resistance towards practicing, then reduce the amount of time or days you are commited to practicing, but KEEP GOING!
3. Getting Started 🤔
The Law Of Inertia - “An object at rest remains at rest, an object in motion remains in motion.”
As soon as you start your New Years Resolution you are “in motion” and once you’ve started, it makes it much easier to continue! So, what can you do the first time you sit down at the piano or pick up your instrument?
Some questions to get you started:
- Note Reading (What is a treble clef? What is a bass clef? What is a Stave/Staff? What are the different note lengths? Where are the notes on the stave?)
- Scales (What is a scale? Why learn them? What fingers should you use to play them?)
- Chords (What is a triad? What is the difference between a major and minor triad?)
- Music Theory (What is a key signature? What is a time signature?)
These are some questions that you can use to help you practice the things that are aligned with your goals!
Every topic in music is a deep rabbit hole and there is a lot to understand and practice! Start with a little bit of each topic but focus particularly on the topic that is most aligned with your goals (topics: reading, scales, chords, music theory, listening skills) and remember to have some fun with it and not expect too much from yourself each time you practice. If you can stay consistent, start small, accumulate practice time and move in the right direction, next year you will be able to look back and know you were one of the 10% that made it the full year!
Matthew Cawood
(This is from my “Monday Music Tips“ weekly email newsletter. Join my mailing list to be emailed with future posts.)