Wise Wednesday: The questions which are at the heart of tricky daily practice are:

1. Why should I practice every single day?
2. How important is it to practice every day?
3. What are the benefits of practicing every day?
4. Are the benefits such that this amazing goal is important?
5. Why do I ask my students to take on this challenge?
   First let me say that the benefits of practicing every day are
   multi-faceted. There are neurological, physical, psychological,
   emotional, and developmental benefits.

Neurological and Physically: When we pick up our instrument to practice, all parts of our brains light up and fire on all cylinders. We are making millions more connections than anything else we might do during the rest of the day.

This is a scientific fact. Therefore, it seems to me that the activity of practicing and playing a musical instrument makes it easier to learn and perform everything else we are tasked to do. Along with this come faster connections while our repetitions of a passage build myelin insulation allowing our skill to be performed automatically and respond faster.

A teacher of mine once told me: “For every day I do not practice, my progress slips by two days.” Hmm…