How to Make a Practice Space

I had hopes of actually making this topic a YouTube video but I don't have a great camera still and the time it would take to edit, etc. would be just a bit much given my schedule over the next couple of weeks so instead I present to you now and here the topic: How to Create a Practice Space.

If you are anything like me then a practice space is a sacred place where you can focus and leave the distractions of the outside world behind the closed door. When you're in music school it's easy right? They give you rooms in the building where you spend time rehearsing and taking classes and those rooms are specially designed and set up for the purpose of doing NOTHING but practice. You trick yourself into thinking that a space such as that will always be available and open for your use. Then you graduate and you think to yourself "well shit". Many musicians who don't win jobs or go on to other degrees will never truly practice again without the comfort of a school sanctioned practice space and this is the WORST thing that could happen considering you now need to worry even more about keeping your chops up without school related events to keep you performing and playing. 

Now believe me I totally understand that practicing at home is difficult for most of us. I have never really been able to focus my energies at home what with the internet, television, fridge...but I am here to tell you that you can create a space for yourself in your home/apartment that serves as a practice room. The only catch is that you need to be ready and willing to first; give up a space, and second; follow a few simple rules. Here are my 3 quick easy steps to creating your very own "Practice Room".

1) Select your Space

If you're lucky and live in a house like I do than you might actually be able to devote an entire room to this (which is what I have done) and maybe some apartments have this option as well. Many out of school musicians though are living in tight quarters with other persons and may not be able to afford an entire room just to themselves for the sole purpose of practicing. If you are living with other musicians, many of them probably feel the same way you do about having a practice space so my first suggestion would be to devote a shared space in your apartment to a practice space that you then can each "sign out" for use throughout the day. This way you are all working together to keep yourselves accountable for practicing and may be able to share such amenities as metronomes, tuners or even music. This still may not work out and then we need to revert to the age old "my bedroom is also my practice room". My solution to this problem is to simply devote a corner of your room to a music stand and small bedside table upon which you can place your "practice materials of choice" and make sure you keep it devoid of things such as laundry and trash. That way when you are facing your stand you are seeing a clean slate and can trick your mind into thinking it is not in your bedroom. 

My music stand in my corner of the room (as you can tell my practice room is also the laundry room)

I keep all my reference CD's in here as well

2) Make it look like a "Music Room"

Now we have a space but it still looks like just another room in your home. Try practicing there and you will find that since it doesn't look or feel like it is devoted to music the distractions will creep slowly back in and soon your instrument will end up laying aside while you watch YouTube videos of cats on your phone. FAIL! Once again I offer up a few ideas on how to solve this problem and keep the focus:

First bring your crate of music into the space. In my practice room I have my small file cabinet of music off to the side so that if I need something out of it I don't have to leave the room to get it and become trapped by something in the "outside world". The cabinet itself also serves as another kind of "table top" to store music that I might not need at the moment or an extra metronome, batteries or for me (hopefully soon) a CD player/I-Pod player so I can do listening projects or play along with recordings from time to time.

Second, surround yourself with "musician things". What do I mean by that? Well first every practice room needs the holy trinity; metronome, tuner, music stand. Easy considering we all hopefully own one of each of these by the time we graduate college. Why stop there though? In my space I also keep my CD collection so that I always feel Pahud is watching while I blunder through technical passages. I also have a pile of music related magazines or mailings for local symphonies etc. Maybe a poster would work for you as well? We are trying to create more of a studio space that you can settle into so anything that you think will help you focus should be placed in the room. And I would recommend that if you have not yet invested in some kind of recording device or program you should...but maybe another blog on that topic altogether may be needed.

Third you need to make sure to TAKE OUT anything you might find distracting to you. To me, this is the most important step. If your computer will be tempting to you put it out of the room. If you're stuck in your bedroom, put it in the living room or ask a roommate if you can store it in their room while you practice. Same thing with your phone. Another solution to the phone is to shut it off while you practice. It takes time to boot back up again and that will make it less tempting since you have to wait that extra time to use it anyway. DO  NOT practice with a TV on. Some people claim this works but I find you aren't really paying attention to what you're doing (even if the sound is off...those pictures are moving and so can still distract) and it's counterproductive to not be giving 100% of your attention to the task at hand.

Metronomes fit perfectly on windowsills! 

My music at my fingertips

Also used as a table

Surrounded by "musical things"

3) Create and Post a Schedule

Now you have the space USE IT! I like to post or keep at hand the schedule that I come up with each Sunday for my weekly practice. Some days I even go so far as to assign time to each individual thing I need to get done to ensure I'm doing a minimum of three hours or so a day. That way as I cross things off I can adjust as needed based on things that I maybe didn't get to and I can keep myself working on the things I need to worry about most or first instead of always just playing things that are easy or that I like.

Extra table where I often also keep my practice schedule

Aaaaaaand that's it! Simple, complete and of course opinionated. This works for me to a point but afterwards the space will not make up for lack of focus. You need to be able to set goals and see them through. I find that a space devoted to this helps me and I bet you will too. If you have any suggestions please let me know and maybe I can compile any new ideas into a "Practice Space Creation Part 2" posting. I'd also love if you sent me pictures of your spaces so that when I do move I have ideas for how to create a space in a new place!

Thanks for reading and of course HAPPY PRACTICING!!!!