Whether you are learning piano, guitar, a woodwind or a brass instrument—or any other instrument for that matter—your weekly lesson is just the start of your practicing. If your lesson is the only practice you do each week then you will not progress as quickly as you likely want to—or at all!

But what are you supposed to do when you practice at home?

Here are some activities to do every time you sit down to practice. These activities can be modified for any instrument. For example, I have my trombone students "play" through their music without making a sound but saying out loud the slide position (or similar variations of "Say, Play and Count" using slide positions and counts). Adapt them as you deem fit.

Three Simple Questions

What the is title of the piece you're playing? Who wrote it? What is the tempo? These questions will lead to how you should practice your music. It's not good to perform you music at an inappropriately fast or slow tempo. Your practice should correspond accordingly.

Clap & Count the Steady Beat

 The first part of the exercise is simply to clap along with the metronome at a reasonable tempo. I've found that a good tempo at this stage is 72 BPM (BPM stands for beats per minute), but I wouldn't recommend going any higher than 100 BPM. Metronomes used to be expensive pieces of hardware, but now they are free apps or reasonably-priced paid versions with features that only used to be on the ones costing over $100 several years ago. One of my favorite apps is Pro Metronome. You can also go to Google.com and search for "metronome" to load one up directly in your browser.

The next step is to group your counts based on the time signature of the piece. Clap along as you count to the top number of the time signature. Put a slight accent on the first beat of each measure to feel the downbeat. Better yet, march around the room, taking a step for each beat. Step a little louder on beat one!

Count Steady Beat Aloud & Clap Rhythm

When you're feeling the steady beat in your body, take this next step: Clap the rhythm of the melody in your music. This is usually the right hand at the piano, but sometimes the melody meanders between the hands. In any case, follow that melody and clap the rhythm. It's even better if you do this with a metronome. Melody is always king, so make sure it's under your fingers!

Name Notes

This can be done both at and away from your instrument. Look at the page only (not the keyboard) and identify the note name on the staff. A variations is to say the note name, then play it on the piano. This can be done slowly, independent of the rhythm, tempo and time signature! It leads to the next exercise…

Say, Play, & Count

Say note names as you play and count aloud any held notes. For example, "Three Blind Mice" could be E D C TWO, E D C TWO. This is to be done in time (hello metronome), but slowly. Slow and steady is great!

Identify Intervals by Size and Direction from Note to Note

Knowing the names of notes is important, but as equally important is seeing how to get from one note to the next. Notes will either repeat, or go up or down from one to the next. You might hear yourself saying "Step up," or "skip down." If you've studied specific numeric intervals (e.g. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.), then use those: "up a fourth," "down a second." For the first note in a piece (or when it switches to the other clef) say the name of the note, and then continue with identifying intervals. 

Play & Count Aloud.

With your eyes on the page, play your music “nice-and-steady” and count along. The time signature will determine what you count to. You can also use generic rhythm syllables like Ta for the steady beat, or better yet, count the beat and division aloud (Tadi tadi, or 1 & 2 &, etc.).

Active Listening

When you practice you should always listen to yourself as you play:

1. To identify spots where you hesitate;
2. To assess whether you are playing all the proper indications aside from the correct rhythm and pitch (e.g. dynamics and articulations);
3. To assess your tone production (e.g. on piano, whether the melody is clearly defined against the accompaniment).

The time you spend in between lessons going over assignments, and further experimenting with your instrument is where the real value in lessons is found. In your lesson your instructor should have guided you in the right direction to tackle various technical or artistic issues you may have encountered in your studies together. Do those and more on your own, and communicate with your teacher about your discoveries. This will ensure getting the most out of your studies.