What’s the best reason for not practicing?

Friday, May 10th 2019

....there isn’t one!

Howdy folks! My name is Magesh, I’m a professional drummer/drum teacher from Australia.

I once had a student come to me and say, “How long will it take for my hands to get ‘fast’?” Clearly the answer to this question depends on how much a student practices. Part of me wanted to mess with this student and say, “It will take 349 days, 7 hours and 64 seconds for your hands to get ‘fast’. Even if you don’t practice. Just make sure you stare at your instrument twice a day and dream of becoming a rock star. This is the only way I can see your hands getting ‘fast’.”

Most teachers have different opinions on how much a student should practice, although I think the one thing we all agree on is that there is no substitute for practicing.

I’ve been fortunate to play drums for Rihanna, Ricky Martin, Lionel Richie, Chris Brown, the Pussy Cat Dolls and more. Fun fact: I’ve played with mega famous singers that didn’t sing at all and even used rubber microphones on stage while lip syncing. I’ve never told that story to anyone so let’s just keep that between you, me and the internet.


Would you try a fun way to track your practice and progress? Check out our new practice log. A focused violinist! As part of our soon-to-be-released practice log tool, this sticker is meant to signify a really great practice session. Lessonface has created a new option for students: a practice log to help you track your practice, which we will have ready-to-use this month. The log will come with real stickers -- for helping kids (of all ages) keep up with practicing in a fun way. Would you like to help us test? Sign up here and we'll mail you a two-month set of logs + stickers for free. You can download and print the practice log template at any time here. Limited, US-based students only at this time, with apologies to our outside-of-the-US-students, while supplies last, one set per student. After the trial period, we will have the log template free for download and print, and stickers as an option.

In the age we live in with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Netflix and somehow trying to find time to keep up with the Kardashians it can be a struggle to fit in time to practice a musical instrument.

So how can we do it?

Simple. Practice for the same amount of time at the same time EVERYDAY. For example, 5pm to 5:20pm is ‘drum time’. Or ‘violin time’ if you play violin. Or ‘tuba time’ if you play tuba. Or ‘piccolo flute time‘ if you play piccolo flute. Or…. well…you get the idea.

Every now and then something will happen which will make it impossible for you to practice.

Here are some reasons that are ACCEPTABLE reasons for you not to practice:

1. You got sick (but for real, no faking)

2. You break your leg. (Although you could still practice piccolo flute with a broken leg.)

That’s pretty much all the reasons why it would be ok not to practice.

Here are some reasons that are UNACCEPTABLE for you not to practice.

1. Your favorite show was on TV (you can always watch it online tomorrow)

2. You were tired (seriously???!!!)!

I once had a 12-year-old student who never practiced. He came in to his lesson and I said, “Did you practice this week?”

He said, “No.”

I said, “Was there any reason why you were unable to practice?”

He said, “I had to get milk.”

I said, “It took you 7 days to get milk?”

He comes to his next lesson and hasn’t practiced. Once again I asked him why he hadn’t practiced. He said, “My sister was going to a school dance and I had to help her pick out the dress.”

I thought to myself, “Where was the dress store located? In another country? My wife can pick out a dress in 30 minutes or less. Maybe his sister was just really indecisive.”

The moral to the story is you can have the greatest excuses in the world (or the most unbelievable ones!) but the only way to get better on your instrument is practice. So try and do the same amount of time at the same time EVERYDAY. Unless you need to go out and buy milk.