TIP 1:
Every second day play your piece of repertoire through and every other day work on the details.

 

TIP 2:
Warm down every day with low notes and relaxing exercises after you  finish  your practicing so that you can speed up your recovery time by 50%.

 

TIP 3:
Start working on your your sonata/concerto from the last movement. When you are performing it and getting more tired towards the end, then you can relax because you know that it is your ”strongest part”.

 

TIP 4:
Plan your repertoire for the learning period. Copy the parts you feel need a lot of repetition and create your own list of sections you have to repeat slowly every day. When you start playing the new repertoire all the way through then you have already practiced the tricky parts and so you can concentrate more on the phrasing, style, interpretation and other things instead.

 

TIP 5:
Have a new perspective to scale playing: Play around with one scale, then improvise ”your own” folk song or a children’s song with that scale.  Then choose another scale and go on like that. Feel that you ”own” the key when you play around it.

 

TIP 6:
Choose a picture and improvise with the same mood/ feeling. Use it in your repertoire or choose new pictures for your repertoire if you need to.

 

Tip 7:
 Use roleplay. Take a ”role” and play with that. Select a famous musician you admire and imagine you are him/her while you play and practice.

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See also: practicing, Physical practicing and recovery tips