Today’s tool
Building a practice habit
Assignment: Identify your practice cues, establish your routine, and create meaningful rewards.
Build a practice habit using three components: a consistent cue (same time each day, or always after your morning coffee), your practice routine (the 20 minutes at your harp), and an immediate reward (a favorite treat, checking off your practice calendar, or playing one fun piece you love). The cue triggers the behavior, the routine is what you want to establish, and the reward reinforces it. Unlike motivation (which comes and goes), habits operate automatically once established. After a few weeks, you’ll find yourself naturally moving toward the harp at your cue time, and practice will feel less like a chore and more like “what I do.”
Learn more:
Harp Happiness, by Anne Sullivan
In this feature article from Harp Column magazine, Anne Sullivan gives 12 tips for creating practice habits to build harp happiness!
Music ideas:
Three-Note Arpeggio Etude, by Anne Sullivan
This original etude by Anne Sullivan was the first piece in Harp Column’s Tear-Out Tunes series! You can purchase it on Harp Column Music, or you can download it for FREE (along with 16 others!) with a subscription to Harp Column magazine.