Crush Your Cello Playing Goals in 6 Hours a Week

When I was in the Cirque du Soleil O show, after playing ten shows a week, there wasn’t much time to practice. 

Every night I would slink home from the Las Vegas strip to my five month old baby girl, exhausted and sleep deprived.

Though I sounded pretty good  in the show, that was the only music I sounded good on. We played it over and over, 2 shows a day, 10 shows a week.  And though I was in what might have been the most exciting position I had ever had, I felt a bit deflated. 

I dreamed every night of figuring out how to develop my playing and become a better cellist. 

I was determined to come up with a practice plan that would propel me forward. 

And I did.

I charted my plan on a beat up old notebook  and I updated it every week.

In between the intensive schedule of rehearsals and nightly shows at the Bellagio, and taking care of my infant daughter who had just recently arrived on the scene,  I managed to find some time every morning  to work on my skills.

Those morning practice sessions,  skillfully planned and implemented in my time away from the Olympic gymnasts and divers and the clowns and contortionists and all the drama and the hoopla of the circus was enough to land me my next full time professional  gig, where I performed Bach and Beethoven nightly with an erudite symphony orchestra that I absolutely adored.

I devised this 30 Day Cello Practice Planner to share the method that I used to get that gig.

 In just six hours a week of practice.

I still use the planner today to organize my practice weekly, to keep my  fingers in shape, and to keep my cello playing evolving, so that I always feel the deep connection and integrity that music brings into my life. 

It inspires me to write down the goals that I have and accomplish them. 

It allows me to be in shape on my cello while filling my life also with all the other things that I love to do, like walking my beautiful golden doodle along the ocean, riding my bike, writing poetry and teaching cellists around the world to build their ideal musical lives.

When we prioritize and strategize our practice and our lives in this way, we become better cellists, and happier, healthier humans.