Practicing your music, especially playing musical instruments requires that you dedicate enough time to perfect the keys. With the nature of the modern lifestyle that always has us on the move, it might be difficult for you to find some spare time to practice. Not to worry though. With modern problems comes modern solutions. If you are always on the move and barely find time to settle, you can steal some hours from your busy schedule, especially when traveling to practice. The time spent on transit on trains, in cabs, and airplanes is more than enough for you to practice. Here are 3 ways you can put it into good use.
1. Buy a Portable Instrument
First and foremost, you need an instrument of your choice to practice. These days, you can get basically any instrument that is light and small enough to carry around. But do not go around carrying a trombone around or people will think you are crazy. There are guitars, recorders and even pianos, yes, pianos that you can easily carry around.
Talking of pianos, these are not the small instruments that are basically toys, but real instruments that can produce quality music. You can get yourself a good roll up piano, that you can use for practice virtually anywhere, and at any time. This piano folds up nicely into its pocket when you need to carry it, and then rolls out nicely when you want to play. It also uses rechargeable batteries so that you can charge it on the go. The batteries can also keep the charge for quite some time so you don’t have to worry when you get to a place with no electricity.
2. Don’t Use Your Car
If you are running errands that you need you to be away from home for an extended period, leave your car at home and commit to using a chauffeur-driven vehicle. You can also hire a driver to accompany you. Having a driver allows you to save up the time you would be driving and use that time to practice your music. Imagine if you are traversing across the country. You will find that at times you are driving more than two hours without stopping. Two hours is a lot of time to spare and use it for practicing.
When at the train and bus stations or when at an airport, you spend a lot of time waiting for your designated bus, train or airplane to arrive. This is especially a common occurrence when at the airport. Most of the time, you have to get to the airport more than 60 mins before your flight. You can use this time to practice your chords, and use the flight time to practice reading music notes. Make a point of recording your practice sessions when at home, then you can save them on your phone or iPad and listen to them when traveling. You will have a better understanding of your music and know where to improve.
3. Write New Melodies and Listen to New Music
Getting away for a vacation can be a good time to reflect and come up with new ideas. If you are going for a camping vacation, take time to connect with nature and just savor what it has to offer. Find a quiet place where you can meditate and just listen to nature’s sounds as well as your own compositions. You will realize that great ideas come when you just let go off your daily life’s pressures and just allow the natural world to connect with you. You will find yourself writing beautiful melodies and a couple of lovely songs.
On such a vacation, you can carry a guitar or a recorder. These are two instruments that do not require an external power source to operate. You just find a quiet place and proceed with your practice. Take the time to listen to new music. The world has so many cultures with so many different musical instruments. You will be surprised to encounter some instruments you never even imagined existed. Interact with such and if possible, learn to play some of those. Music is universal, so you do not have to worry about the new cultures. You can even learn a new language by just listening and practicing songs from different cultures. The more you learn, the more you enrich your musical repertoire and expertise.
So, do not fret when you have that business trip that requires you to go to the other side of the world. Just take it as an opportunity to learn more.
