How to use the online timer
Thirty minutes of practice is enough to make progress on any instrument, provided the thirty minutes are spent practising rather than playing. The distinction matters: playing is running through what you can already do, which is enjoyable and changes nothing. Practising is finding the two bars that fall apart every time and working specifically on those, which is duller and is where the improvement comes from.
A workable split is a few minutes of warm-up, ten on technical work, and the rest on repertoire tackled in sections rather than end to end. Slow it down until the passage is correct, then speed it up in small steps with a metronome, and accept that a passage played fast and wrong five times has practised being wrong. Marking the score with a pencil at the spot that keeps failing means the next session starts there rather than at bar one.
Recording thirty seconds on a phone is uncomfortable and unusually honest, exposing timing and tuning that pass unnoticed while playing. Grade syllabuses give the session a ready-made shape, since scales, pieces, sight-reading and aural all carry marks and the neglected ones show up in the results. Finish on something you enjoy playing, so sitting down tomorrow is less of a negotiation.
Common questions
What is the difference between playing and practising?
Playing is running through what you can already do. Practising is isolating the passage that keeps failing and working specifically on it, slowly enough to get it right.
Should I use a metronome?
Yes, especially when building speed. Slow the passage until it is correct, then raise the tempo in small steps, since a passage played fast and wrong has only practised being wrong.
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