How to choose and achieve that musical New Year's Resolution

So, someone shared a great mnemonic device with me the other day that only made me roll my eyes for an instant before I opened my mind and heart to accept the good advice that was being offered.  When setting a goal or resolving to change something in one's life, I admit, this could actually be helpful.

 Be SMART

SPECIFIC

MEASURABLE

ATTAINABLE

RELEVANT

TIME-BOUND

Finished rolling your eyes?  Did you want to say "gag me with a spoon!" or do a dramatic sigh/groan combo?  Yeah, me too.  But it's got me thinking.  Just trust me.

Say a certain musician wanted to challenge herself musically in the year ahead.  She might vow to take lessons.  Practice more.  Play in an ensemble.  Yet, though those things may come to fruition as time passes, the SMART path can only help in getting her there in a more timely fashion.

Let's get a bit more detailed:

Specifically speaking, this musician may want to improve her playing by strengthening her bowing techniques.  In order to do this, she plans to practice and complete an entire series/book of etudes that has been collecting dust on her bookshelf for some time.

A great way to measure this achievement is by taking video of herself during practice to literally see the improvement or lack thereof as time and practice progress.  This process in itself makes the task much more attainable, by demonstrating, visually, the progress.

Another way that this task can remain attainable is by choosing an appropriate technique level of the etudes to be practiced.  By choosing something too simple, one will not glean as much skill, while, likewise, choosing something far too challenging will thwart the learning process.

Much like keeping the goal attainable, choosing a goal or resolving to do something relevant to one's life will be more enriching.  For this musician, choosing appropriate and relevant repertoire will do the trick.  (String musicians have a plethora of options for etudes in local stores and online.  Just ask for help if you are unsure of what you've chosen or even what to look for.)

New Year's Resolutions are fantastic for keeping a goal time-bound!  And for a musician with a goal like the one in this post, a year to work through an etude book of an appropriate level with a focus on bow technique is a great length of time to complete the task with accuracy.  Smaller time-bound goals can be set and achieved throughout the year depending on the length and challenge of each exercise, as well.  How much time will be devoted to the etude each practice session or how often, might be another level to address.

As for me, I keep quiet about resolutions, though the one detailed in this post has crossed my mind a time or two.

Do you have any musical resolutions you would like to define more clearly?  Need a hand choosing material or devising a plan to help you stick to it?  Leave a comment or send me an e-mail.  I'm glad to help.  Really!