Learn Faster, Perform Better: A Musician’s Guide to the Neuroscience of Practicing

by Susan Agrawal

Many of us were thrilled when we heard that violist and neuroscientist Dr. Gebrian Gebrian was publishing a book on practicing. While many CMPI fellows and families have likely been exposed to articles or workshops on practicing, these rarely are comprehensive enough to get into the nitty-gritty details of effective practice, and perhaps more importantly, the scientific rationale behind it. This book, Learn Faster, Perform Better: A Musician’s Guide to the Neuroscience of Practicing, finally fills that gap.

Our family first encountered Dr. Gebrian last year when she provided a neuroscience-based lecture on learning music through the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy program for advanced string and piano players. In the months that followed, we saw her two more times, in person at the American Viola Society Festival, and in a recorded format during Oberlin’s Viola Workshop. Each time, we were a bit more intrigued. When her book finally came out this fall, we pre-ordered it and looked forward to seeing all the details in writing. (Note: this book is not just for violists – we just happened to encounter the author at viola programs!)

Are you practicing wrong?

In the very first chapter of the book, which outlines the fundamentals of practicing and the brain, you encounter a list of practice habits to avoid. You guessed it – the musicians in our family tend to practice in ways that should be avoided: playing through pieces, playing until you make a mistake, playing through slowly, playing the things you can already play well, and doing endless repetitions. Sound familiar?

This book offers a different approach, grounded in neuroscience, with scientific studies to back up each suggestion. While neuroscience may sound challenging to understand, Dr. Gebrian is a whiz with analogies and metaphors, and easily explains even the most complicated studies easily.

Effective practice may be counterintuitive

For most of us, many of these techniques are very different from what we have been taught for years. For example, the book contains several chapters on both taking breaks and sleeping. Dr. Gebrian advocates both microbreaks – taking short breaks between learning elements – and large-scale breaks, including breaks of a week or even more between practicing a specific section or piece. She provides ample evidence that the brain learns much better with breaks (and with sleep!), allowing musicians who take breaks to accomplish even more. If you were taught that learning your instrument meant 4-6 hours of nonstop practicing each day, you may find this information both shocking and frightening. It’s scary to suddenly add in lots of breaks and to stop practicing for hours on end – but it is also apparently much more effective for your brain.

Other chapters help you to determine the perfect practice schedule and provide information on how interleaved practice is far more effective than blocked practice in most circumstances. Once you have learned the basics, switching between different tasks, called interleaved practice, challenges your brain much more and will help you to become more consistent in your practice. Another chapter likely to astound those who practice for hours on end is one on mental practice and how unbelievably effective it can be.

Targeting specific struggles

Later chapters target different problems musicians face – learning to memorize music, staying focused, boosting confidence, improving rhythm, improving intonation, and learning how to play faster. While some of the techniques in these chapters may be more familiar, they are often coupled with the other practice techniques, such as taking breaks and interleaved practice, to make them more effective.

The book concludes with a series of very helpful appendices. One of these, a list of practice strategies outlined throughout the entire book, is available as a free download on Dr. Gebrian’s website. If you are unsure about whether the book may help you, looking through this list may give you a better idea of the topics you will encounter in the book. Other appendices include specific information for different types of instruments (winds, percussion, strings, voice, etc.) and sample practice calendars.

For those who are struggling with effective practice, this book is an absolute must read. It’s also really helpful to those of us who need to know the “why” behind practice recommendations. For students who don’t learn well through reading, they may find the companion videos and podcasts on her website helpful. She also offers paid courses and workbooks for those who prefer that style of learning, including live workshops, self-paced courses, and mini-courses.