SMART Goals

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The Practice Group

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For/to help beginners/improvers indulging in deliberate practice to improve their banjo playing. An open group.

88 Members, Created 11/6/2017 -

Administrators: AndyW (owner) , Boadicea , WayneConrad

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From AndyW on 11/11/2017 12:51:14 AM

As a beginner/improver struggling to improve technique, my feeling is it's important to have goals to work to.

(S) Specific

(M) Measureable

(A) Achievable

(R) Relevant

(T) Timebased

My current goals are:

Immediate(Within a Week) Memorise a new 'kitchen sink' tune from the 'Clawhammer From Scratch' book I am working from.

Short Term(Two Months) Have all twelve kitchen sink tunes memorised. Gives me an average of 5 days per tune. I can therefore measure my progress throughout the two months.

Medium Term(Six Months) This goal will inevitably get mixed with further short term goals. Bring all twelve tunes up to a speed of 160bpm. This is a more awkward goal to set as I have no way of knowing how quickly I can improve. I have picked 160bpm as it is the speed I managed to get the basic drop thumb Mississippi Sawyer up to whilst playing it from tablature and think it is therefore an achievable speed to reach. I know speed is not an end in itself so please no preaching.

4 Comments
	WayneConrad says: 11/11/2017 10:29:21 AM Highly structured practice is great stuff, I agree. What do you think about unstructured practice like noodling? Would you just call that "playing," or is it its own kind of practice?
	AndyW says: 11/11/2017 10:56:13 AM Depends. On guitar I learn't the basic blues pentatonic scale all the way up the neck. Then afterwards, half my time was spent noodling on that scale. It probably improved my playing in some aspects. But I'm not really sure how exactly. Had I set myself a SMART goal for that noodling it might have turned out different. I think once basic technique has been gained there is more argument for noodling. The more your technique becomes competent then the more music becomes about 'feel'. I think noodling could probably helps bring in little bends or vibrato at the right moments(I'm too early in banjo to know if short sustain prevents that). On a fretless I'd imagine noodling helps slides. Noodling is almost definitely a good thing if you wish to sort your own arrangements, or write your own material.
	FretlessFury says: 11/12/2017 6:36:27 AM Hey Andy, I think deliberate practice of speed is a great thing. I know that it's often frowned upon in the old time community, which has always baffled me since in other musical idioms working to increase tempo is a major step towards instrument mastery. The way I think of it is that I'm building a house. The wider, and more stout my foundation is, the stronger my building is. Sure, I'm not going to play a tune at 230 bpm, but having that headroom makes even the fastest dance tempos feel smooth and easy. The other thing that working on speed can do is help you develop flow and relaxation. High tempos are only possible if your technique is a.) second nature b.) relaxed and c.) smooth. So in working towards those higher tempos, you're developing those 3 critical technical skills. I just wanted to post real quick to support your idea of using some of your practice time to explore fast tempos. I think it's time well spent.
	AndyW says: 11/12/2017 6:59:16 AM Thanks for the input Tom. I did notice you mentioning this in the few (so far, as I've been concentrating on Dan's book) episodes of banjo blitz that I have viewed. I even notice now as I progress 'Year of Jubilo' that I am currently working on that an attempt to up the tempo results in the original slower tempo becoming much easier. I imagine an 'ease of playing' is essential to allow expression such as syncopation, pushing/pulling around the beat etc to become natural.
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