Practising is about quality not quantity

Yo Yo Ma

This has to be my most favourite quote about music practice!

It might work well for others but clock watching never led to very productive practice sessions while I was learning. I found it far better to have a goal in mind rather than sit down at the piano and play for a set amount of time.

My goal might have been to work on a particular section in a piece or try to perfect a certain number of scales. Thinking about how much time was left on the clock would have turned this into a mindless task. The goal gave me a focus.

Nowadays I get carried away and can lose track of time quite easily. If I didn’t have a clock in my studio for teaching I would probably be in there playing for hours!

What are your thoughts on this quote?