Every practice session involves elements of planning, such as what to practise and in which order to handle the tasks at hand. Phase 1 of the project “From Idea to Concert” ran for two months in the autumn of 2014. Three bachelor students guided by their oboe teacher Matz Pettersen set out to rehearse a piece in preparation for a class concert at the end of the semester. The key question was: can a 6–7 week practice plan help the students make better use of their practice time?

Learning repertoire ahead of a concert is something all conservatoire students have been doing for years. However, none of these three students had tried creating a schedule for a 6–7 week preparation period.

The works they would concentrate on were selected in consultation with their teacher. Student 1 chose Kalliwoda’s Concertino, Student 2 the first movement of a concerto by Albinoni, while Student 3 opted for Hummel’s Introduction, Theme and Variations. Students 1 and 2 are in their second year of the bachelor programme, while Student 3 is in the first year.

The project started with the student and teacher devising a preparation chart where they drew up interim goals for the weeks leading up to the concert. They spent the first couple of weeks adding important milestones to the chart, such as when they planned to have completed rehearsing the first movement, the second movement etc. They identified challenges in the work, e.g. how some sections contained technical passages that required more time in the timetable. Other passages may involve particular challenges in terms of stamina, intonation, dynamics and form. They focused on how certain challenges required measured and prolonged practice, while others could be linked to specific basic exercises to aid breathing or intonation, for instance. They generally worked on the premise that they should have finished studying every movement of the work thoroughly two weeks before the concert. The remaining two weeks they would try to address any parts of the work that they felt required more practice, while any technical aspects that they had mastered at an early stage were put to one side and revisited later on. Eventually they would also decide on when they wanted an accompanist, when to hold the dress rehearsal and similar issues.

In addition to the preparation chart, the students were also asked to keep a record of what they did and what they needed to work on next. These notes were not shown to or used by the teacher. Notes from a day with three hour-long practice sessions by Student 2: “Plan: warm-up, focus: legato/air flow; Albinoni, Britten, Tchaikovsky. Completed: Session 1: warm-up C major, good airflow. Salviani No. 12, crotchet=88, just managed it, No. 13, crotchet=69, just managed it (stressing over fingering), No. 14, crotchet=66, only just. Session 2: Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6. Session 3: Albinoni. Around 2 hours of reed making. Really good day of practising!”

Students 1 and 3 worked on their chosen works for the duration of the period, while Student 2 switched pieces. She made the change because she felt she had exhausted the piece half-way through the period and performed it in a forum lesson. For the concert at the end of the semester, she chose a sonatina by Pierre Sancan. She did not create a preparation chart for these 3–4 weeks of practice, but she said she adopted the thinking behind the chart.

With regard to technical challenges, they looked at various practice strategies, and the students shared their experiences during two group lessons.

Student 1 got on well with the task. He revised his preparation chart along the way when he had completed a task earlier or later than expected, and he said that he “became more focused” by using the chart and adhering to it by writing notes. As mentioned above, Student 2 changed her piece half-way through and did not use a formal preparation chart for the second piece, although she did adopt the “method”. Student 3, who had just enrolled on the bachelor course, found it difficult to follow the method. He wanted more short-term goals and did not feel he was “good at evaluating his playing”.

When speaking to the students they reflected on how it can be “difficult to set yourself long-term goals; difficult to predict what is going to happen”, and how “long-term goals take up too much time; it gets boring having to work on the same thing for a prolonged period”. The teacher was of the opinion that the students should choose practice assignments lasting two to three weeks in order to maintain motivation.

During the autumn, the teacher came to take the view that long-term planning must be better tailored to the individual and that students at the start of their bachelor studies “need clearer guidance and follow-up concerning practice. It would be good to start with a defined, shorter practice project for new students in their first semester”. The teacher still felt that “the project was useful both for me and for the students. The students’ and my reflections throughout the project have given me the clear impression that it is necessary to follow up on the students’ practice processes more closely, especially at the beginning of their studies,” he says.

The students’ comments may indicate that the concepts of “goals”, “long-term goals” and “interim goals” must be better defined and that the relationships between these types of goals and the time spent on them must be discussed, and that motivation and stamina can be put to the test when even minor interim goals take longer than expected.