Blocked vs Interleaved
Ok, so you’ve got 1 choice, either:
1. Sound good in the practice room
or
2. Sound good on stage.
Which one do you choose?
I’m hoping that most of you would choose option 2 over option 1!
So my follow-up question is whether you are designing your practice for on stage success, or only for success in the practice room?
Now we’ve come to a somewhat controversial topic for many musicians – what is the most effective and efficient practice strategy? This question is controversial not because the science of learning and skill acquisition is in doubt, but because it goes against the way that most musicians have been taught to practice by their teachers (myself included!)
Blocked vs Interleaved Practice
We looked at blocked practice a few weeks ago. This is where repetitions of a particular section or exercise are done all together in a row, before moving onto the next task. It looks something like this:
Task A – AAAA (15 minutes)
Task B – BBBB (15 minutes)
Task C – CCCC (15 minutes) etc.
This widely used method gives us noticeable improvements within the session itself. The seemingly logical impression is that these developments will flow through to future sessions, but unfortunately this is not always the case.
“I could play it so well yesterday, but today I feel like I’m back at square 1!”
Blocked practice makes us sound good today, but doesn’t lead to the greatest retention tomorrow.
What research now shows us is that our practice methods need to be adjusted in order for real learning and improvement to be RETAINED after each practice session. This is where interleaved practice becomes an integral practice strategy.
So what is interleaved practice?
Interleaving is when you break up the various tasks in a practice session, and alternate between each of them at short intervals. Dividing up the number of repetitions into smaller time fragments, (say, 3-5 minute chunks, instead of 10-15 minute blocks) and alternating between tasks creates a much more efficient learning environment. It looks something like this:
Task A – 3 minutes
Task B – 3 minutes
Task C – 3 minutes
Task A – 3 minutes
Task B – 3 minutes
Task C – 3 minutes etc.
Whilst the number of repetitions ends up being the same for both practice strategies, there are a few fundamental differences that lead to significantly greater retention.
Interleaved practice helps you:
· Maintain greater focus and concentration. Each task is only a few minutes long, so it is much easier to maintain attention for a short space of time, as opposed to 10-15+ minutes on a single task. This prevents mindless repetition and boredom by keeping the brain engaged and active for shorter bursts on different material every few minutes.
· Retain more information by creating contextual interference. The “Contextual Interference Effect” is a phenomenon that occurs when tasks are regularly interrupted, meaning that our brain has to work harder to recall and process information. These interruptions, combined with the “Spacing Effect” helps strengthen long-term memory and greatly improves learning outcomes. Studies have shown interleaved practice to be more than twice as effective as blocked practice for skill retention and performance.
· Simulate a more accurate representation of a performance environment by giving you more opportunities to have a “first go” at a piece, excerpt, or exercise. In blocked practice you only get one “first go” at the start of each block. Whereas interleaved practice gives you multiple opportunities in each session to come back and play something from scratch again. Nailing a piece or excerpt on the first try is a difficult challenge, so interleaving gives you the chance to train this more often than blocked repetition.
While the benefits of interleaved practice are significant and well documented in many fields of performance, it is important to note that interleaving will generally feel less enjoyable and more mentally taxing than blocked practice. It can be frustrating and hard to adjust to the constant stopping and starting in the beginning, but with perseverance you will be able to improve significantly, both in practice and in performance.
Interleaving is also a strategy that will require a bit of forward planning. Working out what sections to work on and how to schedule them together is best done before you start your practice session, rather than during. This is so you don’t have any extra decisions to make mid-session, as your brain will be working overtime as is!
One great tool that I use to organise my practice sessions is an interval timer app on my phone. The one I have is called “Seconds Pro Interval Timer”, but there are plenty out there to choose from. Alternatively you can just use your countdown timer function on your phone, which will work just fine. I tend to do 5-minute intervals, with a 30-second break between tasks, just so I can shake out any built-up tension in my body and have a quick sip of water.
If you want to learn even more about blocked vs interleaved practice, have a look at this fantastic video by University of Arizona Assistant Professor of Viola, Dr. Molly Gebrian.
Interleaved practice takeaways
· Blocked practice makes us sound good today, but doesn’t lead to the greatest retention tomorrow.
· Interleaving is when you break up the various tasks in a practice session, and alternate between each of them at short intervals.
· Interleaved practice helps you to maintain greater focus and concentration, prevents mindless repetition and boredom, creates greater retention due to contextual interference, and simulates a more accurate representation of a performance environment, which greatly improves performance.
· Interleaved practice will generally be less enjoyable and more mentally taxing than blocked practice. However studies have shown interleaved practice to be more than twice as effective as blocked practice for skill retention and performance.
· Use an interval timer or countdown timer to organise your practice schedule.