Variety is the spice of life

Back in 1978 there was an interesting experiment aimed at measuring how different types of practice affected skill development in children. This particular experiment had two groups of children, aged either 8 or 12 years old, throwing beanbags into buckets from a set distance.

Each age group was split into two groups. Half of the 8 year olds practiced throwing from their testing distance of 3 feet away from the target, and half of the 12 year olds from their testing distance of 4 feet away. This was the “specific” or “blocked” practice group.

The other half of the kids mixed up their practice and threw from 2 different distances, but not the testing distance i.e. the 8 year olds practised throwing from 2 and 4 feet away, and the 12 year olds threw from 3 and 5 feet away. This was the “varied” practice group.

So after 12 weeks of practice, which group do you think produced a better outcome in the final test?

The results might surprise you, but the varied practice group did significantly better, even though they had never practiced at the testing distance! 😲

But why did this happen? 🤔

Our brain learns more when change and variability are a part of skill development!

Whilst it might seem counter-intuitive that the varied group performed better, this experiment teaches us a lot about how we learn and develop skills. This particular experiment looked at motor skill development, but further research has found the same results apply to cognitive learning as well.

If you view this from an evolutionary perspective, your brain is always on the lookout for threats or change in your environment. As soon as your immediate surroundings stay the same, your brain registers that you are safe and have nothing to fear. When that happens, you relax back into your comfort zone, and the learning parts of your brain start to switch off. If it’s a safe environment around you then there’s no need to learn anything new in order to survive, so you may as well save your energy for when the next possible threat presents itself.

This applies in the practice room when practising the same exercises in the same way each time. With constant repetition of the same material, your brain gets disinterested pretty quickly and starts to shut off. This is where the term “mindless repetition” comes from. When you practice this way, you are only training yourself to perform under a narrow set of very controlled circumstances, which inevitably change for the performance.

So in order to keep your brain switched on and fully focused, you need to create a novel and variable environment within your practice routine. This is where varied practice is a great strategy to use, and can prepare you for the unpredictability of performance.

So how do you do this in the practice room?

One great way of mixing up your repetitions is by simply adjusting your tempo, rhythm, articulation, dynamics etc., which will help you stay engaged and focused on what you are doing. Whilst it might feel a bit strange to practice things differently than as it is written in the music, it actually creates huge benefits to your playing.

Variable practice:

• Strengthens neural connections and enhances skill and memory retention by forming more links with pre-existing knowledge

• Introduces a broad range of skills and techniques that are required in a variety of situations

• Helps to create an awareness of similarities and differences in the music, which improves overall musical expression, interpretation, and creativity

• Creates more flexible thinking and adaptable skill execution and learning

• Reduces boredom by increasing the level of engagement in practice

How can you apply variable practice in your weekly sessions?

To make your varied practice just that bit easier to get into, I’ve made up a little game that you can try out (attached to this post.) All you need is one dice (or six small pieces of paper numbered 1 to 6 in a container), your instrument, and a scale that you know pretty well. 🎲

Choose a category from the chart (Dynamics, Rhythm, Articulation, Tempo, or Pattern), and roll the dice, (or pull a numbered piece of paper out of the container.) Then play your scale with the matching number variation from that column.

If you want to make things even more complex, roll the dice several times for different variations. This is where things can get interesting, especially if you get some nasty combinations that can turn your humble C major scale into a real handful!

I’ve used scales as an example here, but you can incorporate these similar variations in your pieces, excerpts, or studies as well. I’ve also attached a blank chart if you want to make up your own variations to stretch your boundaries further.

When you do make up your own chart, please share it in the comments below, and I’ll tackle your variations in my practice this week too – let’s see how challenging you can make it! 😉💪

Have fun with the game and let me know how you go!