The following article was found on Violinist.com
“Why can’t I play as well in performance, as I do in the practice room?” Many people find themselves in that situation, and here is one key reason:
“We’re not very good at knowing if what are doing in the practice room is leading to good learning,” Kageyama said. “When we feel like practice is easy and we are improving, the amount we are actually learning and retaining might be poor.” How much are you “forgetting” between practice sessions?
Interleaved Practice
Often we practice by playing something until we “get it right,” then moving on. However, that’s not how performance works – you don’t get multiple do-overs to “get it right,” you need to nail it the first time. So how do you practice in a way that you can work on “the first time”?
Studies suggest that using random or “interleaved” practice can help – though this style of practicing can feel less comfortable (and as Kageyama said – “generally when we do things this way our parents will think we’ve lost our minds!”). In this style of practicing you would, for example, choose three things to practice, then set a timer and practice only 5 minutes on one, then switch to another. For example, five minutes of scales, then etude, then back to scale, then on to your piece, scale again – this sort of bakes in the “forgetting,” so that when you go back to something it’s like the “first time.”
“This forces you to move on before you feel ready – it gives you permission to move on before you have gotten it,” Kageyama said. It creates a little more urgency for solving the problems, and it means you have to be more organized in your goals.
Of course, “this will not feel as good, in the moment,” Kageyama said. “The net gain will be more, but you won’t know it until tomorrow.”
Source: https://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/20258/30489/
My thoughts on this?
Interleaved Practice vs. Blocked Practice
Interleaved practice is a learning strategy where instead of practicing one skill or piece repeatedly (blocked practice), you mix different skills, pieces, or problem types in the same practice session for short periods of time.
Key Features
- Mixing tasks: For musicians, this could mean alternating between five minutes of scales, five minutes of sight-reading, five minutes of repertoire instead of focusing on just one piece for a long stretch.
- Spacing: By rotating tasks, you create natural breaks, which improves memory consolidation.
- Difficulty: It feels harder than blocked practice because your brain has to keep switching and retrieving different approaches.
Benefits
- Better retention: Research shows it improves long-term memory compared to blocked practice.
- Stronger problem-solving: Switching tasks forces you to repeatedly “re-find” the solution, strengthening recall.
- Improved transfer: You become better at applying skills in new or unpredictable contexts.
- Since you are constantly shifting gears, your brain must work harder which leads to deeper learning.
This approach creates constant shifts in focus, which makes practice feel more challenging, but it strengthens memory and improves long-term retention. Because you have to “re-find” solutions each time you return to a task, your problem-solving skills grow stronger, and you become better at applying what you know in new or unpredictable situations. Interleaved practice can feel less smooth than blocked practice, but in the long run it is a more effective way to build lasting skills and deeper understanding.
The five-minute time limit serves two purposes. First, having to spend only five minutes on something can feel less daunting than a long, open-ended session. At the same time it also puts quite a bit of pressure on the student to set a rather specific goal they can realistically accomplish within that time – a skill most students don’t instinctively possess and must develop.
We practice three steps: first, defining a realistic goal; second, creating a plan and strategy to achieve it; and third—just as important—designing an assessment to determine whether the goal was actually met and how we’ll know.
It is helpful to remember that, when it comes to practicing, there are “sprinters” and “marathon runners.” Sprinters start quickly and make rapid progress but often lack the stamina—or the desire—to stay with the same task for long. Marathon runners, by contrast, may take time to get going, but once they find their rhythm, they can keep at it with remarkable persistence. Interleaved practice tends to feel natural to sprinters, who are used to accomplishing things in short bursts. Marathon runners, however, may find it more challenging, as they need time to settle in—and just when they do, it’s time to move on.
And then, of course, there are times when we do want an open-ended session with no time limit—especially when the goal is exploration rather than mastery. It’s the kind of session best suited for experimenting: trying different pedaling approaches, adjusting the balance between melody and accompaniment, or playing with variations in tempo or dynamics – “Soft Skills” for when there is no one correct answer.