How musicians can use psychology for effective practice

Practicing music is not everyone’s forte, but psychology may help.

A study published in June suggests that musicians practice more effectively when given information about the psychology of practice.

UNL professor Robert Woody, who has a doctorate in music education, conducted the study with 100 undergraduate music students to see if using cognitive psychology skills in their practice made it more efficient.

“It’s hard work, and so I do like to teach people how to make practice more tolerable and how to make it more efficient so that they don’t have to do it for a long time,” Woody said. “Noth...