Summer Festival Preparation: Building Stamina

The festival atmosphere of what feels like lots of new people, new experiences and plenty of music making all compressed into a few weeks can be a great environment to grow exponentially as a musician. However, you want to make sure you are prepared so the experience is energizing, not overwhelming.

In this second part of our series on summer festival preparation, we’ll cover a few pointers on preparing physically for the experience.

1. Get to know the festival schedule

   Part of the fun of the festival experience is the immersive atmosphere of almost constant music making. The very first step is to make sure you’re prepared to keep up with the pace. Study your festival schedule to get a realistic view of how much rehearsal, lesson, and practice time is already committed. Most festivals will also have other activities you may be required to attend or optional sessions such as workshops and masterclasses.

2. Gradually ramp up your own practice to match the schedule

   You are likely to be experiencing a far more intense schedule at a summer festival - going from possibly a couple of hours or practice a day and a lesson or two a week, to a couple of weeks of full days of lessons, rehearsals and workshops. Again, that’s just part of the experience! To avoid burning out make sure you build up your ability to keep up by gradually increasing the intensity of your own practice schedule in the weeks leading up to the festival. Start as early as you can so you have time to add a few more minutes to each practice session, or an additional practice session in your day.

3. Make that additional practice time worthwhile

   Putting in more practice hours should not mean mindlessly repeating your current practice. Instead, you could consider:

   • Learning the repertoire you’ve been provided for the festival. You’ll get more out of your festival experience if you show up with your chamber music and orchestra repertoire securely learned. You’ll be able to immerse yourself in further exploration and the experience of making music with others.

   • Exercises you’ve been meaning to get to. Perhaps you’ve seen some practice ideas and exercises online and mean to try them, but never get around to it. Take the time to give these a try with your extra practice time.

   • Your teacher’s recommendations. Always work with your teacher to develop a practice routine that will not only build your stamina towards this short term goal, but set you up for sustainable and healthy progress in the long run.

Want more ideas for building a practice routine? Explore the Workshop on Efficient use of Practice Time and the series on Efficient Practice Skills available in The Virtuoso’s Lounge.

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