Are You a Good Practicer?

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Quiz Questions

1.
How often do you practice playing the cello?
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- A.
  Multiple times a day
- B.
  Every day
- C.
  A few times a week
- D.
  I’m supposed to play this thing outside of my lessons??
2.
How do you prepare before practicing?
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- A.
  I tune my instrument to be exactly in tune, not a single cent off. I clean the strings with a cloth. I rosin the bow.
- B.
  Put some rosin on the bow, tune. Maybe clean the strings with a cloth.
- C.
  Play the strings and tune them by ear.
- D.
  I don’t need to prepare!! Let’s get started already!!
3.
What do you play in the beginning of your practice session?
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- A.
  Scale warm-ups for 13 hours in every tempo and key that exists
- B.
  Practice a scale in the key of the piece I’m working on for 5-10 minutes and maybe work on etudes
- C.
  Practice a random scale for 5-10 minutes
- D.
  Go straight to working on my piece
4.
How do you play your scales?
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- A.
  Until my fingers bleed
- B.
  Using the galamian scale method (playing quarter notes, then eighth notes, then triplets, etc)
- C.
  Up and down 1 octave
- D.
  I already told you! Scales are for the weak
5.
It’s time to work on your piece. How do you approach it?
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- A.
  Dissect it into half-bar phrases and play each half-bar 50 times before moving to the next, until the end of the piece
- B.
  Go through 1 phrase at a time and see what problems you’re having in each phrase. Then isolate the problem and work on it (by practicing it with only the right or left hand or slower, for instance) before trying to play the passage with all its parts.
- C.
  Play through the piece without stopping a few times and then I’m done
- D.
  Play through the piece, get bored midway through, go to the kitchen and eat Cheez-its for a bit
6.
You’re slightly frustrated with how you sound today. What do you do?
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- A.
  Keep practicing until I don’t hate how I sound. This could take hours or even days. But I WILL sound good at the end.
- B.
  Work on scales a bit, then go back to my piece and practice for about the same amount of time that I normally do (maybe a bit longer). What matters is consistency, and as long as I practice frequently, it will be fine.
- C.
  Play for a bit more until I’m too annoyed to continue and probably end a bit earlier than usual.
- D.
  Just stop. Maybe I’ll sound better tomorrow.
7.
You’re having issues with producing a smooth sound and are hearing squeaks and cracks when you try to start a note. What do you do?
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- A.
  Practice my piece extremely slowly for 2 hours and very gradually play faster, until my left and right hands are 100% coordinated.
- B.
  Practice individual phrases/passages, starting with the ones with the most squeaks. Practice the passage with just the left hand first, then practice the passage with just the right hand. Then practice in longer phrases, and eventually run through the whole piece.
- C.
  Play through the whole piece multiple times.
- D.
  Stop for today.
8.
You are sight-reading a new piece and are experiencing some difficulty understanding how to play a rhythm. What do you do?
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- A.
  Play the phrase with the metronome!! At first, set the BPM 2x slower than the piece’s tempo, play the rhythm 20 consecutive times until it’s in your ear, then increase the BPM by 10 clicks and do the same thing over and over until you’re playing the passage at its original tempo.
- B.
  First clap the rhythm. Make sure you understand it with no notes. Then play the phrase a bit slower using the metronome a few times, then play it at tempo a few times.
- C.
  Play it over and over. No metronome.
- D.
  Oh well! I preferred my rhythm anyway. I don’t need to change it.

Quiz Outcomes

1.
The Overpracticer
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It's so great that you are so dedicated to your cello practice! But...you know you’re allowed to, like, go outside sometimes and walk in the sunshine, right? You clearly have a very good idea of how to problem-solve which has really helped you, but the hours and intensity you’re putting in may not be sustainable for you! Take care to not overwork yourself, make sure to breath here and there, do some yoga maybe, and good luck to you!Because you are such a good sport and you happily took our quiz, you will be on our subscriber list, and we will send you weekly emails with free instructional videos and pdf's and fun cello stories. And we are going to send you a Cello Guru student friendly arrangement of the Bach Prelude in G Major. Print it out and have fun with it, and as always, keep on practicing!
2.
The Perfect Practicer!
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You are a great practicer! You know how to problem-solve when encountering obstacles and have a healthy amount of dedication to practicing your instrument. Keep it up!Because you are such a good sport and you happily took our quiz, you will be on our subscriber list, and we will send you weekly emails with free instructional videos and pdf's and fun cello stories. And we are going to send you a Cello Guru student friendly arrangement of the Bach Prelude in G Major. Print it out and have fun with it, and as always, keep on practicing!
3.
The Unintentional Practicer
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It's great that you are practicing your cello! It's clear that you have a good amount of dedication to your instrument, but when you encounter obstacles, you’re not entirely sure how to overcome them other than playing your piece over and over again. Sound familiar? Try breaking your practice up into smaller, more bite-sized parts and focus in on what specifically is giving you a hard time. Fix one single problem at a time by playing it over five times perfectly. That way, when you play through the whole piece again the parts will have improved, giving you a cleaner version of the entire composition. Because you are such a good practicer and you happily took our quiz, you will be on our subscriber list, and we will send you weekly emails with free instructional videos and pdf's and fun cello stories. And we are going to send you a Cello Guru student friendly arrangement of the Bach Prelude in G Major. Print it out and have fun with it, and as always, keep on practicing!
4.
The Underpracticer
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It's so great that you are playing the cello, but...you probably already know that you gotta practice more to improve. Running into obstacles with your playing can be frustrating, but you gotta roll with the punches and practice through it. Try breaking things up into smaller, more bite-sized parts and focus in on what specifically is giving you a hard time. And then practice that! If you do that, you will definitely start to improve on this lovely instrument that we play.Because you are such a good sport and you happily took our quiz, you will be on our subscriber list, and we will send you weekly emails with free instructional videos and pdf's and fun cello stories. And we are going to send you a Cello Guru student friendly arrangement of the Bach Prelude in G Major. Print it out and have fun with it, and as always, keep on practicing!