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I cannot tell you how much time and energy I could have saved by making sure my music space was neat and organized. I promise, decluttering your spaces will help you focus on creating an environment for music. But more importantly, it will just make you feel better!
Declutter and Organize Your Music Space for Better Focus
Speaking from my experience as a professional musician. Piles of music just randomly appear... Well more like I go on a practicing frenzy and slowly the mountains of staff papers build. One of the most refreshing things you can do is decluttering your musical space. That empty water bottle? Recycle it! Any other items that don't belong remove it from your space.
Keep your musical equipment, instruments, and workspace organized. This will help you find what you need quickly and ensure that everything is in good working order. A clean and clutter-free environment can also enhance your creativity and focus. Decluttering will make the cleaning process more manageable and create more space in your music space. Make this space a sanctuary that works for you!
Organize Your Sheet Music and Learning Materials
With so much material available, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by new music resources. I've bought books that I have only opened once. I really only keep them for my students-- Plus I love collecting sheet music, but I digress. Organization goes beyond placing like items with like items. Sorting your books and sheet music by skill level can help you quickly find what you need with ease.
Declutter and Minimize Your Music Gear and Gadgets
Musicians can accumulate a lot of gear over time, but not all of it may still serve a purpose. Technology advances so quickly and music tech is no different. So, go through your equipment periodically to determine what’s truly useful and part ways with anything collecting dust.
Organize Your Digital Music Space and Files
Say whaaa? It's not real you say? You need to optimize every aspect of your space to clear your mind and think efficiently. As professional musician, I have a variety of calendars to keep track of it all. And outside of my career, I gotta make sure I'm tending to my personal life events as well. That said, a person may cancel here and there or life just gets the best of us but we don't update it. Other places might be your cloud drive and files. I see you downloading memes! So this is your sign to get it together :)
Use digital tools to stay organized like cloud storage services, software or apps to manage data. This will help you access important info quickly.
Organize your on-the-go Materials
Create an Organized Music Gig Bag for Easy Access
I will always bug my students about this one. It's so easy to misplace sheet music or have it all crumpled up and then you are spending precious time and energy trying to figure out where the first page of your sheet music is at. Literally it can be any bag like our backpacks with a couple of sheet music binders and some pencil cases.
Our if you want to be a fancy pants, check out our favorite sheet music organizer: this music portfolio from Protec.
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Use Scheduling and Goal Setting to Organize Your Music Routine
Goal Setting is your friend
Having goals will help you stay organized and focused. There are a variety of methods that can help you maintain focus like SMART Goals, vision boards and so on. Personally, I like vision boards to define my short and long term goals as a musician. It can be about anything from figuring out a specific technique, professional goals like recording your first song, or performing at a particular venue.
Track your progress
With goal setting, you need a method of tracking progress. Keeping a record of your achievements, milestones, and really anything. You can go old school and keep records through a notebook or do online record keeping. For me, I do it online via blogs and social media. It's just my vibe ya know. Anyways, I document my practice sessions, performances, and ideas. Documenting helps you visually see your progress over time.
Scheduling and Time Management
I cannot begin to stress the importance of making a schedule and time management. You need to establish and dedicate time to make sure you make a practice schedule and commit to it. Within that schedule you'll need to prioritize your tasks or to-do lists! There's a variety of ways to manage your time. As someone with ADHD, this has to be the toughest thing for me! I have a variety of methods to keep myself on track (I'll write a blog about this soon).
The point of all of this is to establish consistency and overtime develop a system that works for you. Having a system in place will streamline your creative process and make it easier to spend time making music.
Take care of yourself and Celebrate the Wins
Finally, don't forget to take care of yourself physically and mentally. There is no use in pursuing music without self-preservation. Sleep, rest and manage with what you can. Balance is the key for being the best musician you can be in this life. Within that balance, make sure to celebrate the small wins as much as the big wins!
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