I get it.  We’ve been teaching, learning, practicing, and performing Christmas music since it was hot!  It’s a limited pool of tunes.  It’s a short window to share them.  And they really aren’t that different from one another.  It can get boring.  And at this point, it is too late to start changing them up…or you’re already doing that and you’re running out of ideas for changes that you can perform on the fly.  After all, by December, we’re likely to be operating on autopilot just a little.

So, while you’re on autopilot, you might be thinking about what’s next!  What do you want to do?  What tunes are you going to take on?  Do you have a longer-term plan?  Now’s your chance to make a workable plan for the post-December season.

To do what’s next, we need a plan.  How do you make a plan for your music?  Same as any other plan you might make, you just need to take a few (ok, 10) steps –

1. Know where you are – take stock of where you are right now.  Be honest and rigorous and identify where you’re starting.  And it’s the foundation of the plan. If you’re not honest, you will have a hard time succeeding in the plan.
2. Set realistic expectations (based on your real life).  It’s easy to build a perfect and beautiful plan.  But if the plan doesn’t reflect your real life, it will fail.  Do not promise yourself that you will get up at 5 and practice for 2 hours if you are responsible for getting your household up, fed, prepped and out the door by 6:30 every morning!  While it’s a lovely plan, it won’t fit your life. (we’re back to being honest and rigorous with yourself).
3. Make a schedule.  No matter how good your plan is, it will help to write it down and ensure it fits into your (real) life…the messy one with chores, and work, and meals, and traffic, and showers, and all the other stuff of daily life.  Writing it down will let you see the conflicts and were you have (actual) practice time…and plan in free time – you’ll need it.
4. Where are you trying to go?  You should begin with the end in mind.  ‘Nough said.
5. What will it take to get there?  You have to see the space between where you are and where you want to go.  In business and engineering this is called a Gap Analysis.  Be sure to note which specific, steps, techniques, etc. are missing to close the gap.
6. When do you expect to arrive?  While you may not know how long it will take you to master skills, techniques, or tunes on your path, you may want to develop some idea of how long you think it might take.  Be prepared to be thorough, but also be ready to be wrong.  Remember to be flexible too.
7. How will you know when you get there?  Before you begin to execute your plan, you will have had to identify where “there” is…so you’ll know when you have arrived!
8. Do you know why you’re going there?  It helps to define what you need to work on (where you’re trying to go), but it is also important to keep in mind why you’re trying to get there!  Are there techniques you need to learn or perfect?  Is there a particular repertoire element you wanted to build in?  The why is essential to getting there!
9. What happens if you don’t get there?  Sometimes your plan is to achieve something before a specific event.  Or you need to tackle a particular element on your way to nailing a particulate tune you want in your rep.  But what if you don’t get there – what’s the worse that will happen.  Do you have a contingency?
10. Did you write any of it down?  You know I’m a fan of keeping track of stuff – and this is no exception!  Take notes, write on your plan, keep a calendar, make a scrap book, use a practice journal.  I don’t care how you keep track, just be sure to keep track.

Like the meme says, no matter where you go, there you are.  Make a plan so you’re there is somewhere you’d like to be.  What are you thinking you might make a plan for?  Let me know if the comments.