When was the last time you sat down at your instrument and played music for fun? I mean, not music you had to practice or prepare, not the music you're teaching this week, but music you chose to play for yourself, for your own enjoyment?

In this episode, I'm sharing four reasons why playing your instrument for your enjoyment and creative expression is really vital to your music career:

Playing your instrument helps keep your musicianship skills sharp — your aural awareness and reading abilities, your commitment to a beautiful tone and balance and expression. It helps you stay in shape technically, and it makes you a better teacher — you know what practicing requires and you know how to pick and choose the strategies that will help you be most efficient with your time.

With that said, here are a handful of quick tips for practicing efficiently in 30 minutes or less:

As lifelong learners, we get to discover new things, new people, and new ideas. We explore things that are new and unfamiliar, whether that’s reading a short biography about a composer or sight-reading a new piece; outlining a new learning sequence or figuring out how to use a new app.

But what does this look like as a music professional? Here’s a personal and practical look at what lifelong learning looks like for me in this season.