12 New Year's Resolutions for musicians that aren't "practice more"

12 New Year's Resolutions for musicians that aren't "practice more"

Yes, practicing is good for us, having a practice schedule helps, but the odds of us sticking to a practice schedule beyond February aren't great. There are plenty of other things we musicians can do to develop our craft: here are our suggestions for more inspiring New Year’s Resolutions for musicians in 2024.

Let’s start with setting our intention for the new year. If you want to practice more, why do you want to practice more? If you want to “become a better musician”, what does it mean to be a better musician?

There’s no right answer, but just to throw out some ideas: Becoming a better musician can look like developing your ear to hear more nuance and detail, building up your technique to play closer to what’s in your ears, being a better listener or collaborator, and so on.

Whatever it is, let’s say this is the baseline for your new year's resolutions for musicians this year: you want to enjoy making music even more.

Here are some resolutions you can take up to amp up your enjoyment of music:

1. Improvise more

When you improvise, you channel your natural creativity and free yourself from the idea that you have to “get it right.” (The beautiful thing about improvising is that there’s no right or wrong.) If you’ve never improvised musically before, improvising can seem extremely daunting - but you just gotta do it as part of your new year's resolutions for musicians!

Make it a point to dedicate a chunk of your practice to improvising, and have fun! Pick a key and a steady beat, and go from there. You can also find a backing track (like this one) to play over, to give yourself some structure.  

If you’re already familiar with improvising, stretch yourself by exploring different meters, modes and genres.

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2. Use a metronome and tuner

A teacher once said to me, the metronome and the tuner are tools that bring you closer to the truth.

Whatever your metaphysical views on Truth are, it’s pretty undeniable that good rhythm, timing and intonation are vital for good musicianship. Just think about this: would you rather listen to a group that's out of time and out of tune or a group that's in time and in tune?

If you don’t have a regular habit of practicing with a metronome and a tuner, it's never too late to start doing some "truth-seeking" in your practice.

Did you know the Soundbrenner Core 2 is BOTH a metronome and a tuner - and fits on your wrist?

3. Learn new pieces regularly

Give your practice a fresh focus every now and then.

Expand your musical horizons by finding songs and pieces that stretch and challenge you in different ways. You can set a goal to explore a new genre every month, or learn a new song every week - whatever you're interested in.

The idea is to do something that your muscles aren’t used to doing and explore new sounds that your ears aren’t used to hearing. (This is a great way to work on sight-reading too!)

Learn new pieces new year's resolutions

4. Listen to new genres

Being a musician isn’t all about producing sound. You can learn a ton and get inspiration just by listening. 

To begin with, your New Year’s Resolution can be to get your 2024 Spotify Wrapped looking totally different from your 2021 one. Furthermore, you can aim to double the number of artists you discovered this year.

5. Take care of your body

We often forget that music making is a physical activity. So many musicians get injured from the repetitive movements in playing our instruments - and in order to enjoy our music making, we definitely want to be playing without pain.

Pay attention to what strains might be imposed on your body from your practice. Find out what exercises can help you strengthen the necessary muscles (your core 2, for starters) and incorporate those into your exercise routine. And of course, don’t forget to stretch regularly and warm up your body before you play. 

Runner stretching as new year's resolutions for musicians

6. Meditate

On a similar vein, making music is also a mental activity. 

A meditation practice can give you better focus when you come to make music. Even a few minutes of calm, focused attention on your breath before making music can help clear your mind from distractions. This allows you to create music with a deeper connection to yourself.

7. Collaborate with people regularly

Collaboration can take many different shapes and forms, especially when considering new year's resolutions for musicians. It can look like a casual jam, a song that you co-write with someone, or you reaching out to someone to mix your tracks.

Not only can you make magic happen as you bounce ideas off each other, but you also become a better listener and creator. 

In times of social distancing, you can collaborate digitally by recording tracks and sending ideas back and forth, or by setting up fun challenges like this

Group of friends hanging out with instruments especially during new year

8. Create something original

Tired of reproducing someone else’s creation? 2024 is a great time to finish that song you started last year, or to finally realize the ideas that have been brewing in your head. 

Set a time and date, block off all commitments, and give yourself the space to express yourself.

9. Find an accountability partner 

An accountability partner is super helpful for providing support and structure around your goals. Find a like-minded friend - their goals don’t have to be the same as yours - and set up some milestones you want to hit by a certain time. 

Put it in your calendars, send each other reminders, keep each other motivated and accountable. 

Did you know the Soundbrenner Core 2 is compatible with most major DAWs?

10. Experiment with DAWs

If you're unfamiliar with digital music production, 2024 is the time to start diving into the world of DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations). There's a learning curve for sure, but as part of your New Year's resolutions for musicians, it's worth the effort. The possibilities in computer music are vast and definitely all worth exploring.

Set a goal to create your tracks at a regular frequency, and you'll pick up the skills and sounds along the way.

Check out our guide to the best DAWs out there - free ones included.

11. Put yourself out there

If you’ve always been a closet musician, 2024 is the time to show yourself! Music is more fun when you have people to share it with. 

Upload a video or recording of you playing and share it on social media. Or, COVID-permitting, go perform at an open mic. 

If this sounds incredibly daunting to you, you can start by sharing your music with close friends or family. 

12. Learn the “why” behind the music

If you tend to just play through songs and pieces to enjoy how they sound. Consider learning why it sounds good to you.

This isn’t about learning music theory, though the worlds may overlap. It’s about gaining more insight into the music you love to play and having a more fulfilling musical experience overall.

If you’re not sure where to start, there are plenty of resources out there, from more general "how-to"s of music analysis (like this and this), to theory lessons, to straight-up deconstructions of specific songs.

Hope these 12 New Year's Resolutions for musicians give you some juice and inspiration going into 2024!

by Team Soundbrenner

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