STOP!

So simple it sounds silly:

At a random time during practice, STOP! Ask yourself,
“What precisely am I trying to do at this moment?”

Be Specific! Not “Observe the crescendo” or even “Improve the crescendo,” but “Find the score-elements that energize the crescendo; that create it.”

Not “Appreciate the sonority more,” but, “Relate the sonority to the harmonic series.”

Not “Playing with correct rhythm,” but “Creating rhythm that breathes and dances.”

My one-time landlord, Michael Malosek, cellist and herb doctor, used to refer to “thinking-practice.” The Stop! and Think technique can be a productive element of it.