Train Your Brain to Practice Better

When you're practicing the bagpipes and hit a wrong note, it's tempting to stop right away and start over.

But that habit can stall your progress. Instead, learning to push through mistakes – without stopping – can help you improve more efficiently and play with greater confidence.

Here's a list of suggestions for how to train yourself to keep going, even when things go off track:

1. Set a Clear Goal Before You Start

Are you playing the full tune for flow? Working on a specific phrase? Make your goal clear before you blow up. If you're focusing on continuity, give yourself permission to finish the piece no matter what happens. This shift in mindset changes how you respond to mistakes in the moment.

2. Play Through, Then Circle Back

Instead of stopping at a mistake, make a mental (or physical) note of it. Mark the section with a pencil if you're using sheet music, or simply keep going and come back to it after the run. This helps you hear the full structure of the tune and prevents you from fixating on one tiny issue.

3. Use the ‘One More Time’ Rule

Give yourself one uninterrupted run-through before making any corrections. You’ll often find the mistake isn’t as bad as it felt. Or, you'll catch patterns in your playing that you wouldn’t notice by restarting every few bars.

4. Practice Starting Mid-Tune

Many pipers only ever start at the beginning of a tune – which reinforces the habit of restarting. Instead, choose random spots in the music to begin. Practicing transitions and endings on their own helps build flexibility and confidence.

5. Record Yourself Playing

When you listen back, you’ll notice that many of the mistakes you felt were huge aren’t nearly as noticeable. This gives you perspective and helps reduce the anxiety that comes with minor errors.

6. Build ‘Play-Through’ Reps Into Your Routine

Just like you do drills or embellishment exercises, make play-throughs a deliberate part of your practice. Choose one tune per session to play from start to finish, no matter what. Over time, your endurance and error recovery will improve.

It’s not about ignoring your mistakes – it’s about learning when to fix them. There’s a time for stopping and breaking things down, and there’s a time for playing through, building flow, and training your musical instincts.

So next time you mess up mid-tune, don’t stop. Keep going, finish strong, and come back smarter. That’s where real progress happens.

Check out this episode of the Dojo Conversations podcast as we talk about the importance of persistence over perfection in more detail!