ADHD and ‘micro-breaks’

Education Strategies • Andrew Eales
Clinical Expertise • Louise Eales RMN, NMP

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Everybody seems to be talking about Molly Gebrian’s book Learn Faster, Perform Better (OUP 2024, available here) and rightly so: it is a superb read, well argued, engagingly written, and filled with brilliant tips and advice on how musicians can practise more effectively.

We all want to improve, and Gebrian offers insights from neuroscience that back up many of our well-established strategies for effective practice, along with some interesting newer nuggets of advice, including what has become one of her signature suggestions: incorporating “micro-breaks” between repetitions when perfecting technical passages.

Learn faster, perform better

Gebrian’s advice has certainly captured the imagination of musicians and educators, propelling her book towards best-seller status. But for those of us who are neurodiverse (often estimated to be around one-in-seven), there’s one important caveat to consider.

Though rooted in neuroscience, the author makes this admission:

“I don’t discuss research specific to neurodivergent learners, because it falls outside my area of expertise. Despite this, I hope that readers who were hoping to find information in these areas will still find something of value in these pages.”

Without at all diminishing the importance and value of the book, we need to understand that because the research base from which Gebrian draws largely reflects neurotypical participants, her practice suggestions may assume a level of control over attention that many of us just don’t have.

Neuroscience has identified consistent differences in brain development, connectivity, executive function, and dopamine regulation associated with ADHD. Without appropriate recalibration, productivity tips and habit-forming advice that works well for neurotypical people can work less well for us, which can lead to frustration, disappointment, burnout, and even depression.

There is of course a broader point to make here, which applies to the multitude of mainstream books, methods and approaches: the millions of us who are neurodiverse routinely contend with an education system that is geared towards neurotypical learners, and which very frequently fails us.

Realistically, those with ADHD will likely have to make adaptations in order to leverage some of the benefits Gebrian promotes.

In this post, we’ll consider the specific issues around ‘micro-breaks’ as an illustration of the types of adaptations those with ADHD might need to make, recognising that similar recalibration may be needed in connection with her other practice advice.

As always however, we need to remember that neurodiversity manifests in many and varied ways, so please carefully pick and mix advice from her book and from this site, finding what works well for you and those you support.

What are micro-breaks?

Introducing this topic, Gebrian cites research findings by a team led by Ethan Buch and published in 2021.

Their study looked at brain activity during micro-breaks, asking participants to learn a key-press sequence on a computer keyboard, with a goal of performing the sequence as quickly and accurately as possible. Gebrian explains:

“Participants were given 10 seconds to practice, followed by a 10-second micro break, during which they just sat and did nothing. They continued through multiple rounds of this while the experimenters measured not only their performance but also their brain activity. Amazingly, researchers found that the majority of the performance improvements happened during the breaks… Breaks aren’t wasted time: they are the most important time for skill improvement.”

Though these findings seem compelling, subsequent research by Mohan W. Gupta and Timothy C. Rickard (published in this 2024 study) has challenged the interpretation that learning primarily occurs during the micro-breaks. Their findings suggest that some of the gains attributed to micro-breaks may actually reflect recovery from temporary performance fatigue (‘reactive inhibition’) rather than skill consolidation occurring during the break itself.

In any case, Gebrian’s application of the 2021 study to music practice has gained considerable traction, and is now being widely touted. She writes:

“Based on this (2021) research, I now do my repetitions a bit differently than I used to. I used to do all my correct repetitions say, five times in a row, with one block without a break. Now I do three correct repetitions in a row, take a 10-15 second break, and then do three more in a row… I find that I can solidify my work faster this way and it sticks with me better over time.”

She expands on this with enthusiasm in this video from her YouTube channel:

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ADHD challenges

Many say they have found this advice genuinely transformative, which is very positive news. However, I have to confess that when I first heard the idea, my initial response was fairly simple, and rather tongue-in-cheek:

“Oh look! A squirrel!!”

And I know other ADHD’ers who have thought the exact same thing. For many of us, the problem is that this approach assumes reliable task re-entry:

• repeat a passage accurately a few times
• pause for 10-15 seconds; effectively time this duration
• avoid other distractions during the micro-break
• resume practise right where you left off

Sticking to this sequence could prove challenging. For some of us, a 10-15 second break could easily become several minutes or a complete exit once our ADHD brain is distracted (for example by a sound coming from another room or outside).

But bearing in mind that many players with ADHD already find this style of repetitive practice difficult to sustain, could the insertion of micro-breaks help? How can Gebrian’s recommendations be appropriately adapted for neurospicy musicians, and how might teachers present the idea to students, given that so many will likely have undiagnosed ADHD?

Making micro-breaks work with ADHD

Those of us who struggle with executive function are going to need tight constraints in order to build micro-breaks into piano practice in a way that will work. For many of us, pausing an activity can disrupt momentum and make it surprisingly difficult to re-engage.

Here are some suggested accommodations which might help. To start with, consider using a “practice loop card” placed on the music desk. This reduces working-memory demands and lowers the risk of losing track of where you are in the sequence.

1. play the passage three times
2. pause and slowly count to ten
3. repeat the passage three more times
4. tick box when done

Here are some further suggestions. Try just a few of them until you establish an approach that works for you:

• Find or create a quiet, uncluttered environment for practice.
• Consider asking a practice partner or responsible adult to supervise the practice session, and monitor the timed microbreaks.
• Physically anchor your microbreak by remaining on the piano bench and keeping your hands on your lap, or briefly stand for a pre-planned stretch.
• Avoid opening the door to new stimuli. Don’t look at your phone, leave the room, or think about unrelated things. Instead, stare at a blank wall, close your eyes, clear your mind, or count your breaths.
• Because ADHD brains struggle with internal timing, you may find it helps to use a simple timer (but not your phone).
• If using a metronome, try counting bars rest during the microbreak.
• Know exactly what you will do once the microbreak ends, so as to avoid derailment when resuming practice.
• Start by trying fewer microbreaks than Gebrian suggests.

On this last point, consistency beats theoretical optimal spacing. While a neurotypical brain could benefit from many small mental resets, the ADHD brain is more likely to benefit when breaks are fewer, but highly controlled.

Closing thoughts

Learn Faster, Perform Better is a brilliantly written book, based on valuable research, but ADHD musicians may need to adapt its implementation. And we should all remember that the underlying science is itself still evolving.

We will most likely benefit from micro-breaks if we can ensure that they are clearly structured, constrained, and almost frictionless to return from. For those of us with ADHD brains, they pose significant additional challenges which mustn’t be overlooked.

Remember, we are all as individual as our unique fingerprints suggest.

If microbreaks don’t work for you, and the adaptations suggested here don’t help, try finding alternative practice strategies that work better for you.

You have not failed. You’ve simply discovered that a particular approach isn’t the right fit for your way of learning. Not all brains are alike!

Lastly, many with ADHD prefer more creative practice strategies. I certainly always have. When experimentation, improvisation, variety, and musical PLAY trigger hyperfocus, many of us can discover levels of engagement and persistence that prove remarkably powerful.

We will return to this topic soon!

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