The Encyclopedia of Interactive Performance

For anything to become second nature, you need to do it multiple times. Pianists do their scales. Ballerinas do their barre. To become a great inter-actor, there are many skills that need to be repeated until they become second nature.

If the only time you practice skills is when you’re doing scene work, it can take a long while to attain mastery. There may only be three or four times to practice a particular skill over the course of a 10-minute scene. This is why drills are so valuable.

When you drill a skill, it’s the only thing you focus on. You do the same thing again and again and again, repeating it far more times than you ever would in a scene. Drills help skills become muscle memory, so when you need to use them in a scene, you don’t have to think—they just show up.

It’s also important to remember that to truly get better at something, you need to practice with good form. As the coach Vince Lombardi reportedly said, “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” When you drill a skill, it also allows you to focus on proper form. If you don’t get it right the first time, the next time to do it right is only a few seconds away.

Drills may not always be as fun as playing scenes, but they’re a great way to get better quicker.