Musicians practice to build endurance, flexibility, and dexterity. They practice to maintain good performance, to sight-read better, to memorize, and simply, to enjoy music making. There are other motivations for practice, but one, more than others, is a catalyst for consequential change in musical development--practicing to solve performance problems. This article examines problem solving in instrumental music practice and is based on the notion that too many students, too much of the time, look and feel inadequate when they attempt to problem solve.