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I wanted to write about how I try and practice with some concrete steps that I try to keep in mind, every time I sit down to the horn.
These are not by any means original ideas of my own, for the most part, but concepts I have learned from my teacher and how I think the best ways to accomplish as much as possible in whatever amount of time I have to practice on any given day. These are only in the order I thought of them while writing them down.
Its my hope that when you read this, you will take what is good for you, add and modify it and make it work in the way that makes sense to you. My suggestion at that point, when you have customized this list, is to make a hard copy of it and put it right on your music stand or someplace close at hand. Take a minute to read all the things you have written down and try to keep them in mind when you play.
Remember, a teacher can show you what you need to know, but you are the only one that can learn it, so in a sense you are teaching yourself.
Good luck and I hope you find this valuable.
1) Center. By this I mean, before you take a breath on each new exercise, take the few seconds and set your embrosure and your breathing so that you are actually ready to play. In my case, I set my stomach muscles so they are firm, then exhale, then inhale so I have a good amount of air to play. As Kirt said to me the other day, "Airstream is everything"..
2) Shake your hands. Most of us have a tendency to tighten up our muscles as we play, and that makes the entire process more difficult. In my case, its mostly my right hand, so I frequently stop and fling my arm out like I was shaking off water from the end of my fingers. You always want that light touchon the keys. Also shake your shoulders if you hold tension up there, again it won’t do your playing any good.
3) Always play with the metronome - except when you don't. Here is something my teacher may not agree with. I think that once you have played thru say a scale several times and have it down, I turn off the metronome so that I can concentrate exclusively on my tone. For me this works even if my timing can be not so good, as has often been pointed out to me. Still, if the tone isn’t there, what is there?
4) Practice the exercises slower than you can actually play them. You aren't going to impress your teacher by how fast you can play – especially if you make mistakes. Its hard to slow down but its worth it, and you can only play fast by playing accurately at a slow tempo.
5) Practice your exercises in chunks. You will know after you play them for a few times which are the difficult passages for you, so concentrate on them first, since you won't play the whole exercise well if you are flailing after that tricky key combination. I circle the difficult passges on the music so I can go right to them.
6) Volume does not equal tone. Let me say that again: volume does not equal tone. I think you get the idea.
7) Get close, to the music that you are playing and/or to the mirror that you play in front of. This is the best way to check your fingering or get yourself concentrated on the music in front of you. With scales, arpeggios and thirds, which I think are the basis of everything else you will play, memorize the material so you can look at your hands and get the most efficient motion that you can.
8) Memorize With the major and minor scales, arpeggios and thirds, which I think are the basis of everything else you will play, memorize the material so you can look at your hands and get the most efficient motion that you can.
9) Do what you can with the time you have.Better to not get through everything in your practice routine than to play sloppy and with bad tone.
10)Push When you start to get out of breath, push harder from your stomach rather than clench down on the mouthpiece, which will kill off your tone.
Posted by dana at October 12, 2008 03:07 PM