Practice

Make the most of your practice

Practicing IS essential for improvement. This Band program is always looking to push forward and we want every student to go along with us in this journey. To make practice successful, here are some great guidelines for practice success.

Successful Practice

Click HERE for great materials on successful practice

and

remember that 70 minutes are due EVERY week

Practice

As with any activity, you get out of it what you put into it. Band will not be fun unless you practice. There are many values in the study of music as a discipline that transfer to other areas of life. Although this will not immediately happen, persistent practice will lead to enthusiastic, driven practice. Remember: "Perfect practice makes perfect”.

Here is a suggested plan of study:

      • Pick a set time each day.
      • Use a tuner for a portion of your practice session.
      • Have a non-boomy place of practice.
      • Increase dynamic range (work on pianissimo).
      • Use our daily warm-up and think “tone".
      • Increase endurance (15 minutes of full-tone playing).
      • Take a break every 20 minutes.
      • Use a metronome for part of the time. (You can download a free app from the app store! TEMPO is a great metronome app.)
      • Work on technique (articulations, accents, etc.).
      • "I will start with ____minutes and increase to ____”.
      • Practice sight-reading.
      • Listen to your concert music and other marching band/jazz band/concert band music
      • Use the Charms practice log
      • Schedule 10-20 minutes a day and have a goal in mind BEFORE you start
  1. You will need your instrument, a music stand, and your music (concert music, handouts, technique books, etc)
  2. Find a good location in which you have plenty of room to move, not disturb your parents (too much), and where you can sit with proper posture.
  3. make sure your instrument is oiled up and you have a decent reed (NO CHIPS)
  4. Begin with long tones around the Circle of 4th's (just like in rehearsal)
  5. Then go through the Circle again but play 2 octave scales
  6. Choose material you wish to improve on.
  7. Practice in small chunks, do not practice music beginning to end. You must work out the more challenging parts.
  8. Focus on improving, know your parts. This is the time to learn YOUR part. You will learn the parts of OTHERS in rehearsal.

Practice YOUR part! NOT to hope you get it right, practice so you CAN'T get it wrong!