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

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 focus on 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

    • Schedule time each day and have a goal in mind BEFORE you start.

    •  Remember that while you practice you should not sound good. If you sound great through the majority of your practice, you're practicing the wrong things.

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 OR WARPING)

4. Warm up with chromatic long tones and a select scale from warm ups.

5. Choose material you wish to improve on.

6. Practice in small chunks, do not practice music beginning to end.  You must work out the more challenging parts.

7. Focus on improving, know your parts.  This is the time to learn YOUR part.  You will learn the parts of OTHERS in rehearsal.

Instruments

Much like clothing, the older you get the different and appropriate size clothing you need.  The same holds true with instruments and mouthpieces.  When enrolling in the High School Band program, students are required to own the mouthpieces listed below.  Having an appropriate mouthpiece will give students room to grow.  Beginner mouthpieces can be restricting and make it harder to perform your instrument.  An intermediate to professional level instrument is highly recommended for students who wish to further their musical career past high school.  Below is a list of these recommendations.

Instrument and Mouthpiece Upgrades

Mouthpieces

Clarinet  Vandoren 5RV Lyre, Vandoren B45 Mouthpiece or D'Addario Reserve Model X5;  Rovner Dark Ligatures

Saxophone Selmer C* mouthpiece;  Rovner Dark Ligatures

Trumpet  Bach 3C

Horn  Schilke 30

Trombone Bach 6.5 AL; Schilke 51D, Denis Wick 6BS (small shank)

Euphonium Schilke 51D

Tuba Helleberg 120 Standard; Arnold Jacobs Heritage

Instruments (Intermediate and Professional Models)

Piccolo Yamaha YPC62

Flute Yamaha 684H

Clarinet Buffet R-13

Oboe Loree or Fox 400

Bassoon Fox Renard 222

Saxophone Old Selmer Mark VI or Yamaha Custom

Trumpet Bach Stradivarius

Horn Holton 179

Trombone Bach 42B, or Bach 42BO; Conn 88H

Euphonium King 2280

Tuba King 4321W

Recordings

Just as the blind child cannot paint a picture of the sunset, an instrumentalist cannot duplicate a characteristic sound on his or her instrument without an appropriate model to emulate.  Below are suggestions of artists for each instrument.  Every student in the band should own at least on recording of the Following artists:

Flute Jean-Pierre Rampal, Jim Walker, Paula Robison

Clarinet Harold Wright, Larry Combs

Oboe Joseph Robinson, John Mack

Bassoon Bubonic Bassoon Quartet, Christopher Millard

Saxophone Jean Rousseau, Joseph Lulloff, Steven Mauk

Trumpet Phil Smith, Adolph Herset, Winton Marselas

Horn Dale Clevenger, Dennis Brain

Trombone Joseph Alessi, Christian Linberg

Euphonium Brian Bowman, Roger Behrend

Tuba Arnold Jacobs, Sam Pilafin

Percussion Scott Johnson (Snare)

Private Lessons

Students are also highly encouraged to take private lessons.  By taking private lessons, a student will advance more easily while under the individual advisory of a professional of that instrument.  Private lessons are a tremendous aid in the development of a student’s musical knowledge and improve overall quality of the band.  

To be prepared to play at the next level (College) you MUST take private lessons.  What you learn in class is wonderful to become a great ensemble player but in college they want great soloists.  There are many options for you.  Any student interested in studying privately should see the band director for recommendations.

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