Practicing
WHY PRACTICE
Thoughts on practice--
Practicing is skill development. The more you practice, the more you can do. The more you can do, the more you want to. The more you want to, the more you enjoy it. The more you enjoy it, the better you become.
Don't practice until it's right. Practice until it's never wrong.
“What I have achieved by industry and practice, anyone else with tolerable natural gift and ability can also achieve.”
― Johann Sebastian Bach
“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
― Aristotle
"The best way for a student to get out of difficulty is to go through it."
― Aristotle
Practice does not make perfect – it makes permanent
― Alexander Libermann
The value of an exercise depends on your state of mind. If you don’t find it interesting, then it is not useful.
― Madeline Bruser, Bruser, Madeline., The Art of Practicing (Bell Tower, 1997), p.17
Faults acquired through incorrect practicing can be eradicated only by great effort.
― Walter Gieseking, Gieseking, Walter., The Shortest Way To Pianistic Perfection (Dover Publications, 1972)
You don't need to justify your love, you don't need to explain your love, you just need to practice your love. Practice creates the master.
― Miguel Ruiz
Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice reduces the imperfection.
― Toba Beta
Practice is the hardest part of learning, and training is the essence of transformation.
― Ann Voskamp
“It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has become easy to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently and diligently studied.”
― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“Tomorrow’s victory is today’s practice.”
― Chris Bradford
HOW TO PRACTICE
REMEMBER THREE THINGS:
1. Right Notes
2. Right Rhythms
3. Steady Tempo
Here are some specific practice strategies when you are struggling with a section of your music.
1. ADD A NOTE: Start with 2 notes that you can play, then add 1 note. Practice those 3 notes until perfect and add another note. Continue that pattern.
2. CHUNKING: Learn 1 measure. Practice the next measure. Play those 2 measures. Learn the next measure. Play those 3 measures.
3. ISOLATE THE PROBLEM: When you are practicing, you don't have to start at the beginning each time! Go to the problem spot and work on that. Remember - the problem could be a measure, or just a few notes within a measure.
Find the Problem - Isolate the Problem - Practice the Problem.
4. WORK BACKWORDS: Start at the end of the piece and practice the last measure. Go back 1 measure (the next to last measure) and practice the last 2 measures.
5. LOOK FOR PATTERNS: You will often find that music repeats itself. Take the time to look through the music to find repeated notes, rhythms, patterns or phrases. Quite often you will find sections of the music that you have already learned.
6. GO TO THE "EASY PLACE": Before getting to the point of frustration and exhasperation, stop what you are working on and play something just for fun: a melody or song that you know, buzz your mouthpiece, play the Bb scale. Once you are able to achieve success again, go back to what you were working on.
7. ALWAYS PRACTICE SLOWLY: Young musicians have a tendency to practice at or near full tempo, but experienced plays work through music under-tempo and gradually increase speed. Working with a metronome can help you intentionally use tempo while practicing.
WHAT TO PRACTICE
Things to practice:
1. Major Scales
2. Arpeggios
3. Long Tones
4. Chromatic Scales
5. Minor Scales
6. All 12 major scales (and time yourself)
7. 12321 in all 12 keys
8. 1234321 in all 12 keys
9. 123454321 in all 12 keys
10. 13531 in all 12 keys
11. 1358531 in all 12 keys
12. Anything with a metronome
13. Anything with a tuner
14. Play a note into a tuner and see how long you can hold it in tune
15. Play a note into a tuner and see if you can make the note go flat
16. Play a note into a tuner and see if you can make the note go sharp.
17. Play a note into a tuner and see if you can make it go flat then sharp then flat then sharp
18. Play a note into a tuner and see if you can make it go flat then sharp then flat then sharp than hold it in tune
19. Play eighth notes with a metronome and keep moving the metronome 10 beats faster - how fast can you play?
20. Do the same thing with 16th notes.
21. Practice the Rhythm Sets linked above
22. Songs in your method book
23. Songs from last year's method book
24. Band music
25. Songs you like to listen to (see if you can figure out how the song goes, without having any music)
26 Practice all the songs in your method book that have the same key signature
27. Practice all the songs in your method book that have the same time signature
28. Print music from 8notes.com
29. Browse SMARTMUSIC
30. Record yourself and listen to your performance
31. Brass - play all your music on your mouthpiece only
32. Play in front of a mirror to check posture, embouchure, and hand position
33. Percussion - play a buzz roll for 1 minute, 2 minutes - make it as smooth as possible.
34. Hold a note for as long as you can with a straight line sound
35. Count the rhythms to all your music
36. Name the notes to all your music
37. Play it 5 times in a row with no mistakes. If you make a mistake - start over again.
38. Play the rhythms of the music on only one note
39. Start slow and play faster
40. Percussion - play 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 stroke rolls
41. Percussion - learn to play a paradiddle roll
42. Everyone - how fast can you play all 12 major scales?
43. Brass - play lip slurs
44. Practice music and add dynamics - experiment with your own ideas.