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Re: Length of Practice

A few radical points about practice.

!) Two hours is a good idea every day I try to do that at least. But it is far
more effective if it is broken up into shorter spells.

2) Never mind the quality feel the width doesn't work. For practice to be as
effective as it can be the plsyer needs to have a really clear idea what he is
trying to achieve. Playing a piece through is only practice when you are either
trying to learn it from memory or build up the the stamina on a piece that you
can already play perfectly. If you are working on a piece thatis too hard for
you you would probably better off analysing what the difficulty is and
practicing that problem on material that is not in the piece in question.

3) Practice technique then take technique to the music. That way the technique
will help you to perform musically rather than lack of technique preventing
musicality from coming through.

4) As much playing as possible needs to be automatic. Breathing , tonguing,
fingering reading music both in terms of aural awareness of what the next note
is going to sound like and which finger to put down. If any of these things need
to be considered during performance they are detracting from the ability of the
player to concentrate on the intentions of the composer and or instructions of
the conductor (which should be the same thing?) however in an enesmble position
this is not anissue for the player his responsibility is to do as the conductor
requests. The conductor is answerable to the audience the composer abd God for
what he does to the music.

5) back to practice.
If more than ten percent of a piece is too difficult for you it's probably
better left alaone. Improve your technique first and then come back to the
music.

6)Very little of my practice time is spent on playing pieces. I can read almost
anything that has been written but my reading is much better than my playing so
my practice time is spent on long notes lip slurs tonguing exercises sclaes (of
all sorts) Then I can apply thistechnique to pieces and play them perfectly
first time I see them. The music still needs thought but that doesn't actually
need the instrument.

Other people may have different strengths and weaknesses- one's practice
schedule should reflect one's own strengths and weaknessess as well as musical
circumstances. Given facility strength and flexibility I would think that
stamina is probably a fairly high priority for most band players so perhaps in
this case the 2 hours (with or without breaks) mentioned in the original post is
probably a good idea.But without pressure and with good breath control After all
if you can't keep going for two hours when you're playing alone you afre not
going to be at your best at the end of a long concert program.

Just a few thoughts

All the best

Steve Watkins
>


At a concert in Hyde Park, London, around 1950, I - an overawed little boy -
> ventured to ask the principal cornet (of Fodens, I think it was) how much
> practice he did. He replied very decisively: 'Two hours a day'.
>
> I was impressed that a man who had reached the position of being probably
> one of the best players of his instrument in the world still did so much
> practice.
>
> It would be interesting to know how much practice fellow list-members
> consider necessary. I suspect there are some players who do not practise at
> all, other than at band rehearsals.
>
> Yours (confessing to about 15 minutes a day),
>
> Ivan
>
>
> --
>
>  vetted
>
> njh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> http://www.normans.co.uk
>


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