Practicing in Between the Weekends.

[Goldenchops55]

Hello all,
After Christmas was over my time has been very limited. On Saturdays I practice 4 times a day for 30 minutes with an hour between each session. During the week I am lucky to have 2 hours of practice time. Could someone give me a good practice schedule that could be done in 2 hours? I usually do a well rounded practice on Saturdays. I do Clarke Technical Studies first, then I work on band music, then Irons and long tones, and last I do Arbans. I would like a schedule that I could do during the week in two hours with a well rounded practice. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[mafields627]

Sounds like you have a pretty good schedule but, it looks like you could come out better by replacing the band music portion (unless your director has specifically assigned music to practice). I would eliminate that except for taking time out every now and then to work on problematic passages. I would include scale studies (especially if you have time to be practicing two hours a night). Extend them to two octaves and work on major, natural minor, harmonic minor, and melodic minor. I don't know what grade you're in but, you'll be way ahead of the game and half way ready for your first college jury if you know those. Also work in some breathing exercises. It amazes me how much my tone improved in one week when I first started college last semester b/c of changes in how I breath and doing breathing exercises. I always thought I had a good tone in high school but I was way wrong. Once you start doing those, start increasing the number of times you can do Clarke in one breath at a piano volume, without sacrificing tone and air pressure. Finally, I'd round it out with some range endurance exercises. The Schlossberg studies are good for range (heck, extended arpeggios and two octave scales will work). I have a song posted on my website wich is excellent for testing endurance. Roddy has one on his site also. Good Luck!

_________________
--Matt--
http://www.geocities.com/mafields627

[ This Message was edited by: mafields627 on 2002-02-12 23:28 ]

[Quadruple C]

[ This Message was edited by: Quadruple C on 2003-12-18 14:23 ]

[_Don Herman]

Do you mean two hours total during the week? If so, I'd use Caruso or some "real" exercises (Irons, Clark, or whatever) for warmup and break the general areas (whatever they may be for you, typically long tones, scales, tonguing/technical, range, endurance, music/etudes, sightreading, etc.) into short blocks or modules no longer than the minimum practice slot you have during the week. Then, you can rotate throught the modules as you go. Every module will have some kind of short warmup, followed by the "goal" exercises for that module. This way, you'll have short but very focused sessions. I'm thinking of setting up a similar schedule for the same reason -- just too many other things during the week. Fortunately, I can practice in my truck over lunch 2-3 times a week (if it ain't too cold) and get some of the "drudgeries" out of the way.

HTH - Don

p.s. Oops -- didn't mean to imply Caruso ain't "real" exercises. I meant, a specific set of exercises for warmup, versus some haphazard thing. My teacher uses mpc buzzing of specific notes in sequence (good ear training, too) followed by slurs and intervals (tongued) in semi-random patterns so's I don't get in a rut. I always have to follow whatever fiendish interval and rhythm pattern he's come up with this lesson!
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Don Herman/Monument, CO

[ This Message was edited by: Don Herman on 2002-02-13 10:05 ]

[sean007r]

mafields627

help me understand this...

[Pat]

Look at the David Bilger notes on the rawbrass site under technique. He divides trumpet technique into 6 main headings (tone, articulation, dexterity, flexibility range, and endurance) and suggests books and excercises, plus etudes. I think if you only have a 1/2 hr a day you try to cover each one these aspects of technique every 2 or 3 days. I think if you try to do them all in one day, you won't spend enough concentrated time on any to really get the hang of it. Also if you only do the same 2 or 3 every day, you will never develop the others.

[NelleTrumpet]

Hi –

I’m a college student and NOT a music major (only a music minor). So I don’t have a lot of time to practice. On the weekends, I’m able to practice for a couple of hours each day, and I usually break my practice time up so that I can get more out of the little time I have. I’ve found that the key to regular practice during the week is to choose a time to practice each day and stick to it. For example, on MWF, I have an hour break between my 8:30 and 10:30 classes. Unless I have an exam in the 10:30 class (which I only had two the whole semester), that hour is practice time. On TR, I’ve set a specific time in the afternoon to practice. So even though I’m only practicing about 9 hours a week outside of rehearsals (which are 6+ hours a week), I’ve found that consistency in practicing has helped me improve a great deal. Also, I try to play my best every session because practice doesn’t make perfect, it merely makes permanent. If I’m sounding really bad and I feel that I’m not making progress, I just put the horn away and try again later. I figure there’s no sense in learning things incorrectly.
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Danelle Wilbraham