Improving Accuracy

[trickg]

[beagle]

To complement the other replies, the physical answer you are looking for is most likely this (not my idea - I've heard it from many different sources).

Play whatever passage you need to play perfectly at the slowest speed on your metronome (e.g. 40bpm). Play it perfectly at least five times in a row at that speed, concentrating on the sound of the notes, the fingering, phrasing, tonguing, etc. Then move the metronome up by 5bpm and repeat. Keep going with this process until you reach a speed that is significantly faster than you will ever need to play it.

This will take a lot of time, and it is probably not realistic to do this for everything you will need to play, but everything you do use it for you are pretty much guaranteed to play perfectly every time.

Rob
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[dstdenis]

Here are a few things that have helped me with accuracy:

1. Sound production exercises. The idea is to improve response so the correct note will sound easily, even if played softly and with a light articulation.

2. Arpeggios, especially the exercises that go up and down over about an octave and a half. Examples include Arban chord studies, some of the Arban triple-tonguing exercises (some good arpeggio exercises buried in there) and Franquin arpeggio exercises.
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[robertmooretruro]

I'm also quite enjoying this thread. For accuracy and interval studies I like Bill Knevitt's Don't Nobody Miss ebook. I think it's on qpress now. It's a Claude Gordon style approach.
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[khedger]

I've been thinking about this and this also occurred to me. The first step in figuring out what exactly to practice to cure accuracy problems is to figure out what's causing the problem (I know, it's obvious, but I don't think it's been mentioned).
Is the problem fatigue, a breathing/support issue, an embochure issue, what???

Whatever is causing the problem will help to zero in on the kind of practice that will help to cure the problem.

[fraserhutch]

I am going to post my take on this.

Yes, it is important to "visualize" the pitches you play. I don't call this exactly hearing them, but related.

One part of this is musical, the translation to "how should this music sound". The second is pitch relativity (for lack of a better term) - how do the pitches relate to those around them?

The first related to the masterclass video shown above. Yes, the pianist played the phrase more convincingly the second time, but tell me, just how many hours went into training herself how to play actual notes, where the fingers go, how hard to strike them, and how to make them flow?

In my experience you need to both visualize the music and have your body respond in an appropriate way to create it. This is about teaching your body the muscle memory required to be able to reproduce what your body wants on demand almost subconsciously. This is in teaching yourself muscle memory, and the way I know o do this is through mindful repetition and practice. A lot of it. Consistently. This is where Bill Ortiz's advice is true. The studio pros are accurate because they practice to be accurate, and have spent thousands of hours learning to be accurate. It is what is behind great methods such as the Adam method and the Gordon method. Repetition.

Go practice :)My $0.02.
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[Rod Haney]

I started taking lessons with a guy about 3 months ago. He plays symphony and a lot of other stuff. I told him I wished to have better articulation and accuracy and this is what we have done with good progress.

We use any book and I just try to play it exactly as written with a metronome and strict time. Any time I make a mistake I stop, count it down and repeat until it is correct. I dont read well and never paid much attention to written articulation (you know big band music). As a result I had grown very sloppy in attack and it also had an effect on note accuracy. I usually work 2-3 measures until accurate and move till thru. Then I try to play it thru without mistake, always repeating measures until correct never moving until played correctly. And working thru until I can play correctly to the end. Then I turn up the metronome. Repeat. .....

This lends itself well to short 15 minute to 30 minute sessions. At first I thought it unbearable, but I made a bit of a game of it. In my opinion 2 things about this approach are really helping me get better and much more accurate. Strict adherence to time is really improving the coordination of breath and fingers. Adherence to written accents and volume are making me a more flexible player and giving me new expression.

I’m using a program called Jazz session band to make backing tracks for the Wiley Arubans exercises and Bolvin exercises so I can also start recognizing chord symbols and improvisation. Most exercises in these 2 books lend themselves well to both formal exercise and jazz improv 2 for 1.

You didn’t say whether you were missing notes on familiar material or on new or music you really dont have down. Back when I could play, I almost never missed a note on music I knew, but I had to play it thru at least twice to make sure I didn’t clink. I had full confidence when I knew it but lack of familiarity and confidence always caused the clams in my case. My reading has also improved in the 3 months Ive been approaching exercises in the above way as well.

Rod

[khedger]

[Fig]

I would urge you to reconsider the first respondent's advice. You have to hear the note you are going to play. Hear it in time and in tune, and WITH CONFIDENCE. Then you are prepared mentally and physically to produce it.

It's not that trumpet players hear themselves cracking a note-of course! It's that they either 1. are hearing the wrong note coming up or 2. just aren't certain of what that pitch sounds like.

You have to be confident of what the note is coming up-not just "that's an F first valve" but able to sing it and hear the melodic line confidently.

There's an inverse of this that proves it. Have you ever heard the right note and blown the right note but for whatever reason pushed down the wrong valve? A strange in between sound comes out sometimes-that's because your body and mind are sure and are trying to make the note come out-but the horn is set up so that is a physical impossibility. Instead of the note coming out that you are using the fingering for your body and mind will continue to try to produce the right note-the note you hear-and fight the horn.

You have trained yourself over the years to play the note you hear and conceive-so when you are hearing the wrong note your body will play it! Or at least try to-which causes the cracked note.

Anyway-just for me-when I miss a note it is often because I just wasn't sure of the line-I couldn't hear it.

A second cause of cracked notes for me is overshooting. A habit from when you are young and have a limited range-you come to thing of some notes as "high notes" needing a lot of effort. When you are a stronger player you still tend to fixate on those notes and really go after them and over blow.

It could be that not hearing the notes isn't your problem-that advice just struck really true for me.

[John Mohan]

[Rod Haney]

The 2 guys I knew who played studio lead both were GREAT sight readers and played the music nearly perfectly from the get to. I know most of my clams come when I sightread. Lots of earlier suggestions will help sight reading greatly. Also I think that studio players have a great deal of confidence in their ability to play whatever is written- I know I clam more when I’m not confident because of lack of ability or practice. And also remember that studio players are at the top of the trumpet player heap - you have certainly set your goals high - and I like that. I just keep plugging away with Arbans and Clark’s. My earning days are over now that uncle is giving a little back$ But I still want to play like a pro.
Rod