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Can efficiency make up for lack of time?



 
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LaTrompeta
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 11:58 am    Post subject: Can efficiency make up for lack of time? Reply with quote

This is something I think a lot about. I'm trying to do many things at once, so the likelihood of practicing 1-2 hours a day is really just not there. Is it possible to practice the trumpet so efficiently that 30 minutes is like 2 hours? I wonder about this with trumpet because a certain degree of physical conditioning of the lips is necessary.
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trickg
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 12:23 pm    Post subject: Re: Can efficiency make up for lack of time? Reply with quote

LaTrompeta wrote:
This is something I think a lot about. I'm trying to do many things at once, so the likelihood of practicing 1-2 hours a day is really just not there. Is it possible to practice the trumpet so efficiently that 30 minutes is like 2 hours? I wonder about this with trumpet because a certain degree of physical conditioning of the lips is necessary.

Yes. That became the story of my life a number of years ago when I was pretty busy - I needed to maintain my chops because I was gigging on the weekends in a wedding band with a pretty robust book, but I was limited on the amount of time I could spend in the practice room.

I did a lot of basic fundamentals - scales, arpeggios, basic lip slurs, basic articulation exercises, certain technical exercises that have always been good for me, etc. It was a pretty brief warmup before jumping into it.

I had it dialed down to about 35-45 minutes.

This was bare minimum though - there were days where I'd spend 2+ hours going through music, working on other chops stuff and that kind of thing, but if I was really busy and just needed to keep the chops going, I could do that in a pretty short amount of time.

I have to laugh at school kids who "practice" for 20 minutes, are like, "NAILED IT!" and then they move on to something else. Most players are barely getting warmed up good by 20 minutes.
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Dayton
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 12:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

f you are smart about what you practice and how you do it, you can make very productive use of 30 minutes daily. And that is (arguably) better than 1-2 hours of purposeless playing, but it is still just 30 minutes. It will never be as beneficial as 1-2 hours of purposeful practice.
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Goby
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 1:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Even 15 minutes a day is way better than 0 when it comes to maintaining and improving playing ability. Playing trumpet is all about coordination rather than brute strength, and a small amount of repetition daily is much better for maintaining this coordination than no playing at all.
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trickg
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 1:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I should probably be specific about the fact that when I was doing that 35-45 minutes, that was for maintenance only. If I needed to brush some things back up from a technique perspective, I'd do more because it requires more.
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kehaulani
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Book One: The Week of the Virtuoso

https://qpress.ca/product/la-semaine-du-virtuose/
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Shaft
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Efficiency is always good I think.
What’s the goal? Depending on that….
It may be to do whatever it takes.
For now the goal is a cocoon practice phase.

For 5 yrs its been life in a semi driving
11 hrs/ day, out 12-19 days at a time.
Shippers and receivers yield 20 min-2 hrs
In the evening a few more hours.

Seeking guidance for coordination &
efficiency was/ is an ongoing process.
Found a teacher for lessons with a track record
of teaching efficiency and focused on his advice.


Last edited by Shaft on Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:45 pm; edited 4 times in total
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JayKosta
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 2:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Efficiency can help, but doing it to best advantage requires that you know what aspect of playing can be 'effectively addressed' in a short practice time.

That might not be what you are 'weakest at', if the time needed to make meaningful improvement cannot be done in the available practice time.

Find something that needs fixing and which can be fixed in the time.
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LaTrompeta
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 27, 2023 7:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not trying to be a virtuoso but I do want to maximize what time I have. I can practice more like 5 minute blocks every 30 minutes.
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Dayton
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 1:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
I'm not trying to be a virtuoso but I do want to maximize what time I have. I can practice more like 5 minute blocks every 30 minutes.


Breaking down your practice into short sprints/bursts can be a useful technique to help you focus more intensely on one particular skill, exercise or phrase. If you are going to try to do all of your practice that way, you need to think about what you need to practice, and how, and be prepared to maximize each five minute block.

In some ways this isn't much different than how you maximize 30 minutes or two hours; you still want to make best use of that time.

You need to look at your practice week, figure out what you need to cover -- fundamentals to maintain, fundamentals that need work, music you are preparing, etc. -- and what you are going to practice to address those needs. That way you are prepared for each five minute opportunity and can prioritize your needs.

Ryan Beach of the Alabama Symphony has videos on Youtube detailing how he plans his practice. He also has an app to help with that. You might find them useful. Edit: Rex Richardson's excellent "100 Days of Trumpet Practice" is another great source for ideas.

Good luck!


Last edited by Dayton on Sat Jan 28, 2023 12:23 pm; edited 1 time in total
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LaTrompeta
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 1:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is great. I really need to fine-tune my planning in general. Get the most out of life.
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Trumpjerele
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 2:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Haste is the enemy of efficiency, and it's an easy thing to forget when you're short on time.

Pops mclaughlin has a book designed to improve with just 30 minutes of practice.

In my case, when I have very little time to practice I prefer to work on music: songs, scales, chords, improvisation.

Half an hour flies by!
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Seymor B Fudd
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Would like to add that the way you practice is if possible even more significant than what you practice. Thorougly practising details, even if they may seem trivial can do wonders. Really focussing on attacks, always trying to keep your aperture intact, not blowing the lips apart has shown itself to be amazingly efficient in my own case. To this I´ve been playing since 1958 rather successfully as an amateur so I thought I knew all about attacks Nope I didn´t. Seemingly miniscule details!!! Try blowing a crescendo beginning at low C. The same way as you play a C in the staff. Full control decent sound.

Pros do it I think but the rest of us?. And: young strong lips may hide fundamental flaws - you nail that D because of the force. "May the force go with you"- yeah but it doesn´t. But at 80, I´ve found that it is the small details that does it. A little too late, yes I know but better now than never.
So find your not that sweet spots and make them sweet!

Focussing on the details, down in the basement, crescendos tongue on lips and such things - seems to have shortened the time necessary.

So in a few words: More detailing seems to shorten the practice time - for me at least. Endurance getting better by the day. Pyramids are best built by beginning with the fundamentals.
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Doug Elliott
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 8:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

All great points and very true. It also depends on what you consider to be "fundamentals."
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abontrumpet
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dayton wrote:
f you are smart about what you practice and how you do it, you can make very productive use of 30 minutes daily. And that is (arguably) better than 1-2 hours of purposeless playing, but it is still just 30 minutes. It will never be as beneficial as 1-2 hours of purposeful practice.


Great answer.

I will add two more things:

1a. With the practice you describe -- 5 minute chunks (every 30 minutes) -- I am not sure you can reasonably hit more than just maintenance unless you get VERY smart with your practice and meticulously plan out your month ahead of time.

1b. As we know from sports training, at a certain point in your progression, to really engender improvement in the matters of skill and development of efficiency, you need to dedicate time and incredible focus for improvement. As a simple instructional example -- when we are reaching our genetic limit for single tongue speed, we really need to come up with a very intelligent way to squeeze out the last 1-5%. As this relates to 1a, at some points in your progression you may need to dedicate 3/6 of your 5 minute sessions to just trying to improve a single aspect of your playing. You can see how this could get difficult as all of your skills and development reach their limits.
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Seymor B Fudd
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 30, 2023 5:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Doug Elliott wrote:
All great points and very true. It also depends on what you consider to be "fundamentals."


Yes somewhat "foggy". Producing a decent tone/sound stone number one
And by that using the proper attack, enough air. Being able to play a decent scale up to C in staff. And what not the remainder of your life.....
Still foggy I know
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ErikA
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have trouble taking 30 sec-5 min breaks when practicing but when I do I make much better progress. But it's so boring! So I intersperse my home exercise routine (stretches, crunches, planks, resistance) with my trumpet practice. Then both benefit from rest between sets.
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MrOlds
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Adam Rapa has some interesting thoughts on making the most out of limited practice time.

https://youtu.be/6GMUMM1SxDs

Ryan Beach has an app that seems useful for organizing your practice sessions and maximizing results in an efficient and structured way.

https://youtu.be/ovjzN7AlbLU
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