Splitting Up Practice Optimally

[Lonnie123]

Hi all, Re-returning player here from a few years back that had tremendous success with the Systematic Approach (as taught to me by Paul Cacia very briefly at the time, he has since retired from all forms of teaching and playing though) and am looking to return to playing now that time has appeared in my schedule.

Having said that... Its not a tremendous amount of time, and Im looking to use it wisely. I really benefitted from the "down routine" and "up routine" previously, and would like to keep those in my daily routine, along with some technical studies.

My question for any of the knowledgeable people on here is what is the best way to split up practicing? On a bad day I may only have enough time to do the down/up routine ... OR I could practice the charts for the band im playing.

On a good day I can do both, but perhaps split up into morning and night time sessions ... Would it be advisable in that case to do the down/up routine in the morning and the charts at night? Or is there really no difference there?

Thanks in advance everyone!

[Dayton]

[gwood66]

Not sure if I'm knowledgeable, but, I studied with John Mohan for awhile and he scaled back the routine for me when I was in a similar situation as you describe. The basic routine as he assigned it consisted of the following:

SA Down Routine
SA Up Routine
A Clarke Study (slurred, single tongued, K tongued, or double tongued)
Several exercises out of Irons 27 Groups
Tonguing exercise from Gordon Tongue Level Exercises book

When I needed to shorten things up his advice was as follows:

Drop the tonguing exercises if needed
Always do the flexibilities
Rotate between a Clarke and systematic approach #2 part 1 and or 2

You can shorten Clarke by rotating between odds or evens
You can shorten exercise #2 by starting on F instead of C in the staff.

Personally, if I had to choose between the up and down exercises, I would always choose down. For me, working through the pedal adds the most value.

Hope this is of some value. Good luck with your comeback.
_________________
Gary Wood (comeback player with no street cred)

GR 66M/66MS/66**
Bach Strad 37
Getzen 3052
Yamaha 6345

[Lonnie123]

[Lonnie123]

[Dayton]

Just in case it is helpful, I'll add a few ways I have modified the routine over the years to address time constraints. Also, I'll stress that these are my ideas, and your teacher may recommend other approaches more in keeping with CG's teaching or their own experience and your specific needs.

Regarding Systematic Approach, I feel that doing some is better than doing none, so I tried to do all parts of a lesson, even if it meant compressing them. For example, I might combine the first two or three phrases and then do the long hold at the end of the third phrase. For Lesson 3, Part 1, that would look like measure 1, 3 and 5 with a long hold at the end of measure 5. Rest. Measures 7, 9, 11 with a long hold at the end of measure 11. Or I might skip every other phrase, which would look like measure 1, rest, measure 5, rest, measure 9, rest....

For Daily Trumpet Routines, you can go every other line, every other fingering, or every other key (depending on which lesson you are practicing). Just don't always skip the same ones or you might wind up creating gaps in your skills.

For Clarke Technical Studies, you can go every other exercise, and then alternate. You could also combine the exercises, playing two back to back without a repeat as opposed to repeating one and skipping the next. Or you could play first time through as written and second time up or down an octave to cover range quicker.

For the flexibility studies, I prioritized them and avoided skipping them to the extent possible, When really short on time you could skip every other one, skip the repeat, etc.

Again, just my approach when short on time. Good luck!

[Lonnie123]