Ideas About Practicing

Ideas About Practicing
Chad Burrow
Why do we practice?
Do we enjoy being isolated from the world for hours, often in small rooms with no windows
repeating the same passages over and over again? Is there something fundamentally wrong
with each of us? Why do we practice, and what is its purpose? Are there ways of practicing
more effectively and efficiently?
Most of us practice because we want to be able to stand on stage in a performance and give our
best or give a performance that communicates something meaningful to the audience. Perhaps
some of us even imagine giving a performance that the composer (dead or alive) would be
pleased with
We practice attaining a very specific skill set. We must learn the craft to have full artistic
expression. Practicing to become a better clarinetist is the beginning. We must build a set of
skills to produce an incredible array of sounds, articulations, dynamics, speeds, and expressive
nuances. Those skills are honed over hours of practice focusing on the various aspects of
clarinet technique in scales, exercises, and etudes. Why do we do this? This is what allows a
musician to transcend their instrument to become a true artist. The degree to which you master
the clarinet technically will reflect in your ability to communicate as an artist. The writer with a
limited vocabulary will also be a limited communicator. A clarinetist with limited control of the
instrument, by analogy, will be a limited performer.
Here is a thought from flutist Sam Baron, “Practicing is essentially repetition—you repeat things
over and over. There is a goal in this activity. Through repetition, you achieve something that
might be called a groove in the brain or a habit. Through practice, we achieve a oneness with
the instrument and with music. When we go to a concert of a great musician we don’t hear a
person on stage manipulating a machine. We hear a person singing through the
instrument…Secondly, practice affords growth and improvement.”
Practice Guidelines
1. Always have clear goals when you practice. Know why you are practicing a given
passage, exercise, or work. If you don’t know why you are practicing something, then
stop. Don’t practice mindlessly! Practice with purpose!
2. Maximize your practice time. Whenever you practice, make it effective. Try to reduce
hesitations, but give yourself time to think and absorb what you are doing.
3. Organize your practice time. Know how much time you have to practice your
assignments, and allot the amount of time needed for each item. If you find you need
more time for one area of study and less for another, adjust your schedule accordingly.
4. If possible, practice at the same time every day to create a routine or groove.
5. Maximize those minutes. Look for small blocks of time where much can be
accomplished. Not every practice session needs to be 1 or 2 hours. Find the 15 or 30-
minute slots in your day to practice.
6. Vary your routine. Don’t practice the same type of exercise for extended periods of
time. ‘Variety is the spice of life.’ Sometimes, we must persevere through a practice
session, but the practice is generally more enjoyable and healthy if you allow some
flexibility in your routine.
7. Play for your peers. Scaffolding can help you identify weaknesses in your preparation.
This can also help you practice performing.
8. Most of your practice should be slow!
9. Don’t practice mistakes!
10. Always practice in a musical fashion. Use slow practice to hone phrasing, dynamics,
general expression, tone, legato, and accuracy. If you can play with character and sing
through the clarinet at a slow tempo, you can do it when it is quicker as well.
Why slow practice?

“If you never make a mistake [in practicing], you’ll never make a mistake [in performance]”—
Julius Baker
There is a lot of truth in that statement. We perform how we practice! Thomas Nyfenger called
the million-dollar lesson: “Whatever you sow, you’ll reap.” If we spend time in careful, focused
practice without making and repeating mistakes, we can expect to achieve good results on
stage. When we develop that correct ‘groove’ in the brain and spend our time making correct
repetitions, we can walk on stage with confidence.
There are two modifications to Julius Baker and the only slow approach to practice. First, we
need to learn to walk after we learn to crawl. As we begin to raise the tempo, mistakes are
inevitable and, in fact, good. We learn from our mistakes and can find the weaknesses in our
practice. Don’t fear the mistakes, but use the mistakes to guide your return to slow, careful
study and practice.
For the second modification, I encourage everyone to consider all of the possible tempos
between the performance tempo and the slow starting tempo. I have often considered writing
an article called “The Missing Middle of Practicing.” I have noticed some students over the
years only practice slowly and then move to faster tempi. Make sure to step things up and
practice moderate “middle” tempos. Enjoy the process and gradual growth over time. In final
preparation for a performance, some of my favorite practice times have been “middle” tempo
practice sessions.
Here are some ideas for practicing demanding technical passages.

1. Start a passage at half tempo or below. Repeat the passage correctly 2 or 3 times.
Next, play the passage a little faster (mm=60 becomes mm=62). If you make a mistake,
slow the passage down and repeat it. It will take you many days to reach your desired
tempo goal, but you will know the passage if you practice this way. It is good advice to
start a little slower than where you left off in a previous practice session.
2. “Up 3 Down 2” is similar to method 1, but it helps to alleviate tension by varying tempi.
Begin at half tempo or below and play the passage three times. Then go forward three
clicks on a dial metronome and play the passage. After playing a passage once at the
faster tempo, go back two clicks on your metronome and play the passage three times.
For example, if you start at 60, you will have three repetitions at 60, one at 69, three at
63, and one at 72, etc. This, like exercise 1, requires much patience, but it works. Once.
As most of us have digital metronomes, this can be altered with various other
increments, but I still like the old progression offered in the example.
3. Robert Marcellus taught another technique that I find very useful for maintaining a
difficult passage. A student would repeat a section several times (the number
apparently varied from student to student) at half tempo. This would be followed
immediately by one playing at full tempo.
4. Use rhythmic variation when you practice. I prefer to use duple-based rhythms as
opposed to triple-based rhythms.
5. Use a method often referred to as “chunking.” This method works well with passages
that are all or mostly in the same rhythm. The practice will take 1 beat, or chunk, at a
time and play it, while adding a rest between the first and second beat. The student is
encouraged to play each chunk as a gesture, either up bow or down bow, so phrasing
and musicianship are always part of the practice. The beat of rest is for the student to
remain relaxed and prepare for the next chunk of music to come. Often students can
work up to very fast tempi quickly via this method. Some teachers have called this
method “finger sprints” as well.
6. Instead of starting to practice at the beginning of a piece, start at the end and work
backward.
Application of ideas from Neuroscience etc.:

1. Practicing patterns, like scales, 3rds, and arpeggios in all keys, is essential. If you drill
those kinds of patterns over the years, they are stored deep in the brain and are
available for immediate recall without much effort. It lessens the practice time of new
music and allows for greater consistency and confidence in performance. As common
patterns are internalized, move on to other less common patterns, such as altered
scales, blues scales, whole tone scales, etc.
2. Never repeat a passage in the same manner more than 2 or 3 times. You should always
run “interference” between multiple repetitions. You may not learn faster at the
moment, but you will retain what you learn better. For example, after you play a
passage slowly two times, you need to keep repeating the passage at a given tempo,
then change one variable. Variables include things like articulation or dynamics. Once
you have mastered a given tempo, then you can change the most basic variable of
tempo. The “up 3 down 2” method is an example of “tempo interference.”
3. Breaks in your practice also act as a kind of “interference.” So don’t practice too much
in one given setting. Therefore you will learn and retain more if you spread your
practice time throughout the entire day rather than have one or two long sessions.
Poor: 1, 4-hour practice session

Better: A 2-hour morning and 2-hour evening session with breaks
Best: 4 to 6, 30 min sessions spread throughout the day
4. Your motor skills are more carefully, thoroughly, and accurately developed at slower
tempos. If you need to play quickly and accurately, then spend more time playing
slowly.
5. Never practice a single passage or skill for more than 3 to 5 min. Move on to something
else and come back. This is another type of running “interference.” When you work on
new passages or techniques every few minutes, your brain is constantly active and
adapting to the new material. When you repeat things from earlier in your session, the
brain is re-engaged and active. However, if you sit and practice one item (such as 30
min of long tones or 30 min of the same two lines of a concerto), your brain becomes
less active and aware. You actually do go on a kind of “auto-pilot.” You may feel better
at the moment, but that passage may not be playable the next day. A practice plan
might look like this.
3-5 min Long Tones

3-5 min Baermann, 3rds
3-5 min Articulation
then repeat
or
3-5 min Beethoven 6 (movement 1)

3-5 min Beethoven 6 (movement 2)
3-5 min Mendelssohn Scherzo
repeat from the top
6. Your brain is processing information while you sleep. The information and motor skills
that you have been developing during your practice sessions are being processed while
you sleep. In effect, you are practicing while you sleep. If you pay close attention, you
may find that some days you wake up and can play a passage better than you did the
day before. Get plenty of rest!
A final thought from Opperman’s, Velocity Studies: “It is only a matter of hours.” One must
invest hours of intelligent practice to achieve our goals and dreams. Make sure that you allot
the time you need to achieve your goals.

Ideas About Practicing

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ideas About Practicing

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ideas About Practicing

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ideas About Practicing

Why slow practice?

Here are some ideas for practicing demanding technical passages.

Application of ideas from Neuroscience etc.:

Poor: 1, 4-hour practice session

3-5 min Long Tones

3-5 min Beethoven 6 (movement 1)

You might also like