Posted by Rob - READ THIS on August 09, 2000 at 20:18:13:
In Reply to: Practicing posted by Jens on August 09, 2000 at 15:49:48:
There's a fellow named MC over on the tuba/euph mailing list.
He recently posted this inspirational message about practising. It's motivated me into practising more, so if it can help some other people here, I hope he won't mind if I post it here:
"Hi Folks:
Randy writes:
>I have discovered a way to speed up the valves in my venerable, beloved
>and in-tune [Euphonium]:
>I've started practicing more!
Friends, Randy has the magic answer!
Often when I read posts asking questions about this, that and the other,
I'm struck by the obvious answer: practice more.
Story time . . .
I once had a student who started showing up without having practiced.
This becomes obvious about three or four notes into the warm-up and shortly
into each lesson I'd ask him the same question, "did you put in the time
this week?"
Each time, he'd calmly reply, "no", and I'd send him home. (I collected my
fees by the month those days.)
Finally, after several lessons, I asked why he kept paying for lessons (it
wasn't cheap!) without practicing.
He said, "listening to you, it seems obvious to me that playing the horn is
really easy. This practicing nonsense is for the birds -- I'm waiting for
you to show me the magic answer!"
I recommended him to a colleague of mine who had a lot more patience than I
did. A year later the kid still wasn't practicing, according to my friend,
but he was still taking lessons!
Goin' horn hunting?
Don't even bother if you aren't "putting in the time."
Worried about intonation?
Don't bother if you aren't "putting in the time."
Concerned about tone production?
Don't bother if you aren't "putting in the time."
Wondering if a new "signature" mouthpiece will cure all your problems?
Guess what? It won't if you aren't "putting in the time."
MC's Vicious Cycle of Practicing:
1. The more you practice, the better you get.
2. The better you get, the more you'll feel like practicing
(return to #1)
-- and the corollary:
1a. The less you practice the more frustrated you get.
2a. The more frustrated you get the less you feel like practicing.
How much time is reasonable?
Ask yourself this question:
How much time does a successful athlete put in working out?
In high school, I'd say a couple hours of very directed practice is a
minimum in order to really enjoy the horn. Your basic high school jock
puts in at least this much time.
In college, if you're a major -- even in Music Ed. -- you should at least
double that.
After college "non-pro?" I'd say a couple hours a day will keep that horn
playing real sweet!
Still got questions?
Pros - semi-pros and serious wannabes:
Ask any jock how much time (s)he puts in and how
tightly organized and intense their workout is.
Post college amateurs who just dig playing?
Go down to the "Y" and see how much time your average
yuppie businessman puts in on the machines and in the pool.
- - or you can do what the rest of the world does: sit up late at night
watching the TV, getting out of shape and bellyaching about how things
don't work!
So sez MC
(. . . that's me!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
E-Mail:
Web: http://Goethenet.Net/Call.htm"
As I said, it's helped me.
Rob