Posted by Mary Ann on August 21, 2003 at 10:29:02:
In Reply to: Focused practice (longish) posted by MP on August 20, 2003 at 12:40:10:
I think it depends a lot on the instrument vs player. Where I get hung up on practicing brass instruments is trying to apply my practice habits from violin, where I can do focused practice for about two hours (which is a lot, but that seems to be where it falls out.) On horn, I continually ruin myself because the brain is trying to focus on a violin level while the chops can't keep up. I get really frustrated...tuba is better for length of practice than horn, because it's impossible to use pressure when your entire face is inside the mouthpiece. Well, you can use pressure but it only hurts your face bones and not your lips.
But as for face time....once you have a piece learned, you still need to play it over and over both for the musical aspects and for the "groove-in" aspects. It was a long time before I realized how much grooving in was needed in order to perform a piece well.
MA