Re: Your Brief Practice Session


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Sean Chisham on June 13, 2000 at 09:33:23:

In Reply to: Your Brief Practice Session posted by Steve Marcus on June 12, 2000 at 19:36:34:

20 minutes each morning is just about enough time to get my sound in gear for the rest of the day's activities. I use the first 2 pages of Schlossberg for tone quality/breath control/efficiency practice. The main goal is sound quality and projection for me in the morning. I usually spend about 20 minutes on that alone to start the day. If you must limit time, then cut that back to 12 minutes or so and spend the remainder on the easier short tunes from the back of the trumpet Arbans or somesuch. Concentrate on the most important aspects, namely the tune and the air. You may have heard it called Song and Wind. Hmmmmm.

If it is later in the day and you only have one more 20 minute practice session, then retouch on the sound practice for 2 minutes or so, then proceed to 10 minutes or so of slow, methodical practice of the music being prepared followed by some exercises which assist with the fundamentals in the music which need the most work. If the piece has lots of multiple tonguing, then work on that. If it has some higher passages, then play those familiar Arbans tunes up a few octaves.

Sometime during the second practice session, make it a point to read down all the music being prepared for the upcoming event, whether that be all your recital music or all of your audition music. If you are preparing for an event and feel limited on time a common tendency is to only focus on the music which is perceived as needing the most work and neglecting the "easy" tunes. This can be clearly heard at recitals or auditions, when the performer comes to the slower movements of a piece and sound like they are sight reading it. Don't forget to run through all your music every day. Doing this you may find that the tunes you thought were already prepared and strong may not be as strong as the the music you have been devoting all that time to.

sean chisham


Follow Ups: