Some of us practice about an hour per day. (Playing for fun.) Is a single daily practice session as productive as putting in two or three shorter sessions spread throughout the day? I prefer playing a single daily session. One possible benefit of a single session is the building of endurance for those 2-hour once-a-week group rehearsals. But, do other aspects of playing, such as high range, tone, accuracy, etc., develop better with shorter, multiple daily practice sessions?
I'm like you -- an hour to 1.5 hours a day, all in one session -- which for me works better into my schedule. However, I vary what I work on each day to give more time to various aspects of my playing. I find 5 minutes daily doesn't do it as well as 35 - 45 minutes twice a week. Plus with several small sessions I always find myself having to warm up again for 5 - 10 minutes.
Here's my usual routine: I start with my warm-up, which usually takes about 25 minutes. I established this a long time ago and found that if I run into a couple of days when all I have is 30 minutes this will keep me going. It covers a lot of ground -- long tones, then Farkas, then 2 and 3 octave scales in various tonguing patterns. After this I work on something different each day. Yesterday was my music for our approaching orchestra season. Today will be selections from Maxime-Alphone books 3 and 4. Tomorrow will be Kopprasch in various transpositions and even down an octave. I also work in Mueller etudes, low horn books, and concertos. In here somewhere I also toss in specific things I need to work on to help me get through the next concert, like trills (we have Dvorak 8 coming up), extra hefty long tones for the opening movement of Scheherezade, or the like.
I think you have to find what works best for you, but I personally think longer sessions a couple of times a week may work better for developing (or maintaining) various aspects of your playing than 5 minutes daily.
Margaret
Margaret Dikel JCCSO Librarian / Horn 11218 Ashley Drive, Rockville MD 20852 301-881-0122 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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