[Q]Thanks for all of the good information, How can I get a copy of orchestral musicians CD Rom. What is that? Also, sightreading is something that I generally ignore. What is the best way to practice that? Shouldn't I be doing long tones, too?
I like to do long tones on all of the notes on the instrument for one minute every day. Is this a waste of time? One of my teacher's teachers did that and he was a great player. Another problem that I always run in to is time management in the practice room. I really only have two or three hours a day to practice, because I work two other jobs plus students, etc. Sometimes I don't even have that much time. My list of things to do in the practice room seems to always come out to what seems to be about four or five hours of work. Any ideas on this? [/Q] ------------------------------------------------ Sight reading is best practiced by doing it. Reading every type of music and style from easy to hard. The idea is that once you can get all the notes then the goal is to get all the notes and all the music-first time through. Read at tempo. There is nothing wrong with long tones. Long tones-or quality tones as Dale calls them-help settle notes into the ear and consciousness. They are good for warm up and warm down. Time management. This is the biggest obstacle to all young musicians and indeed most people generally. Initially you need to make out a weekly practice plan. In fact make four weekly plans. This is not something that is set in stone. This is a guide but random playing or obsessiveness is your enemy here. Remember that you are self-teaching and most teachers make lessons plans for many years before they 'wing it' using that earned experience. Obviously this will be a short term goal process since it is just one month. 1. First step is HONEST evaluation of where you currently are. Assess strengths as well as weaknesses. Say you have two hours of practice time a day. Divide that up into warmup, brief review of one or more strengths, brief review of the previous sessions weak area, work on today's weak area, warmdown. The time for each section is determined by you and your chops. Do not necessarily harp on the same thing every day. This is why you make a plan to keep you on track. 2. Keep a log of your practice. Write down everything you play while in the process. Make notes on ease or difficulty of the task, how long you spent on the task, observations on sound technique style etc. For the truly hard core, make notes on that day's food intake and exercise. Note that what we eat today affects us tomorrow more than today. 3. When you begin tomorrow's session, review the prior several days to see if any patterns can be established. Certainly at the end of the week re-evaluate your next several weekly plans and modify as necessary to make most efficient use of your time. Most importantly, every note that you play or sing or mentally play should be as exact as you can make it regarding articulation and style and sound. Any randomness is just lost ground. This means your warmup and warmdown too. Try to begin and end your sessions with something you do very well that is lyrical and sonorous. This reinforces your joi d'vive of playing the horn and helps prevent excessive frustration. I could make more comments but start here. Most folks don't have the concentration to do this. It's all in the amount of desire to improve. The Jack Attack! _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
