Practice Routine

[Tbone00]

Hi guys! Recently, I am giving more attention to my daily practice than the last years so I would like you to know what are your opinions of my current daily routine.
First I start in the morning with a warm-up, (no more than 20 min): I usually do a litle of breathing, buzzing, some glissandos in middle register going to the low register and finally a litle of arpegios (glissando) to the high register.
After this, I feel that I'm ready to start my routine. I divide it into sections of 25 min of playing + 10 min of rest.
1rst section is for slurs: I started with slow slurs working in my weaknesses, the trigger register and some of extreme high register, next its the time for fast slurls (in all register) and a little of trills. (I mainly use Brad Edwards, and Marsteller)
2nd section is for articulation and slide technique: I do some of clarcke for legato, some scales with repeated notes for the staccato and some exercises mixing articulations like intervals or Arban exercises
3rd section is for Scales and Arpegios: Every week I work on some diferents models to Major, minor and Cromatic scales. I play it with diferent articulations too.
After finishing my technical routine (about 2 hours with 25 min of rest in total) I rest about 30 min and if I have time I continue in the morning, if not, I continue in the afternoon.

4th section: I work weekly in a diferent lyrical piece (Bordogni, Bach suite, Teleman fantasy etc) If after a week is not "perfect" I work one week more. (Like the scales models)
5th secction: I work in a concert, piece, solos, etc..

If I have time at night I add some more sections to work on solos or exerpts . Obviusly If I have a Concert, or audition I use the 4th and 5th section (and 6th -7th if If I have time) to prepare this concert, and If I don't have so much time I reduce the technical routine to work more on this.

[Tbone00]

Hi guys! Recently, I am giving more attention to my daily practice than the last years so I would like you to know what are your opinions of my current daily routine.
First I start in the morning with a warm-up, (no more than 20 min): I usually do a litle of breathing, buzzing, some glissandos in middle register going to the low register and finally a litle of arpegios (glissando) to the high register.
After this, I feel that I'm ready to start my routine. I divide it into sections of 25 min of playing + 10 min of rest.
1rst section is for slurs: I started with slow slurs working in my weaknesses, the trigger register and some of extreme high register, next its the time for fast slurls (in all register) and a little of trills. (I mainly use Brad Edwards, and Marsteller)
2nd section is for articulation and slide technique: I do some of clarcke for legato, some scales with repeated notes for the staccato and some exercises mixing articulations like intervals or Arban exercises
3rd section is for Scales and Arpegios: Every week I work on some diferents models to Major, minor and Cromatic scales. I play it with diferent articulations too.
After finishing my technical routine (about 2 hours with 25 min of rest in total) I rest about 30 min and if I have time I continue in the morning, if not, I continue in the afternoon.

4th section: I work weekly in a diferent lyrical piece (Bordogni, Bach suite, Teleman fantasy etc) If after a week is not "perfect" I work one week more. (Like the scales models)
5th secction: I work in a concert, piece, solos, etc..

If I have time at night I add some more sections to work on solos or exerpts . Obviusly If I have a Concert, or audition I use the 4th and 5th section (and 6th -7th if If I have time) to prepare this concert, and If I don't have so much time I reduce the technical routine to work more on this.

Coment what is you opinion, (this is something personal, but is interesting for me to see the diferent points of view!) Thanks

Regards.

[harrisonreed]

It's good that you have that much time to practice

[imsevimse]

I think it is good you have identified your weaknesses and made a routine to work on that. I once also had a scheme to cover different aspects of my playing. As long as you think your routine works you could use it. Personally I have come to a point where I concentrate more on overall playing. I need my sessions to be fun or I haven't the motivation to do them. My recipe is to go outside my comfort zone. I do that by constant switching of my instruments. I have about 16 trombones of all brands and sizes to pick from. I play scales, arpeggios and different articulations on any of them as well as folk music, Bach cello suites, Aebersold play along or other classic play along. Now I have begun to dig into my soprano trombone and a french horn. I need to do this to stay focused and be able to stay alert. In the past I never experimented like this. In the early stage I think you should be more focused on routines and consistency to develop strength and find out the principles of your playing. Later on this can be a prison and then you need to challenge your playing more. At that point it is evolving to break routines. It is good to be able to play right out of the box without much preparation. I did not think I would ever be able to do that, but this is not a problem anymore because I have practiced that a lot. Of course I'm not doing the extremes right out of the box but I know I will be warmed up eventually as I start to play even if I have no special routine to warm up. If I come late to a gig of rehearsal I know I can do it anyway.

/Tom

[Wilktone]

You mentioned that you cycle through different scales and modes and such. If you're not also doing this, you might try similarly cycling through other aspects of playing to touch on different things over days or weeks, rather than trying to cram it all in during one day's worth of practice. For example, on Monday you might practice a staccato double tongue, Tuesday would be staccato triple tonguing, Wednesdays legato double tongue, Thursdays are for legato triple tongue, Fridays a doodle tongue, Saturdays a doodle triple tongue. Sundays you practice speeding up your single tongue, then repeat. Or something like that.

Ultimately, I think it's less important what you practice and more important how you practice. For me, this involves spending some time each day to ensure that I'm playing with correct technique, then moving on to spend time on musical materials while still setting specific, smaller, and attainable practice goals.

It's helpful to do take some time, as you did, to organize and think about what and how you're practicing. Just don't spend too much time doing that, make sure to put the metal on the mouth.

Dave

[ArbanRubank]

I believe all the long breaks the OP takes is good training for when he must repeatedly count out 160-some bars of rests in classical music b/c the French horns or someone got it wrong and the conductor wants to start again!

[Vegasbound]

I believe all the long breaks the OP takes is good training for when he must repeatedly count out 160-some bars of rests in classical music b/c the French horns or someone got it wrong and the conductor wants to start again!

I read an interview many years ago, Christian Lindberg stated he practiced in 30 minute blocks with 30 minutes rest between

[Slideorama]

I read an interview many years ago, Christian Lindberg stated he practiced in 30 minute blocks with 30 minutes rest between

Lindberg’s warm-up can be found floating around the interwebs. Interesting mix of playing and calisthenics. He may have a video or two demonstrating it.

Also plenty of videos demonstrating how he needs little to no “warm-up” or even “practice” because he is a musical master, in every way including wind and song.

[harrisonreed]

I believe all the long breaks the OP takes is good training for when he must repeatedly count out 160-some bars of rests in classical music b/c the French horns or someone got it wrong and the conductor wants to start again!

I read an interview many years ago, Christian Lindberg stated he practiced in 30 minute blocks with 30 minutes rest between

I think it was 24 minutes with 6 minutes of rest, and he would go for 8 hours.

[Vegasbound]

I read an interview many years ago, Christian Lindberg stated he practiced in 30 minute blocks with 30 minutes rest between

Lindberg’s warm-up can be found floating around the interwebs. Interesting mix of playing and calisthenics. He may have a video or two demonstrating it.

Also plenty of videos demonstrating how he needs little to no “warm-up” or even “practice” because he is a musical master, in every way including wind and song.

As I said the interview was many years ago, in fact the mid 1990's and before the Internet

[Wilktone]

Did this sidebar topic spin off of my paragraph here?

It's helpful to do take some time, as you did, to organize and think about what and how you're practicing. Just don't spend too much time doing that, make sure to put the metal on the mouth.

If so, I just want to clarify that I wasn't referring to how long your practice and rest for, which is an important topic. I'm just cautioning everyone to not get so wrapped up into organizing your practice time that you don't get around to actually practicing the horn.

If you know what to look for in a player's embouchure patterns, you can sometimes make some predictions as to whether a player might do better by playing longer with longer rests between or maybe better by playing in shorter spurts with shorter rests between. Without watching and hearing someone play I can't really suggest either, but those are two different ways you can experiment and see if one way works better for you.

In other words, here are two different sample approaches:

1. Play for a solid 20 minutes, rest for 20 minutes, play for 20 minutes, put the horn down for at least an hour.

2. Play for 5 minutes, rest for 5 minutes. Repeat until an hour has passed and then put the horn down for at least an hour.

Dave

[Vegasbound]

Did this sidebar topic spin off of my paragraph here?

It's helpful to do take some time, as you did, to organize and think about what and how you're practicing. Just don't spend too much time doing that, make sure to put the metal on the mouth.

If so, I just want to clarify that I wasn't referring to how long your practice and rest for, which is an important topic. I'm just cautioning everyone to not get so wrapped up into organizing your practice time that you don't get around to actually practicing the horn.

If you know what to look for in a player's embouchure patterns, you can sometimes make some predictions as to whether a player might do better by playing longer with longer rests between or maybe better by playing in shorter spurts with shorter rests between. Without watching and hearing someone play I can't really suggest either, but those are two different ways you can experiment and see if one way works better for you.

In other words, here are two different sample approaches:

1. Play for a solid 20 minutes, rest for 20 minutes, play for 20 minutes, put the horn down for at least an hour.

2. Play for 5 minutes, rest for 5 minutes. Repeat until an hour has passed and then put the horn down for at least an hour.

Dave

My comment was nothing to do with your post

[Wilktone]

Cool. The amount that you rest both during a practice session and in between is useful also to think about when you plan your practice. Of course the type of playing you do also will affect your plan. If you do a lot of orchestral playing you'll want to prepare for resting for a long time and then jumping right into the thick of things. I play more jazz and commercial styles, where I have the metal on the mouth much longer on a gig than an orchestra concert. Both orchestral and big band jazz playing have their own demands and challenges, so I try to be ready for both extremes.

[Savio]

I think the original post from Tbone00 had a good plan. If he follows it. Discipline is a key word. And be open to change when our daily needs change. It can change from day to day, week and years. But the original plan looks good in my eyes. Wish I had the discipline to do the same!

Leif

[Basbasun]

I just got the message that the 14+1 (15) gigs this autumn is cancelled. No play. No money. The new year concerts are not canceled. Yet. Well, practise.....

[Savio]

I just got the message that the 14+1 (15) gigs this autumn is cancelled. No play. No money. The new year concerts are not canceled. Yet. Well, practise.....

Sorry to hear that Svenne. We have had a good time in Norway the last months, but now it seems to go back to a second wave here. I think it will go up and down for some years, but I hope some clever heads find a way so we dont have to close down everything. Anyway a good practice routine is helpful in these days, I think you already have lots of experience in that matter. I try to get my technique better through lot of basic practicing these days, but its not easy.

Leif