Klarinet Archive - Posting 000530.txt from 1995/06

From: John Baetens <JSBtens@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: "Practice Makes Perfect?"
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 1995 00:28:08 -0400

Meghan's Mom wrote:

>Hope you can settle a recurring argument between my
>daughter and myself about the merits of daily practicing.
>Meghan is almost fourteen, has been playing and taking
>lessons for clarinet and bass clarinet for five years. She's
>a VERY good musician for her age, but even though her
>teachers say daily practice is important, she feels
>"if you can play a piece perfectly you don't need to keep
>practicing", nor do you need to practice scales, etc. every
>day.

If you can play a piece perfectly then it's time to move on
to another piece, maybe something a little more difficult.
One of the wonderful things about learning to play a
musical instrument, is that, no matter how good you get
at it, it is always possible to find new challenges.

And as one who did not practice scales every day, I would
say that this is a major mistake. Scales should be practiced
every day until you can play every major and minor scale
from memory, and then you should still go through them
at least once every practice to make sure you never
forget them. I sure wish I had done that when I was
younger. I'm trying to do it now.

John Baetens.

   
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