Klarinet Archive - Posting 000634.txt from 1997/06

From: Virginia Scarfino <scarfinv@-----.net>
Subj: Practice
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 1997 21:26:26 -0400

At one of my first lessons with a teacher I studied with for many years, =
I asked how much I should practice. His reply was, whatever it takes to =
learn the music! If it required 3 hours a day for the two weeks between =
my lessons, then that's what he expected, if it took 1/2 hour =
immediately before my lesson, then that was okay too. He very =
specifically did not tell me to practice a certain number of hours a =
day, because the "number" would have very little to do with my rate of =
progress. =20

My teacher knew I had a full time job, and played in two or three =
ensembles each week. He said the ensemble playing I did was quite =
adequate for maintenance - by playing in those groups I'd stay in shape, =
and wouldn't regress technically. Therefore any additional time I =
played at home would be for my lesson assignments, and he was very =
interested in teaching me "how" to practice, rather than "how long" to =
practice, since he knew the hours I'd have to do the practicing would =
have to be squeezed into an already busy schedule. Teaching me "how" =
to practice was one of the most valuable things I gained from having him =
as an instructor.

Some of key points he drilled into my head over the years were:
- practice the parts you can't play (the difficult ones), and don't =
practice the parts you can play (the easy ones)
- once you've learned the difficult parts, then put it all together =
(with the easy parts)
- practice with dynamics, phrasing, and proper articulation right from =
the beginning, don't wait until you have the notes under control before =
adding these other things, because you may never actually get all the =
notes under control and never get to the other things (especially true =
when working on difficult etudes for a lesson), and besides, playing =
with the right dynamics, phrasing and articulation often makes it easier =
to get the notes
- if you play a note wrong once, it's a fluke, if you play the same note =
wrong a second time, mark it, because if you play it wrong a third time, =
you will have learned it wrong, and it will be all the more difficult to =
unlearn it and correct it
- use rhythms on difficult parts, practicing specific intervals very =
quickly, with long notes on either side, for example if learning a =
string of 16th notes, start slowly, with a very long first note, and =
extremely quick 2nd note, a very long 3rd note, and a long 4th note =
etc..., then do the opposite, start with a quick note, a very long 2nd =
note, quick 3rd note, long 4th note, etc. once you can play the passage =
perfectly like that, then try starting with a very long first note, =
followed by an extremely quick 2nd and 3rd note, then a long 4th note, =
and a quick 5th and 6th note, etc, then use this same rhythm, but =
picking a different note for the long note, once you have the =
long-short-short pattern perfected, then move on to a =
long-short-short-short pattern, again using all the alternatives for =
which note is your long note. In essence, what this actually teaches =
you is how to play all the intervals, much quicker than you actually =
will have to for the steady 16th note passage. Once you've practiced the =
rhythms in all the combinations, to play a steady rhythm all the way =
through at a slower pace will be a snap.

After many years of lessons, my teacher turned conductor and got a =
position out west with the Calgary Phil. I ended up with a new clarinet =
teacher, who is also very good. In my many years of lessons I had =
plowed my way through a lot of etude books. My new teacher gave me a =
couple books to work through that I hadn't done before, and I found them =
slightly easier technically than some things I had done. My new teacher =
was always amazed that no matter how many etudes he assigned me, I came =
prepared to my lessons and able to play them with relative ease (at =
least relative to many of his other students). He knew that I prepared 4 =
or 5 of the etudes on no more than 1 or 2 hours of practice over a day =
or two prior to my lesson. That was soley because of the many years of =
lessons with my first teacher, who taught me "how" to practice, rather =
than telling me "how long" to practice.

Ginny Scarfino
Scarfinv@-----.net

   
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