 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2012-06-15 00:28
Question for students, and teachers:
How long do you practice before taking a break, and how long is that planned break?
I'll tell students to practice 45 minutes, and take a 10-15 min break.
If playing for several hours, that still applies.
What else time wise do you all do?
http://www.SkypeClarinetLessons.com
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Author: SamuelChan
Date: 2012-06-15 01:02
I practise about an hour, before I stop to rest for 5 min or so to rest my fingers and change reeds. Haha that's what I do but I'm sure others have their own ways.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2012-06-15 03:07
I take breaks every 1/2 hour, no more then that. For me only, my brain is fried and when playing something hard I don't get any better. I'll take 15 minutes to a half hour break., sometimes watching TV to playing with mouthpieces.
I guess this depends on when you aren't getting any better and you are making the same mistakes. Even with scales. Everyone varies when the brain decides to somewhat shutdown.
I'm also older, so students can go a lot longer. Maybe 2 hours, then a break followed by more practice.
I think it's sort of like golf. If you have a bad day and you don't take a break to work out the problem, well the next day will suck too! This past year Tiger didn't make the cut for the first time ever, I think, so he had to pack his bags and leave on Friday instead of playing through Sunday. Well last week he won again. He surely worked out the problems! Same with the clarinet in my opinion. You need breaks so the same mistakes are gone.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
Post Edited (2012-06-15 03:17)
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Author: DrewSorensenMusic
Date: 2012-06-15 03:29
Hello from Philly,
I practice while watching tv/internet radio, or playing words with friends. I guess it really depends on the student. I need to be overstimulated, or I can't focus/relax. A lot of teachers used to say don't practice with distractions and such, but they actually work counter intuitively and help calm me down. I wouldn't say I lose anything from this practice, as I am on my instruments for many hours of the day, and it would just be mind-numbing not having any influence of the outside world around me.
Drew S.
http://www.youtube.com/user/DrewSorensenMusic
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2012-06-15 15:18
I practice for a half hour and then wander to my computer to look at the Clarinet BBoard for a few minutes. And then I answer questions about taking breaks. Wait, that is what I am doing RIGHT NOW.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2012-06-15 15:30
I intend to do as my piano teacher advised half a century ago and practice for 50 minutes, then take a 10-minute break. However, I tend to forget the time and keep on going. At some point when I realize I'm brainlessly repeating the same mistakes, I look at the clock and see why!
Apparently that 50-minute hour concept is a common one now, and has been for decades, among teachers of various instruments. Oddly enough, this topic came up shortly after I finished reading comments by violinist David Mannes, who studied with Eugène Ysaÿe. Mannes said,
>>I absolutely believe with Ysaye that unless a student can make satisfactory progress with three hours of practice a day, he should not attempt to play the violin. Inability to do so is in itself a confession of failure at the outset. Nor do I think it possible to practice the violin intensively more than three-quarters of an hour at a time.>>
The quotation comes from Frederick H. Martens, "Violin Mastery: talks with master violinists and teachers," Chapter XIII, "The Philosophy of Violin Teaching," New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1919, p. 146 (expired copyright; online at Classical Music Sheets Library, http://nlib.org.ua/violinmastery/index.php?article=Page146
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: RachelB4
Date: 2012-06-15 15:39
what I normally do is practice 45 minutes to an hour, take about a 5-10 minutes to give myself a mental and physical break, and then play another 45-60 minutes or until I'm completely worn out. Then after that I'll end up taking at least a half-hour to hour break (for homework as well . I usually repeat that whole routine, as long as I have time. I try to stretch my endurance, but I don't want to end up practice mindlessly and brain-dead..
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2012-06-15 15:40
The second year I was in Baltimore I walked outside on a "break" to mail a letter at the corner and have a smoke, I stopped smoking several years later but it gave me a reason to take a break, pretty poor excuse for a break, I know. When I came back five minutes later I found my mouthpiece on the floor all chewed up by my dog who managed to run faster than I could catch her, good thing too. So not only did I stop smoking several years later but I stopped taking breaks. :-).
Actually, when I was in college practicing for several hours at a stretch I usually only took bathroom breaks, smoke breaks, or changing clarinet breaks, Bass, Eb, Bb and A. Now I only take bathroom breaks, lots of them at my age. LOL. ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Caroline Smale
Date: 2012-06-15 18:35
Most of my breaks are about 24 hours... I occasionally manage fit a small practice in between the breaks.
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Author: Garth Libre
Date: 2012-06-15 21:25
At one hour my embrasure and brain have had enough.
Garth, 305-981-4705. garthlibre@yahoo.com
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Author: jvanullen
Date: 2012-06-16 00:34
For me it's very dependent, but typically depends on what classes I'm working around. If I have a long stretch of time, I try playing for 45 minutes to an hour, go on a 5-10 minute walk around the building, and then back to practicing for another 45 to an hour. I try not to be in "practice mode" (practice-break-practice) for longer than 2 hours at a time, because I feel like personally past that I lose productivity.
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Author: RunnerSean
Date: 2012-06-16 17:38
1) 2 hours practice session broken down to:
45 - 15
45 - 15
2) Then a longer break, around 30 minutes.
I usually exercise during my breaks; push-ups, planks and squats.
And I repeat from point 1.
If I happen to feel out of the mood, it means my brain is fried for that session and I stop practicing. Maybe come back again much later.
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2012-06-18 12:46
Ed Palanker wrote,
>> I came back five minutes later I found my mouthpiece on the floor all chewed up by my dog who managed to run faster than I could catch her, good thing too. >>
Ouch! I can identify with that one, because the late lamented Shadow Cat, who hated clarinets (she used to barge into this forum and call them screech-sticks and vacuum cleaner larvae), would go after any mousepiece, oops, I mean mouthpiece, that I left lying around loose. She liked to gnaw reeds, too. She'd go after the whole clarinet if she could get at it -- and try to roll it down the stairs. So when I took breaks here in my attic office, I had to protect the clarinet by popping it behind behind the closed door to the storage room, oops, I mean the guest bedroom. Had to do the same with saxophones, because although she didn't hate saxes, she did find them . . . interesting.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: Frenchie78
Date: 2012-06-18 14:58
When I started playing 20 yrs ago, my Nan had to remove the clarinet from me by force for me to stop!!!
Now that I'm back at it, I tend to practice for an hour then leave the clarinet for an hour while I do some housework and other bits. This I aim to do three times in the day. Sadly the clarinet died on me and the second hand I bought is a problem so... no more practice until I get a new one....
Easier to smile than to frown
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2012-07-02 12:12
I tend to do about forty-five minutes then maybe take a break of about 10 or 15 to get a drink of water/make a quick phone call/do a chore or two such as putting on some washing or putting my dinner in the oven and then do anothter forty-five minutes or so.
Vanessa.
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2012-07-06 03:07
One hour is what I do on the clarinet, take a 5/10 minute break and then switch over to the alto, until I'm tired. No dog lately has chewed up my Borbeck mouthpiece, that happened on a break. Now the dog we have is 10 pounds, can't jump very far, and sleeps when I practice. In fact she sleeps most of the time. Is this normal. She's only two years. I keep giving her a poke to see if she is breathing. Just a joke there. Carol
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Author: Buster
Date: 2012-07-06 03:36
I take a month off to fine-tune my golf game and watch baseball...
The rest of the time, 25 minutes on, 5 off, regardless of the session length.
Then a few hours of score study as needed depending on what is at hand for the week.
-J
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Author: AmiePlays
Date: 2012-07-16 08:06
I have a tendency to practice until my chops are dead because I'm so in the zone. I think I need a timer.
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Author: annev
Date: 2012-07-17 14:10
I used to practice in a break from doing other things that needed to get done while home. After several burnt dinners, missed deadlines and late appointments, I now do things the other way around and set a practice time with the things of daily living happening in the breaks (45 minutes on, variable minutes off). It may not be as efficient overall, but the family breaths easier and I'm a lot happier
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