 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Clarinetta
Date: 2003-11-29 22:33
I have had the biggest trouble sitting down and practicing. I really care about playing the clarinet, I just can't seem to get myself to practice. This isn't a new problem. I haven't been able to get myself motivated enough to work in a few years. I am a senior in high school and I want to major in clarinet performance. Music is such a part of me. It is what I talk about and think about. I can't imagine life without music. I love rehersals and concerts. Yet, I can't sit down and learn my music by myself. Why can't I practice? Will it be easier to practice in college? Am I making a wrong choice by going into music performance? What should I do to get myself into practicing again? I know this is a really hard question to answer, but I just don't know what to do. This is really important to me. I know if I don't go into music, I will always regret it.
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2003-11-29 22:47
Hi,
Short, easy answer, probably pick a different career. You need to be a self-starter to make it in the performance field and you seem to have a major problem there.
As a performance major, you will need to practice, practice, and then practice some more. Not that all you do is practice but to gain the proficiency needed, you must take things to as close to technical perfection first and then to artistic excellence along the way if you want to make it.
How do I know this? I decided that I did not want to do what was necessary and chose music education. I played a whole lot anyhow, got pretty good also, and have been satisfied with the result.
HRL
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Author: hans
Date: 2003-11-29 23:38
I agree with Hank about needing to be a self starter - if you can't overcome that you will need a "Plan B".
Until you figure out what is stopping you, it might help if you start your practice session by playing a few things that you like. Put all the music that you plan to play on your music stand in order, so that the practice work follows your recreational playing and you won't have to stop.
Also plan a reward for yourself when you have reached your session objective; e.g., a new reed, a favorite snack, etc.
It might also help to practise with a friend, at least until you regain your momentum.
Good luck,
Hans
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-11-29 23:50
Good points above by Hank and Hans.
I'm guessing one of the following statements is correct:
1. You do not have a private clarinet instructor.
2. If you have a private instructor he/she is not strict enough or providing you the needed motivation.
For every day you do not practice, there are hundreds of potential music performance majors with inner drive, who are putting in the requisite time.
They are your potential competition.
You have to decide how far ahead you plan on letting them get ...GBK
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2003-11-29 23:53
I'd recommend private lessons, or something to work towards.
I've been very fortunate in the past few years to have studied with people and attended series of master classes that have demonstrated musical ideas that can be worked at for decades without ever fully perfecting. Luckily, I have gotten feedback on these concepts and how to work towards such goals. For me, I'm always disappointed when my chops give out after an hour or so of straight practice because there's so much more I want to do.
It took me about 3 years after being introduced to many concepts to acutally make any real progress whatsoever toward them, but now it is incredibly rewarding.
What helps me to get on a daily schedule sometimes, if I do happen to slack off, is a reed breakin procedure. I use the Larry Guy book, though I've heard the others are equally good. Giving yourself a 10+ day procedure of daily practice to break in 5 reeds helps to establish consistent practices, and by the time you start to slack off, it's time to break in more reeds.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Renato
Date: 2003-11-30 10:16
I tend to have the same problem as Clarinetta (I nearly have to "make myself" sit down and stick to the practice book or piece). Only I'm not going to be a pro musician (I teach English for a living), so there.
What works for me, what helps me build up self-discipline is a definite, purposeful goal. For example, I've been studying the Brandenburg Concerto #5 (flute part) very earnestly because I got invited to play that piece with the local chamber orchestra (which made me very happy by the way). I've been practicing the hard passages, listening to different recordings, working out the trills, and all it takes. So the big source of motivation for me is having a much-wanted, challenging piece of music in front of me -- and the responsibility of playing with fellow musicians before an audience.
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2003-11-30 10:49
"Someone who knows" is always the best source for an earnest, true and insightful reality check. Once again, he/she is on the money (You should write a book...).
I'm a college performance major, just finished first year. I'm really quite scared going into 2nd year - have I practised enough? Am I REALLY ready for it? Do I have it in me to work hard enough to be ready for third year? And what after that? Will I be good enough to get into an orchestra, post-graduate study, or will I end up teaching in a remote primary school in apalling conditions at a very low pay?
It is the routine that keeps me practising. Although we don't realise it or think of it this way a lot of the time, but starting in the morning with warm-ups is just like warming up and stretching in the morning before some strenuous physical activity. Generally, my first 5 minutes are going over what I learned in the first year or two of lessons; long tones, note-by-note adding the registers in order.
Then slow excercises, scales (ALL keys, and I mean ALL, anything less is a mediocre effort). Tongueing, finger, tone... You name it, start from scratch every morning. As your hour or whatever you do of warm-ups progress, you move into more difficult things, until you are at the point where you're ready to tackle something you find difficult.
Then, when all the tools and skills you need to help you, do it. Just work on it. Concentrate and do nothing else. Count and sub-divide like crazy, while maintaining excellent tone and breath support, don't lose co-ordination of the fingers. If you drop any of the factors that you've worked on prviously, then you might as well stop.
That said, you're still in college; have some FUN with it too. That's why we do it after all. Music is beautiful, inspiring, it's an experience in itself. It's one of the very few things that everyone individual who listens can have their own experience. So enjoy your own experience, work hard, and even though you may be uninspired now, just wait, because hard work might pay off for you and you'll find yourself in a truely motivated, inspired, and happy situation!
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2003-11-30 23:17
Someone who knows is right about the routine. When I was at school I would get up, have breakfast, get dressed, practice and go to school. After school I would have afternoon tea, relax for a bit, decide to ignore my homework, then practice. It got so it felt weird if I didn't do it.
Last year I got out of the routine (for various reasons), and did some serious damage to my playing. Luckily for me, a few months ago I managed to get back into the routine and my playing is back at the level it should be.
So anyway, a routine is helpful.
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2003-12-01 01:17
One thing you might try is to leave your instrument assembled and your music and stand in place so that you can pick it up at any time without going to the trouble of getting everything ready.
Another is to have a goal in mind, such as being able to play a particular song or exercise as flawlessly as possible. (This is an advantage a private instructor would have -- He/she would give you goals.)
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Author: clarinetmajr
Date: 2003-12-01 04:16
I totally understand this. I am at what would be considered a "less challenging" music school. It definitely has its advantages since there isn't a lot of competition, but the disadvantages... hmm... there are a few of those too. The practice rooms are like a ghost town after 9 pm... which is good since there are only like fourteen of them! They are never really filled up even during the day, which leads me to wonder... when do people actually practice? I am always more motivated when there are other people practicing around me... but now i'm "solo", literally. I really miss being challenged in other ways, but I guess it is a good learning experience to learn to challenge yourself and to try to meet personal goals. I like to write out what i want to accomplish for the week and then plan each day towards this.
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Author: theclarinetist
Date: 2003-12-01 05:18
What do you practice? I will agree that practicing scales and whatnot can be sort of a drag (even though it can become such a routine that you don't even think about it). When I play my scales/thirds/chords/etc, I feel like one of those polar bears swimming in the same circle over and over again at the zoo. For me, being able to go into "auto-pilot" for the more tedious stuff makes it a lot easier.
As far as rep goes, I have a load of clarinet music, and I could easily just go through it for hours playing some of this and some of that... if you are preparing a certain piece, this approach won't really help you. But if you're just trying to practice anything, this works for me. Also, you'd be suprised how little most college freshman know about the rep for their instrument (obviously, people on this board are more interested and devoted probably, so that isn't directed at any of you). When I did a year of music major, I found that most other clarinet players didn't know much more than Mozart, Weber, Brahms, and maybe a few others (and by know, I mean heard of). This wasn't everybody, of course. Even though most performance majors are probably geared more towards orchestral playing or other ensembles, working on solos (even if I was just sightreading) was always a way to keep me excited and making me more familiar with the literature at the same time.
One other thing that works for me is to make up goals. I'm preparing a piece for a competition right now but for some reason just can't bring myself to practice it willingly. If I decide I'm going to perfect the first 4 or 5 lines (or whatever I pick), then I have more realistic goals. If I just sit down with it and work randomly, I usually give up after 10-15 minutes, then start playing something else. Setting realistic goals really helps me out.
Don Hite
theclarinetist@yahoo.com
Disclaimer- I quit being a music major. It wasn't because of my playing or my inability to practice (actually, I used to practice about 4 hours a day at music school). It just wasn't for me . So if you're looking for advice on how to stay a music major, I may not be the best guy to listen to. However, I do play recitals, teach, and do gigs, so I'm still pretty active in that regard so I may be doing something right (who the heck knows, though..)
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Author: tetiana
Date: 2003-12-01 18:42
Dear Clarinetta
I agree wholeheartedly with Someone who knows, EEBaum, LeWhite , Rachel, and the others who stressed the importance of routine. I would like to add a coule of little wrinkles of my own. The first is rationing, the second, I call "feeding the dog". A caveat: I am not a teacher, just a player and this is simply something I've thought up on my own.
One of the impediments to sitting down and practicing, (at least in my case it has been) is the anxiety created by the thought that, "..omigod, I'm going to have to now commit all this TIME, a whole hour's worth (or more), and I just don't have the time, or the mental energy...". One good antidote for this is to initially drastically reduce and strictly ration your practice time. For the first week, only allow yourself to practice ten minutes (yes! only ten minutes). No more, no less. Put a timer on if necessary. If you find yourself going over, don't give in. Stop! If you allow yourself to continue to play, the next day what might set in is: " I actually played 40 minutes yesterday! panic... hyperventilation.. I just know I won't be up to that today...I just don't have the mental energy!....", and then you'll feel guilty. In advance of even starting the practice session. So. This first week, stop after 10 minutes.
The idea is, 10 minutes is really a very small increment of time - and if you know in advance of the practice session that that is all you have to do, it will not require the same Herculean effort at motivating yourself to sit down. Be generous with this time, in the sense that non-playing time definitely counts (fiddling with the reed, flipping through music etc.). Your thinking, hopefully, will be: "For heavens sake! it's only ten minutes - I can certainly do that!" (BTW, if ten minutes sounds like it's too much, try seven, or if you have totally phobic block, go down to five; apply the same principles).
The next week, go to 15 minutes. But this week, allow yourself, if you are playing over time, a five minute grace period. But no more.
The week after than, go to half an hour. But don't be a slave to doing the full half hour - give yourself advance permission to terminate the practise session after only 15 minutes. As to going over - give yourself a five to ten minute grace period, but no more.
By the fourth week, you can go an hour. By the fourth week, you will have created, hopefully, a habit of sitting down and getting started. (Psychologists, I've heard, have discovered that it takes only three weeks for a "habit" to take hold). Go ahead and practice the full hour. Go over, by all means, if you feel like it. But if you feel gloom creeping back, that feeling of foreboding and mental exhaustion, cut down right away on the practice time - go back to half an hour, or even 15 minutes. It may take another week, two weeks, or three, but I guarantee - if you do this every day, next thing you know, you will go to your practice chair without barely thinking about it.
This works best, I feel, if you can practise at the exact same time every day. Early morning works best for me and early morning pays dividends too in the sense that Someone who knows put his finger on- it's still morning and important work has already been done!
Now, it may not be possible for you to schedule a practice time exactly at the same time every day- and a rule about daily practicing will be more difficult to adhere to. So this is where my second approach comes in - "feeding the dog". Your instrument is like a dog. You cannot not feed it. You must feed it every single day. It will howl away all night long if you don't. You needn't maybe give it premium kibble. Maybe you can skip the mile long walk. But food and water are essential every single day, even if it only takes you a few seconds to push the scoop through the bag, turn on the tap. So if all you can do, at the end of a long and tiring day is to play a few long tones, or to play a piece - even if that doesn't take you more than a minute or two - do that.
Don't get overwhelmed with all the admonitions about huge long practice sessions and how far you're falling behind. Worrying about that is counterproductive. Much, very valuable work can be done in brief (but extremely consistent) practice sessions. Practicing with care, listening carefully to your tone, striving for you very best, even though you're playing to your dog (real or imaginary) - that will stand you in good stead. Postpone decisions about not going into music until after you have given yourself a decent chance.
I wish you all the best.
tetiana
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Author: Carol Dutcher
Date: 2003-12-01 20:08
This was a great post for me to read as I have trouble with it too. I have found that if I don't really feel like sitting and practicing a particular song, I sit in front of the t.v. and play scales on my clarinet. I know that sounds a little crazy but an hour and a half goes by quickly that way. I also make up my own songs sometimes. The songs I know by heart, I play too.
Also, the clarinet is "out" on the dining room table. The case is open. The clarinet is not assembled, just "out." The CD player is close by (I use alot of Jamey Aerbersold CDs) and a music stand is there with my current favorites on it. I have a tape recorder handy and tapes. In other words, when I do sit down and start, I won't have to get up and go look for something I need.
But, it still can be a real problem and I did not practice last night. I read somewhere that if you want to get into a real routine, practice every single day for 21 days. After 21 days it will be a habit! I have never practiced however for 21 days straight, so I don't know if that would work.
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2003-12-02 01:12
Another thing- don't get discouraged and give up if you don't settle into a routine right away. It does take time, and you will be thinking "I'm never going to do this", but one day you will wake up and find that it has become automatic.
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