 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: Becky
Date: 1999-08-16 19:46
Hi. I'm a little better now, but I go through these cycles of intense practicing and "getting down to business" and then usually a full week of slacking and avoiding anything that has to with clarinet and practicing! Help! I know that it's probably normal behavior but it's really bad for preparing for auditions or during the schoolyear when I must keep a steady schedule of practice and improvement. Any advice of how to keep a steady, focused, practice routine?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Sarah Ann
Date: 1999-08-16 22:00
Hi Becky,
I know what you mean by procrastinating, and sometimes I have a hard time to sticking to a schedule especially in the summer time. I just told myself that if I want to make Texas All State Band that I have to practice almost everday to get it perfect. So what i do is try to set some time to practice everyday, like maybe right after school or before lunch or something like that for about 30 minutes to an hour and it's really helped me a lot just taking out some time to practice. The one thing is that you have to be motivated and that usually takes a goal or deadline to help me get that way. I hope I have helped you somewhat. The best of luck to you.
(I also just e-mailed you a letter):) Sarah
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Katherine Pincock
Date: 1999-08-16 22:08
When I start procrastinating, I find it really helpful to keep a journal of my practise time and speeds for every session. This is especially helpful when I get frustrated because I feel like nothing's improving; I can just look back five pages and compare the speeds I could reach on exercises before and after. It doesn't have to be much, just a list of what you worked on. As an added bonus, too, I find that keeping the journal makes me push my speeds more, too, and it definitely makes it easier to keep track of what I've done and what needs more work. Hope this helps!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 1999-08-16 22:25
Becky wrote:
-------------------------------
Hi. I'm a little better now, but I go through these cycles of intense practicing and "getting down to business" and then usually a full week of slacking and avoiding anything that has to with clarinet and practicing! Help! I know that it's probably normal behavior but it's really bad for preparing for auditions or during the schoolyear when I must keep a steady schedule of practice and improvement. Any advice of how to keep a steady, focused, practice routine?
Becky -
Afraid you just have to do it. Most people set a standard time to start and stop each day, since this gives you a reminder. Still, sticking to it is not easy. Everyone goes in cycles, but you have to find a way to fight through that and practice even though it's the last thing in the world you want to do.
The only solution is to do what you have always sworn not to do: become your mother. Nag yourself. Make yourself feel guilty. I've sacrificed and sacrificed -- you think I'm gonna let you throw it away? Get out that wonderful instrument you begged for and were so happy to get, and let me hear some scales. I'm doing it for your own good. You only have to do it till I finish drying the dishes, which, strangely, always takes exactly 45 minutes.
If you want to make a living at it, you have to pay your dues even when it's not fun, and often at the expense of other, important things. You've got your high school time and then four years in college or conservatory. That may seem to stretch out forever, but it's actually a very short period of your life, and the only period in which you will have no other responsibilities except make yourself the best clarinetist you can.
Sure you can go to a movie, but you'll come back one night and see every practice room full except yours, and everybody else will be a day ahead of you -- a day you can never recover, because the ones who are going to succeed practice all the time.
It's NOT fun all the time. It's just the finest and most enjoyable thing it's possible to do.
You have to build your own house.
YOU. Yeah YOU. GO HOME AND PRACTICE!
Ken Shaw
Becky wrote:
-------------------------------
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ginny
Date: 1999-08-16 22:43
Sometimes I am a little afraid to practice, sort of pre-stage fright. I procrastinate more in the summer when I have a less full schedule. I find it helps to get very 'retentive' about things and actually write a daily schedule. Even if I can't stick to it exactly, I get most of it done and feel accomplished.
Ginny
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: STuart
Date: 1999-08-16 23:22
Getting into the ritual of practice can be great.
Sometimes I get up early and play before work, the more I play at the same time of day, the more focussed and eager I am to play.
I have never been able to maitain a log for more than a week.
I have never been able to condition myself with rewards for more than a week.
I learned to hate myself and clarinet thanks to guilt over praticing.
But now I'm through it to a degree and have discovered the joy of playing. I'll start playing a melody and my mind will natuarly flow to a pratice mode and I lose myself (best case scenario) in a state of practice. The more resposibility I heap on myself, the worse it gets. So I let it all go and start from scratch everyday. If you check out that book I suggested, you might like the approach to learning he describes. These ideas may seem a little flakey, but I've found that what you put into your musical relationship all comes out onthe horn - if your uptight - it can be heard and FELT. If your chill - it will come accross.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Becky
Date: 1999-08-16 23:57
Thanks all you people for your helpful advice!! It sure beats any book I read. I am printing it now and will definately refere to it.
Becky
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Dee
Date: 1999-08-17 03:00
Becky wrote:
-------------------------------
Hi. I'm a little better now, but I go through these cycles of intense practicing and "getting down to business" and then usually a full week of slacking and avoiding anything that has to with clarinet and practicing!...
-------------------------------
You speak of alternating between intense practicing and then procrastinating. Have you considered the possibility that in your enthusiasm at these times you may be too intense? This in turn can lead to frustration and burn out. The result can be a period of procrastination.
The schedule idea that others have suggested is very good. Set up some reasonable time periods for your practice. At the end of the time period, STOP. Go away wanting more. This will bring you to your next day's practice time eager and ready to work.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Joanne
Date: 1999-08-17 04:08
I have a bit of a different approach to practicing, but now I'm no longer a music student I have a little more freedom. I know that if I have to force myself to practice particular studies etc at a particular time, it won't be a very productive session. Sometimes I start playing and find my tone isn't very focused, or my tongueing is sloppy, or whatever. Instead of getting frustrated like I used to and putting away the clarinet, or going through the motions of practicing, just to say I did, I focus on what IS going right. Maybe my fingers aren't working very fast, but my tone sounds good, so I go with it. Work on the slow movements, try to get the best sound I possibly can, and feel good! Some days I'm more in tune (mentally speaking) with the music, so I focus on phrasing, and try to play each note and each phrase exactly as I would like to hear it. If my tongue feels in good shape, I work on the passages with fast articulations, and make it even better. This way I always accomplish something, even if it's not what I had in mind for that day.
If I have a particular obstacle to overcome, or deadline, I have to try direct my energy a little better, but now I always feel energized rather than drained after a practice session. Try it!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Rick2
Date: 1999-08-17 04:31
You know, Becky, for me it was math. I had a heck of a time motivating myself to study for it (math was one of my majors in college). I discovered that I only had trouble getting the book opened. Once I got started, it wasn't so bad. The thing was opening that book. You HAVE to force yourself. That is called discipline, ant it separates the successful from the also-rans.
Maybe this will help. Imagine yourself in a situation where you have a full time job...you're out of the house maybe 10 hours a day where you can't touch the horn. Then you get home and have to deal with bathing 3 kids, getting them fed, reading stories to them, getting them into bed, and basically wedging as much time as you can for practice in between all that before the kids get into bed. I have to deal with that every day and I usually manage to get 45 minutes to an hour a day. Get that practice in now while you have the time for it.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Daniel
Date: 1999-08-17 05:52
One way i make myself want to practice more than i usually would is buy new music every few weeks. When i get the music i'm eager to sit down and play through it.. so i get whatever i NEED to practice right behind it so that when i've gotten tired of whatever book it is, or have played through whatever solo it is, i put it aside and see my assigned work... then i start working on that again...
Not only does my sightreading improve from reading new stuff all the time, but i also find that my technique and ability on whatever is assigned is also improved from the last time i practiced it. Today i just received the Classical Studies by Voxman, Gillet's Exersices for Superior Technique, and Rudi Reski's Klarinettenetuden 1. The Voxman is assigned work, the other two are just for play... and they should keep me busy for a little over a month. :-)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mario
Date: 1999-08-17 18:20
Music taught me the power of time and consistency in getting results. When I was a teen (decades ago), I was extremely bright and learned everything almost instantly. This is dangerous since bright people risk not learning to work hard at anything.
Then I got into music with coaches who kept feeding me stuff that was simply too hard to master immediately. I remember telling one of my fine clarinet teachers that I was thinking of switching to the flute because I had mastered the clarinet. He laughed quite hard, produced one French piece from the Paris conservatory (Jeanjean solo de concours) and challenged me to play it at our following encounter. It took me 10 months to do it reasonably right. It was the end of my arrogant perspective on the clarinet.
Because I liked music, and because I liked the pieces they were giving me (tough but beautiful), I had no choice but to develop habits of daily work that I still use today in my personal and professional life. In essence, I now know that by applying a disciplied approach to learning a piece of music (or anything for that matters), I can master it in a finite time. I can look back in my life and see by experience that I can learn to play challenging stuff well. I know that I can play anything out there in one year of less. I have done it, am doing it right now, and will do it again. By using the power of time, all the beautiful clarinet music is within my reach.
But that means practicing everyday, with an approach to the repertoire that is all but random. To a large extent, we spend too much time sight reading and not enough time sweating the details.
But, we need first to destroy our natural tendancy toward procrastination.
What about those days where one simply does not feel like practicing? The secret to overcome procrastrination in any field is "to get started". Start (even if you have to tell stories to yourself) for 5 minutes. The first five minutes are the toughest. However, chances are you will keep going. "Getting started" is the destructor of procrastination.
I for one often practice late after work. I am usually tired (I work long hours in a high pressure job). I start with scales. Yeap! the simple C scale slow first but accelerating quickly. I love the feeling of velocity; I love the sound; It excites me. It relaxes me and brings back my self-confidence and interest. By the time I go real fast in a few scales (say, C, F, G, chromatics) with a few long tones thrown in, I am warmed up, impressed with myself (strickly in the privacy of my room), and I am ready to start practicing seriously with energy and focus. I destroyed procrastination.
Once I overcome the first 5 minutes, I found that it is difficult for me to stop. So, I organize my time with a finite amount split between all pieces and technical exercizes not to loose focus. I keep sight reading for the end, when I happy with my practice session and can explore new things with a clear conscience.
During the week, I practice "5 minutes"+1.5 hours. During the weekend, I often put in extra 1 to 2 hours per day.
I have been doing that for many years and it works. In the last 12 months for instance, while working 60 hours per week, I have worked the 2 Brahms sonatas, the Weber sonata and the Mozart concerto to a level that even my wife find acceptable (and she is a tough critic). I am about to start the Poulenc and the Prokofief. By the time the millenium is over (in December 2000 as we all know), I will have added these two magnificent pieces to my repertoire.
All of that is possible because I have learned "to get started." An old chinese says: "the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now." So, now is the time to commit to ourselves to at least 5 minutes a day ("to get started"). In a year time frame, the outcome will be amazing.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: GKF
Date: 1999-08-18 03:37
I just wanted to add that I think Joanne is on the right track. Sometimes it doesn't come easy right away. Remember thta SOME practice is better than NO practice. So, if your fingers don't work and you have to work on long tones, GREAT. If you just CAN'T sight read that hard piece after a tough day at work, practice your major scales with a metronome. If you just need to practice something you've already learned, try memorizing it!!!
There's always more to do!!! Just DO IT!
I, of course, can give advice on this topic because I always practice and NEVER procrastinate -- ha ha ha ha ha
Just remember we're all in this together, and we all go through times like that -- hang in there!
GKF
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Becky
Date: 1999-08-18 17:27
Thanks for your unique advice, Mario. I will try "5 min. of getting started"
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: paul
Date: 1999-08-20 14:35
I like Dee's perspective on practicing, and stopping right up to the point of wanting even more the next time. I find myself in this situation frequently.
When I can't get access to my horn, I often mull over in my mind the music from the last session. Is the rhythm right? What about the speed, the "feel", etc.? Were the fingerings the right one for the situation? Could I try another fingering here or there? Was the tone what I wanted it to be? What would my pro tutor have thought of this session? Did I make tangible and satisfactory progress? Did I improve on my worst areas of performance and keep the polish on my better areas?
I often think of the "in between" time as even more valuable than hands on practice. Putting all of the pieces together mentally is where I actually see the most improvement from week to week.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: claril
Date: 2005-05-15 07:08
Hi there,
Just wondering how exactly you would change the type of tone you want? I understand different pieces or sections require different tones, but how do you do it? How do you change your sound?
Thanks
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ken
Date: 2005-05-15 15:44
I dunno, any hard and fast rules (and dictionary definition) of "routine" don't realistically apply when it comes to an artist and the perfection of their craft. Before changing anything, I would thoroughly examine the short and long-term progress you're making in your current situation.
Although stressful and even painful, some people simply produce better in crisis mode --- which are you? v/r Ken
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: BassClarinetGirl
Date: 2005-05-15 19:12
What I used to do in middle school to keep myself practicing was to keep a chart. Every day that I practiced at least a 1/2 hour, I would put a check. If at the end of two weeks, I had checked all 14 days, I would get a treat for myself, maybe an ice cream or something. It was jsut an incentive to keep me practicing, but it really worked.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2005-05-15 21:16
BCG,
What you employed is called the Premack Priniciple which uses a reward after completing a usually less than pleasant task. See http://www.drhibbs.com/volume12.htm for some background.
Having one practice their instrument and then rewarding on successful completion works just as well as with any other task.
HRL
BTW, the thread is over 5 1/2 years old. Timeless topic, however.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Robert Moody
Date: 2005-05-15 21:56
I apologize if someone mentioned this, I did not have the tenacity to read all the posts. But after a cursory look, I wanted to add:
The truth is that the liklihood is that you will do it again and it is in that direction I want to suggest that you use the break to your advantage. What I mean is, make sure that after a period of procrastination and at the beginning of an "I'm interested" again period, be sure to start back with good solid fundamentals! Don't rush back into playing your favorites over the years...start with long tones and slow scales. Try adding an arpeggio or scale exercise to your memorized routines (if you have any). Break out that metronome and build from controlled work.
I think, periodically, a break is a good thing. I realize that this is not the same as what you are speaking of, but just throwing it out there.
Good luck.
Robert Moody
http://www.musix4me.com
Free Clarinet Lessons and Digital Library!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: SueSmith
Date: 2005-05-15 22:34
Personally, I'm a bit obsessive about routine...
I begin every practice session with Baermann 3. I pick one key (To start, I began with Gb major/Eb minor in stead of CM,am) and work my way back through all the keys, one major/minor a day. That way I can get through all the neccessary exercises without tiring myself out.
For years my teacher in Undergrad kept saying "Baermann 3, Baermann 3, Baermann 3" but doing all the scales, all the broken chords, all the thirds in one session... by then three hours had passed and I was mentally exhausted and playing like crap. I hadn't even gotten through the entire book. No motivation was left to practice my rep or etudes. After a week, I just put the book away...much to my detriment. A few months later I'd start again....and the cycle continued.
About a year after I graduated, and took almost as much time off from playing, I decided to start playing again the right way for me. I knew Baermann - for me - was useful...but how could I get the most out of this book? Thats when I decided to pick a key a day, and get through all the exercises with maximum effort and concentration - in half the time.
Now, this routine works for me...and it serves as a nice warm-up, starting with scales...and working up through the exercises. Its very meditative. It has improved my technique tremendously. It also keeps me on track...if i begin a practice without my Baermann warm up, I don't feel right.
So, I'm not telling you to do Baermann...but certainly to find a warm up routine that fits your schedule. Perhaps your warm up routine is 15 minutes, or 1/2 hour...whatever suits your needs. But find something that works for you and stick with it...
And also, pace yourself...your intitial posts sounds a bit as if you over practice then burn yourself out to the point of needing a break. Set a goal of a warm up routine, items to practice, and give yourself some room to play for run. I like to record one part of a duet and play back with myself - find something that you enjoy to play.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
