 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: John Erikson
Date: 2000-08-02 19:34
What would be the ideal practice routine for a second year clarinet student? Right now I practice
15 mins: chromatic long tone up and down
30 mins: scales to seven flats and 7 sharps
30-45 mins: two or three pieces of music
What do you more advanced players do?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Tim2
Date: 2000-08-03 01:40
John Erikson wrote:
-------------------------------
What would be the ideal practice routine for a second year clarinet student? Right now I practice
15 mins: chromatic long tone up and down
This is good. A clarinetist's sound is the greatest asset. Do you do a crescendo/decrescendo? On each pair, that may be a good idea. Listen to your pitch. As you crescendo, don't let your tone get flat. This means you need to make sure you are --- supporting your sound ----. Keep the pitch stable. You should already be reaping benefit from the long tones. My suggestion would only enhance what you are doing now.
John Erikson wrote:
-------------------------------
30 mins: scales to seven flats and 7 sharps
This is good. Are you doing a group of savales on one day and the next another group? Or all of them every day? When I do my scales, I work on three or four. I listen to the evenness. Sure "C" major is easy but don't take it for granted. Smoothness and control of texhnique are what scale practicing provides. If you have a group of notes that you can't get smooth (perfect), might I suggest working that group of notes in dotted rhythms. Make the 1st, 3rd, 5th.... notes long and the 2nd, 4th, 6th... notes short. First at a slow tempo and then inch your way up the metronome, one notch at a time. You can learn some really hard parts this way.
John Erikson wrote:
-------------------------------
30-45 mins: two or three pieces of music
This is good too. Again, in you practicing of these pieces, always strive to get things clean and well sounded. Don't just "go through them".
You may want to spend some time eventually after the scales with an etude book. There are lots out there. I don't know where your technique is now. If you are really doing all the scales like you say, you might want to get a hold of the Rose 32 Etudes. These are splendid pieces in helping to provide for good technique and musicality. Some of the slow etudes are wonderful examples where you can show off what you have in control of your sound and your dynamic range and control of that range.
John Erikson wrote:
-------------------------------
What do you more advanced players do?
They do about what you do. Some will spend a total of two or three or more hours. Some less. Some split up their time during the day. Some don't practice every single day. Others do. Work so you get something done.
And the real pros, I would think, work on reeds. I do. I work with store bought reeds. Always making sure there are good ones to play on.
One other thing I do occasionally is screw back the screw for my G# key throat tone key back in.
You're definately on the right track. Keep up the work.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: John Erikson
Date: 2000-08-03 15:11
Tim2,
Thanks for your information.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Katherine Pincock
Date: 2000-08-03 16:53
Actually, there isn't any really ideal practice routine; routines can differ a lot between people. But I can give you some ideas; I've used all of them at various times in the past or present.
It's definitely good that you start with long tones--don't change that--but you should vary what you do. Long tone chromatic scales are good; so are long tones in fifths (E-B-E etc. to the top of the range, then F-C-F, F#-C#-F#) to get the feeling of keeping your air flowing throughout, pyramid scales (start on E and play half note E, half note F#, half note E; then half note E, half note F#, half note G#, half note F#, half note E, etc.), and dynamic variation long tones (one note only, starting pppp and going to ffff, then back down).
Make sure you practice scales with different articulations, and use arpeggios, thirds, etc. as well. You should also spend some time working on an exercise for whatever area you find weakest--for me (sigh) it's articulation, but it could be phrasing, fingering, whatever. It's also good to spend some time working on alternate fingerings or mechanics exercises--the best I've found so far are in the Jeanjean Vademecum book, and if you like these, you can actually turn the book into your warm-up (it takes about an hour).
I'd suggest you start working on some orchestral excerpts; just pick a few you like, listen to a recording, and work on them a bit. It'll stand you in good stead when you have to start working on them more seriously.
As for pieces, the best advice I can give is that you don't necessarily have to play them through. You may or may not be doing this, but it's often more helpful just to woodshed the one passage that's giving you problems and then leave it be than it is to play the piece over once. There's no reason you can't play it through as well, though. Also, one thing I always like to suggest is to work on a piece or two that you like, but that you're not going to be performing any time soon. It could be easy or hard, but you should find it fun to run through. Use it as a distraction if you start getting frustrated, incentive (ie. you'll only let yourself play it after you finish the rest of your work), or as a bit of a cool-down for your poor practice-fevered brain ;-)
Any or all of these things can be swapped around except the long tone warmup--that is really worth your time. Make sure that you don't set a particular time limit for any of these things; if it takes you longer than you expected, work longer, but if it takes you less time (like if the work on your pieces takes only five minutes, which has happened to me on those mysterious wonderful days that happen from time to time ;-) don't keep working on them. Instead, take something else out to have a look at, or just end your session early. You can also divide your practice into several sessions. I often find that if I do a good warmup in the morning, I can do another practice session in the afternoon and get a bit more done. That can also help if you have any problems with pain while you play--DON'T keep practicing if it's starting to hurt or even feel funny/tingle. If you feel ANYTHING like that on a regular basis, get it checked out unless it's obvious what the cause is. Second and third year where I study knocks more people out of commission from performance injury because they just assume they should play through it.
And just to give you one more thing to think about, consider doing some sort of body-awareness based physical activity--yoga, tai chi, dance classes, some martial arts classes, etc. I've done yoga and dance, and I find it makes a real difference to how I play, especially if I do it in the morning before I warm up.
Well, there's my little dissertation on the topic ;-) I hope that helps you out!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-08-03 23:10
Katherine Pincock wrote:
<br>-------------------------------
<br> And just to give you one more thing to think about, consider doing some sort of body-awareness based physical activity--yoga, tai chi, dance classes, some martial arts classes, etc. I've done yoga and dance, and I find it makes a real difference to how I play, especially if I do it in the morning before I warm up.
<br>-------
<br>At CIM the students are required to do Eurythmics; it'll teach your body how to do complex rhythms - 3/2, 7/4, 9/4, and other stuff you need to learn when you're playing. It's nice to have the body doing the remembering rather than having to do an intellectual study of it.
<br>
<br>Also, as the kid says, it's a great way to start your day - he had it as an early morning class ...
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-08-04 06:20
I would think this 'ideal' though I do not do like this.
0.Breathing exercize
1.warming up
2.tone development
1)long tone
2)leveralizing tones
Take the most beautiful tone as starting point.
Then take half tone up or down and leveralize them and
Widen the gap.
I remember someone refered to a good clarinet source book
on this matter here on this BBS.
3.scales and chords
1)As a starting point,scales can be split into a tone
group of 5 or 6 tones. This is easier and good for
building up techniques.
Moreover there is a matter of psycology. If we make an
error, we should cancel our error memory by doing it
right once and to add a correct memory another once.
Longer phrases have more elements to make an error.
2)Chords studies are essential to memorizing
any pieces.
4.Etudes
1)Rose 40 exercizes
2)Rose 32 etudes
3)Baerman
4)Cavalini
i.e.French,German,and Italian sources.
5.Pieces
6.Cooling down
To become a pro, at least 3 hours per day practice is required. Favorably 8 hours. Yes all day long.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: col
Date: 2000-08-04 14:35
I would agree with Hiroshi, she has basically outlined what i do in my practice routine. I also incorporated things such as sight reading / orchestral exercepts into my practice ( more important for students such as myself. I play a minimum of 3 hrs a day but usually around 4 1/2 - 6 hrs.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-08-04 15:08
col wrote:
-------------------------------
I would agree with Hiroshi, she has basically outlined what i do in my practice routine.
---
He. Female Japanese names almost always end in "ko" (I never heard a female Japanese name that <b>didn't</b> end in "ko", but there just <b>has</b> to be one exception somewhere! :^)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Jen
Date: 2000-08-05 05:30
For only playing a couple of years, it sounds like you've figured out a pretty good schedule for practicing. A lot of players focus on how long they practice, when they should consider how they practice. When you work on solos or etudes, do you break them down into parts to make working on the difficult sections easier? Or do you just run through the whole thing several times, beginning to end? It's all about how you use your time... 1 hour of "focus" work could be worth the same as 4 hours of straight run-throughs. Just balance your time on the goals you've set for that particular session, not on how long you've practiced.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Kohei
Date: 2000-08-05 22:08
col wrote:
-------------------------------
I would agree with Hiroshi, she has basically outlined what i do in my practice routine.
---
He. Female Japanese names almost always end in "ko" (I never heard a female Japanese name that didn't end in "ko", but there just has to be one exception somewhere! :^)
---
female names ending in "a" : "Mika", "Rika", etc.
ending in "e" : "Yurie", "Yukie", "Sachie", etc.
ending in "i" : "Chiaki", "Hiromi", "Nozomi", etc.
ending in "yo" : "Chiyo", "Sachio", "Hanayo" etc.
ending in "u" : "Kaoru" and a few others I can't remember.
You're right, over eighty or ninty percent of female Japanese names end in "ko", but the remaining 10% or so could still number well over 10 million! ;-)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Robin
Date: 2000-08-07 14:30
I find this a bit concerning - I really think 8 hours a day for a student is very dangerous.
Maybe for a pro, who has the perfect technique, no extra tension, no hyper-extention in muscular movements. But students must be very careful. I'm almost getting sick of hearing of tragic cases of RSI amoung my colleagues at university. Some mis-understanding teacher has said to them to do at least 4 hours a day - they've gone and done 5 hours of badly structured playing, endless runthroughs, playing with more tense fingers and arms with every minute.
Tim2, i am also a 2nd year studnet and I think you're doing very well for yourself. Just make sure you are relaxed - don't do more than an hour in one sitting unless you are some sort of prodigy. the best times are when you're getting losts of high quality practice in but you've also got a life!
Robin
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Robin
Date: 2000-08-08 03:27
Sorry - I meant to address my previous post to John Erikson, not Tim2.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-08-08 06:44
Thank you Mark.
I wondered why sometimes catalogues obviously for female came to me. Now I new why.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2000-08-08 06:56
Robin's info made me to recognize that I forgot to add importnat things:
1)GET REST ANYTIME YOU FEEL TIRED! 10-15 minutes.
(mainly to make lip blood cells recovered.)
2)The most efficient duration for duration is known 45 minutes at most psycologically.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: John Erikson
Date: 2000-08-10 14:55
Jen,
Usually with an etude I will go through the piece once, marking along the way: alternate fingerings and phrase endings with breath marks. Then I focus on the hard measures, then I work on the phrases.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
