 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: C.Elizabeth07
Date: 2011-12-04 01:57
I'm preparing for grad school auditions right now, and the amount of music I have to learn is overwhelming. I've been out of my undergrad for 2 years freelancing and teaching privately. Its been a while since I've had such a heavy load to learn on top of the gigs I'm already obligated to and my heavy teaching schedule (I have over 30 private students). I am trying to budget my time as best I can with practicing and so far its going alright but I feel like I could possibly be even more efficient. Does anyone else have any suggestions on how to best manage practice time for a large work load?
I currently keep a log of what I practice each day and analyze the work I've done and plan each days practice the night before. I record myself daily to review how things are progressing. The issue I'm having is I am working on learning/polishing 3 full pieces and 9 orchestral excerpts (including Daphnis which is eating up the majority of my time) and I have several paying gigs I'm working towards (although I don't have to work much to get those up to snuff). Any advice, ideas etc would be wonderful.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2011-12-04 14:59
Each person handles this differently and I don't believe there is one answer for everyone. You talk about a heavy work load but I remember when I was in college, many moons ago, I had to travel over an hour each way to school, lived in the Bronx, went to school in Manhattan, had to study, play in every group I could and still practice 28 hours a week for my lessons and learning other material and bass and Eb. I practiced in the AM, in the PM and all day on the weekends, with breaks of course. My solution was to concentrate on the most difficult technical passages every day and divide the less difficult stuff, but musical, every other day or when I had more time in that day. It's also how you practice, how long it takes you to learn something difficult and retain it. For me it was going over something dozens of times on the first day or two then I could retain it with just a few repetitions the next few days so by the end of the week it would be solid. For some, it works better to do it very slowly several times the first few days and then begin to tackle it. Yes, of course I start difficult passages slowly until I get them clean but I'll do them many, many times the first day or two. It's also a mental thing as to how much you can retain if a short time. It would take me a week to learn something that some others learned in three days so it's different for everyone. Stay healthy but find a way to put in the time for a few months out of your life if you want it bad enough. ESP eddiesclarinet.com
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
Post Edited (2011-12-04 15:00)
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Author: C.Elizabeth07
Date: 2011-12-04 15:13
I'm able to put in the time and I'm doing alright with it, I'm just wondering if I could be more efficient, more effective with what I'm doing. I work over 60 hours a week and I still manage to get in 4-6 hours a day. I just want to make sure what I'm doing and how I'm using and organizing my time is the best possible way because I do want it bad enough.
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Author: Gregory Williams
Date: 2011-12-04 16:23
When I was preparing for auditions that included pieces like Daphnis and Chloe, my orchestra teacher and an oboist, Edward Dolbashian, taught me how to practice them less each day but still accomplish what I needed to do. For the beginning and end of Daphnis, break the sixteenth note passages into rhythms, and start the metronome at 88 and increase two markings per day. So the first day is 88-92-96. Stop.
The rhythms I used for the General dance were in order:
Dotted Eighth, Sixteenth
Sixteenth, Dotted Eighth
Eighth, Two Sixteenths
Two Sixteenths, Eighth - these are brain twisters
Optional - The salterello rhythm
Eighth, 3 triplet Sixteenths is it Thirty Seconds
3 Triplet Whatevers, and an Eighth
Note that I don't bother to play it straight through.
Break up the piece in sections of a few measures that make sense and work up each section seperately, rather than playing the entire piece in rhythms. Only play it in rhythms and increase it two marks a day:
Day 1 - 88-92-96
Day 2 96-100-104
Day 3 104-108-12
When you get to the point that it is almost impossible to play, try playing it straight a few times, with the metronome. I usually would go back down to say 100 and repeat the process. Two times through the process and it should be under your fingers pretty well..
Note that you will be practicing Daphnis, Less Each day and still accomplishing your goals.
It is possible to play it the same amount each day and get nowhere, BTW. I know this well from personal experience.
Richie Hawley helped me with the following:
Shostakovich 9. Play the runs forwards and backwards, without stopping to get them under your fingers, slowly. Getting a LITTLE faster each day.
The Firebird Variation. Less complicated than Daphnis, same deal Start at eighth note equals 88 or something. It should feel slow to you. Increase two metronome markings a day, that's it. 88-92-96 etc.
When I was consistently trying to do what you are doing, I still felt warmed up at 7 am from the night before. Do a short warm up if you want, but you might not have time for an hour long process.
As you approach the audition, say two weeks before it, begin recording yourself. You'll find things that will get you eliminated from whatever you are trying to achieve. You must put yourself through this step. Also, since you only have one chance at the audition, usually, try to draw excerpts from a hat and play through the list without stopping. You'll find where your weaknesses are at that point, and spend a few minutes after your run through going over those problem spots. Do this twice or three times a day.
I usually started practicing for an audition six to eight weeks out, with the final two weeks devoted to running the list and recording.
I usually would write a few messages to myself in red above the excerpt, and take a moment to remind myself before beginning to play, paying special attention to getting the correct tempo in my head first.
Michael Wayne reminded me that while I am in the middle of this process, to keep in mind that while you are trying to play perfectly, you are also trying to bring something different to each of the excerpts, something that perhaps the other players won't automatically bring.
Many of my run throughs would be with the metronome, perhaps the final week, without the metronome.
Sorry for the quick writing here, hope it helps in some way.
Greg Williams
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Author: C.Elizabeth07
Date: 2011-12-04 20:03
Greg- It was helpfu, thank you. How would you divide up your practice time? My excerpt list is Mendelssohn Scherzo, Daphnis, Beethoven 6 and 8, Brahms 3, Capriccio Espagnol, Kodaly Dances Galanta, Peter and the Wolf, meanwhile polishing the Mozart, doing maintenance work on Debussy P.R. and re-learning Stravinsky 3 pieces (the correct way). I always feel like there is so much I'm not getting to or that I'm neglecting. I need to find some more balance in my practice schedule. I usually just keep grinding through until I've accomplished the goal I've set for myself for the day, focusing on lots of slow relaxed practice. I mean I spent 3 hours on Daphnis today and an hour on Kodaly. Haven't looked at anything else except my warm ups. I feel like I need to find a better balance.
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Author: DNBoone
Date: 2011-12-05 18:07
Something that worked well for me, particularly for the Stravinsky, was incorporating it into my warm-up. Rather than play a standard warm-up, I would take whatever was giving me problems. This was often the big leaps from D to D or G to G. I would also cross this with some of the odd rhythms in the 3rd movement that would give me problems. Seemed to save me a lot of time and worked well.
As for Daphnis, I did about the same thing. Although I learned the bass clarinet part, not the clarinet part. I did a different section as long tones every day to get the skips between all the quick notes better.
Post Edited (2011-12-05 18:08)
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Author: Gregory Williams
Date: 2011-12-06 04:12
Hi C.
Here's what I would do:
1 Hour or So:
Mendelssohn Scherzo,
Beethoven 6 and 8,
Brahms 3,
Capriccio Espagnol,
40 Minutes:
Kodaly Dances Galanta,
Peter and the Wolf,
30 Minutes Mozart,
20 Minutes Debussy P.R.
30 Minutes
Stravinsky 3 pieces
Daphnis, 90 minutes tops. It will be about 30-45 minutes in a few days if you stick to the formula above. As you spend less time on Daphnis, put the time into Stravinsky, Debussy, Galanta, and Peter and the Wolf. Just be patient and make small progress each day, instead of trying to play it perfectly at tempo at the end of the time allotted, each day. If you are learning some of these for the first time, give yourself a bit more time prior to the audition date to do run throughs at tempo.
All this advice comes from me not ever having heard you play...SO YOU SHOULD TAKE IT WITH A GRAIN OF SALT and find what works for you.
Your teacher, assuming you have one right now, should be able to help you set up a schedule. Just make a plan to make incremental progress each day, in the time you have to practice. I can say that I RARELY practiced for over 5 hours a day even during grad school and preparing for auditions. I did do plenty of days right at about 5 hours, though. You'd be pushing your luck if you exceeded 5 hours frequently. One thing I did was try to get in 2 hours by 10am...and hopefully by 9. Then the rest of the day is downhill.
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