 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: CarlT
Date: 2011-12-18 22:56
Although nowhere near advanced myself, I am curious to know if you advanced and/or professional players still have to practice everyday and for how long.
I realize that clarinet students must spend a lot of time practicing, but I'm speaking more to those who aren't in formal clarinet training now, and who are in the workaday world.
My feeling is that no matter how advanced one gets, he/she still needs daily practice, but I would appreciate it if you would comment on that idea.
What's the average "practice" daily or weekly time for you (including the music you must prepare for gigs, rehearsals, etc)?
CarlT
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Author: CarlT
Date: 2011-12-18 23:01
Wow, I just looked and there's another "Practice Time" question; however, my post deals more with pros and advanced players than with beginners and intermediates.
CarlT
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2011-12-19 00:00
Robert Spring stated he practices 4 hours a day. Every day.
Julian Bliss was asked this at a clarinetfest I went to and answered about 3 hours a day.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2011-12-19 00:04
I have bad news for you. If you want to play professionally then you will probably practice every day or most days. Depending on what I have coming up, I will generally practice every day or at least 6 days on, 1 day off. There will always be something to work out. To this day, I am not satisfied with my D major or A major scales. Sure I can play them, but they aren't as comfortable for me as say the E scale. Therefore, I play the heck out of those scales. Also, I love to play etudes. Some days if I don't have anything in particular to work out, I will play a few etude books. As far as time, I just play until I am finished.
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Author: Buster
Date: 2011-12-19 00:28
It may sound like a bit of a side-step, but as long as I need.
Generally, I find ways to work on "fundamentals" that are required for what I have to play; deriving exercises for myself as I see fit. This may be an hour, or 5, depending on what is at hand. (I also spend quite a bit of time with the score as that part of the equation is of equal importance.)
The amount of time spent is far less important than the efficiency for me at this point- though I don't think any can claim to have stopped "maturing" regardless of level.
Also, I always take a 5-10 minute break every 25 minutes or so; attention tends to wane for me if I don't. -After 2 straight hours of "practice", I'll look back and realize that about half of what I did was actually effective.
Looking back at how I practiced when I was in school I see how many hours were truly wasted.
-Jason
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Author: C.Elizabeth07
Date: 2011-12-19 00:37
I practice every day save for one light day where I warm up, work on scales, long tones etc. I practice for about 4-5 hours a day ( depending on my work load). I always go back to the fundamentals, long tones, scales, arpeggios and I have some terrific exercises by Bonade that I love. Your fundamentals are the foundation for your playing, you need a solid base before you can build upon it and I always like to make sure that my foundation doesn't have any cracks....
Post Edited (2011-12-19 00:48)
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2011-12-19 03:07
Hey, you wanna be as best as you can be you need to continually work on it! I'm no pro, probably not "advanced", however I can tell that over the past year, with lessons and much more rigorous practice, I have improved A TON! It's VERY motivating to look at music that was way too much for me last year and say to myself, "You know...this really isn't that bad" and be more confident I can work through it.
And I agree with what's been said above about going back to the basics and "fundamentals". It feels much better having a solid base and working on fundamentals every lesson. Helps me to keep up basic skills, and it's great for clearing the head and getting into a practice mood.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: RachelB4
Date: 2011-12-19 14:49
My clarinet teacher was asked this, and he responded that he still practices as much as he needs it. He practices until he gets it perfect.
I feel like that should be the way all of us practice... respectively of course to our levels.
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2011-12-19 15:56
My teacher, a symphony pro, ALWAYS has the music for his next program on his stand.
I'm at about 6,000 of the Malcolm Gladwell benchmark of 10,000 hours to virtuosity, making me (I suppose) an advanced player. There are still holes in my fundamentals that yield only slowly to practice. (According to "The Talent Code," my mylenation process may be lethargic.) Example: my "fingers" recognize an arpeggio that I've practiced 2,000 times and the composer has inserted a passing tone. BLAM!!
I try to do 2 or 3 @90-minute sessions per day, every day. After all, there ain't that many days left to reach that 10,000 hours...
Bob Phillips
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