Hey,
how long do you guys practice for and how often??. What do you do when you practice... technique, scales or do you just play whatever you feel like playing. You see i dont really practice my instruments but want to start practicing seriously but i just don't know what to practice and how to practice effectivley all i've ever done before is just play pieces through and do scales when my teacher wants me to. So basically i just want any tips for practicing.

The only way to make practicing really effective is to enjoy it, and unless you're one of those child prodigies, playing at concerts before you're out of nappies, KEEP IT SHORT, only 30 mins or so.
I do:
Scales which I've been set as a warm up, no more than 5 mins unless I can't get them right
Pieces; I play them through, make a mental note of where I mess up, play those bits, then play it all through again. This takes most of the time.
Then I just mess about for a bit to keep the music in mind but give the ol' brain a relief.
I don't think it's a real practice, I often feel a bit of a fraud when I get good exam results.

I tend to practice about 45 mins a day for each of my instruments but more if I have an exam coming up.
I always start with a few scales or a couple of studies to warm up, then work on specific parts of my pieces. I then finish my practice with fun pieces I like to play!

I start with a few scales, then go onto pieces. I play through them and where I get problems I go over that, if it's for a performance, I check the piece against the metronome. Then I go onto band stuff so onto piccolo, then back to flute and I do fun stuff like CD playalongs. Sometimes if I have no performances planned for my A level, I only play fun stuff.

Generally I do my warm-up, which contains of slow arpeggios all on one valve, then slurs etc.

Then I do the crab-wise scale pattern (C major up one octave, Db major down one octave, D major up one octave, Eb major down one octave etc.) After probably a mix of pieces, studies, sight reading practice and transposition.

Perhaps if you ask your teacher to give you a warm-up? Could you possibly say which instrument?

Also, when I found it hard to motivate myself to practice for more than 15 minutes (!) I made myself a timetable, with any pieces/studies/sight reading/transposition/orchestral excerpts i needed to practice and then a column for each day to write how long i'd practiced that particlua skill.

It looks impressive when you look back on how much practice you've done in the past week, and also what you've neglected and should look at next time.

I also found that playing in a group also made me practice, because I wanted to stay at the same level as my peers.

hope that helps

hornplayer

Every day, no excuses. 3 hours a day usually, 2 1/2 hours absolute minimum.


Depends. Always warm-up/strech first. Warm up includes trills, bowing exercises, pizzicato (LH and RH), left hand only work etc.
-> If I have an exam, I will do 1/2 pieces, 1/3 scales and 1/6 sight-reading. Aural seperately.
->If I don't have an exam, I will do...
1) A couple of etudes, usually have 2 going at a time and change one every week. That way my sight-reading skills are kept going too. They also replace scales, which are a waste of time because when they occur in pieces they can never be fingered as you practice them.
2) Then I will start on pieces. Right now I have a Bach Partita, Beethoven Sonata, 3 Vivaldi concerti, a piece by Kreisler and some other smaller pieces. I will do 3 sessions per day and do 2 or 3 pieces per session, as a general rule. I prioritise them too, and never play more than 2 movements of a concerto in one practice.
3) Warm down, unless I'm feeling lazy. Stretch while still warm, then a slow piece or movement, long slow bowing. Dump violin, watch telly


Well the basic fact is that you've got to play the worst bits the most until they aren't the worst bits any more. Then do the same with the new worst bits. Repeat until the worst bits are good enough for you. 20 minutes of focussed practice is better than 1 hour of unfocussed practice. Every note you play should be worthwhile, and you should always be thinking about what you are doing, and listening intently. If you start thinking about something else, stop. Come back to your practice later. And also, it's better to do a small thing really well than everything averagely. Apparently!

Errr. the instrument is piano/sax/trombone

Same

Bohemian.. how do you find jazz piano.?? I do classical piano but i thought about jazz so i goth jazz piano from scratch book and the grade 1 pieces and it all seems rather complicated compared to the standard exams.

I stopped lessons due to a lack of time but...
It was fun. It really develops skills which otherwise never get touched on. If you can already play classical then go for it, but get a different teacher because otherwise one genre will dominate. It is a bit complicated, the exam thing, but the basics are the same, except I found it all a lot more relaxed and fun. The scales are easy and the aural tests aren't bad either.

cool, will look into it again

Good stuff If you can, listen to some jazz before you try playing any. It will help gretly. If you want any recommendations, just send a PM or email.

got any recomendations lol

Duke Ellington
Dave Weckl band
Count Basie
Ma Rainey
Chick Corea
Buddy Rich Big Band
Ella Fitzgerald
Gene Krupa Big Band
Louis Armstrong
Red McKenzie
Fats Waller
etc

Thanks for your help bohemian and others. have a good new year

2 hours a day for me. That includes pieces Im currently working on and building Repertoire for my jazz band. I also practice improvisation and memorising jazz chords.

For scales, my teacher's advice is 5 times slow and 1 time fast(exam speed).

For pieces(for examination[s]), play the first phrase(or if it is too long,four to five bars will do), slow to fast until smooth(non-stop). Then the next phrase.

For pieces that are (not so important),just play it as more as you wish, no one will stop you.

For me, 1~2 hours everyday.

I have the worlds shortest concentration span. I play through a scale 10 times then play a short nice piece then play the same scale again to see if I've learnt it, if so..next scale...oh the fun of practise! I don't mind practising the rest, pieces, sight reading, aural....though i tend to do my practise in bits, whenever i come into the room i see the piano and sit and play a bit i don't do a 'block practise'...nothing gets done and i just end up playing Einaudi!

With scales i also start v...e..r..y...s..l...o...w then speed up as i get better.

Bohemian, I've got to ask ...
How is it possible for you to practise for 2.5 hours a day?! Doesn't it just get really really boring?
I find that doing more playing than 1 hour doesn't have much of a beneficial effect on me.
Also, how do you find the time? I could understand if you were at uni doing music or something, but year 11 ... I find that I have loads of things I'd much rather be doing!!
I don't have the right mental stamina for that long, I shouldn't think.

I do it in hour long chunks, unless I get carried away (once I accidentally did 4 hours and thought it had been about 1-2 hours, I felt majorly stupid). I really like playing violin, I love seeing changes in my playing. I find it easy to focus on my playing, don't know how. Maybe I'm just lucky.

I do find it tricky to fit in 3 hours during the week, but I do 1 hour during lunch and skip lunch, another hour before 6pm and another hour later on. Sometimes I practice in music lessons, and I have 4 free lessons when I am meant to do my A level by myself, but usually I practice in them instead. If it comes to it, I get up 1 hour early in the morning and do some then. But that makes me sound like a psycho. I'm not really - I'm just normal but like my violin!

Oh, and the fear of not getting into any universities/music colleges motivates me well

I look what my teacher has wirtten in my notebook, and usually start of with some scales. Then I go over the pieces and pick out the bits that need work on. I spend as much as I think is appropriate.

You sure are lucky! I can't keep up the concentration.



That would also explain it - for me, music is just my hobby rather than my likely profession.

Aren't you about the same age as me? How do you get the time???

I'm 15. As I say, I make a lot of sacrifices, and don't mind that much. I don't watch TV. I don't go out every weekend. My social life consists of orchestra rehersals

I do about an hour every day, both instruments combined. I start with my flute for about 45mins, doing technical stuff, then pieces, then fun/composing. Then I do about 15mins of piano, scales then pieces.
I do lots more flute than piano, because it's main main instrument. I've been playing piano less than a year and it's entirely for fun. I can't concentrate on normal stuff for very long but if I'm composing I can be hours.

Me neither!! I get in at 5pm, go to bed about 9.30. That leaves 4.5 hours, and surely you can't find the time for 2 hours or so in that!!



Me, only on saturday mornings. I'd prefer to sleep in to be honest, but then again, it is fun.

Every day, no excuses. 3 hours a day usually, 2 1/2 hours absolute minimum.

how do you practice so long. is it 3 hours all at once?

No way!! I couldn't physically do more than 2 hours but sensibly 1h15 is my limit per practice. Maybe I'm weird and obsessive. I just enjoy practicing.

Woooo that sounds scarily like me . Glad I'm not the only one!

I didn't practise much in the early grades, mainly because my interest and enthusiasm was only really "born" when I got to about grade 6. Used to do a couple of hours a week up to grade 8! HOWEVER, I recently decided to actually take the grade 8 exam and did about 2 hrs most days for this: 1 hr scales and arpeggios, 1 hr pieces!

[have been enjoying not having to do scales but as I am hoping to take my grade 8 viola at some point I'll have to get back into the habit! ]