It's Practice Time!
Ever sit down to practice and find yourself frustrated and giving up after only a few minutes? You’re doing it wrong! Practicing should be a positive experience! True it can get extremely frustrating at times, but if you take a minute to read through these practice tips I can guarantee a more positive and efficient method of practicing your instrument.
1. Warm up! Don’t immediately jump into the hardest thing you’re learning. Warm up first with some scales or pieces you are comfortable playing through. Finger and lip warm ups and exercises are crucial if you want to be a good player. Not only do they build finger and embouchure strength, but they also reduce the danger of injuries. You wouldn’t run a marathon without stretching first, right? Spend ten minutes warming up before you practice and you’ll turn into a practice guru.
2. Slow down! Even if you think you can play the section faster, start slowly. Build up the tempo while focusing on pitch, tone, rhythm and phrasing. There is more to playing music then just the notes, and slowing everything down will allow you to focus on the other aspects of creating a great sound. If you are making mistakes it means that you are playing too fast. Remember that if you play a passage wrong several times in a row, you are actually teaching yourself to play it incorrectly. So slow down!
3. Isolate problem areas! Don’t start at the beginning of the piece and play until you reach the problem spots. Start right away with the problem areas. Take the time to break down a hard section into small bits, even to the point where you are playing single notes. Figure out why you are making a mistake and find the solution. Make sure you have a pencil and are writing this information directly into the music. If you get too frustrated with a particular passage, don’t stress, just come back to it later. Taking a break will help clear your head and you may be inspired with a different approach.
Practicing can be challenging, but it can also be extremely rewarding. I like to record myself playing a piece so that a week or so later I can listen back to how much I’ve improved in a short amount of time. When you’re done practicing make sure you go back to the beginning of the piece and play it straight through. The difficult sections will play out better and reinforce the productivity of practicing. Happy practicing!
By Piper Redman
*Piper is one of our newest employees at Dietz Bros but she is in no way new to teaching having recently earned her Music Education degree from Miami University of Ohio. After all those hours spent in a practice room, she knows what she's talking about!
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