Practice Tips
Introduction
I'd be the richer than Bill Gates if I had a dollar for every time some fellow saxophonist said, "I don't need to practice. I play good enough as it is". O.k., maybe not as rich as Bill Gates but my point is we all need to practice. Top saxophonists like Kenny G and David Sanborn practice. Why shouldn't you? No one is "good enough". Everyone can get better. My philosophy is that no one can master an instrument. They can only get better at it. Middle school player's especially seem stuck in the "good enough" rut. Once they can play a few scales, some think there is no more to learn. My goal here is to help people learn how to manage their practice time wisely so that they can get the most results in the least amount of time.
When to and for How Long
A general rule of thumb is to practice till you get the job done (or problem solved), then a little more. Unfortunately, there are only twenty-four hours in a day. If you are a normal person, six to eight of those hours are spent sleeping. That leaves less than sixteen hours in which to get done daily tasks as well as practicing. How are we saxophonists supposed to get in quality practice time? First off, don't try to squeeze in hour long practices. Instead, I recommend practicing about a half hour a day. A half hour everyday will do more to help you out than several two to three hour practice sessions a week. By keeping practices short you'll remain more focused and waste less time. In addition, your mouth will not get sore. It is also much easier to schedule a thirty minute practice. If you don't think you can spare a half hour every day than read my following suggestions. If you have a slow computer like me, bring your saxophone and some music with you to the computer. I often find time to practice while I am downloading programs and large pages. If you are cooking something that needs to be stirred every 5 minutes, sit down nearby and use the in between time to practice. Watching television? Play during the commercials. You may be surprised how much practicing you'll get in. In order to play for shorter periods of time, though, you must be willing to play often. The easiest way to keep from slacking off is to designate a time each day to practice. Also, leave your instrument, music stand, and music next to your practice area. You are more likely to play when everything is there waiting for you.
What to Practice
What to practice is even more important than how much to practice. The key here is to keep the practice material varied and to not spend too long on one piece. Start out with a few warm-ups on long tones. Concentrate on starting the tones correctly, tuning, tone, vibrato, and releases. One or two scales done this way are usually a good way to begin. Next, play a few easy exercises or tunes you know to get your fingers going and boost your confidence. Practice a few scales while you are at it. After that, practice any pieces you may be having problems with. You don't have to play the whole tune, just the parts you are having trouble with. Here it is important to not let yourself discouraged. If you spend more than several minutes on a few measures just move on. You can come back to it later. Next, sightread an exercise or two. This will not only improve your sightreading ability, but also expose you to different tunes that you may want to add to your repetoire later. Remember that you are sightreading. You do not have to perfect any of the pieces right now. Finally, end your practice session with a song or exercise that you know well. This way you'll end feeling satisfied, not discouraged.
Set Specific Goals
Don't just sit down and run through your scales haphazardly hoping you'll get better someday. Set a specific goal each time you practice, like today I will master the E scale. You'll find that by focusing on one problem per session you'll get more accomplished than having a few generalized goals you are working on throughout the year. By solving just one problem everyday you can fix 365 problems in a year. Think how much you can improve on! Practice to fix problems and you will.
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