The Art of Practice
A 4 Year Practice Plan
By Harry Miedema
I never learned how to practice from anyone. I never learned it in high school. I never
really learned it in college. I suppose what I know about practicing comes from being
around, observing, and talking with great players. One thing I learned is that you dont
have to organize very much if you practice six hours a day or more. But if you practice
two hours a day, it is crucial to get the most out of that time. Here are some things I have
learned.
1. Have a plan.
Take a look at the 4 year practice plan. It is important to know where you would
like to go with your instrument. Along with your teacher, set realistic goals that
are achievable in four years. My list of goals can be changed or added to. Try to
define what musical abilities you would like to have at the end of your college
career. These goals may be altered during the first year or the third year. But start
with a plan.
2. Break the plan down.
You have decided what you would like to accomplish during you college career.
Now we need to know what to do this year in order to achieve our goals. This will
lead us to know what we need to do this semester. Now that we know what we
want to accomplish this semester, what should we do this month to get to the
goal? Answering that question will help us decide what to do this week. Finally,
what should I do today?
3. Keep a record. (Practice Log)
Obtain a small notebook. (stenographers notebook) Make sure it is small enough
to keep in your case or with your metronome. At the end of each practice session,
write down what you did. Keep track of every practice session in this manner. If
you are doing well, this will explain why you are. If you are having trouble, it will
help your teacher find some new ways to get you on track.
4. Plan your practice time.
Create a spread sheet. Down the first column, put the times of the day in 1/2 hour
increments. Start with the time you get up every day and end with the time you go
to bed. Put the days of the week across the top row. Now fill in everything that
you do. Meals, classes, lessons, rehearsals, work, church, and everything else that
you do weekly. You need to practice your major instrument 120 minutes a day.
Find that time every day on the spread sheet. It doesnt have to be a solid block of
time. It could be 2 one hour sessions.
5. Plan How To Practice
Make the optimum use of your time by making sure it is organized for maximum
productivity.
Practice
Harry Miedema
Sugge sted Reading: The Inner Game of Music
Practice entails:
1. Discipline
2. Concentration
3. Focus
4. Precision
5. Being goal directed
6. Being systematic
7. Creating a Practice Log
The following style components apply to both classical and jazz music. Keys to
developing your style:
Style components:
Sound
Vibrato
Time
Time feel
Articulation
Dynamics
Musicality
Improvisation components:
Melody
Harmony
Rhythm
Timing
Patience
4 Year Practice Plan
Goals
Technical mastery
(classical or jazz)
Jazz solo transcriptions (4)
Learn 20 tunes
Classical etudes and
pieces
Vibrant, expressive sound
Brass: Flexibility/Range
Metronome exercises
4 years
This year
This Semester This month
This week Today
Daily Schedule
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
7:00
7:30
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
1:00
1:30
2:00
2:30
3:00
3:30
4:00
4:30
5:00
5:30
6:00
6:30
7:00
7:30
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30
10:00
10:30
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Organizing Practice Time
By Harry Miedema
Practice time should be separated into two parts: 1) Those things for which no music is
required. 2) Those things for which music is required.
1. Warm up:
If you choose, the warm up may be a very productive part of your practice.
Check posture, embouchure and play whatever you warm up on (scales,
long tones, difficult parts of music you are working on) with absolute
attention to sound and pitch. If you play well in tune at the start of each
playing day, your ear will acquire the habit of correct intonation. If you
play with a great sound, then later in the day, you may notice if you are
not getting a great sound. Warm up should be both fast and slow.
2. Carryover stuff:
These are things we want to carry over through all of our playing. This
would include mirror exercises, embouchure, fingers, position, and
posture.
3. Scales
Anything you do with scales including scale patterns and learning new
scales. (See Scales by Buselli and Miedema)
4. ii V Patterns
5. Jazz tunes and improvisation
6. Etudes (classical)
7. Pieces (classical)
8. Fun:
This could be anything at all. You like your instrument because of the
sound it makes. Do something you enjoy.
How many minutes will you practice each and every day? Your major instrument
demands 120 minutes every day. Assign a number of minutes to each of the 8 things to
do. Start with number 8. This will be ten minutes or less. Now you have 110 minutes to
disperse among the other 7 things. This will help you decide what to do and for how
long. You may discover that you cannot get everything done in 120 minutes. The object
is to get your weekly assignment done, not just put in 120 minutes. Follow this routine
every day. You will be amazed at the progress you will make in a short period of time.
Remember that being in the same room with your instrument doesnt count as practice.
Make sound. Play. This is practice.
*Keep A Record
As an aid to your practice log, here is one way to keep track of progress.
Major w/Artic
Mixolydian
ii - V lick
Etude
Piece
All Keys
One Key
C
C#
D
Eb
E
F
F#
G
Ab
A
Bb
B
Across the top, you may write anything you are working on. I have chosen some things
my students might work on. Down the left side are some choices of how to keep track of
things. For instance, you may be doing a warm up or other exercise in only one key. You
may do something in all keys without stopping. You may do something in selected keys.
The grid allows you to write in the metronome marking at which you can do a thing.
Daily progress is easy to chart in this manner. It also brings deficiencies to light.
Practice Pointers
1) Always use a metronome.
2) If at first you dont succeed, Slow it down!!!!!!
3) Slow, deliberate, methodical precise practice is not an invitation for the mind to
go to sleep! When you practice slowly, consider the following:
A) Are you capturing all the details of your idol including sound,
sense of time, articulation?
B) Are your fingers and tongue coordinated?
C) Are you minimizing finger movement and concentrating on
clean, light, efficient technique?
D) Are you playing every pitch in tune?
4) Speed is a by-product of accuracy and control, which are best gained at
slower tempos. Do not practice for speed. Speed is a natural by-product of slow,
deliberate, controlled practice.
6) Increase speed incrementally.
7) In slow practice, be extremely self-critical and analytical. Do not accept
anything less than perfection. If you stumble, stop, analyze and slow down!!
Practice frees you from technical obstacles so that
you can focus on making music.
Preparing An Etude
By Harry Miedema
1. Key Signature?
2. Time Signature?
3. Go over the notes several times to become familiar with the etude. (Leave out ornaments)
Subdivide to understand rhythms.
4. Look at the tempo. Figure out your practice tempo: the tempo at which you can play
everything. This is your starting point. Add to this tempo incrementally.
Speed is a result of accuracy.
5. Add breath marks with pencil. Lack of breath marks is the main contributor to mistakes. When
you arent sure where you are going to breathe, you get trapped. You make a mistake so
you can stop and breathe.
6. Note the articulations. They are an important factor in making an etude musical.
7. Note the dynamics.
8. I recommend the circle method for practicing notes and articulations. Play through the etude.
Each time you make a mistake, circle that measure. When you are done with the entire etude,
you will have several circles. Now, go back to the first circle. Practice this measure until you
can play it five times in a row without making a mistake. Next, practice playing the measure
before it, the circled measure, and the measure after it. When you can do this five times
without error, erase the circle. Continue this with as many circles as time permits. Be aware
that tomorrow a new circle may have to be drwan. But as the circles go away, you are
learning to play the etude.
9. If you have a really hard time with something technical, memorize it. Memorize it one note at
a time.
10. Find a recording. You can learn something from good and bad recordings. Check youtube.
Practice frees you from technical obstacles so that
you can focus on making music.
Scales
Mark Buselli & Harry Miedema
The door to jazz is opened by a key. The key is knowing your scales. You need to learn
scales so that you dont think about them, you just play them. We are going to learn our
scales by rote. Rote means repetition. Here is the method we want you to use.
First, clear your mind. It will not be involved in this. Do not try to think of key
signatures. Make your mind blank. Next, realize that any two notes in a major scale are
either a half step or a whole step apart.
Now, sing a major scale. Does it sound correct? Starting at the bottom, you will sing the
notes of Do, Ri, Mi. Starting from the top, you will sing the beginning of Joy To The
World. Either way is okay. Ask your teacher if it sounds accurate. Singing is the only
way we have of knowing if something is heard accurately, internally.
Play the first note of the scale. (any key) Now try that note and the one a half step away.
Then try the first note and the one a whole step away. Decide which one sounds best or
most like the scale in your head. Practice those two notes. Slur the notes. If there is a
technical problem, such as awkward fingering, practice those two notes until it goes
away.
When those two notes are comfortable, use the same method to find the third note. Try
both a half step and a whole step. See which one sounds better to you. Now practice those
three notes as you did the first two. Go back and forth over them.
When they feel comfortable, find the fourth note and so on. You are trying to get physical
habits together. Do not add notes until you are comfortable with what you know. Dont
be in a hurry. You want habits you can count on without having to think. Dont look at a
clock. Just keep going until you have the whole scale. Slur everything. Articulation is a
variable we dont need yet. Just play everything with energy, loudly, like you mean every
note. If you can play a thing loudly, you can play it softly. The reverse is not true.
Tomorrow, go over the same scale, the same way. It will be easier every day. You could
start on a different scale the second day. Add it to the one you know. After three days, the
scale will be yours. You will own it.
What is the down side of learning scales this way? Well, you may not be able to tell
anyone what the key signature is. At this point I usually like to look at the two reasons for
learning. 1) You could go to a party and be able to show off because you know how
many sharps are in the key of B. 2) You could go to the gig and be able to play a scale
when you need to. Obviously, number 2 is what we want to be able to do. You might also
gain the advantage of being able to play your scales for a scale test in school. All
professional musicians practice scales. As jazz players, we spend our lives trying to make
all twelve keys equal. You are starting something that is beneficial and will be with you
forever. Learn to love the sound that your instrument makes when you play scales.
Practice
(the RIGHT Way!)
Richard Dole
VERY GENERAL PRACTICE
#1. Your Place -
Its very important to have your own place to practice. This
should be a place where you dont have any
brothers/sisters/cats/dogs interrupting your practice session. You
should have a place for your music, your instrument, metronome
and chair. There should also be a sufficient amount of light.
#2. WARM-UP
It is crucial that you have a warm-up as a part of your
practice session. You should begin with slow easy long tones, getting
the air moving and working the small muscle groups. Then do a
tonguing exercise; work the fingers. Always start slow then get
faster as you get warmed up. This is much like an athletic warmup, only with smaller muscle groups. ALWAYS USE A
METRONOME!!!
GENERAL PRACTICE
#1. Practice Performing
Always imagine you are in a performance setting. Get into
the mind set of performing, after allwhy are we playing
music if not to perform it? Right?
#2. Quality vs. Quantity
The Quality of your Practice Session is more important than
the amount of time you spend practicing. Keep you head in the game
at all times (practice performing) and make the most of your
valuable time.
#3. Make Mistakes
Please make mistakes while you are practice, and better
yet, NOTICE you are making mistakes. Is there a better place for
you to make mistakes than in your quality practice time?
#4. Fix Mistakes
This is a no brainer. If (when) you make a mistake, FIX IT!!! If
you Practice Performing during your Quality Practice Session,
while you FIX Mistakes, you are on your way to a Good Practice
Session!!! (and a BETTER MUSICIAN!!)
SPECIFIC PRACTICE
#1. Metronome
Dont have a metronome? Then youre not practicing the
right way. ALWAYS use a metronome. ALWAYS.
#2. Practice SLOW
Find the difficult passages and SLOW THEM DOWN. As you get
a handle on them, slowly speed them up to the proper speed.
#3. Practice Backwards
No, not literally, but take the last section of music and work
it out (starting slowly) then add another section before it, then
another. Before you know it youre at the top of the chart and
everything is EASY!!
#1. Scales
PRACTICING JAZZ
You must know your major scales first. Use metronome. Set
to quarter = 60 and play each major scale in quarter notes
around key cycle (circle of fourths: C-F-Bb-Eb-Ab-Db-Gb(F#)-B-E-A-D-G).
Start speeding up the scales. Then do the same thing with
Mixolydian, Dorian and Locrian scales. Vary the scales. Play
them in thirds, fourths, whatever it takes to keep your head in the
game.
#2. Generic Patterns
Once youve gotten the scales down, begin to explore the key
cycle by using generic patterns. Using the scale degrees 1 and 2 play
in each key (1-2-1-2) So for example in C we would play: C-D-C-D. In F
we would then play F-G-F-G. So on and so forth. Then make it more
complicated and do these generic patterns: 1-2-1-2, 1-2-3-1, 1-2-3-5, 1-3-5-3.
This is one way of waking up in the morning!!! (no really it is!)
#2. Tunes
Melodies are one of the foundations of jazz improvisation.
Learn the melodies to the tunes you want to know. As you begin to
improvise on the tunes, begin by embellishing the melodies. The
greatest jazz players of all time did this SO CAN YOU!!
#3. Last but not LEAST
LISTEN!!!!
YOU CANNOT PLAY JAZZ IF YOU DONT LISTEN TO IT!!!! Jazz is a
different language. We learned English by listening to other people
speak it. If you want to learn Spanish, German, French or Korean,
you have to listen to other people speaking it! You can only learn
so much from a book!!! LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN!
