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Beginner's Practice Tips

The document provides beginner practice tips for woodwind instruments. It recommends practicing regularly for short periods each day rather than long sessions once a week. Specific tips include breaking practice into sections focusing on long tones, scales, techniques, and performance pieces. It also suggests leaving the instrument out in plain view to motivate practice and going to live performances for inspiration. Practicing scales, arpeggios, long tones, and watching television while practicing fingers are also presented as effective practice strategies.

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Giorgos Triantafyllou
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© © All Rights Reserved
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90 views

Beginner's Practice Tips

The document provides beginner practice tips for woodwind instruments. It recommends practicing regularly for short periods each day rather than long sessions once a week. Specific tips include breaking practice into sections focusing on long tones, scales, techniques, and performance pieces. It also suggests leaving the instrument out in plain view to motivate practice and going to live performances for inspiration. Practicing scales, arpeggios, long tones, and watching television while practicing fingers are also presented as effective practice strategies.

Uploaded by

Giorgos Triantafyllou
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Beginner's Practice Tips

• RSP (Regular Sensible Practice)


• Leave It Out!
• Get Yourself Out!
• Plan A Practice Routine
• Scale And Arpeggio Practice
• Long Note Practice
• Watch Television And Practice!

RSP (Regular Sensible Practice)


It is
better to
practise for
short periods
every day
Than for a much longer periods once a week.
You will achieve much more practising 20 minutes each day than say, 2
hours once a week.

Sensible Practice
Playing a piece over and over - including the mistakes will only make
you worse

Take the piece apart. Work on the difficult parts. When you can play
them - put it all back together again and play the whole thing.
Practice Is Cumulative
The more you practise, the better you will become.
The better you become, the more you will enjoy playing.
The more you enjoy playing, the more you will practise.
And the more you practise, the better you will become.
The better you become, the more you will enjoy playing.
The more you enjoy playing, the more you will practise.
And the more you practise..........

Leave It Out!
How easy it is to skip practice every now and then and put it off until
tomorrow. It's a likely chance that you will do the same again tomorrow, and
the day after that. Soon a week has passed, and when you do finally get that
case open and actually play, everything feels strange and unfamiliar. You
spend the entire session catching up on lost time.
Try leaving your instrument out of its case. Buy a stand (they are not
expensive) and leave it somewhere prominent. Ensure that it is safe from
being knocked over. The sight of your pride and joy standing in the corner of
the room will motivate you into picking it up and playing more frequently. I
read somewhere about a guy who hangs his saxophone on the wall of his
office. He plays it in his lunch break. Now that is dedication!
Don't forget to clean your instrument as usual before placing it back on the
stand.
Get Yourself Out!
Get out and about. Go to concerts, visit jazz clubs, pups, bars, parks,
even shopping precincts (some great players to be heard here sometimes).
Hearing the saxophone, clarinet and flute played live is a great incentive.
OTHERS CAN DO IT - YOU CAN DO IT.
Talk to the players in the interval, ask questions. Compliment them and they
will talk for hours about reeds and mouthpieces, embouchure issues,
technique and so forth.

Plan A Practice Routine


OK. You have established a regular 20 minute period to practise every
day. That time must be time well spent and prove productive. Break it down
into sections. If the instrument is out of its case and on a stand, then you are
saving time straight away. An example routine could be:

• 5 minutes playing long notes and scale practice.


• 5 minutes spent on a technical study.
• 10 minutes spent working on one or two tunes/performance pieces.

This all round approach to practice is better than spending 20 minutes on just
one aspect of your playing.

Scale And Arpeggio Practice


Scales. The word produces many a groan from a group of students.
Scales need not be a chore.
Make a list and learn one new scale say, each week. Call it "The Scale Of The
Week". Learn it from memory along with the arpeggio (broken chord 1st 3rd &
5th notes of the scale). Play it very slowly at first. Increase the speed
gradually, only when you are sure of the fingering. Do not be tempted to play
it too fast before you really know it. A common mistake is to try and learn
them too fast, too soon.
Concentrate on your tone at the same time. Make your scales sound nice.
After all, music is made up from scales and arpeggios. Make them musical.
"Perform" those scales.

Long Note Practice


Long notes are essential for the development of a good tone on any
wind instrument.
Relax, take a deep breath and use your diaphragm (muscles located beneath
your ribs) to push a steady stream of air through your instrument. Play a
constant note. Visualise that note as a straight line. Do not let it waver in pitch.
Practise octaves (if you have reached the stage where you can play in the
upper register of your instrument). First the lower, then the higher. Listen for
differences in pitch and compensate accordingly.
Watch Television And Practise!
Yes, watch tv and practise at the same time. The human brain is more
than capable of muli-tasking. Have you ever driven a car deep in thought.
Suddenly you are aware that you have been driving on "automatic pilot" and
cannot actually remember the last few miles. Your brain has been handling
two things simultaneously.
You have finished your daily practice routine. It was very productive. You feel
like doing more but your embouchure is tiring. You want to relax - right, and
maybe watch some television. Take your sax/clarinet/flute with you. Now you
can practice as you watch. Silently. Establish a comfortable seating position
and rest the clarinet or flute on your shoulder. A sax can be balanced on your
thigh. (No need for the crook and mouthpiece). Now consolidate already
familiar scales and tricky finger passages. It's a great way to build up speed.
This is of course light hearted advice and I am not suggesting you replace
your regular serious practice. However it has worked for me. In fact I
sometimes practise mentally, anywhere, without an instrument. It's possible.

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