How Do Professionals Structure Their Practice Routine?
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
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In episode 45 of 'Ask Geoff & Lauren', we answer a question about how professional musicians organise their practice time. It's a great topic as Lauren and I are always working on improving our practice routine to make it as effective as possible.
It would also be great to hear what's been working for you, so please join the conversation by leaving a comment below.
In the video I reference shifting drills. Here's one I use each time I play:
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I don't know how relevant it is for this talk topic, but there are two the most important pieces of advice I got about practicing:
1. Practice every day - 4 or 5 days a week is quite OK, but try to do it every single day. I managed to get up earlier (which means going to bed earlier) and I bought an electric double bass. Because of that, I can practice about 35-45 minutes every morning before going to work. It really helped me to get comfortable with the instrument.
2. Difference between amateur and professional: Amateur practice until they can get it. Professionals practice until they can get it every time. Just think about it ;-)
Great points Michal!
Guys, thanks a million for picking this up! :) You gave us a lot of brilliant suggestions, but the really helpful one is to practice technique which is connected to the piece I am studying at the moment. Will keep that in mind. You rock as always! Thanks :)
Hey Livio, our pleasure! I hope your practice is going well and thanks for your question :-)
it is! :) Thanks again.
I noticed Geoff's practice advice was all centered on intonation, scales, arpeggios, and techniques. Lauren's was more directed towards repretore. I think this is very fitting for your styles. Jazz is about coming in and being able to improvise, feel the music because of how well you know your instrument, where as classical music is about being able to play a piece that you've nearly memorized. For jazz, mastering the bass is not negotiable (and other genres like contemporary, rock, pop, ect.), but for classical/orchestral, you need to play a specific (and very demanding piece) nearly perfectly.
I performed a Bach piece and the opening of the Dragonetti for my sophomore proficiency recently, and upon failing, I'm dedicating the summer to going over those pieces to have them ready to retake it. I keep getting lost in the development of the Back piece, so I'm just running it (once or twice a day) until I have it memorized. For the Dragonetti, I'm working on staying calm and controlled. Again, focusing on practicing briefly each day until it becomes natural.
Hey Kenton, I think that's a really astute observation about how we approach practice.
Best of luck with learning the Bach and Dragonetti. It's complex music and I'm sure you will get there. One thing I would really focus on is to practice starting at mid points of the Bach and not always from the beginning to really make sure you are playing though the stuff you are less familiar with. I'm sure you will do great :-)
Kenton--for players at the pro level like Geoff and Lauren, I think that's pretty true. However, I'd steer away from separating the two styles of music by the necessity to have a strong technical foundation--I have no doubt that every pro classical musician/bassist we listen to went through a period of their development where they were focusing a ton on their technique, with scales, arpeggios, bowing exercises, shifting drills, etc, to reach the level that they're at now. Some continue to do that to this day even though they've achieved what many of us think of us absolutely phenomenal skill. Bassists like Lauren or Edgar Meyer didn't learn the incredible pieces they play by sitting down and practicing Zigeunerweisen for 8 hours a day until it was finally up to tempo--they'd developed the necessary technique to play it before they even approached the piece, or if there was some technique they hadn't developed as thoroughly, they used the piece as a way to tackle that issue. However, even then that technique is likely to be something that is only a small aspect of the piece--one wouldn't say "I can't play fast in thumb position, therefore I should work on Zigeunerweisen until I can". While there is no negating time spent on the repertoire, working on improving your basic technique for an hour or two a day will help you play all of your music better, whereas working on improving the rep usually doesn't expand as far into other music whether you're a classical musician or not. You say mastering the bass is non-negotiable for jazz, and that's absolutely true--but be careful not to fool yourself into thinking that it is negotiable for classical, provided you spend enough time on the rep. It's not, as no amount of time spent on the repertoire will help you play the piece perfectly if your basic technique isn't constantly developing and evolving.
Best of luck on your proficiency when school starts--you've got a good attitude about it, so if you keep up the focused work I'm sure you'll do well this time around. I also would echo what Geoff said about varying your practice on the Bach--running it likely won't improve your memorization of it as much as working on specific sections that you have trouble with will. Try also varying how you play the sections that you get lost in--play every note as a quarter note at 60 bpms, or play the piece with a triplet feel rather eighth notes (or vice versa if it's a compound meter movement,) but without changing anything to make it fit that feel--it's a WEIRD feeling to play something that way, and deceptively hard sometimes, but I've found that if I can play something with different rhythms, in different tempos, etc, but still from memory, it forces me to consciously KNOW the pitches, rhythms, dynamics etc while I'm playing rather than just depending on the muscle memory which can fail under pressure.
Αs a classical bassist should I focus on a practice routine before the concerto or any other piece?I 'm not sure if that is really useful or is just waste of time...?!
It would be helpful if Geoff were to ask a question and then to let his interlocutor respond.
To me Music is like all other works....at least 8 hours of work and study and listening a day...less is not pro it's amateur..That's why I still am not a Pro...
i think i agree with you, but the upright bass is physically harsh istrument. Personally, whenever i practice 7-8 hours, the other day i tend to be a dead man walking hehe. I agree though, that music is not only about practicing, is about listening, transcribing, watching documentaries etc.