a tool for planning, tracking and evaluating ......gerald klickstein: five practice zones 1. new...

Practice Log: ______________ A TOOL FOR PLANNING, TRACKING AND EVALUATING YOUR PRACTICING

BY JULIUS PRANEVICIUS

Semester/Year

© 2019

Practice rules (if you are serious about becoming a professional horn player)

Read this twice

Þ 3-4 hours of playing time on the instrument if you are serious about becoming a professional horn

player (~25 hours/week). Gradually increase the amount by ~30 min per week from current time

Þ 2-3 hours of instrument time if you are in the 1st or 2nd year of your studies (~18-21 hours/week),

or if you have an orchestra project with at least 4-hour daily rehearsals

Þ Sunday is a practicing day (max one instrument-free day per month)

Þ Use a practice log to help you keep track of how much you practice and how that time is divided

between the different materials

Þ Find a way to practice so that you can last for 4 hours of playing. It doesn’t have to be high intensity

all the time. You don’t have to be completely exhausted after 4 hours of practice. To do so:

Þ Take breaks!!! Use a timer to remind yourself to take a break. Timer also helps to better

track your practice time (see time tracking and management)

Þ Make sure to have a varied practice repertoire (low/high range balance; see the sample log)

Þ Adapt the «hard» passages in a way that it is less tiring to play. For example, transpose the

phrase down an octave or two.

Þ Practice “micro”-passages (1-5 notes at a time) with breaks in between

Þ Pace practicing throughout the day to ensure sufficient breaks and rest.

Þ The best way to do so is to divide the day into two large chunks: a morning and an evening

session. Musicians’ day is not 9-5. Ideally 7-12 and 18-22.

Þ Organizing your practicing by dividing the day into two you can double your practice time

and help you to get ahead of your competition

Þ Since the practice rooms are mostly free early in the morning and in the evening, you also

stop wasting time waiting for practice rooms. Take an afternoon nap or do something

different in between the practice chunks: the body needs time to recover and integrate

learning away from the instrument

Þ Practice for quality. Practicing is deep work. It requires full attention and mastery of the practice

process (see the cycle of practicing, stages of practicing and planning your work).

Þ Listen. Your ears are the most important tool to gage the progress. Record yourself.

Þ Plan your work and work your plan. Know what you want to achieve with the next repetition, the

next practice session, the next day, week, semester, 5-years. Writing things down help to get an

overview of the progress

Þ Practice for efficiency. Endurance has a lot to do with strength, but also with how efficient your

technique is and how smart you are at using your time and energy

Þ Know which mode of practicing you are at: exploration, deliberate practice, flow/play or creativity;

you’ll go back and forth these phases all the time

Þ Establish a routine. It takes about a month to get used to such a practice routine. You need to

develop the strength and habit.

Þ Becoming a horn player is more than just playing your instrument. Intersperse the playing time with

stretching, breathing practice, meditation, reading, note taking, study of scores, listening to

recordings both of yourself and people you want to sound like, practice Alexander technique, yoga

Þ Protect your ears. Balance exposure to sound with silence

Þ Stop playing if it hurts! If you don’t know how to deal with it talk to your teacher

Þ Drink sufficient water; eat regularly

Þ Go swimming, jogging or find another exercise that you enjoy

Þ Clear your mind. Do a mind dump and externalize all your thoughts. Write down everything that is

in your head in a to-do list, into a calendar and into a notebook so that it doesn’t interfere with

your attention when you practice

Þ Prioritize. Some things are more important than others at certain times. Regular practicing routine

is your highest priority

Þ Develop a way to manage practicing that works for you. There’s no one-size-fits-all.

Þ Be explicit about which focus areas you are addressing with each repetition, each session

Þ Be ambitious; be audacious; be brave

Þ Manage your expectations: aim for excellence and perfection, but remember it takes time, effort

and an effective management of practicing. Aim high yet acknowledge the process. Be patient

Þ Personal responsibility: you are responsible achieving your goals. Your teacher is there to help.

Þ Blow through the horn and trust the horn. Build on a good technique

Þ Be impatient. If something doesn’t work after several attempts, try a different approach or ask for

help

Þ Repetition reinforces! Do not repeat errors.

Þ Define the problem before you try to solve it.

Þ Practicing consists of instrument time, research, reflection, creativity and health promoting

activities

Þ Be curious! Be creative! Look for creative solutions. Find fun in practice. Improvisation and

composition are parts of practicing

Julius Pranevicius

Professor for horn, Norwegian Academy of Music (NMH)

February 2019

Focus areas Þ Þ Þ

Performances and projects When What

Skills to learn Þ Þ Þ

Skills to improve Þ Þ Þ

Repertoire to learn. Assignments

Solo pieces Etudes Orchestral Excerpts Exercises Orch./Chamber

Semester plan

Analysis

What do I need to accomplish my plan?

Compared to the current level of effort, what changes do I need to make to accomplish my plan?

What challenges are there that might prevent me from accomplishing my plan? What stands in the way?

What might get in the way?

What motivates me to accomplish my plan?

How will I know that I successfully fulfilled the semester plan and achieved goals? Describe such a situation

Practice categories. Overview

Stopped horn

Transposition

Fast single tonguing (speed of single tongue)

Attack clarity, paper airplane attacks

Double tongue

Triple tongue

Long tones

Blowing through/trusting the horn

Contact with the instrument’s resistance

“Leaning”

Scales

Chords

Flexi

Strength

High range

Low range

Middle and ‘break’ range

Large inbreaths

Continuous in-out breathing circle

Tone centering (low centering)

Bending/Centering/Pitch elasticity

Chromatic scales/Clarke

Melodic/lyrical etudes, studies, pieces

Atonal/modern stuff

Sight reading (note flash cards?)

Fortissimo

Pianissimo

Dynamics transition (subito pp-ff, gradual pp-ff-pp)

Full sound

Intonation

Rhythm(s) precision

Tone quality

Legato warm up

Legato scales, chords and intervals

Staccato scales and intervals

Trills

Flexibility

Long tones

Natural Horn playing

Etudes (studies)

Daily Kopprasch/Franz

Orchestral Excerpts

Solo literature

Chamber/orchestra/project preparation

Transposing

Sight reading

Bass clef reading

Mental training

Breathing exercises

Body awareness/mapping

Mouthpiece playing

Sound

Rhythm

Accuracy

Dynamics

Courage and daring

Projection

Story telling

Improvisation

Composing

Creativity

Fun

Memorizing

Uke År Mandag Tirsdag Onsdag Torsdag Fredag Lørdag Søndag

Evaluation of the semester’s practicing

What have I improved?

What did I fail to improve? Why?

What do I need to improve it? What was missing?

What feedback have you gotten that you want to address next semester?

What do you want to work on and improve next semester?

Think about your answers to the following questions:

What are my expectations as a horn player? Are they realistic? Are my expectations higher than the speed

with which I can them? Am I ambitious enough?

Am I committed enough?

Patient enough?

Impatient enough?

Ideas for practicing. How to Practice

Practice tools

Metronome

Timer

Tuner

Notebook

Pencil

Mirror

Ears

Empty music sheet

Time tracking and management

Manage time: 15/25-minute playing sessions + 5 min break

Pomodoro technique.

https://bulletproofmusician.com/how-many-hours-a-day-should-you-practice/

Clearing your head and planning work

Getting things done (GTD) methodology. Write everything you need to do or think about on a piece of

paper. Then sort everything out into projects, to-dos, appointments, ideas.

Understanding practicing

Gerald Klickstein: Five Practice zones

1. New material

2. Developing material

3. Performance material

4. Technique

5. Musicianship

The modes of practicing

1. Exploration (how to approach a piece or a phrase; what is the piece about)

2. Deliberate Practice (repetitions to ensure that the best approach becomes automatic)

3. Flow/Play (letting go and getting into performance mode)

4. Creativity (compose exercises for learning pieces; improvise)

Circle of practicing (action learning):

1. Planning

2. Action (doing)

3. Evaluation

(1). Action

Dreyfus and Dreyfus: Four stages of competence

1. Unconscious incompetence. You don’t know what you cannot do

2. Conscious incompetence. You encounter something that you realize you cannot do

3. Conscious competence. Slowly you start learning what it takes to do something and how to do it.

4. Unconscious Competence. You learn something so well you don’t have to think about it. Mastery

10000-hour rule. Becoming an expert in any field requires at least 10 000 hours of practicing

Take breaks. Learning also takes place when resting, restitution is part of learning.

Track what you are actually doing to find the issues in your practicing and make improvements.

Practice strategies

Simplify!!! There is always a simpler version of a phrase you are practicing. Play every second note, or just

the first beat of the bar. Simplify to the degree where you can play with the best possible quality and build

from there.

Focus shifting. Focus on just one area (say, subdivision) the next three times you play a passage. Then

choose another focus. Combine two or more foci after a while.

Eyes open/closed. Play a passage first with music, then close your eyes and play it from memory.

Creating the Image. Before you start playing a passage create a mental image of how that passage should

sound exactly. Use a recording of a player you admire for inspiration.

Subdivide. Have a clear and loud metronome ticking in your head.

Isolation-Integration. Take the piece (or a phrase) apart so and identify a short passage (or a note) that is

challenging. Practice passage in isolation and then integrate that back into the context; add one note

before, then after and build up back to the big picture.

Intonation Drone. Practice you intonation with a drone (a long steady note that you can get from your

tuner, a prerecorded one from youtube or ask your friend to play long notes together)

Change the rhythm. In an even-sixteenth run change the rhythm into dotted rhythm to gain more control.

Improvise. Improvise over the theme of the piece you are working on.

Compose. Compose a set of short etudes to help you work on a piece you are practicing.

Practice slowly. Practice the phrase not in half the speed but 5 or 10 times slower. Really zoom in on the

tiniest details of sound production. Full control.

Random practice schedule. https://bulletproofmusician.com/why-the-progress-in-the-practice-room-

seems-to-disappear-overnight/

More techniques in Practicing for Artistic Success by Burton Kaplan.

a tool for planning, tracking and evaluating ......gerald klickstein: five practice zones 1. new...

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