Over the years you will spend countless hours practicing.  As a beginner, your practice material was probably organized by the method books you used.  I went through the Walter Beeler and Rubank methods.  Each lesson presented a new technique and music for its application.  All the keys and scales were covered in the course of study, and range was added incrementally.  My teacher then started me in Arban's Famous Method, which in and of itself already presents ample challenge in organizing your practice material!  (More on that  in "Routines").  Pretty soon I was juggling the etudes of Rochut, Kopprasch, Blazhevich, Bozza,  Boutry, Bitsch and others, learning solo repertoire and orchestral excerpts, and working on basics through various routines - some printed, some complied from various sources, and others made up.  Over the years, I have had some very organized phases in my practice life, other phases that were more empirical or intuitive - and some that were definitely unproductive!  I have made mistakes and tried to learn from them, have stumbled into some excellent areas of study, been aided - knowingly or otherwise - by colleagues and friends.  Most importantly, I had excellent teaching from the start.  (Elsewhere in these pages I have tried to pay tribute to them.)  That is most important, of course, and my various musings and offerings here can in no way replace regular study with an excellent, highly experienced teacher.

  

  

Common sense should be your guide in this pursuit.  Some thoughts that may help:

1) If you are of a mind set to do so, a practice journal can be very beneficial.  Once, in an intense practicing phase of my life, I started listing at the end of each day everything that I practiced.  That quickly turned around into an advance planner, and I would script my practice week in advance, keeping track of progress, ideas, break-throughs, set-backs and more.  I kept that journal for over three years. 

2) Find a practice buddy.  Besides the friendship of it, a practice buddy brings an extra set of ears and ideas, can help you feel accountable, and more.

3) StudioLenthe Masterclass Handout.  One of my projects perennially in progress, these pages contain many of my concepts and practices.

4) There are many ways to maximize the effectiveness of your practice.  Most important is to have a positive, healthy attitude.  Don't get down on yourself.  Be patient, yet persistent.  Use all of your facilities, including creativity, imagination, humor and more - not just determination.

  

Basic Skills

To be a successful musician, it is essential to develop and maintain the following skills, always striving for improvement.

    

Hearing Skills

- Play tunes by ear.  This will connect you more fully with the instrument.  Avoid the "In-the-eyes-and-out-the right-hand" trap, which bypasses the ears and musical mind.

- A prerequisite for using this Practice Syllabus is the ability to take a pattern and play it in all keys.  Work on that.

- When you see this  don't think "1-4" (positions), but rather hear the pitches and the interval.  This is a learnable skill!   

Reading Skills

-  Sight read every day.  This is good not only for the ability to actually sight read, but also puts all of your facilities and skills on the spot, schools your reflexes, coordination and more.

-  Be able to read many clefs and transpositions - not just so that you can read them when or if necessary, but to school your general fluency and skills in reading.  Remember, that most music in the world is treble clef in C.  If you can't read that, you are musically handicapped.

Playing Skills

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Performance Skills

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Breathing Skills

- 21 Day BreathingExercise Program

This routine was given to me exactly as seen here about 30 years ago.  I don't know the author.  If you recognize it or know who wrote it please let me know.

The exercises are quite varied.  I must admit that I have never done the entire 21 days (maybe now, finally...).  If nothing else, the program - even just one day of it - always gets me to breathe deeply.  Actually, just keeping it on my music stand has helped me to stand straight and breathe well.  I welcome your feedback on your experiences with this.

If you get dizzy doing any of these, sit down before you fall down! 

Situational Skills

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Organizational Skills

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