HOW TO BECOME A MORE SELF-­‐CONFIDENT AND COMPETENT STRING MUSICIAN – THE PLAY BALL! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE CONTEST! Practicing Tip #1: Observe the MASTERS and Attend PRO CONCERTS When was the last time you went to an orchestra, chamber ensemble, or drama performance? Check out the local music/drama events where you can listen to outstanding models of quality Performing Arts, learn about new groups, literature, and soloists. Who is your hero on your instrument? Play Ball! Practice Contest 2012-­‐13 Boyce/Fort Couch Strings Quote of the week: “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” Arnold Palmer (famous golfer) HOW TO BECOME A MORE SELF-­‐CONFIDENT AND COMPETENT STRING MUSICIAN – THE PLAY BALL! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE CONTEST! Practicing Tip #2: Use the SANDWICH METHOD in your practice routine. Play Ball! Practice Contest Start at the bottom and work yourself up. Review a song you already know (bottom slice of bread). Focus on a few “hard parts” (the meat in the middle of the sandwich). Sight-­‐read something new (condiments, pickles or cheese). Review another well-­‐prepared song (top slice of bread). Repeat this process… over and over! 2012-­‐13 Boyce/Fort Couch Strings Quote of the week: “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.” Vince Lombardi. (football coach) HOW TO BECOME A MORE SELF-­‐CONFIDENT AND COMPETENT STRING MUSICIAN – THE PLAY BALL! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE CONTEST! Practicing Tip #3: Target a difficult passage, slow down, and focus on it alone! Play Ball! Practice Contest Repeat a small section very slowly at first until it is right. Play it accurately at least ten-­‐times in a row! Gradually increase the speed of the challenging segment. Add rhythmic patterns of slow/fast and fast/slow or slurrings. Enlarge the focus area to include notes/phrase before and after. 2012-­‐13 Boyce/Fort Couch Strings Quote of the week: “When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him, he will win.” Ed Macauley (famous professional basketball player) HOW TO BECOME A MORE SELF-­‐CONFIDENT AND COMPETENT STRING MUSICIAN – THE PLAY BALL! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE CONTEST! Practicing Tip #4: Use all sections of your BRAIN to tackle a PROBLEM! Play Ball! Practice Contest Say the letter names out loud (or sing) – speech center. Bow “in the air” or tap the rhythms – left-­‐side psychomotor Finger the notes without the bow – right-­‐side psychomotor Combine saying/singing, bowing, and fingering – all parts of brain Work on your weak areas, and then add bowings and expressive markings. 2012-­‐13 Boyce/Fort Couch Strings Quote of the week: “Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it.” Mia Hamm (famous American soccer player) HOW TO BECOME A MORE SELF-­‐CONFIDENT AND COMPETENT STRING MUSICIAN – THE PLAY BALL! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE CONTEST! Practicing Tip #5: Try the PIZZA METHOD in sectioning new music. Play Ball! Practice Contest Find, identify, mark (“cut”), and prioritize the difficult sections. Partition (“divide”) the entire song (label with letters or numbers). Focus on a “slice” of the music – a measure, phrase, or line. Drill daily on one or several sections of the piece. Next practice session, repeat, and then progress to the next section. 2012-­‐13 Boyce/Fort Couch Strings Quote of the week: “Practice puts brains in your muscles.” Sam Snead (famous golfer) HOW TO BECOME A MORE SELF-­‐CONFIDENT AND COMPETENT STRING MUSICIAN – THE PLAY BALL! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE CONTEST! Practicing Tip #6: GOALS and LOCATION make a different in practice efficiency! Play Ball! Practice Contest Designate a quiet place for practice at home. Limit all distractions (TV, video games, computers, phones). Plan habits of consistent daily practice time(s) and weekly frequency. Make practice goals (what do you hope to accomplish this week?) Begin each practice session with a few warm-­‐ups and review of goals. 2012-­‐13 Boyce/Fort Couch Strings Quote of the week: “It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it's what you put into the practice. Eric Lindros (famous Canadian ice hockey pro) HOW TO BECOME A MORE SELF-­‐CONFIDENT AND COMPETENT STRING MUSICIAN – THE PLAY BALL! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE CONTEST! Practicing Tip #7: EXPLORE and LISTEN to examples of your music online! Play Ball! Practice Contest Search for your orchestra and solo pieces on the web. See if you can find more than one example of it on YouTube. Compare the performances of students with professional recordings. Make note of your favorite “players” and “heroes” on your instrument. Record your own playing of the piece and critique your accomplishment. 2012-­‐13 Boyce/Fort Couch Strings Quote of the week: “Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.” Mary Tyler Moore (famous American TV and movie actress) HOW TO BECOME A MORE SELF-­‐CONFIDENT AND COMPETENT STRING MUSICIAN – THE PLAY BALL! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE CONTEST! Practicing Tip #8: PRACTICING is all about improving one’s BATTING AVERAGE! Play Ball! Practice Contest Repetition of correct playing is essential for a musician’s success. Each practice session builds neural connections among brain cells. This is the physical memory that makes things seem easier to repeat. Use the ten-­‐times rule in developing the learning of any difficult passage. Ten times a day, perfectly in a row, earns the highest musical batting average! 2012-­‐13 Boyce/Fort Couch Strings Quote of the week: “I've been taking batting practice in my barn where nobody can see me, so I may be better than anyone thinks.” Garth Brooks (famous ball player) HOW TO BECOME A MORE SELF-­‐CONFIDENT AND COMPETENT STRING MUSICIAN – THE PLAY BALL! PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE CONTEST! Practicing Tip #9: When ready, SHOW OFF your solos and ensemble music! Play Ball! Practice Contest Once you can play through an entire work, try recording it. Have you demonstrated your mastery to your family members? Favorite music deserves to be played for others, at home and away. Volunteer to perform at a nursing home or church, or just next door. Get together with your peers and play each other’s selections together. 2012-­‐13 Boyce/Fort Couch Strings Quote of the week: “Great thoughts reduced to practice become great acts.” William Hazlitt (famous English writer) Fox’s Fireside Chat
Practice Make Perfect? Tips on Developing Better Practicing Habits Every good musician knows that regular practice is a must, but did you know that careless or inattentive practice can actually make you worse? It is not necessary true that “practice makes perfect” – more likely that “perfect practice develops perfect playing.” Quality not quantity, you say? Well, actually, your school music teachers will urge you to increase both the quality (focus, attention, goals/planning, etc.) as well as the number of minutes per week. Here are a few hints on improving practicing techniques. Read on… there are many additional resources for parents to guide their musicians to musical mastery! 1.
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Designate a quiet place for practice at home Limit all distractions (TV, video games, computers, phones) Plan habits of consistent daily practice time(s) and weekly frequency Make practice goals (what do you hope to accomplish this week?) Take a few minutes to warm-­‐up (scales, finger patterns, long tones, or lip slurs) Sandwich method (start at the bottom and work your way up) a. Review a song you already know (bottom slice of bread) b. Focus on a few “hard parts” (the meat in the middle of the sandwich) c. Sight-­‐read something new (condiments, pickles or cheese) d. Review another well-­‐prepared song (top slice of bread) Pizza slices a. Identify and prioritize the problems or hard sections b. Partition the entire song c. Focus on a “slice” of the music – a measure, phrase or line of music – at a time d. Drill (daily) on one or a few slices e. Next practice session, repeat then progress to next section Re-­‐order the sections of a piece (scrambling) Target a difficult passage, play slow at first, then increase tempo gradually each time you play it Try patterns of instant slow/fast and then fast/slow Fire up different sections of the brain on a problem spot a. Say the letter names out loud (or sing them) – speech center b. Bow or tap the rhythms “in the air” – left-­‐side psychomotor c. Finger the notes without the bow or mouthpiece – right-­‐side psychomotor d. Combine a, b, and/or c on specific passages – all parts of the brain Create new rhythmic or articulation/bowing variations to challenge your playing of the passage To improve your musical batting average, implement the Ten-­‐Times Rule (accurately in a-­‐row) Always add expressive markings including dynamics, tempo and articulation changes, etc. Yes, parents should expect to hear practicing at home. It is NOT enough simply to play at school. The success equation is TIME + MAKING PROGRESS = FUN (encouraging more time, progress and fun). Practicing on a regular basis improves technique, musicianship, self-­‐confidence, endurance, reading skills, and besides… playing better is a lot more FUN! Here are two excellent websites on recommendations for developing better practice skills. http://cnx.org/content/m11883/latest/ http://www.classicsforkids.com/parents/parenting/practice.asp For more advice and other information, go to Mr. Fox’s High School Teacher Pages at www.uscsd.k12.pa.us Paul K. Fox