Students should practice 30 minutes a day 5 days a week
How to Practice
The following is a suggested practice routine:
Warm-Up -10 Minutes
This should consist of breathing exercises, mouthpiece buzzing for brass, long tones, lip slurs for brass, scales, and exercises (rhythm practices). Most professional players consider this the most important part of their practice, yet is almost always overlooked by students.
Playing long, sustained tones, in a variety of ranges and dynamics, while focusing of good tone quality will improve every aspect of a student's playing in a remarkable way. Such practice takes much self-discipline and patience, which is why it is often neglected by young students.
Scales are another thing that must be practiced every day by the student. All music is based upon scales and arpeggios. If you can play a scale, you can easily learn to play any song based on that scale or key. Scales should be practiced very slowly at first, with the emphasis on perfect rhythm and even fingers. Only when a student can play a given scale perfectly, many times in a row (the rule of 5), should the student increase the speed. Adding octaves to scales allows you to increase your playing range - how high or low you can play. Middle school students are expected to know how to play the G, C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, and Db major scales. Once you can play a scale while looking at the scale sheet, work to memorize the scale. If you can play those scales, you should learn the D, A, E, B, and F# major scales, which you are required to know in high school. You should also be practicing the chromatic scale.
Band Music or Pass-offs-15 minutes
Work on music to be performed and pass-offs. Make sure you can play each song with a steady tempo, correct notes, rhythms, dynamics, articulations, phrasing, and style all with a good tone quality.
Song Practice-5 minutes
Students should spent this part of their practice time playing songs they like. This can be playing a band song that you enjoy. There are also many song books available at area music stores that contain popular and traditional songs. Scales, long tones, and exercises are necessary to build the control needed to play music. Band music does not always have the melody line in every part. To become a good musician, and to enjoy playing, students should play melodies every day!
The old adage, "Practice Makes Perfect" is only partially correct. You must add "if Practiced Perfectly" if you are to get real benefit from your practice. Much of what we call practice is really necessary experimentation. Many students "experiment" many times until they get it right, and then think they are finished. In truth, each unsuccessful attempt is just experimentation to learn how to achieve a result. Once the correct result is achieved, you must repeat the correct response over and over. This is what practice really is, playing the song, scale, or exercise correctly, over and over again. Remember, if you play something 4 times wrong, and play it correctly on the 5th try, you have a 1 in 5 chance of playing it correctly on the next try. Only when you can play the song 5 times in a row, without making a mistake, can you really say you know the piece. This is called the "rule of five".
Warm-Up -10 Minutes
This should consist of breathing exercises, mouthpiece buzzing for brass, long tones, lip slurs for brass, scales, and exercises (rhythm practices). Most professional players consider this the most important part of their practice, yet is almost always overlooked by students.
Playing long, sustained tones, in a variety of ranges and dynamics, while focusing of good tone quality will improve every aspect of a student's playing in a remarkable way. Such practice takes much self-discipline and patience, which is why it is often neglected by young students.
Scales are another thing that must be practiced every day by the student. All music is based upon scales and arpeggios. If you can play a scale, you can easily learn to play any song based on that scale or key. Scales should be practiced very slowly at first, with the emphasis on perfect rhythm and even fingers. Only when a student can play a given scale perfectly, many times in a row (the rule of 5), should the student increase the speed. Adding octaves to scales allows you to increase your playing range - how high or low you can play. Middle school students are expected to know how to play the G, C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, and Db major scales. Once you can play a scale while looking at the scale sheet, work to memorize the scale. If you can play those scales, you should learn the D, A, E, B, and F# major scales, which you are required to know in high school. You should also be practicing the chromatic scale.
Band Music or Pass-offs-15 minutes
Work on music to be performed and pass-offs. Make sure you can play each song with a steady tempo, correct notes, rhythms, dynamics, articulations, phrasing, and style all with a good tone quality.
Song Practice-5 minutes
Students should spent this part of their practice time playing songs they like. This can be playing a band song that you enjoy. There are also many song books available at area music stores that contain popular and traditional songs. Scales, long tones, and exercises are necessary to build the control needed to play music. Band music does not always have the melody line in every part. To become a good musician, and to enjoy playing, students should play melodies every day!
The old adage, "Practice Makes Perfect" is only partially correct. You must add "if Practiced Perfectly" if you are to get real benefit from your practice. Much of what we call practice is really necessary experimentation. Many students "experiment" many times until they get it right, and then think they are finished. In truth, each unsuccessful attempt is just experimentation to learn how to achieve a result. Once the correct result is achieved, you must repeat the correct response over and over. This is what practice really is, playing the song, scale, or exercise correctly, over and over again. Remember, if you play something 4 times wrong, and play it correctly on the 5th try, you have a 1 in 5 chance of playing it correctly on the next try. Only when you can play the song 5 times in a row, without making a mistake, can you really say you know the piece. This is called the "rule of five".