[keejay]

Hey guys, I'm trying to figure out a really effective weekly practice routine cycle that can boost my chops immensely. I have two weeks after the end of next week before the new semester starts and I want to come back more prepared.

Thanks.

 

[Agent27]

1) Identify your weakness

2) Practice your weaknesses, ignore your strengths.

3) Practice slowly the vast majority of the time.

So what I do everyday is after I warm up, I run through everything I'm working on at the moment. I make notes of what doesn't sound good that day. So if I'm running through my scales, I'll write down which scales are my weakest that day. Which ones I had flubs on, which didn't sound even, which didn't feel comfortable and made me feel anxious.

(There are some things I practice pretty regularly, but there are other things I never practice because they never show signs of needing it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.)

Then I take the 4 or 5 worst, take out my metronome and set it at 60, and play them in 8th notes. (Actually, I put it at 60 but have the metronome beat out 8th notes with an accent on the downbeat so it's almost like playing them in quarters at 120.)

Then I play each scale 20-30 times. My goal is to get everything rhythmically perfect, eliminate all flubs, and get my hands/fingers feeling as relaxed as they possibly can get. I also make sure that the last 5 times I play something, it's dead on perfect. I call this the "5 time rule". If I make a mistake somewhere, I have to start over until I can play it 5 times perfectly.

Eventually, you reach a point where it feels like you're playing automatically, with little input from your conscious mind. This indicates that you're shifting responsibility for your muscle movements from your motor strip in your brain to the cerebellum. This is the ultimate goal for technique development and ideally how you'd with to play all the time. It's slow and tedious but more effective than anything I've tried.

I do the same for any technical exercise. For performance pieces, I run through them and make note of the rough spots and then practice those spots in the same manner.

You do have to play up tempo a little. Part of playing these things at tempo is knowing what they sound like at tempo. So you have to remind the ear by playing things fast. But most of your practicing should be done at a slow tempo. Somewhere around 60 BPM or half speed of whatever you're working on. That's where refinement of technique takes place.

So again, only practice what you can't do and when you practice those things, practice them many times at a slow tempo, trying to make them as perfect as possible.

 

[Jazzaferri]

I have not got the patience to practice scales as above. If you suffer that same malady then I suggest. GEt yor self into a nice relaxed space. I do a ten minute long tone mediation type deal where each tone goes on for pretty much a whole breath focussing just on the tone and feeling the embouchure feeling the fingers being light and keeping an eye on intonation

Then pick a line you want to learn or make one up. 2 bars long with a little space to breathe..... at least an eighth rest. star

Loop play it with as much feeling and insight as you can at ballad speed and then keeping the same notes build up the speed changing the articulation and feel as needed to keep it relevant to the speed until the line no longer makes sense and just sounds like fast notes. I usually use BIABbut at times a metronome or not. Then figure out where in a song you know you could put that phrase in and play it through to make sure you know it. Eventually I suspect it is good to know it in all 12 keys. But use common sense.


Pick another and start the process over.

Every 45 minutes take a break for a few minutes and walk around and stretch. After each 45 minute break try and get your head back to the relaxed state after the t10 minute warmup focus relaxation session. If you feel flustered or anything other than relaxed stop and just get yourself into a relaxed state again.

Do that 8 hours a day 8 days a week til you get back. You'll notice a huge difference as you will have added lots of new phrases to your vocabulary

Remember that playing 100 times you know it 1000 times you own it.

 

[MadMiller20]

It does take a lot of patience to do scales but, I think that they are some of the most effective practices. I also don't know if it is best to ignore your strengths. Yes, you should practice your weaknesses but, do not discount your strengths as they may slip away if you never practice them.

 

[jlima]

1) Identify your weakness

2) Practice your weaknesses, ignore your strengths.

3) Practice slowly the vast majority of the time.

So what I do everyday is after I warm up, I run through everything I'm working on at the moment. I make notes of what doesn't sound good that day. So if I'm running through my scales, I'll write down which scales are my weakest that day. Which ones I had flubs on, which didn't sound even, which didn't feel comfortable and made me feel anxious.

(There are some things I practice pretty regularly, but there are other things I never practice because they never show signs of needing it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.)

Then I take the 4 or 5 worst, take out my metronome and set it at 60, and play them in 8th notes. (Actually, I put it at 60 but have the metronome beat out 8th notes with an accent on the downbeat so it's almost like playing them in quarters at 120.)

Then I play each scale 20-30 times. My goal is to get everything rhythmically perfect, eliminate all flubs, and get my hands/fingers feeling as relaxed as they possibly can get. I also make sure that the last 5 times I play something, it's dead on perfect. I call this the "5 time rule". If I make a mistake somewhere, I have to start over until I can play it 5 times perfectly.

Eventually, you reach a point where it feels like you're playing automatically, with little input from your conscious mind. This indicates that you're shifting responsibility for your muscle movements from your motor strip in your brain to the cerebellum. This is the ultimate goal for technique development and ideally how you'd with to play all the time. It's slow and tedious but more effective than anything I've tried.

I do the same for any technical exercise. For performance pieces, I run through them and make note of the rough spots and then practice those spots in the same manner.

You do have to play up tempo a little. Part of playing these things at tempo is knowing what they sound like at tempo. So you have to remind the ear by playing things fast. But most of your practicing should be done at a slow tempo. Somewhere around 60 BPM or half speed of whatever you're working on. That's where refinement of technique takes place.

So again, only practice what you can't do and when you practice those things, practice them many times at a slow tempo, trying to make them as perfect as possible.

Excellent post, Agent. I am going to start incorporating some of these principles in my practice. I feel like like I haven't been practicing slowly enough and it shows in my lack of evenness in some phrases here and there.

 

[Jazzaferri]

I do a variation on AGent 27's. I put some chords or progression depending on what I am working on into Band in A Box ... something that give a harmonic context to what I am going to practice and then spend some time playing patterns in the scale or phrases that work with the progression.

For instance this morning I spent 45 minutes on slow jazz groove alternating between Fm7 for a bar and Bbm7 for a bar.

 

[DerekCho]

Well, I find longtones extremely effective at boosting chops. If you don't know what they are, they are what the name suggests: you hold a note for a long time. Start at the lowest note you can play and work up chromatically to the highest note you can play. Hold each note for about 8-10 seconds at a comfortable volume (e.g. mf), and try to keep the pitch as steady as possible. Once your tone has gotten better, try to do the exercise as softly as you can. Then, after you've mastered that, try going from ppp to fff over 8 seconds, and then getting softer from fff to ppp while keeping your pitch steady.
Additionally, overtone exercises are extremely useful. Play your low Bb, and then try to play the Bb an octave higher while using the low Bb fingering (and don't touch the octave key). You have to use your throat position and airstream to do this. Then try to get the F above the middle Bb that you just played (while keeping the low Bb fingering). Then try to get the high Bb. Then the high D. You probably won't get to the high Bb overnight, but if you keep at it, you will. And the stronger throat will improve your tone - showing up tremendously in your playing.
Then you can do mouthpiece exercises. Just take the mouthpiece and try to get a concert G (assuming you play tenor. The one an octave above your high a) pitch out of your mouthpiece. Then try to play lower pitches, going down chromatically (it is easier to 'bend' to a lower pitch). Use a piano as reference - try not to use a tuner to develop your ears.
Hope this helps.