Practice Routine

What does a practice routine look like? This is a question that I get frequently from students and fellow musicians around me. Before deciding how the practice routine should be structured one should ask, what should be in my practice routine? What are my goals as a musician? Each person’s goals and what they want to achieve may be different, so practice routines are individual and unique to each person based on their goals, play-style, genre of music, and in general what they want to be able to do on their instrument. A practice routine should change over time to as the musician grows, gets better, or has different goals in mind than before.

Here are some general guidelines for how I structure my practice routines:

1. Maintenance and Warm-up

   This should cover any skills you have acquired and want to ‘maintain’ such as scales, old songs/etudes, easy to play exercises, and anything that is easy and gets your sound going for the day. It may also be good to throw in some breathing exercises into this phases especially for wind players (brass and woodwind). This may include long tones and other passages that one can play with ease and that is already familiar. This phase is great for building confidence in ones playing that will carry on through the day.

2. New Skills

   This is the moment in your routine where one should hone in and work on new skills that will improve their playing. A musician may practice technical exercises, work on clef literacy (learning to read a new clef), or focus on anything new they would like to improve upon. This might be tone production, new techniques, learning a new scale, improving on playing in meters that are new to the player, or practicing new etudes. In general this is anything that the player would like to improve in their personal playing. Slow to fast practice with a metronome is recommended when learning something new.

3. Repertoire

   This phase is the players opportunity to practice new material that they have chosen to work on. A productive way to practice repertoire is by targeting problem sections by bracketing them and using the metronome to slow down the notes and rhythms until the player has achieved success in playing a section. Only then should they move on to the next line of music. In essence this is what slow to fast practice means. Once the player has achieved the ability to play multiple sections, they should go back and work on the transitions between sections by practicing just the two measures where the transition happens.

4. Ensemble Music

   This phase of the practice is saved for last being that ensemble music is usually not as technically demanding of the player. Target specific sections of the piece that your director has commented on during rehearsal and improve them for next time. This may be a feature that a section in the band/orchestra has or a solo (solo/soli sections).

5. Warm Down

   A warm down should be similar to a warmup. Play things like descending scales, long tones beginning high or mid range and ending low, or anything that causes the player to relax and wind down. Warm ups and warm downs are essential for every musician and help prevent injuries that one can sustain over long periods of practice and sometimes over years of using improper technique.

A practice routine should take as long as an individual needs to accomplish their goals for the day. There is no set amount of time. A more advanced player may take choose to practice longer or spread out their practice into individual sessions. The structure given here is more of a warm up routine or the first session for the day. A beginner or less experienced player may choose to limit their practice time to shorter durations while spreading out sessions or maybe only having one short session. This is dependent on the individuals lifestyle and time they have set aside to practice. One does not have to cover all of the phases in one session. They can be spread out, each one can be as long or as short as needed. Some people like longer warm ups and others like to get into the bulk of the work faster and a shorter warm up period. It is all ultimately a preference. I generally like to spend between 40 min to an hour in the morning to complete these phases while saving other more technique/proficiency targeted sessions for later in the day.

I hope you find these general tips helpful. If you have any questions about designing a routine for yourself feel free to email or contact me through my contact page (ergravitt@gmail.com). If you have an instructor ask them about what they think is right for you. Don’t be afraid to change or alter your routine if something isn’t working for you. If something is physically hurting you or doesn’t feel right stop playing and seek advice from someone who plays your instrument. Practice should always feel comfortable and natural. Always use good technique and support.

If you have an interest in taking music lessons, I am local to Cumming, GA (30040). Feel free to contact me at your leisure. I offer bass guitar, guitar, trombone, piano proficiency, music theory, and composition lessons. If you happen to play an instrument that I do not offer then I can assist you in finding an instructor that is competent and right for you. Thanks again all and happy practicing!