| Author |
Subject |
Eric
Registered User
(5/2/01 3:29:15 pm)
Reply |
"Proper" practice
Hi all.
It has been
happening a lot lately that I find myself with less cello practice
time; I've started thinking about how inefficient my practice is. I
was wondering if there is some good 'guide' out there to maximizing
progress vs time. I read the usual do scales first, then work on
pieces, etc etc. I'm not really satified with that. What I'm
interested in is something more detailed, like how to break things
up, what to look for during practice, how to put things back
together, how to prepare for a perfomance, etc...and there any books
out there that deal with this? Or am I trying to overanalyze the
situation and all I need to do is play play play...
I know
most of you have your own practice habits, what have you found that
works and works good?
Cheers,
Eric
|
Anna
List
Registered
User
(5/2/01 6:00:33 pm)
Reply |
practise
Instead of personal
suggestions:
There are two great books about playing the cello
and the organization of practising:
William Pleeth, The Cello and
Gerhard Mantel, Cello practising (??? The german title is: Cello
üben. Eine Methodik des Übens nicht nur für Streicher). Mantel's
book is more theoretically, but very well organized; Pleeth's is
more about finding your own way of making music, with many practical
informations, also about repertoire.
Anna
|
dennisw
Registered User
(5/2/01 7:03:20 pm)
Reply |
Re:
"Proper" practice
For me, maintaining concentration at
all times is critical.
In place of analysis and mechanics, I
try to keep a focus on the kinaesthetics of playing. I keep working
a passage over & over until I have the right feeling. Then I try
to recall the feeling.
I have a strict regimen that includes
daily exercises and etudes. Even if there's no time for solo work, I
make sure these get done first. No exceptions.
It's more than
twice as hard to play twice as fast. Keep raising the bar, using a
metronome if need be. Speed is a medium of exchange for string
players.
|
Daniel
Ortbals 
Registered
User
(5/3/01 9:50:41 am)
Reply
 |
Re:
"Proper" practice
For ME, I found that my best
practicing mode is SLOW practice. Slow enough that I make no
"mistakes" (because if I can't play cleanly at a slow tempo, I can't
do it at a fast one). Slow practice also allows for time to focus on
individual parts (bow, specific fingers, hand position, balance,
relaxation). This is, of course, a pretty common method. I think
most people would agree with it. There are, also, other methods
(e.g., the "rhythms") that work very well, though not as well for
me.
Of course, slow practice requires a lot of time, not
necessarily during each day, but over the course of
days/weeks/months. So, if I have about a week to learn something,
I'm basically screwed. 
Dan O
|
dennisw
Registered User
(5/3/01 1:31:38 pm)
Reply |
Re:
"Proper" practice
Yes, I agree that practicing slowly
is a good method.
However, practicing at a faster tempo is
also very useful, even at the expense of the notes.
While it
is true that you cannot play fast&clean what you cannot play
slow&clean, it is also true that you cannot necessarily play
fast&clean what you can play
slow&perfectly.
Increasing tempo causes quantum changes
in requirements for technical coordination, dexterity, shifting
speed etc. etc. etc. You can't learn the "how" to play fast without
playing fast. If you wait until it's "slow&perfect" before you
try to play fast, you'll never get there.
|
cellofreak2000
Registered
User
(5/3/01 1:49:11 pm)
Reply |
proper
practice......
..always try to analyze your
particular problems and then work on it. If your left hand is slow
or weak f.i.you should take more time on finger-exercises, problems
with hitting the right notes: shifting exercises like Feuillard
a.s.o. I think the biggest problem for most of us is, that we cling
to a certain practice-pattern which we learned some decades ago and
do not change to our actual needs. Starker says: if a phrase does
not work better after 10 times practising, try something different
(fingering, bowing, movements)
|
Daniel
Ortbals
Registered
User
(5/3/01 2:35:36 pm)
Reply
|
Re:
"Proper" practice
Yeah, I guess I didn't clarify that
I do in fact play FAST as well. What I meant was that I slow it
down, then over the course of the practice session, gradually bump
up the tempo. Usually I manage to move from about half tempo to
around 3/4 tempo (or sometimes up to full tempo) over the course of
a practice session. I find that I can learn things FASTER by slowing
them down and working them up gradually. My quartet has taken a
liking to this as well, and one day while working on Bartok No. 1,
the fugato passage in the third movement, we started half tempo,
then if we could play it twice with NO mistakes, we'd click up the
metronome two notches. In a little over an hour, we were up to full
tempo, nailing it every time.
Dan O
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