Practicing 101 for Music Ed Majors

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Posted on 4th January 2010 by Thomas West in Guest Post |Tips and Tricks

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“Maybe you should become a lawyer or something.”

Those words, spoken to me by my applied clarinet teacher during my sophomore year as an undergraduate music ed student at Penn State, were a slap in the face – and I totally deserved them. He made this statement during one of our many sessions that semester when it was obvious to both of us that I had not made much progress on the assigned material from the week before. I didn’t respond to him then, but I’m sure it was obvious to him by my reaction that his words had stung. “I’ll show him!” I thought, and then started practicing.

Like many music majors, I sat first chair in my high school’s concert band. I attended all the honors band festivals and successfully did seating auditions. I successfully auditioned into the Penn State Marching Blue Band and the School of Music. I did it all with a minimal amount of practicing – riding primarily on my natural abilities. My music teachers never taught me how to practice effectively. Even the private teacher I had in high school, a sweet old man who was a reed doubler and a friend of my band director’s dad, didn’t teach me anything about practicing.

About a month later, after spending an hour in the practice room a couple of times a week, I played the assigned material again for the professor. He gave me a wry smile and asked, “Why did you think you didn’t have to practice?” I told him that, as a music education major, I didn’t really see a connection between being a performer on clarinet and teaching music to students on other instruments besides clarinet. He shook his head in a manner suggesting the phrase “you’ll find out.” He was right – I did.

Disproving an Old Adage

“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” The old adage is meant to demean teachers, who do not have enough skill to make a living doing what they teach to others. One of the great truths of being a teacher is that you can only teach to a student that which you yourself have directly learned, experienced, and mastered. You can’t teach a student advanced concepts in instrumental performance if you have not reached that level of performance on at least one instrument yourself. To reach that level of performance as a vocalist, consider taking singing lessons.

Once you have developed to an advanced level of proficiency on one instrument, you can apply that experience to instruction on any other instrument, making it possible for you to instruct students from a beginning to intermediate level of skill. The basic concepts of performance (tone production, tonal literacy, rhythmic literacy, technical development) are similar no matter what the instrument is. Learning the idiosyncrasies of each instrument is just a matter of time and experience once you have a firm foundation in one instrument.

Have a “Raison d’Etre” (Reason to Be) in the Practice Room

The human ego has an important job – it exists to protect the organism from harm and seek out pleasurable experiences. It tends to do its job entirely too well, which keeps us mired in patterns of behavior that prevents us from taking risks and avoiding unpleasant situations that push us outside our comfort zone. People in general are not willing to extend an effort to an end if the perceived result is not “worth it.”

For me as an undergrad, there was little motivation to practice because I could get by without it, and I didn’t understand the value of having a more advanced level of proficiency on the instrument. Once I understood the benefits of being more advanced on my instrument, I had a reason to practice. The first step as an undergrad is to find your own personal reason to invest the time and effort in practicing. It needs to be something that will motivate you when the drudgery of practicing is upon you.

Develop an Efficient and Consistent Routine

Once you have your raison d’etre, the next step is to develop a practice routine and stick to it. Developing a successful practice routine begins with scheduling. How often will you get in the practice room? How long will you spend there when you do? A few things to keep in mind when scheduling practice time:

  • Shorter sessions on a more regular basis have a stronger long-term effect than longer sessions with less frequency. Two short sessions per day tends to yield excellent results.
  • Scheduled times should be as consistent as possible, as in the same time every day or every other day. Develop a routine that flows with your class schedule, meals, ensemble rehearsals, and meetings.
  • Have the same regimen in every practice session. In a basic half-hour practice regimen, I recommend 10 minutes of scales/arpeggios, 15 minutes of repertoire work, and 5 minutes of sight-reading or improvising. Touching on every aspect of your performance (technique work, literature, and musicianship) will keep you improving steadily on everything.
  • Cycle through different items in each phase of the practice. For example, you may cycle through major scales in sharp keys one session, flat keys the next, then save day 5 of a weekday cycle for a review of all 12. In repertoire, you will have to break down etudes and sonatas into smaller sections. It is quite easy to spend an entire practice session drilling a technical passage. Alternate between sight reading and improvisation. You don’t have to be a jazz player to improvise a melody. Just pick a scale and try creating a melodic line.
  • Depending on the timing during the semester, shift the balance of your practice session to focus on repertoire as needed. When approaching concerts or juries, more time will obviously need to be spent on the material for those performances. Sacrificing time on scales or sight reading during these “crunch time” periods is acceptable.

A Few Other Suggestions

  • Know when to quit. The Law of Diminishing Returns states that as fatigue and frustration increase, the amount of productive progress you will make for the effort you put in decreases. Sometimes quitting early and adding the lost time to the next session is a good move. Practicing for hours on end does little to help you improve if it is unfocused and disorganized. It also contributes to overuse injuries.
  • Make staying focused and on task a part of your practice. See if you can go 10 to 15 minutes or longer of straight repetitions before taking a break. Focus is the key to success in just about any endeavor.
  • Sometimes taking a five minute break yields great results when you return.
  • Consider keeping a written practice journal to keep track of what you worked on and how it is progressing. You can detect trends in your routine that are effective or less than effective.
  • Occasionally record a performance of an excerpt. Recordings are very unforgiving and point out the smallest of flaws. Listen to them with a grain of salt – human perception is focused, not general like the recorder, so your audience does not hear all of that, either.

Effective practicing is about being consistent and developing a routine that you will stick with. As Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” Developing a successful practice routine can be akin to developing a healthier diet – it is a long-term change in habits. But then, what would undergraduates know about healthy eating habits? I certainly didn’t have them.

Session Recap: Empowering Students for Productive Practice

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Posted on 17th December 2009 by Andy Zweibel in Conference |Tips and Tricks

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This is a recap of a session that was presented at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, IL on December 17, 2009. The session was live-blogged on MusicEdMajor.net, and you can view a replay of the live-blog by visiting the Midwest landing page.

As music education students, we spend a large number of hours of our life practicing our instruments. However, we also recognize that this will likely not be the case for our future students, may of whom will not be planning on pursuing music as a career. This, however, does not mean that their practice habits should be ignored; these students are just as capable of performing great music as those who want to pursue music as a career. This presentation focused on strategies for increasing the productivity of student practice time.

Goal-Based Practice

One of the important principles that the presenters stressed was the need for goal-based practice. Setting goals for practice allows students to have benchmarks that are tangible and clear, which creates a significantly easier practicing environment than just sitting down with no plan. In addition, having students set goals for themselves allows them to experience self-evaluation, another extremely important skill.

What Can We Do?

As educators/directors, there are tons of ways we can help establish effective practice habits in our students. Here are just a few ways teachers can go about instilling productive practice habits in their students:

  • Be clear in our instruction-84% of teachers say that they instruct their students on how to practice, but only 60% of students say they receive instruction. The point is not getting across!
  • Alternate between slow and fast rehearsal tempos, rather than starting slow and gradually increasing speed. Research shows alternation in rehearsal tempo leads to a more rapid increase in performance tempo.
  • Record and evaluate! This doesn’t just mean recording your rehearsals and listening to them later on your own (although this is a great strategy). Play the recordings for the students, and allow them to self-evaluate. Sometimes hearing yourself play can motivate you to fix errors that you hear.
  • Use aural models where possible (singing what you want to hear, playing recordings, etc.). Research proves it is more effective. If you can, establish a “lending library” so students can check out CD’s to listen to on their own.
  • Model your rehearsal around a practice session. If you find a passage that needs work, use practice strategies such as simplification, mental rehearsal, and varying tempo with the full ensemble. Be sure to point out that these techniques are just as effective in individual practice.

Two Types of Practice Strategies

The presenters highlighted the fact that there are two types of practice strategies, each vital to the success of a performer:

  1. Playing Strategies-These are practice techniques that are utilized through performance. Playing strategies include simplification, mapping, and varying tempo.
  2. Non-Playing Strategies-These techniques can be utilized without an instrument, and are sometimes more effective than spending time repeating the same passage over and over on the instrument. These techniques, including score study, mental practice, and using a notebook to track progress, can usually be used anywhere, and can foster greater music-making upon return to the instrument.

This session was extremely informative, and highlighted many research-based strategies for improving the productivity of student practice time. Thank you very much to Bill Bauer, Stacey Kolthammer, and Matthew Schattt from Case Western Reserve University, for sharing their thoughts on the topic!

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Photo Credits: Front Page Image – Gil Searcy, Student – Cehwiedel

Disclaimer: This post is a summarization of the thoughts/ideas presented by those leading the session. All thoughts/ideas are the intellectual property of the credited clinicians, and are in no way intended to represent original content developed by MusicEdMajor.net.

How to Stay Productive: Part 1-Set Goals

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Posted on 30th July 2009 by Andy Zweibel in Tips and Tricks

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/underneath/2159929425/

See Image Credit Below

Music Education students generally have a wide variety of commitments on their plate at a given time. Whether it be an upcoming project, performance, exam, or just a busy day, it is extremely important for us to stay organized and be productive with the time that we have. This series will chronicle different ways to stay productive, even when there are multiple commitments staring you in the face. Check out the other installments of this series: Part 2 – Keep a Calendar and Part 3 – Stay Focused

Set Goals

One of the best ways to be sure you are focusing on the right things is to set goals for what you wish to accomplish. This strategy helps you keep yourself in check and avoid distractions, so you complete the tasks you need to in the appropriate time frame. The two types of goals that can most help you in your productivity are short-term and long-term.

Short-Term Goals

Another word for a list of short-term goals is a “to-do list.” These goals should be created on a weekly (or even daily) basis, and should be based on the tasks that need to be immediately accomplished. This could include anything from studying for a Music History exam to spending 45 minutes practicing your lesson assignments. Whatever they are, these goals are best if they are able to be completed in one sitting. Items should not stay on this list for very long (generally no more than a week), and should be considered top priority when you have time to work.

Long-Term Goals

Long-term goals can have a much wider range, including year-long, semester-long, or monthly. I prefer to set semester-long goals for myself, and now is the perfect time to put together a list of semester-long goals. These goals should be based less in school work, and more based in your development. Examples of these goals are diverse and could include performance-based goals (be able to play excerpt X at 120 bpm by November 1 in preparation for my jury), professional development-based (update my resume by September 15 in preparation for a fall conference), or personal (lose X pounds by October 10th). Whatever they are, check up on them often! In fact, it’s a good idea to check up on the status of your long-term goals each week just before you create your short-term goals for the week.

It is also advisable to set short-term goals in advance for long-term projects. For example, if you read on your Music Theory syllabus on the first day of class that there is an analytic paper due on a Beethoven Symphony on the day of the final exam, outline at the beginning of the school year what goals you wish to have completed and when. You might want to make sure you have chosen which symphony you will write about by the second week of school, acquired a copy by the 4th, done an analysis of form on the first movement by the 5th, and so on. This way, you will never be caught writing the entire paper the night before it is due.

Suggestions For Setting Goals

Whether your goals are short-term or long-term, here are some tips for setting goals that will enable you to maximize your productivity:

  • Make Your Goals Attainable-Whatever time frame you are setting goals on, they need to be attainable. It is completely unrealistic to set a goal of playing the most difficult piece of repertoire for your instrument perfectly by the 3rd week of school. While ambitious, this is an unattainable goal. Your goals need to be realistic, yet challenging.
  • Be Specific-Create very specific goals, which will challenge you to maintain the high standards you have set for yourself. For example, instead of setting a goal of “play half of my jury piece well by midterms,” consider instead something like “play from the beginning to letter L in my jury piece with no technical mistakes by October 15.” This erases the ambiguities left by the first option in the words half,  well, and midterms. It will help you keep yourself on track. Also, always set specific dates by which you wish to have your goals completed. Instead of saying “by the end of the semester,” put an actual date to it. This will make the goal seem more real as it approaches, and ensure that you complete it in a timely manner.
  • Don’t Procrastinate-While this obviously applies to carrying out your goals, it also applies to setting them. Don’t put off setting your goals until tomorrow–do it today! In fact, go set your goals right now!
  • Write Them Down-And not just on a scrap of paper! Have a journal or notebook you jot things down in? Write your goals and dates you want them completed by in there! Use the computer a lot? Save your goals to your desktop. Writing them down isn’t the only step, though; your goals need to be visible, or you will forget about them. Put them on a post-it note on your desk, or if you used the computer, save them as an image, and make it your desktop! This way you are constantly reminded of your goals.
  • Prioritize-Once you have your goals written down, put them in order of their priority to you, and when you have time to work, work from the top down. This way, you will complete the most important items first, and if you should fall behind schedule on your goals list as a whole, you know the highest priority goals are already finished.

What Are You Waiting For?

There is no better time than the present to start setting goals! Have 10 minutes to kill? Start writing a set of goals for the coming school year right now! Be sure to keep them close by as the weeks and months pass by!

What goals have you set for yourself? Do you have other suggestions for setting great goals to maximize productivity? Leave a comment and share your experiences regarding this topic; let’s continue the conversation!

Image Credits: Goals List, Check Mark (Front Page)

It is also advisable to set short-term goals in advance for long-term projects. For example, if you read on your Music Theory syllabus on the first day of class that there is an analyltic paper due on a Beethoven Symphony on the day of the final exam, outline what goals you wish to have completed when at the beginning of the school year. You might want to make sure you have chosen which symphony you will write about by the second week of school, acquired a copy by the 4th, done an analylsis of form on the first movement by the 5th, and so on. This way, you will never be caught writing the entire paper the night before it is due.

4 MORE Ways to Stay Active Over the Summer

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Posted on 16th July 2009 by Andy Zweibel in Professional Development |Tips and Tricks

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Last week, the post 5 Low-Stress Ways to Stay Musically Active Over the Summer listed ways to stay active in music over the summer without the stressors of the school year.  The post was received fairly well, and there has been some great conversation that has been taking place in the comments to that post, including a number of additional ideas for ways to extend this list. Thank you for everyone who shared their ideas–I encourage everyone to take a part in the conversations that take place in post comments. The posts are only half the conversation; let’s keep the conversation going past that!

Anyway, on to the list! I will continue my numbering from the previous post, so first up is number 6…

6. Perform Your Instrument!

Summer is a great time to be able to perform your instrument in a much lower-stress environment than your typical college-level performing ensembles. There are two great examples of this. Brian Liporto (find him on Twitter at @bliporto) points out that playing in a community band is a great way to stay active and keep your chops in shape. Also, playing in community bands is a fantastic opportunity to experience new repertoire. Another summertime option is playing for musicals. Many local theater guilds and companies perform musicals in the summer, and Music Education students make great additions to the pit orchestra for these shows. The theater company gets a solid player who has been actively playing for a while, and you get the chance to keep your chops up, learn a bit about what it’s like conducting for musicals (if that is something you are interested in), and just have fun!

7. Improve a Specific Skill Through Practice

If you, like many Music Education majors, don’t have as much time to practice during the school year as you wish you did, summer can be a great time to focus on your performance skills. Specifically, summer is a perfect opportunity to choose a specific skill to improve upon. For example, if you are a clarinet player, you may want to focus your summer practice on improving finger speed. As a trumpet player, I am trying to focus my efforts in the practice room this summer on a weak aspect of my playing: endurance. Whatever you choose to focus on, don’t short-change the rest of the aspects of your instrument! Without maintenance, you may come back and have the best range in the studio, but if your tone quality and lip flexibility have been neglected, you will not have done yourself a favor in the end.

8. Learn and Collaborate Online

With the advent of Web 2.0, there is a wealth of information available on the internet related to the field of Music Education. While tip #3 in this series referred to networking using Social Media, the internet also provides an opportunity for learning and collaboration through blogging. If you have ideas to share, start your own blog! If you’re more interested in reading other people’s ideas, check out Dr. J. Pisano’s list of 100 Music Education Bloggers for some great reading material. If you’re in the middle, consider trying to contribute to an already existing blog as a guest poster (shameless plug-MusicEdMajor.net is looking for contributors!). However you spin it, blogs are a great way to learn more and focus your ideas and thoughts regarding specific topics.

9. Get a Job in the Field

What better way to stay active in music over the summer than to make it your job? Summer jobs are a part of life for most college students, but instead of flipping burgers or selling shirts, why not sort music or teach camp sessions? There are usually plenty of jobs to do around your School of Music, and while it might not be extremely exciting (I’m filing music for the instrumental music librarian all summer), there may also be opportunities to teach at camps available. As Matt pointed out in the comments to the original post, working at a summer music camp can be a great way to get experience in a diverse set of tasks, from administration to individual, small, and large group instruction. You may even have a chance to work on becoming proficient at a secondary instrument! Whatever you end up doing, it can benefit you in multiple ways: not only are you getting experience in music, but chances are you’re getting paid too!

More Ideas?

Do you have other ideas for staying active over the summer? What do you do to keep your chops and mind in shape? Join our conversation by leaving a comment below! Also, if you haven’t already, check out the first part of this post, 5 Low-Stress Ways to Stay Musically Active Over the Summer!