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The perfect practice routine.

NickC

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Right now, my practice sessions are really random. Sometimes I will play through all the songs that I know, mistakes and all. Sometimes, I will take 10 minutes to work out a tricky passage. Sometimes, I will decide to learn a new tune. Sometimes I stop what I'm doing altogether and move on to other randomness. It got me thinking that I really need to have a routine.

When I was playing double bass in the orchestra, my routine was very structured, and it was similar most days.
-Warm up with scales and arpeggios. I would switch it up. Play in 3rds. Play across the strings in each position, etc. I would also incorporate different bowing variations.
-Work through progressive etudes making sure to have some thumb position work involved.
-Play through orchestral excepts.
-Play through the current performance repertoire. Whatever was on the upcoming program
-Sight reading.
-Work on a solo piece. Dragonetti Concerto or Eccles Sonata.

This really helped me to be more a more rounded player. I wasn't going to audition for the NY Philarmonic, but I was always prepared for the rehearsals and the concerts. Really, the whole routine is based on an actual audition. There would be an excerpt section, a slight reading section and a solo section. A lot of professional orchestras post their audition requirements and it was really interesting to look at them. They list the specific excerpts and solos. At other points in my musical endeavors, I would switch up the routine to focus on my musical goals, but a lot of it was similar. For example, when I was playing jazz, I still needed to warm up, practice etudes and sight reading, etc.

So, do you have a standard practice routine? What is it? And why do you think it is helpful?
 
I am only an intermediate (at best) player so my routine may be fairly rudimentary. Also, my routine is quite time-limited given that I spend 10 hours per day at work and have a number of other time commitments. But this is what it looks like:
• About 10 minutes of left hand Stradella bass exercises using The Mighty Accordion, by David DiGiuseppe.
• About 10 minutes of right hand exercises using The Chord Melody Method for Accordion, by Gary Dahl.
• About 10 minutes working through one or two new songs I am trying to learn.
• 0-45 minutes (whatever time I have leftover!) playing through songs I enjoy playing
 
IMHO, it all depends on what your short and long term goals are. Figure those out, then work backwards from there to determine what you need to practice.

A notebook helps.
 
I practice no more than 1 hour before each commitment: session, rehearsal or concert. Of course, concerts benefit from rehearsals too.

I will start with the hard stuff. Easier stuff I only do intro's, difficult parts, outro's and race through it otherwise.

If I notice I have a hard time with any material in that 1 hour, I am in over my level and I would endanger the eventual performance. I will not repeat until right in practice, I will do a compromise straight away: simpler arrangements or skip all together. Run through it again to hear if the set is acceptable. If I stay in the genre long enough I will eventually get good enough to also incorporate difficult pieces that I ditched earlier.

When I have a busy calendar I skip warmups or scales and such. I focus only on the set.
 
My approach has been to break my practice into 3 sections. Warm up, critical practice and less-critical practice.

I try to mix it up for my warm up with different exercises and I usually do these with a metronome.

Each week between my instructor and myself we identify a handful of items that are my priority. During my critical practice time these items are my only focus. I usually try to spend 20 to 30 minutes on this but if I’m making big advancements on something that time could be longer. I try not to spend too long at this as I found it’s not necessarily more productive.

After I’m done with my priority work I practice the rest of my repertoire and/or do any extra curricular work I’m interested in. This portion can last a while.

If I can squeeze in another practice the same day I try to follow the same approach.
 
IMHO, it all depends on what your short and long term goals are. Figure those out, then work backwards from there to determine what you need to practice.

A notebook helps.

A lot of good posts in this thread.

The simple version of my goal is to be able to consistently play through my existing rep without major flubs and to add more tunes on a weekly basis.

However, I think in order to achieve that, I have to know the instrument better. If I had 4 or 5 shots on each tune, I can get through my set list at performance level, but my lack of technique is evident in the fact that I can nail a section on one take, but mess it up on the next. Even when I nail a section, my fingering isn't always the same....and my pinky is rarely utilized.

I'm looking to learn how to play the instrument so I can learn how to play the tunes.

I think simple etudes would be good to work on so that I can concentrate on getting my fingering more solid. I was thinking that a Hannon type book with accordion fingerings included would be a nice start.
 
Wow you are all so structured, very impressive. Practice routine. Hmm... I don't think I have one of those...

My accordion is sitting there right in front of me in the room. I pick it up and play it after my breakfast in the morning. Just trying out new ideas for tunes, writing the occasional sequence that sound nice to my ears. I will play for as long as I can before I start work or have other duties. I then pick the accordion up again if I have a tea break, just for a few minutes. Then at luchtime I will play for as long as I can. Writing ideas, or playing ideas until I can't forget them. Then back to work. After my dinner and any other duties I will play or write music. Type ideas on the scorewriter, listen to Youtube music, read the Accordionists Forum, pick up the accordion again. Then later on, I might play the accordion quietly so as to not disturb others. Maybe just work on a few bars until I have shaped them and expressed them. The accordion these days is constantly set to free bass. Never stradella. Not for the last 5 months when I got my first free bass accordion. I will press the converter switch back again to stradella one day. But not any time soon. I am writing a new piece. I have been working on it for weeks. Free bass does that too you. Your music meanders like a river and slowly takes shape, finds its course. I only write it out fully once I have captured the tune fully. Before that it's just a faint outline on manuscript or in my head (or a bit of both). Writing for stradella was a different story. You could fire out tunes quickly and keep the good ones. Not with free bass, it has so many more possibilities and options and layers.

I think it's more like accordion yoga than practice :)
 
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However, I think in order to achieve that, I have to know the instrument better. If I had 4 or 5 shots on each tune, I can get through my set list at performance level, but my lack of technique is evident in the fact that I can nail a section on one take, but mess it up on the next. Even when I nail a section, my fingering isn't always the same....and my pinky is rarely utilized.
I can tell you what my teachers advice would be (and I’m better at repeating it than following it). Practice the pieces/sections at a slower speed with a metronome (sometimes so slow you can hardly recognize the tune) and practice it until you can play it five times without a mistake. Then increase the speed. This will allow you to settle your fingering and improve your technique.

This can be tedious and that’s why I limit my “critical practice” time and reward myself after with doing my maintenance playing.

I think you are on the correct path of finding exercises to improve your technique and fingering.
 
Yeah, I really need to slow down. I used to do the metronome trick with adding 1 bpm on tricky passages on the bass. I need to do that with the accordion. I also need to stop trying to cram in my whole rep for each practice session. It's just too much all at once. I will start by picking a tune and spend a half hour per day with it until I feel it's ready. Then I can work on fun stuff for the rest of the day. Once I feel comfortable with my current rep, then I will move on to more general etudes, etc.

I should also take some time to work on often repeated nuances in the genre. There are so many times that they will play an embellished arpeggio as an ornament. I might as well run through some of them in 12 keys. There are often fast repeated notes, so I need to work on my coordination with my index and middle finger rapidly playing the same note. Then work up to triplets and then 16ths trying to add more fingers as I go.

I think I have a good start to this. Thanks for all the suggestions.
 
I can tell you what my teachers advice would be (and I’m better at repeating it than following it). Practice the pieces/sections at a slower speed with a metronome (sometimes so slow you can hardly recognize the tune) and practice it until you can play it five times without a mistake. Then increase the speed. This will allow you to settle your fingering and improve your technique.

This can be tedious and that’s why I limit my “critical practice” time and reward myself after with doing my maintenance playing.

I think you are on the correct path of finding exercises to improve your technique and fingering.
Perhaps this might irritate the purists, but as the owner of a Roland Fr8x and BK-7m I can practice by slowing down the backing tracks and use the sound module as a fancy metronome. My BK-7m is underutilized and I would prefer to incorporate it more often into my playing but in the meantime it's a great practice tool.

Overall the BK-7m helps me to learn a tune quickly because it helps to keep me true to the feel of a song even though the tempo for practice may be far slower than the finished piece.
 
Good ideas all. It seems like a lot of us are in the same boat, having played for a while, working diligently but without structured practice leading to a specific goal. Making it difficult to find a path to "the next level," and feeling stuck on a plateau. I think this is fairly common, especially among people who didn't go through a very structured learning process when young. At least this is how I feel.

So, what's the answer? Please tell me! Anyway, I did a quick search of kindle and hoopla to find some resources on how to practice and there are about a million and two books and methods out there. I read them all. I don't claim to have all the answers but have noted some common threads to help build that effective practice routine that I would like to share at the risk of boring you who already know:

1. This the most common. Have a definite goal in mind and develop concrete steps to achieve it, such as Nick mentioned. The more specific the better.

I would love to see your specific goal statement. Me, I want to move from playing volunteer events to also playing more mainstream events. So my goal statement is:

"He is known as a good accordionist whose appearances at local establishments and events are not to be missed."

Notice how this is different than "I want to get better and play more gigs."

This goal includes a statement of technical skill as well as how I will be perceived, both of which are important to me. I am happy aspiring to be a big fish in a small pond. Your goal is different, but do you know it?

I am still working on the steps.

2. Practice, don't just play, and practice effectively. Effective practice is practice that is scientifically designed to produce improvement toward your goal. Some elements are noted above, such as don't practice wrong notes, determine the stumbling points in your repertoire and work them out, etc. Also determine your "focus time." Research indicates most people can practice effectively for about 30 minutes. Notice your mind drifting, and take breaks, play for fun and then get back to it. It also includes regular playing with a metronome or backing track.

3. Strengthen the basics. Make sure you have the dexterity to get up and down the keyboard, know the arpeggios and inversions, strengthen your reading or "by ear" learning method, etc. Are you like me who has played for 10 years but never practiced scales and arpeggios because you never knew how? Time to strengthen the basics.

4. Have a positive attitude. Approach practice as a game, a reward in itself, even reward yourself for a job well done, whatever it is that trips your trigger.

5. Listen to a ton of the music in the style you want to play, every day. Do you drive your significant other crazy because you want to watch Ted Lange or Bolognese polkas all day? Good! Watch more, get headphones if you have to.

6. Play for real. Huh, what do you mean, "play for real"? This is any playing that is not just for yourself sitting in the practice room. It's playing a gig, playing with your friends, playing for your family and friends, playing on zoom or jamulus, posting a tune on youtube. This includes playing along with videos or cds, a very effective tool. It also includes recording and listening to yourself, a necessary condition.

7. Have a mentor. Try to find someone better than you who is willing to show you how it's done. This can be your teacher, your friend, a paid learning group online, even someone you don't know or talk to if necessary. *see "watch Ted Lange all day," above.

Anyway, it's the new year, almost springtime (except for Dingo). I'm gonna get off this plateau and move to the next level. Who's in?
 
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Anyone up for a new challenge? 21 weeks of organized practice. :)

Good stuff, Tom. Thanks for sharing.
If I expand on my goal, I want to:
be able to consistently play through my existing rep, add more tunes on a weekly basis
AND have people be moved to dance to a genre of music that I am known to perform authentically and passionately.

"Do you drive your significant other crazy because you want to watch Ted Lange or Bolognese polkas all day?"
Boy, do I. But, my family is very supportive.

I think I am guilty of 'practice, don't just play.' So, I skipped over a lot of the foundations. I find it easier to play my current rep than some of the PH books. Mainly because I can just use whatever finger I want. Which is the thumb, seemingly, 99% of the time. What's that thing I see flopping around out of the corner of my eye? Oh, that's just my pinky. I don't really need that. I can play through the tunes 8 times out of 10, but that's not quite performance ready. If I can solidify my technique, I bet I can get that up to 9.5 out of 10. Then spend the next 40 years trying to get that extra 5%.

I think cleaning up my fingerings will allow me to play more expressively too. Instead of concentrating on my right hand, I can look up and interact with the audience.
 
Anyone up for a new challenge? 21 weeks of organized practice. :)

Good stuff, Tom. Thanks for sharing.
If I expand on my goal, I want to:
be able to consistently play through my existing rep, add more tunes on a weekly basis
AND have people be moved to dance to a genre of music that I am known to perform authentically and passionately.

"Do you drive your significant other crazy because you want to watch Ted Lange or Bolognese polkas all day?"
Boy, do I. But, my family is very supportive.

I think I am guilty of 'practice, don't just play.' So, I skipped over a lot of the foundations. I find it easier to play my current rep than some of the PH books. Mainly because I can just use whatever finger I want. Which is the thumb, seemingly, 99% of the time. What's that thing I see flopping around out of the corner of my eye? Oh, that's just my pinky. I don't really need that. I can play through the tunes 8 times out of 10, but that's not quite performance ready. If I can solidify my technique, I bet I can get that up to 9.5 out of 10. Then spend the next 40 years trying to get that extra 5%.

I think cleaning up my fingerings will allow me to play more expressively too. Instead of concentrating on my right hand, I can look up and interact with the audience.
?? I like your goal statement, Nick! Yea, that goofing up in performance is so annoying. Looks like you are consciously determining ways to address it. You may never play flawlessly but develop better ways to "cover" your mistakes so that no one knows but you, plus you're then playing that Bolognese Jazz!
 
My method - avoid procrastination! Perhaps working a demanding full time job with a relative shortage of free time dictates this. I always start with a section that scares me the most, in other words I tackle the bit that I least want to do first, always hands separately and very slow. After that everything else seems easier by comparison. And the other tip I have is be kind to yourself when you practice and take pleasure in getting even a little bit right, because you have achieved something and you are a little bit further ahead than you were.

I find the main problem with adults learning anything is they constantly beat themselves up emotionally which is a huge waste of time and effort. Better to have no fear of failure for a good mindset when trying to learning anything at all efficiently, at any age.
 
Anyone up for a new challenge? 21 weeks of organized practice. :)
YES!
Matter of fact, starting this Saturday, I am returning back to my getting up earlier so I can do 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening of music and integrate a structure that will include sessions that specifically cover BOTH Free Bass time and Roland accordion time. I am just toooooo evenly split to want to concentrate on one and miss out on the other.

I will be including a daily journal in a small notebook that will be near my practice area, and I will have a structure laid out that covers scales, arpeggios, Hanon exercises on both accordions. On the Free Bass, I will be focused on curriculum needed for the Royal Conservatory exams and on the Roland it will be focusing on increasing repertoire, and in both "worlds", I am going to be focusing on bettering my foundational playing skills.

I am just fed up of wanting and not being able to do what I want due to time/work/life constraints!
 
Good ideas all. It seems like a lot of us are in the same boat, having played for a while, working diligently but without structured practice leading to a specific goal. Making it difficult to find a path to "the next level," and feeling stuck on a plateau. I think this is fairly common, especially among people who didn't go through a very structured learning process when young. At least this is how I feel.

So, what's the answer? Please tell me!

Anyway, it's the new year, almost springtime (except for Dingo). I'm gonna get off this plateau and move to the next level. Who's in?
I don't know if you want this made public, Tom, but I'll do it anyway... lol
It is going to be great to partner with you and to help you set weekly goals, give you direction and watch your progress for 1 month... I think we are going to have a lot of fun!

In return you have to put up with my continued experimentation with Zoom presentation techniques... haha!
 
I don't know if you want this made public, Tom, but I'll do it anyway... lol
It is going to be great to partner with you and to help you set weekly goals, give you direction and watch your progress for 1 month... I think we are going to have a lot of fun!

In return you have to put up with my continued experimentation with Zoom presentation techniques... haha!
Thanks Jerry! I'm glad to help with your zoom setup testing. When your mentoring gets me over the "I've played for 10 years and still suck!" syndrome I'll be as happy as the proverbial clam at high tide. Bring on the grim determination!
 
Have a definite goal in mind and develop concrete steps to achieve it, such as Nick mentioned. The more specific the better. [...] Me, I want to move from playing volunteer events to also playing more mainstream events. So my goal statement is:

"He is known as a good accordionist whose appearances at local establishments and events are not to be missed."

Notice how this is different than "I want to get better and play more gigs."

This goal includes a statement of technical skill as well as how I will be perceived, both of which are important to me. I am happy aspiring to be a big fish in a small pond.

Love it! Granted, how you are perceived is entirely up to other people, so it's something you have no control over. (Might be interesting to think about why that's important to you?) Still, I can see how a goal like that informs the things you do have control over.

Anyway, the subject of goal statements reminds me of something along the same lines that author Andy Cope calls a "HUGG": Huge, Unbelievably Great Goal. That is, a "big" goal that's currently just at the edge of achievability, and could take, say, over a year to reach if you really, really, really worked at it.

Then you work backwards from there, filling in all the smaller sub-goals that will get you to the HUGG, winding up with a sort of pyramid. Your goal statement would easily be at home in that top triangle:

uge+goal+HUGG+BHAG+nearly+there+half+way+next+step.jpg
 
You North Americans - with the HUGG diagrams, goal statements, structure and notebooks. You guys are brilliant! We can all learn a lot from your positivity, fresh ideas and downright friendliness to one another. You even have nice word for mistakes - flubs, goofing up etc. You are really a credit to your country - sorry countries (Canada too) (y)
 
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