Re: [Harp-L] practice




What should a good practice session consist of. What's the optimum time for a session.

This question is going to get alot of responses from alot of people who know how to make very good use of their practice time. Try everything that is suggested, and put together a program that works for you.


I practice daily. You won't believe how fast you will improve if you never miss a day.

I practice for between 1/2 hour and an hour. An hour is way better.

I use a metronome. Used to work in slower tempi and then faster ones. Now I mainly practice in the faster ones for that part of my workout. That's the warmup.

Then I cue up some practice tracks and practice swinging. I'll force myself to play some extremely simple improvised melodies, often using only one or two or three notes to state a them and then perform very, very simple variations. The main thing is to swing those notes, try to make these simple variations infections and enjoyable for myself.

I then add in some elaborate licks and then go right back to simple. I try to improvise interesting places to break into elaborate, sometimes highly elaborate, melodies and then to break back into simple stuff. I try to tell myself musical stories in this way. Practicing simplicity and practicing swinging - it makes you deep. I love playing fast and playing intricate improvised melodies that I have never heard before, but I love swinging a few notes much more. I do alot of both in my practice sessions.

I then practice my dynamics by playing some fiddle tunes in first position. I do not improvise at all on that stuff, not notes anyway. But I DO improvise changes in dynamics. Dynamics also tell a story. When I improvise dynamic changes many are kind of meaningless, but I am always hitting on new meanings produced solely by changing dynamic changes at places I was not consciously intending to place them.

Dynamics and swing are very big deals, and they're great parts of your craft. If you are just beginning to practice, those are elements that will, as you get better at them, make your music more and more human and expressive.

If you're very new, practice those single notes. Get to where you can make pretty notes without thinking about it.

Importantly, as you try out the suggestions people are about to make, choose the ones that are fun.

Ken





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