Clarinet Basics: Part Four - Finding Incentive to Practice by Julie DeRoche
Knowing "what" and "how" will help you find incentive to practice
Too often, students enter a practice room with few strategies for developing their performance skills. They know they must practice, but they do not know how to practice. At the same time, while teachers regularly give out assignments, their instructions are not always as clear as they could be. Providing students with strategies and information that will allow them to develop strong fundamentals in all areas of their playing is one of the most important aspects of teaching music. And it is equally as important that students practice properly so they can achieve correctness in these areas.
Developing good practice habits from the start can be achieved by knowing the answer to both of these questions: What does one practice, and exactly how does one practice it?
What does one practice?
Practice time should be divided into three segments, their lengths dependent on the student's age or experience. The first segment is scales, the second is etudes, and the third is music such as band music, solos for contest, orchestral excerpts or chamber music.
Scales can be used to work on finger technique, even rhythm, smooth airflow, consistency of embouchure and tongue position (especially over the break), and proper holding and hand position. Etudes are often more interesting for students and, depending on the type you employ, they can be used to practice articulation, combinations of slurring and tonguing, phrasing, legato or rhythmic accuracy. Music, of course, is the reward for all of this detail work and allows the student to prepare for ensembles and contests; what's more, our basic repertoire allows us to introduce artistic ideas.
A beginner may have a schedule that allows 20 to 30 minutes of practice. Using a scale sheet that contains slow, slurred scales in several forms (returning scale, thirds, chromatic) in conjunction with a band method book and an elementary duet book can be a good combination. Use five to ten minutes to practice slurred scales, slowly, with metronome, up and down.
For example, young students may start with C major in half notes. Instruct them to set the metronome to an appropriate tempo, such as quarter note = 60. Direct them to play the scale and its forms while thinking of good tone, proper embouchure and consistent tongue position while slurring — all while paying attention to correct rhythm and the metronome. Demonstrate this in a lesson, and ask them to repeat this every day.
I recommend that the scale be performed slurred so that articulation does not interfere with the "long-tone" quality of a slurred scale. (Of course, the tongue should release the reed at the beginning of the scale.) Remind them that scales are the basic building blocks of music, and that repeated practice of scales will build patterns into their muscle memory that will help them learn all other types of music.
The next ten minutes can be devoted to the student's band method or elementary method book. Be sure that each exercise is given a goal tempo for performance by using a metronome, and emphasize that students should try for zero mistakes. Let your students know they should try for perfection, and that they can forgive themselves it it's not achieved. Show them how to use the metronome to guide their practice from a slow, easily obtainable tempo up to a challenging goal tempo by gradually increasing the speed of the metronome. And be sure to tell them the purpose of any particular exercise, such as practicing tricky fingering combinations, difficult rhythms, correct articulation and such.
Let your students know what "prepared" really means. Ask them for a clean result, at your assigned tempo, with all articulation marks correctly played, all notes in control, a minimum of squeaks and with attention to all musical marks on the page. Be sure that, as a teacher, you are aware of why you are assigning an exercise, and then be sure that your students are as well.
Conclude the practice session with music that's fun to perform. Perhaps they can learn a duet to play with you or a fellow student, or they can practice their parts for an upcoming concert. Apply the same standards to the "fun" music as you would to any other, and reward them with congratulations when they do well. They will value your opinion of their work when they know you have high expectations. Do not underestimate them, and do not feel uncomfortable with expecting them to do well.
Intermediate and advanced students are much the same as beginners, but farther along the time-line of technical and musical advancement. They too must practice a combination of scales, etudes and repertoire. The time spent on each of these practice segments increases along with their interest level and age, and the difficulty increases in all areas.
For example, an eighth- or ninth-grade student might spend 20 minutes on scales, 10 to 15 minutes on etudes and 15 minutes on repertoire each day. This can vary slightly depending on specific circumstances, such as whether or not a contest is approaching. An older high school student may work 30 minutes on each of these practice segments, sometimes more. College students may spend up to an hour practicing scales, an hour on etudes and an hour on repertoire, then finish with orchestral excerpts and ensemble music.
How does one practice?
Whether you are a teacher making assignments or a performer at any level, using a metronome is a great way to indicate when you should start practicing, where to stop and how to get there. For example, rather than simply playing scales, practice them in a specific and reasoned way.
An intermediate or advanced student might use a good scale method book that contains all forms of scales in all keys, in sixteenth notes. It is best to practice one key each week (the same set of scales each day for the week) and to practice all forms of a scale in the same key signature, rather than one form of scale in various key signatures. By repeating the key every day, and at different tempos, the keys are placed in the muscle memory — and after all, we read music in key signatures.
Slur the scales so that they become, in effect, long tones over which you move your fingers. Listen for smooth intervals, even rhythm, constant tongue position, and accurate and complete control of finger movement. Control the fingers by using muscular strength, but without tension. Fingers that are completely relaxed are difficult to control, as are fingers that are very tense. Do not attempt to keep the fingers too close to the clarinet, but instead lift them in a natural way, keeping the middle knuckle slightly curved.
Begin by deciding on a challenging goal tempo that is slightly beyond your "comfort" tempo, one that you can reach after approximately one week. You should also establish a time period for scale practice, such as 30 minutes per day. (If you are teaching, always decide goal tempo and time period for your students.) Start practicing at a much slower tempo, such as quarter note = 60. Play this tempo until the scale (in all of its forms) is clean and under control. Then move the metronome to quarter note = 66. Repeat what you just did at 60. Continue to repeat this, continually moving faster — 72, 80, 88, 96, 104, 112, 120, 132 — until you reach your goal.
Each day begin again at quarter note = 60. Go as far as you can in the 30 minutes. At the end of that time, no matter what tempo you have achieved, stop. Once again, begin the next day at quarter note = 60, but this time you will achieve a faster tempo in the 30 minutes. As you become more familiar with the scale, you will progress through the slow tempos more easily. Continue this pattern until you eventually reach your goal tempo. When you achieve this, it is time to move to a new key.
By the time you are finished with your week, you'll have an almost automatic response to the key signature and patterns, and when you come across these patterns in other music, they will be much easier to learn. Applying this type of organized practice to all music will help you learn the technique in your etudes and repertoire much more efficiently and thoroughly. If you learn it well the first time, it will always stay with you.
With answers to the questions of what to practice and how to practice, any performer can make better use of his or her time in the practice room and will see greater, more efficient results. Of course, we all know that although practicing is sometimes fun, it can also seem a chore. As teachers, we know that students often do not make it into the practice room. And as performers, we ourselves can sometimes be reluctant to practice. In order for any of us to be motivated to practice, we must feel that the work will be profitable and that, once we begin, we will enjoy the time we spend.
It is important to tell students that they will not always feel like rushing to the practice room (I frequently acknowledge this myself). There will be times when they'd rather watch TV or chat with friends online. But part of the joy of performance — of doing anything — is doing it well, and this takes a commitment of time and effort. Knowing that great things can be accomplished by following these guidelines (and they can) will help make the job much easier for everyone.
I'm often asked, "How do you get your students to practice?" My initial answer is that I expect them to. But there is more to it than that. It does not take long for students to realize that their practice is producing positive results, and success is the biggest motivation of all. Performers of all ages have no better incentive to practice than being witness to their own progress.
Julie DeRoche, associate professor of clarinet and coordinator of winds at DePaul University, Chicago, also serves as director of performance education for the Leblanc division of Conn-Selmer, Inc.
