Your Practice Routine

[thedbassist]

Hi, I think it'd be interesting to have people list their practice routines down to see the variety. If possible, please list your main teacher(or teacher who most influenced your practice routine if you're not a student anymore) and your age(or year of schooling).

I'll start off first: my warm-ups usually consist of doing windmills(sometimes other shoulder exercises if I am tense), stretching out my fingers and wrists, then rolling my neck until I feel that I don't have any tension.

For technique work I start off with long tones, then go on to Rabbath's 2nd book with his fourth position exercise. After doing some crab work from around page 92 of the third book move onto scales where I pull out a fingering from Rabbath's
3rd book and usually do around ten to fifteen different bowing variations from the front cover. Also, when I play my scales I have my Raagini on for intonation purposes.

I usually take around a fifteen minute break or have another practice session later on. When I come back to the bass I do warm-ups.

When I'm working on my music I focus on parts of a certain piece that I have the most trouble with by using a metronome(gradually building up in tempo) and play passages that I know competently only a couple times just to maintain them. Also, I like to sing everything I play to get a better sense of where the musical line is going.

My current teacher's are Mike Hill(principal of the Orlando Phil, studied at Curtis with Roger Scott) and Lloyd Goldstein(music practicioner at a few hospitals and a current student of Rabbath, studied at the University of Miami with Lucas Drew).

[THE SAW]

OK, here's mine:

1) Some Simandl book 1-I'm still trying to get through it.

2) Bach Suites 2,3,4 played at half tempo.

3) Liquid Lunch.

4) Trip over Bass-re-adjust bridge and sound post

5) Debate the virtue of Bel Canto e string over Eudoxa.

6) Yearn for the return of the three string bass.

7) Play the Dragonetti down an octave.

8) Listen to Henze "Essay on Pigs" -flip side to Gary Karr's DG LP of Henze Concerto

9)pass out.

[Peter Ferretti]

1/1.5 Hour of scales and an etude. Right that means Book II of Gradus.

1/1.5 Hour of Bowing variations. Right now that means Strokin' and the Zimmerman Book

1/1.5 of Solo Rep

1/1.5 Hour of Excerpts

I'll mix these throughout the day, though I do schedule them. Building a routine is important, but so is the scheduled time. I tend to treat these like classes. I wouldn't dream of doing them all at once. If I am preparing for an audition, I'll drop things as needed, but I always try to keep roughly 5-6 hours of playing a day, not including rehearsals. I take Sunday off.

[neilG]

Yow, 6 hours a day! Are you improving?

[David Potts]

For me a typical warm-up would be all or part of the following -

(1) Son File (slow bow race for kids) - bow held in fingertips with no technique, limp wrist, slow and steady as possible with a whisper of sound and steady relaxed breathing (45 seconds per bow, several times up and down on different strings)

(2) Long bows, normal hold - the bow can't move as slowly but the even sound remains. Several strokes per string

(3) Note starts/stops all over the bow, both directions, with range of different attacks, accents

(4) Left hand exercises based on 6 one-position finger patterns (eg 0141,0414,0121,0212,0242,0424), all mixed up with separate bows or slurred, straight hooked or reverse hooked patterns)

(5) LH/RH coordination and timing exercises using above bowings and rythms up and down the D string eg D E F G A = 0 1 2 1 4

(6) Some "Pichlik" exercises to warm up string crossings eg 1 2 1 2 = F B Eflat A then down again (in Half Position), then move up a half tone and repeat =Fsharp C E Bflat, etc. Other finger patterns too. Be careful not to strain your wrist.

(7) Two octave scale sequence starting on two adjoining notes eg E and F, Fsharp and G. The two scales will overlap and cover all the notes on the fingerboard if repeated with each fingering pattern chosen
A sequence might be Major and both minor scales, Major and minor arpeggios, Dominant and Diminished arpeggios.

The flow-on from a good warm-up is that you are ready to work - to step forward musically and technically with a focused mind and well oiled muscles.

Stretches are worth incorporating before and after if muscles are cold or stiff. Fingerless gloves help a lot in cold climates.

Regularly check out your posture and hand shapes and movements, in front of a mirror if possible, to maintain good habits.

Happy note hunting!!

DP

[kurt muroki]

hi, well my practice routine these days is limited to short 5 min intervals. just work on exactly what I need to then move on. Saves time for me. I analyze what I need to fix when I am at work rehearsing, then devise an exercise to fix the problem efficiently. I also concentrate on expanding the box... speed (slow and fast), dynamics, rhythm, and range of color.

[Peter Ferretti]

Kurt is better than me

[kpo]

I try to warm-up by
1)focusing the BRAIN, 2) the bow, 3) the left hand

lately, it's...
===Start with writing down a goal and a time period.
===The "Accelerating Scale": key of choice; 60 bpm; Drone pitch going; start with double whole notes focusing on starting the next tone cleanly and *EXACTLY* on the click (a real issue with orchestra string sections)
Move on to whole notes, half, quarter, triplets, eighth, quint, sext, sept... okay, brain, bow and hand are quite limber now.
===Apply fresh rosin
===SIGHT READING
===double stops and Petracchi ex #9; maybe 3 minutes of arpeggios through all keys, maybe a simple scale w/drone in the key of the first piece I'm going to "work on"

This takes a while, so it's important to have a written goal and a stated time period. I'm in the Louisville Orchestra, have two adjunct University posts and a Growing Family, so you won't see me posting any 6-hour-a-day routines - efficiency is the key!!!!

[Williams]

1.) Warm ups: Usually consist of slow bow exercise followed by articulation exercises for an hour or so.
2.) Scales for 30 min, different one every week. Different bowings etc.
3.) Etudes: currently working on Bel Canto and Sturm for 30-45min
4.) Solo Rep: Depending on how much I have to do, up to an hour or so
5.) Exherpts

[Mike Saville]

I think routines that are specific in goals and outcomes are much more useful than those (and there are a couple above) which specify time spent. To me time is an irrelevance - it's what you get done with the time you have that counts.

I'd much rather look back over the day and be able to say how I improved or how many bars I memorised etc than 'I did 4 hours'.

Also when constructing a routine you should bear in mind your concentration span - for most people is is around the 30-40 minute mark before focus is lost. If you are doing more than that in a single session it is very likely that you are not practising in the most efficient way.

[Alex Jenkins]

as my old teacher would say...it's about quality, not quantity.

[kpo]

Originally Posted by Mike Saville

I think routines that are specific in goals and outcomes are much more useful than those (and there are a couple above) which specify time spent. To me time is an irrelevance - it's what you get done with the time you have that counts.

Sounds basically right, but I gotta say that time *is* relevant, and it'll help *anyone* to include "time" in their calculations, even in their WARMUPS.
If you don't include Quantity along with Quality, both are more likely to be "lost".

In fact, as a university student (with much more practice time available to me than now), the more I focused on planning out my time, the better my results got!

The best recommendation I can make for a college student: find out what time of day you work best, then SCHEDULE yourself to practice at that same time every day. Whatever other time blocks you can get, great - but get a daily schedule that's *more* than "gee, the whole afternoon is free today, I better go practice."

[Peter Ferretti]

An amendment to my routine: anyone on this board that knows me will undoubtably testify to my ability to time manage. Let's just say that I have issues keeping that schedule daily, but for the most part I get it done.

Also, I go to a school that allows me (dare I say, expects?) to practice along those lines. I have very few classes, and the part of the days that I am not in rehearsal or class, I'm expected to be playing. Every top conservatory or university student will agree. I'm sure that the older (in comparison to us youngins') guys like Kurt and Karl ALL did a routine like this at some point in their lives. At some point, you have to buckle down and do it.

I understand the argument that states that practicing is not about the time you spend it's how you spend it, but how can you really focus on 2 or 3 major solo works, 5 or 6 excerpts, and still build your technique without spending that amount of time. I have trained myself to be able to be able to focus for 90 min intervals, so that also helps. Doing twelve 30 minute cycles seems way to time consuming for me, which is what you would have to do in order to keep your practicing within 30-40 min periods.

[Mike Saville]

I should clarify. If you want to get somewhere with your playing then you will need to put in the hours - but this should be because your aims and goals require time to be put into achieving what you want.

I still maintain that targets and not time should be the arbiter of practice.

I would also question anyone that says they have 'trained' themselves to concentrate for 90 mins. There have been numerous scientific studies on attention spans. If you can indeed manage 90 mins then good luck to you - however the norm is 30-40 mins which is why I recommend this as a good length for a session. Also bear in mind that you only need a short break (say 5/10 mins) before you are ready to go back to full concentration.

I'll watch with interest to see how this debate develops

[Peter Ferretti]

Ok that's a little different. 90 minutes is assuming that you take time every once in a while to analyze what your doing wrong, listen back to the tapes you should be making of yourself regularly, etc. NOT 90 mins of straight PLAYING. 90 minutes of straight PRACTICING. There should be a noted difference.


And come on, you can focus for 90 minutes straight. Classes usually are around that long. It's the same concept.

[Alex Jenkins]

I agree with Peter about the amount of work to the amount of time that you put in. I was just saying that a lot of times people don't practice correctly, myself included, and during your practicing it's important to focus on the quality of your practice, not just the block of time.

Also - from what I have heard, the brain can focus, if trained, for 90 minutes straight. Usually what I do when I practice - I'll go 50 minutes and take a ten minute break, or go an hour with a 15 minute break.

[MDEbass]

usually i try to shoot for about 5 hours a day...

30 min...scales, arpeggios, varried bowings and excercises

30 min...etude

90 min...orchestral rep. (broken up into two 45 mins)

90 min.... solo rep. (broken up into two 45 mins)

60 min...transcription

[maladjusted]

What do most of you here do for a living? I ask because an average work day for me is around 10 hours, not including commute. So when I get home I am exhausted. I do however still practice at least 45 minutes a day. However on certain days I am so beat that I might just do a few scales or play the solo I am currently learning just once or twice; mainly to stay somewhat fresh.

I have set a goal for myself which is to audition for a community orchestra next August. I just wonder if I need to amp up my practice routine. I just signed up for some classes with a teacher and hope he will also be able to advise me.

I have been playing bass and taking lessons on and off for the last 5 or so years. With my work load tapering off and my life normalizing I plan to really put in an effort and achieve that goal. I have played in orchestras before so I do have some experience.

Anyways, I am rambling on.

[MDEbass]

I'm a student, so depending on how much homework/studying i have, i probably have more time to spare than someone who works and has a job

[futurebass77]

I have been playing bass since the 7th grade. Im a senior in high school. I have been taught by several UNT grad students.
-Since being influenced by Bradetich, i do his technique packet for about 15 min.
-Then i practice a scale for 5-10 minutes.
-Dragonetti Full Speed. approximately 4:30
-Orchestral Excerpts 20 min.
3 hour break

_repeat.

I try not to go through 5 hour practice sessions a day because the next day will be horribly annoying to practice again. I do 2 hours a day at the most just to keep myself interested in bass.