Double Bass New methods for practicing in general

[oldNewbie]

There are modern and very recent guides for improvement and methods of practice which combine both the neurology of learning , research into practice in other disciplines and application to music.
Personally, I got stuck a couple years ago with daily practice, was sitting down and practicing every day but not improving much. Getting into a good community orchestra last year brought many of my shortcomings into focus, but fixing them required adopting a consistent routine to identify and address problems constantly. It's also made playing more enjoyable because the music sounds better. The following have been very helpful to me, hope you all find these useful.

Molly Gebrian
website and book Learn Faster, Perform Better: A Musician’s Guide to the Neuroscience of Practicing
Diego Alonso
Classical guitar teacher but YT channel has excellent short videos on effective practice
Brainjo academy
A neurologist takes up banjo and playing Americana in med school , realized standard teaching methods don't align with learning science. This method focuses on listening and playing rather than discussing abstractions. “here’s a day-to-day practice guide to learn and remember the songs you’ll need for jams” and other topics.

These three say some of the same things because the research is consistent, but have different goals. Gebrian’s method is the broadest and most directly applicable to doublebass , but the others have excellent insights, and I found that applying them on my own was worthwhile too.

Gebrian's website includes a pdf outlining the methods in the book to keep on your music stand. One the website, on the top menu , Music and the Brain -. look for My Book and the link to Appendix A

HTH

 

[tonym]

This is great information. Very interesting. Appreciate you posting.

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

I watched her three vid youtube basic intro on this just yesterday.
About 10-12 mins each.
For anyone interested, watch those for an overview, they're cool.

 

[damonsmith]

Brainjo academy
A neurologist takes up banjo and playing Americana in med school , realized standard teaching methods don't align with learning science. This method focuses on listening and playing rather than discussing abstractions. “here’s a day-to-day practice guide to learn and remember the songs you’ll need for jams” and other topics.

I wouldn't consider this practice at all. This is about style and rep. which we all need. However, we need to wary of interfacing with our favorite music instead of more focused technical work. This the danger of considering transcription practice. We also need be wary of playing disguised as practice.

Practice needs to focus on the mind/body/instrument relationships that either get atrophied in the process of playing or that playing just doesn't give us.
We would all rather practice than play. If playing actually worked as an efficient method to get better at the instrument then practice would not even be a thing.

 

[AGCurry]

We would all rather practice than play.

I think you meant the opposite?

 

[damonsmith]

I think you meant the opposite?

Yes, exactly.

 

[jj.833]

In the Gebrian Music and the Brain section, there's PDF Appendix to download with specific, plain and smart practising guidelines. I use most of these tricks and it took me many years to find them. Some are completely new to me. @oldNewbie thanks for the link, this is great!

 

[Alexis Duntov]

There are modern and very recent guides for improvement and methods of practice which combine both the neurology of learning , research into practice in other disciplines and application to music.
Personally, I got stuck a couple years ago with daily practice, was sitting down and practicing every day but not improving much. Getting into a good community orchestra last year brought many of my shortcomings into focus, but fixing them required adopting a consistent routine to identify and address problems constantly. It's also made playing more enjoyable because the music sounds better. The following have been very helpful to me, hope you all find these useful.

Molly Gebrian
website and book Learn Faster, Perform Better: A Musician’s Guide to the Neuroscience of Practicing
Diego Alonso
Classical guitar teacher but YT channel has excellent short videos on effective practice
Brainjo academy
A neurologist takes up banjo and playing Americana in med school , realized standard teaching methods don't align with learning science. This method focuses on listening and playing rather than discussing abstractions. “here’s a day-to-day practice guide to learn and remember the songs you’ll need for jams” and other topics.

These three say some of the same things because the research is consistent, but have different goals. Gebrian’s method is the broadest and most directly applicable to doublebass , but the others have excellent insights, and I found that applying them on my own was worthwhile too.

Gebrian's website includes a pdf outlining the methods in the book to keep on your music stand. One the website, on the top menu , Music and the Brain -. look for My Book and the link to Appendix A

HTH

Thanks for this. I’m enjoying Molly Gebrian’s content very much.

 

[oldNewbie]

Glad people find it useful . Molly Gebrian has been on the faculties of three universities, now at the New England Conservatory teaching this material.

 

[ragesoss]

I wouldn't consider this practice at all. This is about style and rep. which we all need. However, we need to wary of interfacing with our favorite music instead of more focused technical work. This the danger of considering transcription practice. We also need be wary of playing disguised as practice.

Practice needs to focus on the mind/body/instrument relationships that either get atrophied in the process of playing or that playing just doesn't give us.
We would all rather practice than play. If playing actually worked as an efficient method to get better at the instrument then practice would not even be a thing.

I'm not convinced that practice vs. play is an important distinction. (Tony Rice famously gave the advice on how to get good, something like "play all the time; don't practice too much." He also said he got to the point, in the middle of his career, where his "practice" was just pushing boundaries and trying new things during performance.)

Could you share how you define practice and play?

My opinion — informed in part by Molly Gebrian's book and other reading — is that if you're getting the right balance of challenge and it requires more or less all of your attention, then that's an efficient method of getting better at what you're doing, whether it's nominally practice or play. If "play" means do something you've done so many times that it bores you, it's not going to help much — but the same is true of "practice".

I know I've gotten a lot better at my instruments through spending lots of time playing them at bluegrass jams. But spending 7 times through a song form trying to get comfortable with the chord changes, keep good time, stay in a groove with the other players, adapt to each soloist in the circle, play with good intonation, etc. ... that sure seems like a form of practice to me. I've also gotten a lot better through time I've spent at home preparing for jams, but I try to bring as much of a spirit of playfulness and exploration to that as I can. (And sometimes I play scale exercises, and sometimes I use a bow and play long tones with a metronome. Those are unambiguously "practice" activities to me, maybe because they are fundamentally un-musical. But even there, I think elements of "play" as in "playing around" to find better ways to play it are essential for making progress.)

Transcription can obviously be good practice for your transcription skills, and if your ear is one of the main things limiting your musicianship — as I know it is for me and the ways I want to play — then it's going to be an efficient way to spend your time. It's mostly separate from developing the muscle memory required to operate an instrument, although there's evidence that at least some muscle memory development can be done through mental practice by visualizing yourself playing. (It's not something I'm very good at, but maybe when I have a better baseline of technique it'll be easier.)

 

[damonsmith]

Could you share how you define practice and play?

As I say above: "Practice needs to focus on the mind/body/instrument relationships that either get atrophied in the process of playing or that playing just doesn't give us." This changes over time.

For the double bass, practice should be arco outside of metronome work. Transcription is great ONLY if it is a weak point. If you are good it, then it amounts to listening to your favorite records when you should be practicing.
It should be etudes but also using your eyes to make sure your physical relationships with the instrument is as efficient and precise as you want it to be. This means looking at your left hand and evaluating it. Do not try to multitask. Practice is about hyper-focus on details - as you say, not always "musical".

 

[damonsmith]

(Tony Rice famously gave the advice on how to get good, something like "play all the time; don't practice too much." He also said he got to the point, in the middle of his career, where his "practice" was just pushing boundaries and trying new things during performance.)

Also, we shouldn't take practice advice from people with frets. A lot of our practice is about building and rebuilding a system that comes stock from the factory on their instruments.

 

[garrett2]

Also, we shouldn't take practice advice from people with frets. A lot of our practice is about building and rebuilding a system that comes stock from the factory on their instruments.

The Molly Gebrian stuff looks fascinating -- ordered the book. Thank you.

Tony Rice didn't have to worry about intonation, although he didn't always play in tune. El Sistema, which is hugely successful with string players, does stress learning through playing repertoire music as opposed to exercises. But even this has its limits -- every bassist can use some Petrrachi.

 

[ragesoss]

Also, we shouldn't take practice advice from people with frets. A lot of our practice is about building and rebuilding a system that comes stock from the factory on their instruments.

Heh! That's one way to look at. I'm working on guitar and dobro as well as bass, so I try to think about the principles of practice in instrument-agnostic ways where possible.

 

[damonsmith]

El Sistema, which is hugely successful with string players, does stress learning through playing repertoire music as opposed to exercises. But even this has its limits -- every bassist can use some Petrrachi.

Right, just because something is "music" doesn't mean it can't be an etude. I have Roscoe Mitchell's "cards" on the stand now for "practice".
These is a huge difference between selecting classical rep. that attacks a specific issue & putting it on the stand in the practice vs. playing your favorite songs or depending on the gigs you play to make you better.
I always have some Bach and "standard" double bass rep. on the stand.