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Double Bass Practicing technique for non professional/amateur

E

Enzo

Guest
Feb 5, 2007
57
0
Sydney
#1
Hi - what would you recommend a practice routine look like for an amateur, where amount of practice time is limited to say 1 hour/day? I looked at the other threads but there are just too many aspects to cover in 1 hour. My objective is to improve both orchestral reading and technique (big ask!) So I've come up with:

5m warm up - long/short bows, with metronome
20m - Specific technique exercises - Simandl, scales, arpeggios BUT limited to 1 key / day, over 2 octaves
30m - Orchestral reading, at VERY SLOW speed, say 60bpm, with focus on intonation
5m - Specific exercises (viz. cross strings)

Does this sound reasonable?

Thank you
 
#5
This is a very good question to ask, but difficult to answer since the internet doesn't know your playing as well as your teacher does. :)
Somewhere around here there is a thread that says the answer to every question on TB is: "GET A TEACHER!" lol!

Sorry! :smug:

With any practice routine one must always favor quality over quantity. If all you have is an hour a day you must make sure that you do everything in your power to maintain your focus and minimize distractions.

That said, I have two recommendations.

1- I'd suggest more time for long bows. Double it at the very least.

2- Really getting the best out of your reading time will be very difficult if you are alone. It is very common for people to slow down when the reading gets hard, and speed up when it's easy (even with a metronome!)...there are many other pitfalls as well. Video or audio taping your rehearsal can go a long way towards helping you maximize that time and effort.
Warning- It might be pretty painful to watch and or listen to...but I promise it will help a LOT!!!

Good luck!

Joe
 
#7
That's why we have teachers after all (me included), to help us with what we don't know or understand! :)

I'm sure she will appreciate you taking the initiative, and it never hurts to get more opinions and suggestions.

Your teacher most likely knows your playing better than you do, so no one is in a better position to help you than she is.

In music school I was lucky enough to attend a master class with classical guitar virtuoso Benjamin Verdery, and he gave us a very interesting thought to consider regarding our student teacher relationships which I will paraphrase:
"You don't pay your teacher with money- you reserve your teachers time with money. The way you really pay your teacher is by working hard, actually learning what they are trying to teach you, and by doing well!"

Good luck!

Joe
 
#8
Enzo happy to meet you man, how the thing going in Sidney? In my opinion everyone should have a schedule to keep them self well, just like sports, but I think it will be better if you have a small program recap that you can use to review the main knowledge including technique and harmony, that don't take more than 40 minutes, a sort of "warmup recap" and than focus to study new things. This is a thing I suggest to my students and usually is a thing that work pretty good!
Cheers. Enrico
YouTube
WebSite
 
#9
Remember too that you can do a lot of practicing in the form of listening too - certainly for musical interpretation and ear training, but also in the form of visualization for technique. This is particularly helpful if you don't have a lot of time on the instrument but have to commute a couple of times a day that will give you that much more practice time. (if you have a smart phone and a data plan, you tube might prove to be useful after all, haha)
 

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