Time-crunch vs. long-term practicing

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My approach to practicing has to adapt to deadlines. Sometimes the deadlines come up fast, and there isn’t time to make everything as perfect as I would like. Other times I have plenty of preparation time and want to make the best use of it.

Suppose the music I’m working on has one or two especially challenging spots, and I know I could put many hours into trying to perfect them. If I get bogged down trying to make those couple of spots perfect on a tight deadline, I might fail to adequately prepare the rest. It’s a better strategy to make sure I’m ready to play 98% of the music at tempo, make a reasonable effort with the remaining 2%, and hope for the best.

But if I have plenty of time to prepare, that approach can backfire. Getting the 2% “good enough” early in the process may mean compromises that I have to undo later. I’ll have a better final result if I’m not in a hurry to bring the tough spots up to standard. Instead, I give them time to settle deeply into muscle memory before pushing the tempo. I practice difficult spots for a few minutes every day, instead of cramming.

Think carefully about your practice approach, and adapt as needed. Good luck!

Local vs. big-picture dynamics

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An important part of interpreting music is figuring out how to use dynamic markings. They aren’t as simple as just playing louder or softer. It helps a lot to understand the difference between what I call local dynamics and big-picture dynamics. Unfortunately, they are marked in sheet music using the same symbols, so it’s not … Read more

Playing issues vs. reading issues

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Sometimes when I struggle with a musical passage it’s because I can’t quite play it—maybe my fingers or tongue won’t move quite fast enough yet, or there’s a difficult slur or interval leap that I’m still mastering. The solution is methodical practice, which of course takes significant time and effort. But there’s an additional set … Read more

Favorite blog posts, April 2019

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Jennifer Stucki, oboist: Why is my Reed Playing Sharp and Flat? Rachel Yoder, clarinet: Objective Language in Applied Music Instruction Just Flutes Blog (Roderick Seed): Tips on Andersen Etudes: Op15, No. 3 Sam Newsome’s Blogsite: Soprano Sax Talk: Acute and Chronic Practicing Bassoon Blog (Betsy Sturdevant): Contrabassoon for Dummies The Flute Examiner (Kelly Wilson): 11 … Read more

Why my college band chair placements ended up not mattering a bit

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Looking back now, having those particular chairs in those particular semesters seems very unimportant, but my growth during those years laid the groundwork for two graduate degrees and a life in playing and teaching music.

Fix fixable problems now

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Just about every day I have a student show up for a lesson with an etude or repertoire movement they have been working on for a week or more, and there are little, silly problems that haven’t been fixed: A spot where a fingering choice needs to be made, but hasn’t. A page turn in … Read more

Favorite blog posts, March 2019

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Hand-picked high-quality woodwind-related blog posts from around the web, March 2019 edition.

Thinking through scales

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My university woodwind students have to pass a scale exam as one of the requirements to progress in their degree program. They have to be able to play major scales and three forms of minor scales, plus arpeggios, through the “full range” of the instrument, from memory. Many of my students learned their major scales … Read more

Does woodwind doubling prevent you from being the “best?”

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My recent post about woodwind doubling has been cited lately on various social media sites to fuel discussions over whether doubling is a good or acceptable pursuit. Many of those arguing that woodwind doubling is a bad idea raise the issue that the “best” players of such-and-such instrument don’t double, and you can’t be the … Read more