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Should you practice every day you can untill your lips get tired, practice every day you can and stop before your lips get tired, or practice every day but take a day off once or twice a week?
In other words, what is your practice schedule?

The occasional (stress occasional) day off does wonders for your chops, if you maintain a vigorous practice schedule.

I would suggest practicing as many 45 minute sessions as possible in the day (with 15-30 minutes minimum in between each). And don't let 12 hours go by without practicing at least 15 minutes. I have always had the best results when I have adhered to this schedule.

Scott Sutherland wrote:I would suggest practicing as many 45 minute sessions as possible in the day (with 15-30 minutes minimum in between each). And don't let 12 hours go by without practicing at least 15 minutes. I have always had the best results when I have adhered to this schedule.

second that one

jbaylies wrote:untill your lips get tired

If your lips are getting tired, you are either not practicing enough, or in too long sessions at a time.

I try to practice at least one hour every day, just occasionally (maybe once, or twice a month) missing a day due to other commitments.

I usually don't time myself. I practice as long as it takes to get what I need done. That can be anywhere from half an hour to six hours. If I get mentally or physically exhausted, I quit for the time being, coming back to the horn at a later time. To add diversity, I will alternate instruments in the shed, usually between euph and electric and upright basses.

Nick

I've always been taught to stop when the chops get tired. Continuing to practice can lead to bad habits like too much pressure, throat constriction, etc. Coming back after a break, even the same day, improves endurance. But you should stop after you get tired again, which won't be long!

If you regularly need a lot of endurance (I regularly play 2.5 hour rehearsals in the brass band, which aren't the same as an orchestra rehearsal), it's generally not a good idea to miss a day but the old adage, "Skip a day and only you notice, skip two days and your teacher notices, skip three days and EVERYBODY notices" rings true.

Being focused and concentrating on the task at hand is also important. Sometimes, after a day at work, I'm mentally tired too but I know I have to get the horn-to-face time in. So I'll just do exercises that I know and that keep me limber. If I have to work on new music, I keep those sessions short.

Like physical exercise, I find the toughest part about practicing to be actually getting there and picking up the horn. Once I'm there and I've picked up the horn, the rest is comparatively easy.

After I studied with Ebbers, I realized I didn't need to worry about what my lips are doing. My lips never got tired after I left that frame of mind. A few years ago, I even played lead trombone for two hours a day just before playing euphonium. I was usually never lower than the F above the staff for those rehearsals (you can tell by the fact that I wasn't great at anything further out than fourth position). I took weekends off, because I played brass instruments around eight hours a day during the week and wanted a break from my horns during that time, and my fingers hurt from playing so much bass. It never affected my playing.

Further, I just picked up the euph last week for the first time in six months. I didn't lose my sound at all. I believe that's because I don't worry about what my lips are doing. Remember, play by sound rather than by feel.

Do keep in mind however, that, like exercise, they tell you to vary your activities. Same most definately holds true in playing tuba.

If you went to the gym and bench-pressed 250 lbs every day for 2 weeks, well.... you'd be lucky if you make it. You have to start off, first at lighter weights and add to it, and secondly, you have to give a day off here or there for your muscles to recover and grow stronger for the next time you lift weight.

SO, a varied schedule of aerobic exercise one day, and weight-lifting the next, or something of the sort works. Add in stretching every day too!

Change this over to tuba terms now. You'll probably want to pick some activities that you do every day, no matter what. These will probably be your long tones and flexibility type stuff. Certain days you practice, you may go for the whole she-bang and work on all technical aspects of playing, and all of your literature/etudes/excerpts. Other days, you may only focus on a couple of weak areas in your playing.

I've always felt that if I take a day off every 5 days, that my playing improves the most. Any more, or any less is less effective. But, that's just me. You have to find what works best for you.

AND... I also second the short 45 minute blocks thing mentioned above.

The almost college graduate has spoken.

tubashaman wrote:Your lips are a muscle, as in athletics or dieting, skipping a day can hurt, so try to practice everyday till you get everything done

Not necessarily so. Endurance atheletes will alternate "hard days" and "easy days" to allow muscles to recover from a hard workout. Skipping a day can be the best thing an athelete can do to avoid overtraining.

I can't tell you how this information applies to tuba practice time and schedule. But the above comment does not present a completely accurate analogy.

Cheers,

Eupher6 wrote: Like physical exercise, I find the toughest part about practicing to be actually getting there and picking up the horn. Once I'm there and I've picked up the horn, the rest is comparatively easy.

This is something I have told my students for many years. Believe it or not, I suggest to them that they should promise themselves that they will practice 5 minutes per day. If they don't want to continue after that, they can put the instrument away. Once they take the instrument out, they will usually practice much longer than 5 minutes. I call it "The Five Minute Rule."

Take one day a week off from practicing - the principle is even Biblical. Six days of practice per week is enough for anyone. I have been playing for 34 years now, and it works.

You don't send an underconditioned athlete out to play, but you definitely don't want your players to injure themselves overextending their physical capabilities.

Internationally acclaimed (and soon to be legendary) basketball player Lebron James recently scored 48 points in one game. After the game, they put him on an IV to make sure he doesn't crap out before game 6 because he played really hard that night.

tubashaman wrote:
I might not be 6 valves, but i know enough about tuba to make it around here.

How will you make it on your own?
This world is awfully big, girl this time you're all alone
But it's time you started living
It's time you let someone else do some giving!


Tubenet hierarchy: the true measure of a man

This has gotten ugly. Boo to that.

It just seems like to me that some practice habits work well with some and not so much with others. There is no set way to practice that is the only right way. The trick is, find out what works best for you, try some of the stuff that has been said, mix and match them, see what fits not only into your schedule, but works best for your chops. If you have a set schedule for a few weeks and you find yourself able to do more, than do more, if you think it's too much, ease up a little, either by taking a day off, or shortening your daily amounts. Just find what works for you. Bottom line...don't lose sight of what you're trying to accomplish...

I've always liked what Sinichi Suzuki said about practicing:
"You don't have to practice every day - just on the days that you eat."

That being said, my take is that missing an occasional day every couple of weeks isn't such a bad thing, and maybe slacking off to 30 minutes of practice the day before a recital is a good idea (assuming you're in shape for the recital!), but I buy into the "athletic" aspect of practicing in that those oxifacial muscles atrophy REALLY fast... and, of course, beating them up by trying to cram three or four day's worth of practice into one is just as bad.

I suppose most of the Tubenetters that have posted here are professionals (I´d call a student of music a pro, too, since these professionally acquire the skills needed to earn a living as a musician).
I´m not in a position where I can practise every day. I do try to at least keep in shape. I do experience immediate and great leaps in response, tonal quality etc. when I get to seriously practise on several consecutive days. A music teacher I know told me he can tell his shape by the time his face needs to recover from fatigue.

But how about this:
On days off the horn, You might devote some time on breathing studies. Go swimming or working out. Your diaphragm won´t have to work as hard if it doesn´t have to work against a massive belly just to inhale. Read musicians´ or componists´ biographies Search the internet or library on facts behind the pieces that are in your present practise folder.
Use your brain for something different for a change (i.e. non-musical). It needs recovery time, as well.
You may not have worked on your horn, but you WILL have done something useful for your shape, knowledge, or simply your level of wellbeing. Sounds like part of professionality to me.