Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 4:16 pm
fundamentals and a wide array of orchestral exerpts
This is not a problem with my current teacher, but as I look at my other student colleagues, and remember my old instructors, they never discussed HOW to practice. They always said "you should practice this, this, and this." I would take two hours to go over the easy parts and never practice the hard parts, get hammered once more in a lesson, and hear "I don't think you practiced this enough."
I am really inquisitive so I found out everything I could about HOW to practice while I was in high school, but most of my students (when they first come to me), and some of my college friends don't. They just say "I haven't practiced this in a while. Maybe I should fumble through it for 2 hours..."
All my students who use practice sheets and practice how I suggest, make music and first chairs...the other ones, don't. I think that the sooner a student knows HOW to practice the more fun it become, which makes them want to get better (i.e. work on fundamentals to play that really hard part...), while doing it in less time. It also makes it easier on me. The students who are having fun, push themselves, and find ways to get better on their own. I only get them a few minutes, once a week, and there's no way I can tell them how to do EVERYTHING. I just try to find their weaknesses and steer them in the right direction.
Once I followed that philosophy, everything else came together. I'm not even close to having the success I want with the tuba, but I have a plan to get there, and hopefully it works.
Just my experiences