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I've been doing some work developing my routine and really trying to organize my time properly while I practice to make the most of the time I spend in the practice room. I was wondering how everyone else organizes their time; how many sessions do you do, what categories do you divide things into, what etudes do you use, etc. Anything you can think of that might be useful. I'm just trying to find as many ideas as I can at this point.

~Ian

I usually start out with some warm up type thing that varies from day to day, depending on my mood or what I feel I need to work on. Sometimes I revert back to buzzing if things aren't going well (if I don't feel that notes are centering, or I just feel crappy) So here are the things I usually do for warm up:

*10-15 minutes of buzzing. Usually I start on F below the staff and gliss/smoothly transition to the C below. I continue this chromatically down to the limits of my low range buzzing. This is done with a piano as a aural aid. Recently it has become a challenge to do this because of piano access problems when I practice.

*I was really into the remington warm-up book for a while and would do execrcises from it every day. I then got bored of it and haven't looked at it for months. It contains lots of good stuff that helps get your lips moving in a productive fashion.

*Lip Slurs 10-20 minutes. I like the Bai-lin lip slur book. I think it can be gotten from Southern Music. Its originally a trumpet book, but the exercises are very easily transferred, since they are just patterns.

*"Page one" and "Beautiful Sound Study" 10 minutes or so. These are exercises provided to me by several teachers. I don't have them in front of me and get them easily confused so I won't try to explain them. You can get these exercises as well as a VERY good warm-up routine cobbled together from information passed around the tuba world for years in a Sheridan/pilafian book called The Brass Gym. I would recommend it despite its relatively high price tag.

I don't do all of these things every day. I get bored really easily so I try to mix things up and work on different things from day to day.

After that, I always work on a Snedecor etude or two. If I plan on working Prokofiev 5 that day, I play through the one at the back that is derived from it. These exercises are indispensible in the tuba player's library. They are hard and are great low range builders. They contain notes that even many college students do not see in print often enough.

If I am not feeling the Snedecors or am particularly ambitious on a particular day, I will play some Rochuts down two octaves.

Then I will either work on solos or excerpts. When I had access to an F tuba I would switch tubas and usually play Snedecor exercise 4 and become incredibly frustrated. After that I would progress to technique and solo work.

Arbans usually comes in at this point, along with scales. Sometimes I play a little out of the Kopprasch or Blazhevich book.

After this, solos definitely come out and I work those for as long as I feel necessary to complete a particular goal.

I try to end the session with long tones played with a reference pitch.

It is important to break up your practice sessions in a way that feels natural to you. Everyone has a different attention span and can handle a different amount of concentration. I would recommend breaking up long sessions into 20 minute intervals. Play for twenty minutes, go get a drink of water/clear your head, and then get back into it. This really helps you stay focused and not waste your time. If you get angry or frustrated, put down the horn and breathe for a while. Don't play through the anger or you may develop strong negative mental associations with playing. Also, anger and frustration breeds tension, so do some breathing exercises to get rid of it. Reset your brain and come at the problem from a different approach.

Make specific goals for yourself and your practice. This will help you organize your sessions and practice efficiently and intelligently. Pick a number of measures that you want to nail before you quit for the day. This will help you direct everything for that day toward that goal-specific warm ups, etudes, and breathing exercises can help you achieve your goal.

Always try to end your practice with a positive feeling. This is not always possible, but if you're really dogging it and feel terrible about your playing, play something fun that doesn't matter and goof off for a minute. It will remind you why you play through all your seriousness.

This is what I give out to freshmen each year (and remind the rest of the studio of it, too....) It's not the "end all be all" but it's a good place to start.

Practice Blueprint
*subject to change, as you develop
No less than 3 practice times per day, typically 45 min. sessions.

Gather all your materials/Clear your mind (breathe)

Daily Routine 2 times complete per day
Long tones (including pedals) 7-10 min.
breathe
Scales (single tongue) 4 per day 5 min.
Lip Slurs 7-10 min.
breathe
3/2 etude 4 min.
“Turn” Exercise (3 low/3 high) 3 min.
breathe
Finger Buster/Clarke Study 5 min.
Arban Chromatic Studies 5 min.
Total 35-40 min.

Technique work
In AsKew Technique book:
1 minute for each “cell” type, per register 12min.x 3 registers
Total 36 min.

Ensemble Music
On a regular basis, work through all
problem spots; then play through complete
concerts at least twice a week. (count all
rests, etc. see what it “feels” like.
Total 20 min.


Style Books
Rochut/Tyrell/Blazhevich, etc.
Minimum of 15 minutes per book, per day. Total 30-45 min.


Solo (if applicable)
No less than 15 min. per practice session ` Total 30-45 min.

Total, depending upon number of books/solo, etc. Grand total: 2 hours +

Use breathing bag between each different exercise. (long tones/breathe/scales/breathe/etc.)

Pay attention to the concept of delineation. Don’t work on too many things simultaneously. Concentrate on only one aspect at a time. (dynamics/articulation, etc.)

adam0408 had some great advice...

The real thing is that you don't try to hurry through a warm-up (if you have the time )

And don't do exactly the same thing every day...boredom will likely reduce your warm-up time, which will result in sloppy warm-ups...and could the cause a backfire in establishing good tone and such for the day.

Always progress from simple to more complex, and always work throughout the WHOLE warm-up on establishing how you want to sound. Don't let your sound concept slip.

Just a few lines of advice since I'm sure you'll get a HUGE amount of responses.

What I do?? (without getting too specific)

1) Buzz
2) long tones
3) Legato tonguing
4) Slurring
5) tonguing
(4 and 5 are usually done in a variety of scales, etc)
6) play through a short etude, or look through the Arban book and find a good thing that will be a warm-up and also be something I wanna focus on that particular session.
7) play through any number of exercises I feel I want to work on
work on the material for the day.

9) go get a beer
10) sleep

1. After 5 minutes of mouthpiece buzzing, I.......Oh, no...I forgot to practice today...later!

Not the end all be all but here is something I used for audition and solo prep.

Build the audition book first with the slurps.

Devote 15 minutes to each page. When the time is up stop and move to the next page regardless. If time is not up and the page is "perfect" then work on it anyways. It ain't "perfect" yet.

Daily goal is to get through EVERY page by the end of the day using this method. Usually takes about 4-5 hours to get through an audition book. If you run out of daylight then pick up on the next page the following day and keep up the cycle.

For solos devote 30 minutes per page. Same premise. Stick to the clock and the page assigned during that block. Don't spend extra time and don't turn the page early. Spend "extra" time discovering the music on that page.

The point of all this is to ensure you get balanced coverage of the material. There is a tendency for people to gloss over the "easier" stuff and to overanalyze the "harder" stuff. This really shows on tunes where the second movement sounds like it is being sight read. Or auditions where Fountains sounds pretty good but Mahler 1 goes nowhere slow.

What this timed method also does is keep you mentally focused. If time seems too short for that fast page then you work with more intensity to work out the kinks in the allotted time. If time seems too long then you start to look at the music from new fresh angles. Also by spending an allotted time and then moving on you don't get fried by going 45 minutes just on the cadenza. Spending so much time on one piece of music means your mind will start to wander and instead of 45 minutes of intense work you end up with maybe 25-30 minutes of productive work and the rest in recovery.

The first session in the morning should reestablish excellent habits and sound along with other fundamentals. Long tones, intonation, beauty of reverberant sound, flexibility, articulation, etc.

Other sessions during the day not devoted to the audition book or solo book should be spent on interpretive music such as etudes chosen with the purpose of addressing issues brought up during the timed book practice. If Prokofiev 5 is not gelling then do some Snedecor. If Hungarian March is the issue than maybe some Arbans on the F tuba.

Play with a purpose instead of just punching the clock.

Bob1062 wrote:1.
Play tuba. Drink beer.

2.
Play bass trombone. Drink beer.

3.
Think about playing euphonium. Drink beer.

Your assimilation is complete; you have been assimilated. People will start thinking of you as a bona fide member of the Tubenet Freak Jury, but be warned: this is not a compliment.

Rick "thinking the practice routines described above explain my status as a second-rate amateur" Denney