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I was wondering what is a good practicing routine? I have one but I feel like it is not efficient enough because I do not see progress. By progress I mean like going through etudes and music in general.

What got me to make my best progress was drum & bugle corps.

Why? Because we spent more time on fundamentals than I ever had before. Phrasing, scales, breath support, posture, and just basic tone production.

Different story:

I was at a jazz clinic that featured Arturo Sandoval. One of the questions from the audience was, "What book do you recommend for a student who..."
Arturo quickly interrupted, "Arban's."
".. But what about a younger stu..."
"Arban's," reiterated Arturo, getting closer to his microphone. "It has everything you need."

bloke wrote: - ... hear myself...

And for this, recording practice and evaluating the recordings is enormously beneficial in developing the skill of hearing oneself realistically.

Arnold Jacobs recommended that one should spend about 40% of your practice time on the fundamental aspects of playing (long tomes, scales, arpeggios, legato, tonguing, etc.), and about 60% of your time on playing music such as etudes or solos.

In general, however, he first wanted the student to focus on always creating their finest quality of tone. They would be told to start in the "norms." That is, the middle register at a middle dynamic where it is easiest to make a beautiful sound. Then, the student should strive to transfer these good qualities to the extremes in terms of range and dynamics. This is done slowly over time.

When practicing fundamentals, he recommended that the student always strive to make music. Don't just play long tones or scales by rote. Instead, challenge yourself to imagine the long tone or scale is from a piece of music by a great composer like Mozart.

In other words, as Bud Herseth used to say, "Never practice, always perform." Every note you play should always be your absolute best.

If a passage it tricky or too fast, slow it down; if it's too high, play it down an octave (or up an octave if its too low). Work things out slowly and then gradually make it more difficult by increasing the tempo or playing it in the correct octave.

Finally, when learning a piece of music, you must play it correctly more times than you play it wrong or you are actually teaching yourself to play it wrong. It is human nature to play a phrase five times, making a mistake each time. Then, on the sixth time, we play it right and think "Now I've got it" and go on. No, you have to play it right five more times (at least) to offset all of the times you made a mistake.

This is why Herseth said that slow practice was his secret. He would say to himself "You have to play it so slowly that not even YOU can mess it up." He said he practiced more slowly than anyone he knew, and that was his secret.

You don't mention anything about your age or how long you have been playing, so it is difficult to recommend method books for you. Just realize that Mr. Jacobs was a strong advocate of playing music written for instruments other than tuba. In his opinion, much of the available literature for the tuba was accompanying in nature and led to the development of a lesser musician, so we need to seek out more challenging music so that we can fully develop our musical capabilities.

Mr. Jacobs had his students working out of the Arban Method (trumpet version), Kopprasch, Schlossberg, Walter Smith's Top Tones for the Trumpet, and the two volumes by Max Pottag (often referred to as the Red Book and the Blue Book).

All methods aside, the biggest thing is to step out of your comfort zone and always work on the things you're bad at and afraid of. You can't let the fear of sounding bad mess up any progress you could possibly be making. As a good friend of mine once said when I was afraid to mess up, "[it's almost like] you're afraid to sound good."

k001k47 wrote:All methods aside, the biggest thing is to step out of your comfort zone and always work on the things you're bad at and afraid of. You can't let the fear of sounding bad mess up any progress you could possibly be making. As a good friend of mine once said when I was afraid to mess up, "[it's almost like] you're afraid to sound good."

This is good advice. I heard a story about a player who took a lesson with Warren Deck to help him prepare for an audition. When he got to the lesson, he asked Warren what he wanted to hear him play. Warren said "Which excerpt would you least like to be asked to play at the audition?" And that's what they worked on.

Warren did a weekend of master classes and clinics at IU when I was a grad student there. He said that the guys who end up getting jobs were the ones that were completely honest with themselves. They figured out what their weaknesses were and they fixed them.

Everyone plays for fun, that much we all know. And I completely agree with bloke and stryk. Practice what you don't know first. It may not be as enjoyable in the beginning ( all of us have our favorites ) but the result is the sense of accomplishment being able to enjoy playing the "new" music.

I'm having to re-learn that as well after being away from playing for way too many years, so you're never to old to learn ( or re-learn, for that matter )!

I find myself working on TONE more than anything else. I am playing in a local community band which is fun and challenging. My horn is the HARDEST to play tuba I have ever had the pleasure to play. It is a very open playing horn, so I have to be right on pitch with my lips before I can play the proper note without floundering in between pitches. This horn MAKES me sound better because I cannot fudge things and have the horn "do the slotting" for me. That said, I am more pleased with my tone with this horn than any other I have owned/played, and I have found by using this horn it makes all other horns much easier to play too.

Well said, bloke! I agree with that. But human nature is avoid the things that we do not enjoy, myself included.

I always critiqued my own playing, and tell myself " Geez, that sucked!" The next practice session would be to work on improvement, starting with the fundamentals that support that improvement.

Good God. I just turned 70 on Sunday and still am compelled to practice several hours each day. Besides trying to keep all my skills from slipping down the drain of old age, there are still, believe it or not, a number of things I just never felt I had a handle on. Sorry, but I will not confess to the world what they are. But the challenge is ongoing. I remember dear ol' Harvey once saying,"remember what it was that made you good and keep doing it." Fundamentals from scales, tonguing, lip slurs etc, etc I believe need continual reinforcement. And... in doing so you may just realize that some of those skills are not quite on the mark. Very frequently it dawns on me what Arnold Jacobs was trying to tell me back in the 70s. Those who studied with him likely have the same issue, that it took often times 10, 20 or 30 years for his wisdom to sink in. Then the light bulb begins to glow. But when you give up serious and "systematic"practice, it seems as though that quest to really "get it right kind" of dissipates into the air and we are left with becoming...well... not quite THE inspired musician. I also feel that practicing becomes a bit more charged with purpose and enthusiasm when we surround ourselves with truly GREAT players and become challenge to reach that level. I feel lucky and privileged in that my wife and I make our home open to the young and virtuosic principal tuba of the Minnesota Opera. When he practices in our dining room with its 14 foot ceilings it is an inspiration for me. While he lives with us for the time of the opera, my playing becomes ... well ... at a new level. I hear his model and emulate it. Usually after a few weeks after his departure, I begin to return to my former self. Not bad, but god I feel that when I have THAT incredible sound in my craw I tend to send it back out in my own horn. So I keep practicing, but always with that inner sound in my mind that I am trying to produce. There are times when I feel that I am again 25 years old and ready to kick the butt of the world. Just saying. There is always something to work towards.