Improved buzz and practicing efficiently

[WoodSheddin]

Have him set SPECIFIC goals for specific times dureing his practice. IE: First 10 min, work on first phrase in solo. Next 10, get Prokofiev clean, etc... The more specific the goal, the better.

That way, he is maximizing his time instead of saying, "Well, I'm going to work on sounding good today, so I'm going to play a lot of Kopprasch."

That also works well for me when I have a large amount of material to work on. I have a tendency to dwell too long on one particular section or weakness and end up not ever getting to other parts. I used 15 minute blocks per page of audition material with the goal of hitting every page at least once per day.

Do the same thing for solo material. Maybe 20 minutes per page. If you are working on very technical material which can't be sight read at a performance level then do the same timed intervals but also incoorporate SLOW steady metronome work on each page for a few weeks before clicking the tempo up SLOWLY. By the time you get up to full tempo in practice, perhaps 3-5 weeks/months or more, then the tune will be flawless and you will also have discovered phrasing and other musical ideas along the way that you would not have found if you were wasting all your mental resources just trying to survive the fast notes while hacking away at full speed for weeks. You will experience real growth instead of ending up right where you started and frustrated.

[EQueg]

You might have him check out Palafian's Breathing Gym, also the post that Steve Inman referenced and Roger Lewis posted concerning the spit valve routine sounds promising and efficient(only 2 min. a day) but I haven't tried it yet. Also if he doesnt already tell him to record himself as often as possible. That will give him a direct source of feedback and a record of his own progress. In my experience there is no substitute for time in the practice room, however the more I do it(practicing) the better I get at it. Arnold Jacobs said that the body will do what is most effiecint eventually so even if you are not doing something perfectly the more you do it the better your body aclimates to what you want it to be doing. Of course I'm no Arnold Jacobs and I could sure do everything that I do alot better than I actually do it. Hope this is somewhat helpfull. Oh also make sure he's practicing consitantly, I'm sure you know this but 15 min a day is better than 2 hrs once a week.