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Twenty minute sessions, DAILY.

Okay to double up on the 20 min. sessions and have two of 'em per day when necessary.

Okay to miss a day now and again.


Attempts to come up with such overall totals like that are useless IMO.

I've never gone to an audition where they asked me my total number of practice hours...


--Mac

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You only get out of your instrument what you put into it.

I tell my students to practice ½ an hour daily. It need not be all at once so two 15 minutes or three 10 minutes is find. Now that is on the weekly instructions that I give them. I also encourage them to play what ever they want after that. I also say that playing what you already know is not a learning experience. Warm up playing what you know then start to practice.

I agree with Mac about the overall totals and the audition statements.


I think my wife has started to show the first signs of dementia.
She said she can't remember what she ever saw in me!

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When I was gigging, would practice at least 30 minutes, usually longer.
Missing a day once in awhile. Also the "Ole" vocals are lot better with
continuous exercise singing.

Did quite a few hours of recording a friend with excellent vocal abilities.
Every time he came over I'd know within minutes that he had not been singing
regularly. Nicely leaned on him, for next time, practice the singing part
for few days before we record.


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I think that there is another, far more important aspect to the practice regimen.

When I recommend those rather short term practice sessions, there is a caveat.

One must first learn HOW to practice.

Repetition in and of itself may not be practicing, in the worst case scenario we might be simply reinforcing a BAD habit rather than working towards eliminating same.

This is what is meant by the old saying that "practice makes perfect but only if practiced perfectly."

That doesn't mean that everything we play when practiced must be played perfectly at all times, for if we could do that, there would be no need to practice.

I think that it means we should learn HOW TO PRACTICE so that we practice "perfectly".

Anyone who has never witnessed real practicing by real musicians in the learning environment might do themselves the favor of inquiring about being able to lurk the practice rooms at local music schools, universities and colleges, and just sit outside and LISTEN.


--Mac

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I have to admit that I've gotten somewhat lazy about practicing. I used to practice about an hour or more per day. Then, you get older, life takes over (job/family, etc) and you feel like you're in a bad place, so to speak.

What I have done in the past "few" years:

When I felt like I had a good original piece in the making, I would just concentrate on that one piece and started practicing the best I could. Since it always is an "original", I am not feeling bad, because it is something "new" to me. Obviously, I would warm up my arthritic fingers with a few runs of something I've done before, but in the end, my practice to record a new original would yield a good result - good, not perfect by any means.

At any rate. That's been me for about the past 10 years.


Cheers,
Mike

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Excellent advice on practicing in "Effortless Mastery" by Kenny Werner

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A long time ago I watched a piece one of the TV news magazines did on Itzhak Perlman where he said he practiced his violin while watching reruns of I Love Lucy - they showed him doing it. That amazed me and this thread made me think of it again. I suppose beyond a certain level with a master like he is practice has a different meaning.

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When a lot younger, practicing in front of the TV during the daytime reruns was rather routine for me, and I noticed that quite a few of the other Performance majors were doing the same thing.

Doing such also yielded the chance to learn to play along with TC themes, Commercial Musics, etc. in between drilling assignments and performance preps. Great monotony reliever as well as ear training, etc. benefits.


--Mac

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According to my audiences a lot more than I am currently, I wonder what they mean by that?

Later,

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