I was taught to sing through my instrument and to voice everything I play when practicing.

What that means is that each new scale should not only be practiced on the instrument, but at the same session, don't play the instrument and sing the scale in any way you can, paying attention to intonation, proper intervals, in other words using what you just played on the instrument as the guide to sing the same.

This is a very efficient approach, as it not only trains the ears, it will really help you to internalize the scales, exercises, characteristic studies, etudes, whatever is in your practice regimen, while at the same time impressing the use of the diatonic relationships, dynamics (because dynamics happen rather naturally when singing), culminating in the ability to actually sing through your chosen instrument while performing.

The voice was first. Then came the various melodic instruments, and every one of them is an attempt to emulate the human voice.

The other factor is more rhythmic in nature, and that is the DANCE. Again the same things apply, endeavor to dance your way through those scale studies, which always involves keeping steady time no matter what you are actually attempting to play.

And don't try to do too much at once. It is far more important to practice one thing correctly and nail it than it is to try to practice a whole lot of things in an effort to "get there faster". The reality is that the proper learning of that one thing, always striving towards performance, will have an impact on the next thing, making that happen faster and this becomes cumulative as you progess.

Never let your practicing sound like some sort of rote repetition.

Instead, always strive to "make music" of whatever it is that you must practice, even the lowliest of linear scales. Practice Crescendo when going upscale, Decrescendo when going downscale. Then reverse it. Decrescendo going up, Crescendo going down. And don't just practice even eighths or the like, mix it up, dotted eights for a few runs, counting the whole time, then triplets, then every other note in ascension and descending, 1-3, 2-4, 3-5, etc. all the while trying to play these as musically sounding as you possibly can. If you can't, slow down until you can, but always keep the tempo count appropriate as you play, for that is the internal clock that makes music happen.

And never overpractice these kind of drills. Short sessions are going to get you there faster than long endurance runs will. Ten minutes, then go do something else, then come back to it and do another serious ten minutes. Like that. Because if its not fun, it is not going to sound musical.


--Mac

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