A set routine should be established for personal practice. Ideally, this should happen at the same time each day. While practicing, the student should be alone. Eliminate distractions. Headphones help with this and also protect your roommate from the insanity that can arise from constant exposure. Serious concentration will be required so turn off the TV. Turn on your answering machine and ignore the phone. Set up a music stand. Don’t try to read off a table or chair. Make sure the room is well lit. Sit up straight. These things seem obvious, but each one is a valid point. You’d be surprised how man students fail to maintain their ideal level of concentration because they neglected to do one of these simple things.

A metronome, or a drum machine is an essential tool for practice. Make this a priority, no matter how good you think your time is.

When learning a new phrase, always try to play it SLOWLY AND EVENLY! Once you’ve learned the articulation precisely, then begin to gradually increase the tempo. One common error that almost every student makes is to race through the exercises, ignoring articulation. The result is that the student may learn the notes, but not the proper fingering and execution.

Many times, I leave students alone to work on a phrase. When I return, the student proudly proclaims that “They’ve got it!” When they try to perform the phrase, I discover lots of little places where the articulation is weak and they have to try again. Invariably, they launch into the phrase right away at a breakneck tempo and I find myself yelling “Slow Down!” I can’t seem to say it enough. PLAY IT SLOWLY AND EVENLY!

I met Branford Marsalis backstage at a jam session once and he was talking to some of his band mates about a particular phrase that had been giving him trouble on their gig. The phrase in question took place at a particularly fast tempo and he was not able to articulate it properly. In all of his practice routines he was trying to play the phrase too fast and he had never learned the proper articulation. He went on to say that he had been able to play that phrase successfully in that evening’s performance due to the fact that he had practiced the phrase all day, but very slowly. He actually did not allow himself to increase the tempo until he found himself on stage. At that point, he was able to articulate the phrase properly. This is a great example of two things I find very significant:
1. Branford cares enough to practice.
2. Practice everything SLOWLY AND EVENLY!

Try to be a perfectionist. If you think you’ve learned the phrase, play it three times in a row to make sure. If you detect any errors, start again. You can’t know it too well. On the other hand, when you have accomplished one goal, try to forge ahead. Don’t neglect review of newly learned material, but one must move forward to grow.

Budget your practice time for specific tasks. In a two hour practice session, one might work on scales for thirty minutes, chords for another thirty, and material relevant to the gig for the remaining hour. This is only an example. The specifics of your practice routine should be tailored to your weakest areas. In general, the material related to the study of music theory should come first in your routine because, over time, that information will creep in to your head, and will help you in absorbing the gig related material.

Most talented musicians have their own original material that they are working on apart from the gig. Composing is important but, if this is the case with you, remember that whatever time you spend composing is in addition to the two hours required to meet the needs of the job. Don’t get distracted while practicing and wind up writing a song instead. When practicing, focus on practice.

Christopher Cortez
Web site: http://www.chriscortez.net/