After a long period of practicing much less than I would have liked, I now have more free time than I know what to do with. I’ve been spending that time, among other things, thinking about my practice routine and whether or not there are more efficient ways to achieve my goals. The question I keep asking myself is, “How do I keep my technical practice interesting and effective?”
I recently watched a James Galway masterclass during which he suggests to the students that they become as fluent as possible with their technical exercises by focusing on only keys that are prominently featured in the repertoire. That reminded me of my former teacher and jazz great, Greg Fishman, who would rotate the tunes that he was working on through all 12 keys.
Previously, I had always tried to do mountains of technical exercises in every key, every day. Needless to say, this was unsustainable, as well as being totally inefficient. Perhaps focusing not only on one key at a time, but varying the style and difficulty of the exercises, would help me to be able to do the things that I want to be able to do with my instrument.
Although one of the core ideas is that practice changes slightly from day to day, here is a basic routine that I have come up with so far:
“Bouncing” exercises
Start on the lowest possible note of the scale that you’re working on. Go up by one note and then return to the starting note. Continue adding notes in this fashion until you reach the top of the range. (For alto sax F Major, it would look like this: Bb-C-Bb-C-D-C-Bb etc.) Then, do the opposite starting from the highest note.
“Sweeping” exercises
Starting on the root of the scale, play three, five or nine notes up the scale and then return to the starting note. Repeat until you’ve covered the whole range.
Diatonic Triads and Seventh Chords
Play the chords, either triads or seventh chords, built off of each of the notes of the scale. Do this both all ascending / descending, and alternating between each chord. Complete the full range of the instrument.
Intervals
Play all of the diatonic intervals building off the scale degrees from thirds to sevenths. This is a very common exercise, especially if you are in a college studio.
Common Chord Progressions
Improvise through common chord progressions in the key, like VI-ii-V-I. It can be helpful to play only roots and fifths of the chords at first until you can hear where the harmony is going.
Full-Range Scale
Play the scale normally, starting on the root. Go to the highest possible note, then to the lowest possible note, and finally, return to the root.
*See an image of my practice journal with these exercises here.
How many of these I actually get through on a given day usually depends on how much time I have or what I feel like working on. That being said, on days when I do get through the whole list, I only do them in one key and it usually only takes me about an hour. And, this maybe heresy, but I only use a metronome when I know an exercise very, very well. My reason for this is that unless I can confidently play something without mistakes, I’d rather focus on my consistency and understanding of the material than how fast I can sloppily get through it.
What are some novel practice ideas that you’re currently trying out? What techniques have worked for you for a long time? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Practicing!