|
|
"A Compendium
from Bruce Hammel Doctoral Treatise, 1989, Florida State University
|
CHAPTER 3STRUCTURING THE PRACTICE SESSIONHaving made some decisions about the length and distribution of the practice time, the student must next determine how to structure the time within each session effectively. Daily practicing will have to be distributed between a variety of activities such as technical studies, solos, and ensemble music. Also, pieces that are to be performed will require work on technical difficulties as well as interpretive ones. To insure adequate development in all aspects of playing, the student must achieve a satisfactory balance between these elements. The first and most critical step is for the student to identify his current goals: Think what you need to accomplish specifically during the day's practice:
three minutes spent thinking about your practising before you start are
worth three hours spent in aimless repetition, during which you only learn
the bad better. The goals should include immediate short range ones, such as improving small sections of a piece, to long range ones, such as increasing tongue speed. Students are urged to keep a written record of their goals and to review them frequently so they can determine whether their practicing is effective Galamian's three categories of practiceIvan Galamian has devised a logical and useful approach to analyzing and managing his practice time. First, he identifies three categories of musical practice:
This system of categorization effectively classifies all of the time a student spends practicing and therefore makes a reasonable assessment of practice time easier to accomplish. After looking at a more detailed description of the activities included in each area, the process of making this assessment will be examined. Building timeKohut states that "building time is designed for the development of performance technique". Galamian recommends that this time "should be spent partly with scales and similar fundamental exercises and partly in dealing with technical problems encountered in etudes and in the repertoire." Both statements imply that this period primarily includes the repetitive drill work executed for the improvement of motor skills. Interpreting timeGalamian states that during interpreting time "the emphasis should be placed on musical expressiveness, the shaping of a phrase, of a larger section, of a whole movement, and finally of several movements, as a convincing unit." Kohut adds that this is the time when the student works on pieces that have been "mastered technically but need attention from an expressive standpoint." However, the student should be cautioned that the technical working out of a piece does not have to be devoid of musical expressiveness; it is simply that during interpreting time, the student's attention will be focused primarily on the expressive elements of the music. Performing timeThe culmination of the work in the previous phases of practice occurs during performing time:
During this time the student must learn how to keep going despite technical problems and should concentrate on the "musical gestalt, the total performance goal. Student's are postpone this type of practice until just before upcoming performances, but Kohut advises that "this type of practice is essential and must not be neglected." Kerner adds that:
Ideally, students should practice performing with an accompanist on a regular basis, but given the expense and scheduling problems that arise, this is not always practical. Nevertheless, some time should be allotted every day for imaginary performance run-through of pieces that have been technically mastered. Warm up timeAlthough Galamian makes no mention of a warm up period, many believe that some physical and mental preparation is advisable if the practice session is to be as effective as possible:
The warm up period can be advantageous in optimizing coordination of
mind and muscle prior to undertaking the new motor learning task.
Although many warm up techniques are possible, the bassoonist should take particular care to warm up the embouchure muscles slowly by restricting the initial few minutes of playing to the low register. The fingers may not require as much care, but slow playing in the beginning is recommended to loosen up the muscles and establish coordinated movement. Careful listening to all aspects of the sounds produced should accompany these activities to prepare the ear for the remainder of the session. OrderWith the exception of the warm up, the order, use and length of these categories may be flexible:
Students who follow a set routine with their practice may find it helpful to vary this routine from time to time. Concentration is best at the beginning of a session so changing the order of practice will help distribute the concentration more evenly over different areas of development. In addition, the introduction of variety into the practice session may increase interest and therefore improve attention and concentration for the entire session. BalanceThe purpose of defining these areas of practicing is to provide the student with a way to evaluate the time he is spending on each aspect of his playing and to adjust this as necessary. Galamian explains why this is so important
Although teachers will often recognize imbalances in a student's playing and make appropriate suggestions, students should frequently monitor their playing and practice routine themselves so they can direct their practice time most efficiently to the attainment of their goals. Unfortunately, the results of the following study indicate that students may not always evaluate their practice time very accurately. Geringer and Kostka sought to determine not only how students were spending
their time in the practice room, but also how their self reported estimates
of this time compared with that observed. The students were randomly observed
while practicing and their behavior categorized as follows: After 2,000 observations they found that 72 percent of the practice time
was spent in performance activities. Of that, slightly more than one half
of practice room activity was spent in practicing solo music (53%), while
11 percent was used for technical exercise practice. Almost ten percent
of the time was spent getting ready. Of particular interest are the results of the students' self reports.
"Total observed non performance time (28%) was twice that of the
reported non performance time (14%)." Although student estimates that the majority of their performance time was spent on solo material agree with observed behavior, their estimate was significantly lower than that observed (53.3% vs. 45.0%) Conversely, students overestimated the time spent in each of the other four performance categories. The largest misconception was in the area of technical exercises where students estimated they were spending 26.2 percent of their time as opposed to the 11 percent observed. The disparity between observed and estimated times indicates that a reliable assessment of the practice time would be best accomplished with a written record rather than a mental one. In this way a student will be able to recognize quickly if his perceptions match his behavior. In addition, Geringer and Kostka conclude from this data that:
Certainly the structuring of specific objectives is a fundamental prerequisite of good practicing. Also, given the benefits of distributed practice, scheduled relaxation time is highly recommended. SummaryThe most important aspect of structuring the practice session is to set specific goals and chart the progress towards them; otherwise, the practicing will lack direction and focus. The practice session may be divided into warming up, building, interpreting, and performing times. Achieving a proper balance of each category is essential to the overall development of the student. Students are likely to incorrectly estimate how they are using their practice time so a written record of both goals and time spent working towards them is advised. |
|
© 2002
Bruce Hammel. All Rights Reserved. |
Bruce Hammel |