Whats your practice routine?

[Bigbabymap]

I am always asked this question, "Man, what do you practice when you shed because I've ran out of stuff to do?". Well, first of all I don't call learning music that is required by the church practicing. I believe that's working! But I believe individual practicing should cover two areas, fine tuning the skills you have and focus on your weak areas. I normally do basic finger exercises, then reading, ear training(which involves transcripting or just learning a particular artist i'm studying verbatim)and creative things! I'm always interested in other ideas or opinions, so when you sit down and practice what do you normally do?

[4hisglory]

I'm still trying to find one I can 'stick to' but I do try to practice a key a week of certain things and learn 2 to 3 new songs a week.  I have a practice routing typed out somewhere, I will try to post it.

[diverse379]

yo this is some good stuff

I think a lot of people missed some of the subtleties of what you were just writing

for example

learning an artist verbatim
this speaks volumes

this means every lick
every run every passing chord
every rhthmic groove and lick

I dont know how true you are to this work ethic
but it is a great benchmark to reach for

then you said learning music for service isnt practicing

you are right in a way
it is performing and rehearsing


praciticing is working on your weaknesses

you mentioned reading and finger drills

so you sound like someone who is a trained musician

I would hope to get a chance to talk to you one on one

UI think we have a lot in common or at least
some things we can offer one another


to answer your question what do I normally do


I have various routines I follow


but lately

I am more on a real conservatory type kick


I am more concerned with learning higher level learning stuff that would be taught in a college
since my untimely departure from school.


I am currently studying richard smallwoods christmas medley
12 pages of torture

I work on czerny 100 progressive exercises

because they can be learned in one sitting This works on my sight reading

I am working on some organ pieces I am trying to get ready for christmas

although this organ piece and the richard smallwood piece are for church I do look at this as practice because It is reading and difficult reading which is working on a weakness of mine which is reading note for note from a written page
I never really was able to do this on a performance recital level
not serious music anyway



I am working out of the jason white dvd
I am progressing step by step
song by song
and transposing each thing I learn into at least two keys

I am studying both a jazz theory and classical theory approach
from john novellos contemporary keyboardist
from novello I am rewriting each chord in every key with all of their tensions
and playing 2-5-1 in the left hand in every key while playing various improvisational techniques over the changes
I notice this helps out my ballad playing on the organ

and keyboard and Harmony and voice leading
from this book I basically am studying keyboard style voice leading and learning the many concepts in every key

I am choosing this course of action because hymn playing and pipe organ playing requires a type of improvisation which utilizes classcial voice leading techniques

where as hammond organ and contemporay songs require more of a jazz based understanding of harmony

I do the exercises out of the books like doing homework

as far as drills and exercises

there are three resources I currently use

harold gleason for organ full of manual exercises and two foot pedal drills
as wekk as songs
 
clementi for piano technique  great for developing technique and sight reading

jerome taylor
for organ harmonization in a gospel context,.


the above is a long list and believe me there are days when I burn out
and dont get to do anything

but understand I am a full time musician so I have the time to do some of this stuff

[4hisglory]

How many hours a day do you practice Diverse?

[diverse379]

How many hours a day do you practice Diverse?

It varies

sometimes as little as a half hour

sometimes as much as 6 hours

on average I try to get in at least 2-3 hours

it doesent seem like much for a full time musician
but sometimes it is very difficult to discipline myself

there are so many things to practice.
but most of the time I seem to get in about 4 hours




sometimes I just have no concentration

[Fenix]

See that is the thing. If i was a full-time musician i would have time to practice. 

Right now i have a 2-3 hour daily routine and this covers both piano and guitar. I try and cover sight-reading, technical drills using Hanon- Clementi is above my reading level at this point. After this i work on one hymn and one contemporary song. Then later on in the day i will watch my DVDs- Kevin Conley and GK series.

[diverse379]

See that is the thing. If i was a full-time musician i would have time to practice. 

Right now i have a 2-3 hour daily routine and this covers both piano and guitar. I try and cover sight-reading, technical drills using Hanon- Clementi is above my reading level at this point. After this i work on one hymn and one contemporary song. Then later on in the day i will watch my DVDs- Kevin Conley and GK series.

that seems like a full schedule

I mean hanon is no joke and pays off big dividends

i dont know what type of stuff you are sight reading
but if you follow up with a contemp and a hymn you are covering a lot of bases

You should be a monster very very soon

I didnt hear you say anything about ear training but I am assuming you get your contemporary songs by ear most of the time
since so few of them are written


great stuff I may need to put that down as an alternate routine for myself

its good to switch up your routine each month
or every 21 days

[jonesl78]

It varies

sometimes as little as a half hour

sometimes as much as 6 hours

on average I try to get in at least 2-3 hours

it doesent seem like much for a full time musician
but sometimes it is very difficult to discipline myself

there are so many things to practice.
but most of the time I seem to get in about 4 hours




sometimes I just have no concentration

What is your practice routine when you only have half an hour to practice?

To your original question,I usually practice scales, chords, and progressions on the piano in my weakest keys. Also, I try to learn at least one new concept a week. For example last week I learned some riffs and runs from a smooth jazz pianist by the name of Marcus Johnson.   

[chevonee]

My practice routine is
1. scales (major, minor, blues, chromatic)
2. progressions (I mainly go over my 7-3-6-b6-5-1-4 in every key)
3. go over any new songs
4. review the songs I already know

[diverse379]

What is your practice routine when you only have half an hour to practice?

To your original question,I usually practice scales, chords, and progressions on the piano in my weakest keys. Also, I try to learn at least one new concept a week. For example last week I learned some riffs and runs from a smooth jazz pianist by the name of Marcus Johnson.   

on those days when I pracice for a half hour it is usually because I am not motivated that day.

it is rare that I only have a short amount of time to practice

but here is a short practice routine I do on some sunday mornings before leaving

I dont do this any more but I used to live by this routine.

hanon as much as you can whatever you are up to

even if you dont do hanon much any  more if you only have a short amount of time then hanon is the way to go
I would just fill up the whole half hour with hanon

it wakes up your fingers


now if you dont do hanon and arent interested in hanon

then I would say practicing shouts in every key for a half hour
would be a good thing to do

Right now I have a routine that takes about 20 minutes

I play 2-5-1-6 progression  in two positions for each chord
while soloing over the left hand chords with my right hand

so thats two II chords
two IV chords
two I chords
and two
VI chords

this way when I am in service and have to reach for a chord in a new key I can grab it with out too much fuss.



other short practice things

just simply sight reading both hands looping each measure
while singing and saying the letter names of the notes
a grueling tortuous type of practicing but it does wonders for your sight reading


another sunday morning routine you may try
is

to turn on one of the internet gospel stations or cable gospel radio

and play along with the tracks

may give you a nice talk music or seque piece for service.


I just gave you

a technique
a transposition
a reading
and an ear routine

something for everyone

[Fenix]

Night i add the importance of warm-ups? They are very important. My warm-ups are scales hands separate then together with metronome too.

[jjjoe]

Intense music workout

1. play the scale with the proper technique and speed
2. learn to play altering scale for ex. I play the Cmajor scale first. then I take one note of the cmajor scale and alter it by either raising or lowering the one note. then I take two notes in the scale and alter it. then 3, then so on. with the proper technique.
3. I practice grace noting the scale. If you never try this just use the first five notes of the major scale to build up to doing it at all across the keyboard. For Example, If I was playing the C major scale, I would take the first five notes of the C major scale and I would first flat the D to make it Db and I would slide play the five note with me sliding the Db to D to grace note the scale then I would try E next and flat the E, which it would be Eb, and I would do the same thing, then I would do F and G. all the way up and down the keyboard and then I would do 2 notes, 3 notes, 4notes and 5 notes to get an accustom of doing this. and try it with the scale too. It is really intense exercise to build runs,licks, as well as the slide technique.

4. then I would try I guess a small hannon exercise. like with my hands in the proper position. I would play with my right hand first, 1-3-2-4-3-5 (this means the thumb first, middle finger next, index finger nest, fourth finger next then pinky last) all the way up the keyboard and down the keyboard. Then I would do the left hand next all the way up and down the keyboard. Then both hands up and down the keyboard.

5. I would then practice on chords. Like I would try different ways of playing chords for example if I was playing a C major 7 chord, I would try playing with my left C-G-C and my right hand E-B-E or Switch with E-B-E in my left hand and C-G-C with my right hand. just practice different ways of playing chords.

6. I would practice appeggios chords in different ways of playing.

7. I would then practicing on progressions and try different things with the progression like adding grace notes while I playing or walkdon on the progression or create different progression like I can take a progression in one key and apply it in another key.
8.learn to play in different keys
9.learn new songs

Cool down

1. practice moving minor 11 chords up and down the keyboard.
2. do ear training exercise by hearing different CDs and see I can recognize the keys of the song
3. reading more theory and come up with different things on theory.
4. practice on using my sustain pedel
5. just play arround with the keyboard

This is what I do and plan to do. hope this helps

[Fenix]

Hmm, jjjoe i never tried practicing pedal technique. I don't even know how to begin to practice proper pedal technique. How do you do it?

[diverse379]

this is a practice routine I am planning to do.


Intense music workout

1. play the scale with the proper technique and speed
2. learn to play altering scale for ex. I play the Cmajor scale first. then I take one note of the cmajor scale and alter it by either raising or lowering the one note. then I take two notes in the scale and alter it. then 3, then so on. with the proper technique.
3. I practice grace noting the scale. If you never try this just use the first five notes of the major scale to build up to doing it at all across the keyboard. For Example, If I was playing the C major scale, I would take the first five notes of the C major scale and I would first flat the D to make it Db and I would slide play the five note with me sliding the Db to D to grace note the scale then I would try E next and flat the E, which it would be Eb, and I would do the same thing, then I would do F and G. all the way up and down the keyboard and then I would do 2 notes, 3 notes, 4notes and 5 notes to get an accustom of doing this. and try it with the scale too. It is really intense exercise to build runs,licks, as well as the slide technique.

4. then I would try I guess a small hannon exercise. like with my hands in the proper position. I would play with my right hand first, 1-3-2-4-3-5 (this means the thumb first, middle finger next, index finger nest, fourth finger next then pinky last) all the way up the keyboard and down the keyboard. Then I would do the left hand next all the way up and down the keyboard. Then both hands up and down the keyboard.

5. I would then practice on chords. Like I would try different ways of playing chords for example if I was playing a C major 7 chord, I would try playing with my left C-G-C and my right hand E-B-E or Switch with E-B-E in my left hand and C-G-C with my right hand. just practice different ways of playing chords.

6. I would practice appeggios chords in different ways of playing.

7. I would then practicing on progressions and try different things with the progression like adding grace notes while I playing or walkdon on the progression or create different progression like I can take a progression in one key and apply it in another key.
8.learn to play in different keys
9.learn new songs

Cool down

1. practice moving minor 11 chords up and down the keyboard.
2. do ear training exercise by hearing different CDs and see I can recognize the keys of the song
3. reading more theory and come up with different things on theory.
4. practice on using my sustain pedel
5. just play arround with the keyboard

This is what I do and plan to do. hope this helps

the problem with these types of workouts

and what I mean is the "I plan on starting this super intense workout"
they are problematic from the beginning

first because we have never done them in their entirety we dont know the struggles and difficulties
nor do we know the outcomes in otherwords what sort of gains can we expect for our efforts

this work out seems straight forward enough

but the problem I see with this is that when you get to numbers five 6 7 8
you can get kind of lost if you are not focused

because you leave it so open you may find that you are getting lost in just meandering around in la la land so to speak.


the other thing I would encourage with this type of practice work out
is be very specific with your goals for the day
espciially with 8 and 9
what sort of things will you do to stretch out in the different keys
to be honest number 5 could be done in every key take two variations for each chord and play them in evey key

for 8 choose a few progressions

and do them in every key


finally I suggesst you use a metronome or drum machine

becuase while you are doing all of this experimenaion and tweaking

you need to be grooving


I hope you take thins all in love
as it was meant

[T-Block]

Right now, I'm so busy that I don't even have a practice routine.  Whenever I get a chance to get to a piano or keyboard, I just practice what's on my mind at the time.

[Fenix]

Right now, I'm so busy that I don't even have a practice routine.  Whenever I get a chance to get to a piano or keyboard, I just practice what's on my mind at the time.

But you are in music school so your entire day is spent practicing.

[diverse379]

But you are in music school so your entire day is spent practicing.

It's not really the same though

when I was in school I had to practice the school stuff but it all didnt relate to church work.

in the end it all helps

but you still feel practiced  starved
even though you  are doing music 24/7

[jjjoe]

Fenix, there are a few ways I practice the sustain pedel,

1. I try to play the diatonic scale chords and how I do it is for example, in C major diationic scale I started off for a basic c major chord and I always play middle c and octive the same time. I play middle c first while holding the sustain pedel then when I play the octive C chord then I release and hold the chord. I do it all the way to the octive C and all the way down back to middle C.

2. I play appegios with sustain pedel it is a good sustain pedel practice.

these are starting points that i will list. hope this helps.

[T-Block]

But you are in music school so your entire day is spent practicing.

I wish it was that simple Fenix.  If that was the case, I wouldn't be complaining.  Most of my days in school is spent on going to classes (education classes), rehearsals for chorus, and doing computer projects.  It's not that easy finding time to really sit down and practice like I want except for weekends or very, very late at night.  Then, I have school early the next morning, so i'm half-sleep going to class.

I have to schedule pratice as if it were a class I'm taking cuz of all the stuff I'm involved in.

[Casioman]

I am always asked this question, "Man, what do you practice when you shed because I've ran out of stuff to do?". Well, first of all I don't call learning music that is required by the church practicing. I believe that's working! But I believe individual practicing should cover two areas, fine tuning the skills you have and focus on your weak areas. I normally do basic finger exercises, then reading, ear training(which involves transcripting or just learning a particular artist i'm studying verbatim)and creative things! I'm always interested in other ideas or opinions, so when you sit down and practice what do you normally do?

I've given up trying to develop practice routines & I have simply decided to take the medicine as the doctor ordered.In effect this means going through each Book/DVD in sequence & learning each lesson in sequence until I get it.

For the last month  I have been learning songs from the "Piano Hymnal by David Smithers" in order to boost my song base & studying  "The Craft of piano playing by Alan Fraser (Book+DVD)" to help me improve on my technique, Both these pianists are excellent pianists in their own right & their classical background is evident through out their work, so I should come away from these studies with at least some classical influences & an improvement on my technique..

I am also devoting 1-2 days a week (depending on the time available) to scales & hanon exercises. (up to hanon 5 now!)
The next round of Tutorials will be "Greg Hannons Ultimate trio package" which I have had for a while now but have not got round to studying yet.

All the above tutorials are excellent resources to learn from, and cover most of the tutoring I need in my opinion.
 
Now It's all down to maximising the practice time I have available.

Be Blessed

Casioman