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Practice Tools and Strategies

How do we get better?

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Practice Tools

  1. Metronomes:
    1. https://www.metronomeonline.com/
  2. Tuners:
  3. Audio/Video Recording your practice and listening to yourself can be a powerful tool for improvement.
  4. Mirror/camera: Using a mirror/camera to see yourself can help with posture and technique

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  • Change the Articulation→ Play with different articulation pattern or style (all slurred vs. all tongued, vs some combination, all legato/long, all staccato/short etc.)
  • “Bop” It Only play the beginning of each note, without sustaining the sound. Focus on the rhythm and the start of each note.
  • Skip It→ Turn select notes into rests while maintaining the rhythm overall of the notes you are playing.
  • Simplify the Rhythm→ (similar to Skip It) For complex or fast rhythms, try only playing the notes on the beat or subdivision of the beat.
  • Subdivide→ To help maintain tempo and improve rhythm, articulation, and fluency, articulate all the underlying subdivisions while changing pitches at the correct time (turn everything into eighth notes or sixteenth notes, for example).
  • Change the Octave→ Play some or all notes in an easier octave (up or down an octave)
  • Back and Forth→ Take a small chunk of notes and alternate between them (out of rhythm/tempo). Practice the pitches in a different sequence or rhythm to gain fluency.
  • Fill in the Gaps→ When notes move by skip or leap (not stepwise), fill in the notes that are between the two notes.
  • Simplify the Notes→ Change one or more notes (pitches) while maintaining the overall rhythm.
  • Alternate Fingering/Positions→ Look up an alternative fingering/position for one or more notes. Practice with different combinations.

ADVANCED PRACTICE STRATEGIES

RED=Rhythm focus

BLUE=Tonal/pitch focus

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