One of my saxophone teachers in college told me this story/joke: A man was walking in New York and was headed for Carnegie Hall. He was lost, and stopped to ask directions from another person. He said, “Hey, do you know how to get to Carnegie Hall?” The person thought for a second and replied “Practice man, Practice”. This is good advice. You have to practice if you want to be good.
First let's talk about a time to practice, and then outline the procedure. I view practice as an open-ended assignment. You can never be done with practice. There will always be something else to learn. This is what keeps people playing music their entire life. I like to setup a specific time to practice, and then stick to it. For kids in school, make it right after school, so you won't forget. Just set aside the time and do it. When you practice, always have a purpose; something you want to get done.
Here is a sample: First, warm-up with long tones. This will get the air moving through your body and instrument. EVERYONE ALWAYS sounds better after playing long tones. Practice these LOUD!
Next, work on something for your technique. This means something to get your fingers working well. This can be scales or technical exercises, anything to develop coordination.
Next work on your tongue. The only way to develop a fast tongue is to practice using your tongue. The tongue is just a muscle, and needs to be “worked-out” if you want any speed and accuracy.
Next, I'd work on Sight-reading. This means your ability to play things that you are seeing for the very first time. You should have a lot of music at your disposal. Play anything that you can. If it is music, you can play it.
Next, I'd turn my efforts to what ever I happen to be working on at the time. If I have a solo in school, or I need to play for a family party or whatever the case maybe; that is what I'd practice.
After that, work on something for fun. If you want to try to play a song by ear that you heard on the radio, or work out of book of solos from you favorite movie, just have some fun! Music stores have all sorts of music in any style that you can imagine- get something you like and go for it! Remember that practicing doesn't have to be boring.
Here is my favorite pointer on practicing things that are difficult: Slow makes fast, and fast makes slow. If something is not working for you, slow it down until you can play it. I believe that you can play ANYTHING if you play it slow enough. Something magical happens when you play slowly. If you tell your fingers that they need to repeat a certain passage over and over in the exact same way, pretty soon they will figure out how to do this on their own! It is truly amazing how many times I have a student play something ten times slowly, and then have them try it fast; it just pops right out of their sax! Slow makes fast, and fast makes slow.
The next pointer I love is the method called Whole-Part-Whole. First you take the passage you are working on- say four measures. You can't play it. Concentrate on the first measure until you can play it. Then concentrate on the second measure. Now, hook the first and second measure together. Whole-Part-Whole. Now move to the third measure, then the fourth, then hook them together. Now hook all four together. It will work wonders.
The old saying of “practice makes perfect” is only partially true. A better saying is “perfect practice makes perfect”
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