Articles of Interest for Musicians by Ellistrations

Finding Time To Practice Your Musical Instrument

Like the commercial says "Life comes at ya fast!" and it is true. You know, I heard a guy state on the radio that time seems to be speeding up. I never actually considered the metaphysics of all that, primarily because I'm not smart enough to understand most things deeper than a comic book. Anyway, I do know that you are given only so much time on this earth, so why not make the most of it. Here are just a couple of ideas on how to find more practice time.

1. Practice your instrument while watching TV. I know a couple of very fine professionals that practice and watch sports events at the same time. If you are watching an intense program, practice fundamentals while the commercials are running. It will give your chops a break and the commercials usually run longer than the actual show anyway.

2. Get a practice mut if you need to practice at a late hour. That way if you can't sleep you can always exhaust yourself playing late. I have a device called the silent brass mute and I would highly recommend it. It allows you to put ear phones on the mute via a chord. You can hear yourself play as if you were in a concert hall. I have had one for years, and it really allows you to get practice time in even when people in your house are sleeping.

3. If you drive alot you can always practice breathing or embouchure techniques. Brass players can buzz on their mouthpieces. I once saw a flute player practicing while driving fast on the interstate. I would not reccomend this but he did get alot of attention from other drivers.

4.If you are a teacher, you can always play along with your students. You won't have a challenging session, but you'll at least get in some horn time.

5. Get a book on time management. There are all kinds of excellent books on this subject. Time is your most precious commodity, don't waste it!

posted by Elmo @ 2:25 PM