How to Practice Etudes and Solos
By Jeffrey Agrell
1. In your first acquaintance with the piece, play through
it and isolate the problem areas. These small chunks can be
considered a series of microetudes, so to speak. They may
be as brief measure or less, even two notes. Master them
one at a time. Don’t play the whole piece until the
microetudes are all perfected. You will need to have and
use a pencil: the first time through (and later, if you
need to), make small marks around all the ‘sticky bits’ –
spots that need work. This may be only two notes; it
shouldn’t be more than a measure or so. The smaller the
chunks, the easier they are solved.
2. The first problem to solve is always rhythm. Work out
and become completely familiar with the rhythms of each
chunk (without the horn at first).
3. To help almost every kind of difficulty, call on the
Tempo Police: use a metronome to enforce slow tempos,
starting slow enough that you can tap or play the rhythms
and/or notes without hesitation. Amass great quantities of
perfect repetitions. Then move the tempo up one notch and
repeat. Gradually and effortlessly you will advance the
metronome toward the final tempo goal. Intersperse mental
practice (finger along as you think through it) with
instrument practice so that you also give your chops some
rest along the way. Speed will occur naturally and easily
as the continued perfect repetitions reinforce the same
neural pathway.
4. What is printed is the
final
form of the what you should play. What you play when you
are working on it may be very different. Where to start?
The answer is to change anything you need to in order to
make the chunk something that you can play easily and
consistently accurately.
This could mean:
•Slow
down! (see above). A slow tempo is a magnifying glass that
enables you to see and concentrate the small details of the
selection. Don’t practice ‘in a blur’.
•Choose fewer notes to work on
•Transpose down (take it down an octave, or a fifth, for
example).
•Reduce the size of a leap. If the leap is an octave,
change it to a major third. When you can do this
consistently, change it to a fourth. Then a fifth, and so
on.
•Remember that playing a passage accurately is the
beginning,
not the end. Play many repetitions of that chunk perfectly
before moving on.
In sum: if something is not working, change something!
Don’t practice mistakes over and over. Find a way to do it
right – and practice it that way. Make incremental changes
toward your goal and repeat.
5.
As each small chunk is mastered, practice more and more
chunks together – make ever bigger chunks of mastered
material until the chunk = the entire piece.
6. Beware of your biggest enemy: impatience. Take the time
to do it right the first time. Then add on many accurate
repetitions. It takes some time to work out a solo or an
etude this way, but you will have a solid product that you
can count on in the end.
In a nutshell:
Whatever the difficulty of the piece, always begin practice
from a place that is easy and comfortable. Advance
toward the goal in small, easily accomplished steps.