| Re: what to people consider to be "big" hours of practise?
Right, Michael... I was thinking of that very book when I wrote my post. Also, personal conversations with both Maurice André and Doc Severinsen had them both practicing about 4 hours on the days when they were seeking to better themselves as players.
The only time I practiced 5 to 6 hours a day was when I spent a week in Chicagoland working with great teachers as part of my own independent, professional improvement quest. I didn't do that every day, just a couple out of that week. But the other days I probably worked about 4 hours a day. I was working on redoing my articulation and understanding breathing as applied to brass playing (no, I don't want to write about that anymore... I've written enough about it).
In other words, I had specific goals in mind and gave energy to the work by isolating myself from home and my job for a week. The following year I got the job here in Minnesota after narrowly missing getting the Boston gig.
It really is about focusing on a particular technique or set of problems and executing methodically. I think your brain is only capapble of handling so much IF you're truly concentrating. I don't count mindless playing as time well spent if you want to be a musician.
For clarity's sake: are we including performing in this playing time? I'm not. I'm talking strictly practice apart from performing.
ML |