Practice Routines

[frogspawn]

One of the great things about this board - besides asking questions - is to share experiences and 'benchmark' yourself against other people (please excuse the 'management speak'). So I raise the subject of practice.

 

Someone (probably here) suggested that you had to put in at least half-an-hour a day if you wanted to make progress. This may sound arbitrary, but it seems to be working for me. I bought my Crane a year ago (and an Anglo some time before that), but it's only in the past month that I've managed to devote 5-6 hours/week. My combined working day and commute is 11+ hours (which I find very tiring) while family outings occupy most weekend days, so I think 5-6 hours a week is quite an achievement in the circumstances. At first I had to force myself, but now I crave it, and since making that sort of commitment, I feel I'm really making progress.

 

When I started playing a 'tina my route-map was task orientated, i.e. try this or that technique, but my current approach is basically time-orientated. I have about a dozen particular tunes which I play through from the printed scores and which I'm gradually learning by ear, and I simply record the time spent playing day by day and week on week. It may sound bureaucratic or obsessive, but it ensures I don't backslide into the inertia that has characterised my musical life to date.

 

In addition to practicing, I listen to MP3s of these tunes as often as possible, e.g. while commuting. Like most people, I find it more difficult to learn tunes than songs. And although I'm familiar with these tunes, I don't always remember which is which by name - another common failing in my experience. When I get sick of hearing the same tunes I add another one. They are all tunes regularly played in the places I go.

 

Care to share?

 

Richard

[PeterT]

Like most people, I find it more difficult to learn tunes than songs. And although I'm familiar with these tunes, I don't always remember which is which by name - another common failing in my experience.

Hi Richard,

 

I'm a little surprised; I would have thought that it would be much easier to learn a tune than a song, since for the latter you have to remember the notes plus an aweful lot of words (unless you mean a complex tune!).

 

Tune/name association is often a problem, especially for "session" tunes at festivals and the like. You end up learning a tune well enough to play as soon as another musician leads off, but don't have a clue what it's called.

 

Back to your main point; learning. Listening to a series of tunes which you might want/need to learn can certainly help in the learning process. Eventually, one or two will get to the stage where they are "ready to be learnt" when you pick up the concertina. Some, however, stubbornly refuse to make it to this stage. These go on the "back burner", or get forgotten (unless you have to learn for functional reasons - i.e. playing a specific tune for a specific dance).

 

Regards,

Peter.

[Lawrence Reeves]

I have to start with the fact that most people practice what they do well, and never work on the hard stuff that hangs them up. In my case I try to work a tune through with choices of pull vs push on some notes, trying to achieve the snap I need for bag triplets, double stops and octaves runs. Now, not everyone plays Irish music, and my reasons for working those ornaments out don't apply to all. I try to focus on a crisp attack, almost staccato from the start, and as I pull a dance tune up to speed my rhythm seems more solid. I also try to combine tunes to make sets. In my opinion an easy way to reinforce the new tune is to couple it to a tune of the same type( reel, jig, hornpipe) that I play solidly. It helps me to figure a transition between the tunes, varies the key between tunes,etc. It also makes for a great way to rehash an oldie. If I play for 2 hours, about half of that is imagining a set of tunes played for dancers. Sometimes an extra a part to start off, and then focus on tempo. I prefer not practicing with a metronome, although I recommend it for beginners, and for anyone that has the habit of speeding up while playing a tune. I have been admiring the settings of tunes by Kitty Hayes, and have tried to make a tune fit the concertina, instead of always playing it in the standard key. I was introduced to this concept a few years ago by an uilleann piper living in Providence Rhode Island by the name of Patrick Hutchinson. He played a stunning version of Donal Óg, and referred to Séamus Ennis's playing as innovative in this way. He also played a brilliant version of the Kilnamona Barndance from the playing of the late Gerdie Commane. I always play it in G, but Patrick played it in D. Much more friendly on the high part for pipes. Back to playing in alt keys for myself. I am playing the musical priest in a minor, instead of b minor.Pól an madra uisce is also nicer in a minor, etc. Now I still play most tunes in the "standard" key, but find that for ornaments and maintaining comfort of fingering the alt keys are cool. I used to tackle learning 2 new tunes a week. I did that for about the first 5 or 6 years of my playing ( concert flute and whistle since 1982)

[Stiamh]

Someone (probably here) suggested that you had to put in at least half-an-hour a day if you wanted to make progress. This may sound arbitrary, but it seems to be working for me.

 

A few years ago I went to a workshop given by button accordion maestro Joe Derrane and at the end he handed out a couple of typewritten sheets of advice headed "What you should be doing." I've conveniently lost them but I remember the first injunction was that you should be practising two hours a day if you want to get anywhere!

 

But given your schedule, 5-6 hours a week is great, keep it up. First chance you get, though, become self-employed and work from home... many years ago I went freelance after being laid off - that's when my music really started coming together because I could take breaks several times a day to practise

 

Otherwise, practising after a long tiring day of work can be frustrating and not very productive. Better to get up an hour earlier and work on your music before the world awakens (if you have a basement or woodshed where you can do this without disturbing others). This can be an invigorating start to the working day, too.

[m3838]

if you have a basement or woodshed

Let us keep it simple:

A car has pretty good insulation. Everybody can practice concertinas in their cars. Now accordion or guitar need a minivan, that's why I bought mine, claiming it's a necessity for family. What's good about cars, is their mobility (duh!). If you have luxury to wake up an hour early, hop in your trusty auto and drive 5 minutes to nearby park, away from nosy neighbors.

But two hours a day? Mm. I'd lower my expectations.

[PeterT]

if you have a basement or woodshed

A car has pretty good insulation. Everybody can practice concertinas in their cars.

Assuming that you have access to one, and the owner doesn't mind being deafened!

[Mark Evans]

if you have a basement or woodshed

Let us keep it simple:

A car has pretty good insulation. Everybody can practice concertinas in their cars. Now accordion or guitar need a minivan, that's why I bought mine, claiming it's a necessity for family. What's good about cars, is their mobility (duh!). If you have luxury to wake up an hour early, hop in your trusty auto and drive 5 minutes to nearby park, away from nosy neighbors.

But two hours a day? Mm. I'd lower my expectations.

 

Ah Misha, we are brothers under the skin. I too use the car right in the driveway as a rehearsal hall when Dominique is home. I bother no one and the cd player is right there should I be working on new material. I also use it when at equitation lessons for my daughter. I've been banned from the barn because her instructor thinks I make tacking-up too easy for my Camille, so it's to the car for practice until her lesson begins. The horses do take notice and trot over to the fence as soon as I crank up the Albion (well, maybe not at my playing but at their knowing the old fat Hobit with a concertina has carrots and horse treats in his pocket ).

Edited December 7, 2007 by Mark Evans

[meltzer]

I tend to practice in 20 minute/half-an-hour bursts, rather than one long session. I would aim to play for at least 20 minutes every day, not least since I find it such a good way to unwind. I'm pretty much a "by ear" player, so I tend to intersperse my practice sessions with listening to music until I have an, "Ooh, I fancy having a bash at that one," moment. This said, I don't really listen to music by other 'tina players, other than Peter Bellamy. I find it quite rewarding & challenging to try & replicate some of The Watersons' harmonies, for instance.

[m3838]

Ah Misha, we are brothers under the skin. I too use the car right in the driveway as a rehearsal hall... the cd player is right there ... I've been banned from the barn ... The horses do take notice and trot over to the fence ...

 

Everybody, after me...

 

Hey hey

You Ehss Ay!

[asdormire]

if you have a basement or woodshed

Let us keep it simple:

A car has pretty good insulation. Everybody can practice concertinas in their cars. Now accordion or guitar need a minivan, that's why I bought mine, claiming it's a necessity for family. What's good about cars, is their mobility (duh!). If you have luxury to wake up an hour early, hop in your trusty auto and drive 5 minutes to nearby park, away from nosy neighbors.

But two hours a day? Mm. I'd lower my expectations.

 

Beside which, your car generally goes with you to work. When I am on the job, I can use my breaks as another source of practice time by walking out to the truck and playing. Yeah, you don't quite get the full fifteen minutes, but still an extra 10 to 12 minutes twice a day doesn't hurt. I can also get 15 to 30 minutes some days during lunch, depending on whether I feel like socializing, if I pack a lunch or where I go to lunch. So there is, let's be on the safe side, an extra 3 hours a week to sneak in practice time. Other side benefits is that we ended up with a weekly half hour session during lunch on fridays with some like minded folks, I received compliments on my playing (I play with windows open when it is warm and always park under the tree row), I was able to help a couple parents with questions, and someone gave me an accordion. Sometimes you have to get creative to find that practice time.

 

Alan

[JimLucas]

Beside which, your car generally goes with you to work. When I am on the job, I can use my breaks as another source of practice time by walking out to the truck and playing. Yeah, you don't quite get the full fifteen minutes, but still an extra 10 to 12 minutes twice a day doesn't hurt. I can also get 15 to 30 minutes some days during lunch, ....

And commuters in some areas might sometimes get extra practice time of a few minutes up to an hour or more, when the expressway traffic stops completely.

 

I can't practice in the car, having sold it a few years back when I realized I wasn't using it. (Filled the tank twice in 4 months, and more than half of that was to drive over to Sweden for the Scandinavian Squeeze-In.) Bus and train service here in Denmark isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn good.

[m3838]

Bus and train service here in Denmark isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn good.

 

Those darn Socialists

But because of the above mentioned reason, not as many people play musical instruments in Sweden, compared to the USA.

[JimLucas]

Bus and train service here in Denmark isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn good.

...because of the above mentioned reason, not as many people play musical instruments in Sweden, compared to the USA.

Misha, thanks for bringing up Sweden, even though I was talking about Denmark. That lets me just link to this old post as my rejoinder.

[m3838]

Bus and train service here in Denmark isn't perfect, but it's pretty darn good.

...because of the above mentioned reason, not as many people play musical instruments in Sweden, compared to the USA.

Misha, thanks for bringing up Sweden, even though I was talking about Denmark. That lets me just link to this old post as my rejoinder.

Ahrrr.

Then it is in Denmark that people don't play musical instruments as much as Americans

That's what those royal socialists do to you.

Buses, ha!