How to practice; thát is the question!

How to practice; that is the question! How you study, which strategy you choose, determines the outcome in playing music.
With music, you most often only hear the result, not all the work carried out. So how would you know which strategies are the best?

Hereby a few tips!

When starting to practice a new piece, a lot of players start with pitch. That seems to be a good place to start, but unfortunately is not a handy strategy.

I always recommend being patient and first find out what kind of music you are going to play. Have a listen, of have a close look at all the clues in the sheet music. Check the style, atmosphere and then what is said about dynamics and articulation. Feel the music before playing by checking the time signature, tempo and the feel (swing, funk, romantic classical etc etc. )

And then: check the rhythm. Do you understand, or can you clap/sing along?

And then: have look at the key and thén the pitch.

And then play.

It seems like a lot but this can take just 5 minutes and the result is a more musical approach and less mistakes.

You can have taste by listening, and study along with this video.
This song and video are part of the online course Learn to Play Sax. In this course my aim is to teach you not only how to play but also how to study!

And for additional study tips check this article.

Have fun and be patient! 😉

Floor Wittink

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