The Art of Practice

Dr. Dan Graser

MUS 345
Benjamin Barker
 The first chapter speaks a lot to getting past the barriers that keep us detached

from the music that we are trying to make. Bruser states that what makes a good

musician isn’t their inherent “talent” but rather the intense desire they have to play well. I

agree with this perspective because I have worked with plenty of “talented” musicians

who never put in the work and as a result dragged the group down. Additionally I’ve

seen a lot of students make leaps and bounds in their playing in one year due to the

work that they put in.

An important takeaway from chapter two for me was the fact that I am making

music even in practice. As Bruser puts it, “We become so involved with producing sound

that we forget to take it in.” I’ve experienced this a lot this semester. I get to a point with

a piece (or my practice in general) where it feels like I am simply playing to get it right

rather than actually hearing what I am playing, (a.k.a going through the motions).

Something that I’ve found to help remedy this is playing for the sake of enjoyment and

nothing else. I particularly have found playing out of “The Real Book” helpful. I rarely

play jazz and I think that allows me to be less judgemental with my playing and just

enjoy myself rather than being hypercritical.

Stretching is something that I want to work more into my daily routine. Every year

during marching season we start our rehearsals with it and It definitely helps me feel

more relaxed in my playing. Recently I have also spent time stretching my hands to try

and counteract the pain I have been experiencing in my hands. For this I’ve tried the

stretches 10-13 and have found that they definitely help with preparing me for longer

practice sessions and reducing pain. Bruser also suggests swimming as an exercise as

it doesn’t put any extra strain on the joints. I haven’t considered swimming as a form of
exercise but I want to give it a try as I have been struggling with finding an exercise

routine that works for me.

I always struggle with taking time to breathe in between parts of my day and

Bruser gives some good insight in chapter four about taking your time to be comfortable

in your practice space. The practice rooms at the PAC don’t have much to “be aware of”

but it is helpful to take a second to notice how the seat feels against you and how your

feet feel against the ground. My mind tends to race through the day and taking a second

can be hard but when I have done it the result is more focused practice. I also like that

Bruser makes a point to keep your eyes open when you do a short meditation before

practice, doing so lets you get adjusted to your surroundings.

“Tuning into your Heart” goes into how to let emotion flow through the music.

Bruser suggests that we play with more passion when we are emotional and I agree to

some extent. But I have found that a better method for making music sound alive is to

try and give it a story or paint a picture in my mind. I learned this from Bri and it has

helped me to find more meaning in each movement of a piece and their smaller

sections, especially for “absolute music”.

I feel like the sixth chapter, basic mechanics, applied more to my experiences in

percussion playing this year than in my saxophone playing. Something that does apply

to all instruments is what she says about playing with relaxed muscles, “ if you move to

play…with a relatively relaxed arm…the fibers in each muscle have a long distance to

travel, which gives power to your movement.” Bruser quotes Janet Weiss who states

that a common flaw in flute technique is “Relying solely on stretching their fingers to the

sides” which injured the tendons in those fingers. I think this is likely my issue, as I've
found my pain comes from expanding my hand. I feel like I am doing this in my playing

to reach the lower pinky keys on saxophone.

Chapter seven goes into how to keep practice engaging. Something that I have

already been doing in my own practice is starting and ending the day with something I

enjoy playing. As Bruser suggests, I want to try and let myself move on from things that

aren't going well. If I really don't feel like practicing a certain piece, pushing through it

won't be as productive as practicing another piece. I also sometimes start my day with

practicing percussion as it’s more fresh and makes it easier to get myself to the

performing arts center. Something I'm not quite sure I agree with is Bruser’s point about

rhythm. She states that “Human rhythm, not mechanical. It breathes. Human pulse isn’t

rigid. It fluctuates. If you practice a lot with a metronome you suppress your natural

rhythm.” While I don’t think practicing with a metronome gives you a better sense of

time, I don't believe that it inhibits your ability to play with rubato.

Chapter eight goes over the struggles that we can face during practice. Often the

one that gets to me is aggression. I get upset when the fingers aren’t landing how they

were yesterday and as a result my playing gets more sporadic. I’ve taken something

that Dr. Carlson said about Euphonium playing with this frustration, “It is a piece of

metal, if you fight it, it will win”. Reminding myself of this and taking a step back helps

me to center myself and then if need be I take a walk and then come back to it.

Bruser states that to improve practice we can “Let go of any judgments of the

sound. Simply notice its quality.” I will often spend 30 minutes at the beginning of

practice switching out reeds, looking for pad leaks, and swabbing out my instrument all
because I didn't sound exactly how I wanted to at the very beginning of the day. This

chapter helped me realize this habit so I can start working on it.

I feel as though chapter eleven’s focus on connective rhythm is more tailored

towards pianists. The way that I interpret rhythm is closely connected to the way that I

articulate so some of the notations she gives don’t quite make sense to me. Like the

example given on pg 185.

The last big take away that I had from this book was Bruser’s take on

memorization. She explains that memorizing a piece helps you understand it at a

deeper level. If we truly learn a piece, the memorization will come naturally. Bruser

shares a quote from one of her friends who said “Is that what you think memorization is

for? To make sure that nothing goes wrong? No! It’s so that if something does go wrong,

you’ll know the music well enough to find your way out of the problem.” She also

discusses the difference between intellectual memory (understanding the music

theoretically), and muscle memory. I want to try incorporating more intellectual memory

into my memory work.

Overall this book provided some interesting perspectives on practice and how it

should function in the life of a musician. Recently my practice has become more dry

than It was in previous years, but this book has shown me new ways to freshen it up

and also that what I am experiencing isn’t abnormal and is a part of the life of a

musician.