ity. Listening to music involves time spent focused solely on absorbing the sound without any other distraction. It is vital that practicing musicians listen to music to be inspired by the professional sound so they can develop their own sounds. Plus, the reason why listening to music is the most important aspect of practicing is because stu- dents must know what they want to sound like and the only way for them to know is to be inspired by the sound of a professional musician. In addition, as students are listening, I encourage them to develop questions to ask. Questions such as how the musician performing on the recording executes a particular area of interest, i.e. sound, articulation, musical shape, etc. Students need to under- stand that asking questions will help tailor their lessons to what will be most effective in the practice room.
5. Repertoire (Any piece of music that needs to be learned i.e. Band Piece A or Orchestra Piece B). For Repertoire, I strive to assign music that is within or just slightly above what students are capable of handling. It is possible to engage in Discovery, Conditioning and Re- inforcement while working on a piece of music. For ex- ample, the first 8 measures in Band Piece A is within a student’s technical grasp but that particular combination of notes and rhythms need attention. So, a student would begin to discover the patterns of the rhythm as well as the intervallic association between notes and coordinate the muscles needed to condition your body to play them the correct way. Then they would reinforce that phase again and again until it can’t go wrong.
I always introduce a new student to the “ten-minute
rule.” In the first ten minutes, practice a small section, and only that section for ten minutes. Then when ten minutes has passed, no matter the outcome of that sec- tion, move on to work on another section of the piece.
May 1986
“While we must accept the reality of marching band as a part of our pro- grams, we do not have to make it a major obstacle to musicianship.”
Then, after the ten minutes have past, the student can either move on to another completely different section or go back to the first section worked on in the first ten min- utes. The idea is to not repeat the same section back to back, thus building small chunks of passages into larger sections of the piece over the course of 60 minutes.
Final Thoughts
• Know the different types of practicing: Discover, Condition, Reinforce, Repertoire
• Set Goals: The conscious mind can only concen- trate on one thing at a time. Pick attainable goals that can be achieved in a practice session.
• Ask Questions: The more detailed and specific the question, the more detailed and specific the answer.
• Daily Practice: Remember to listen and be in-
spired by the ideal sound of a professional, workout fun- damentals and then practice your repertoire, incorporat- ing small amounts of consistent daily practice. Shorter, more frequent daily practice is better than longer weekly practice sessions and will help in efforts to becoming a life-long music performer-advocate.
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Joe Montelione has been on the trumpet faculty for Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, New England Music Camp, National Trumpet Competition, and Music Academy International’s Trentino Mu- sic Festival in Primiero, Italy. He is currently on the faculty of Florida Tech University where he teaches trumpet and directs the jazz band.
MAY 2021
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