Tag: five minute warm-up

Music Ensemble Etiquette

Etiquette in a music ensemble can be somewhat of a mystery. There are a lot of unsaid rules and norms out there for how to act among other musicians. This article should help to solve some mysteries and help you make a good name for yourself among your peers.

I’ve only ever played in America – the Midwest and in the Pacific Northwest – so some of these norms might be different where you live.

General Etiquette

Let’s get some of the basics out of the way that apply to every group situation. It’s good etiquette anywhere, not just in music ensembles. You probably already know this, but someone might need this information.

  1. Be on time. On time in music world means 10-15 minutes early because it gives you time to warm up. It’s passive-aggressive to be late and awkward to be more than 15 minutes early.
  2. Never criticize, condemn, or complain. Thank you, Dale Carnegie, for writing this book and spelling it out for us all (not an affiliate link).
  3. Be lavish in your praise. Any time you see an improvement or you see an opportunity to give a compliment, do it. It will open doors to friendships and contacts.
  4. Practice Good Manners. Hold doors open, be kind, avoid taboo topics like politics and religion. If you have further questions, go read Emily Post.
  5. Practice Good Grooming. No one wants to smell you.

Music Etiquette

This list is more music-specific. Almost everything is unsaid, cultural norms.

  1. The Conductor/Leader’s word is law. It’s not up for debate. If your first chair or conductor says jump, you say how high. Be silent while the director speaks and try to keep eye contact when you can while playing.
  2. Do your five-minute warm-up. You arrived 10-15 minutes early (see #1 from the first list), so you have time to do your warm-up before you start running any parts.
  3. Greet Other Players. As other people come, or as you sit down, greet others within your vicinity. Stop your warm-up, look them in the eye, and say hi. If they want to chat, go ahead and chat for a bit. Otherwise, continue your warm-up.
  4. Own your mistakes. If there’s a crash and burn that’s your fault or you can’t hear whether you’re sharp or flat, apologize. It creates a good atmosphere.
  5. It’s better to be sharp than flat. When in doubt, go up. Other people are more likely to identify the flat person than the sharp person.
  6. Ignore the haters. Whenever I join a new ensemble, there’s almost always someone who instantly dislikes me. It’s instant and palpable, and it’s before I even have a chance to greet the other person. Still greet them, but otherwise ignore them and continue to be friendly with everyone else. They’ll either come around or leave. Another option that works occasionally is to ask advice, even if you already know the answer.
  7. NEVER practice someone else’s part. It can seem as though you’re out to get the other person.
  8. Put in your practice time at home. Rehearsal isn’t for practice, unless you’re running fingers or working on something before rehearsal starts.
  9. Clean your instrument. Taking the time to do this after rehearsal says a lot to the others about your musicianship and helps you keep your instrument in top shape. It also gives you a chance to chat with others while you put your instrument away.

Other Stuff

Here are some other things that I like to do that aren’t necessarily music ensemble etiquette, but make life easier.

  1. Talk to the Old-Timers. They will have cool stories and fabulous advice. Try to joke around with them to get them to open up.
  2. Ask Questions. Be a sponge. Others have a different background than you with different ideas that you can learn from.
  3. Try to Create a Relationship with the Leader(s). They’re in that position for a reason – they know more than you. See #2. Also, they might know about other gigs that are available to you.

Conclusion

When we all act with good etiquette, life goes smoother and everyone is more comfortable. When everyone in a musical ensemble is comfortable, they make better music. If you act properly among other musicians, you’re more likely to be asked to come back.

A Rushed Practice Session

The rushed practice session is a useful tool. It’s for when you have a limited amount of time to practice on a certain day. It can also be used for when you need to devote more time to your repertoire that day. It shouldn’t be used all the time, but can be used until a crisis is over.

This is the last in the series of the three kinds of practice sessions I do – regular, super fun, and rushed.

How the Rushed Practice Session is Set Up

The rushed practice session is pretty simple. It’s a five-minute warm-up followed by the things that you need to learn.

On the other hand, there are different things you can do based on your situation to help things along

Not Enough Time in the Day

When you have over-scheduled yourself and there’s not enough time in the day, just run through everything once. Don’t stress about it, just run through it. It’s the slow way around, but it works. Usually when you do this, whatever you’re working on usually includes a real warm-up. Therefore, you can skip the 5-minute warm-up.

This article will give you some more ideas on how to find more practice time in your day.

Crisis-Learning Repertoire

When you need to use your normally scheduled practice time to concentrate on repertoire, the rushed practice session is the ticket. This, in addition to the rushed practice sesion, also helps.

Too Much Repertoire

Sometimes you get bogged down with too much on your plate – a ton of gigs, recitals, competitions, etc. If you do a regular pracitice session, you might spend a longer time practicing than you should. What that means is that if you’re used to practicing for an hour and you have an hours’ worth of repertoire to practice, you should do the rushed practice session at least once a week. You don’t want to overwork your muscles and tendons.

Here are some more ideas for how to deal with that problem.

Lack of Motivation

Let’s say you’re forcing yourself to practice. This is one way to get yourself to do it. You promise yourself that it’ll be quick, so you just do a rushed practice session.

Here are some other ideas for how to help with motivation. Towards the end of this article, I talked about how to prevent a lack of motivation.

Conclusion

The rushed practice session is a great tool. It shouldn’t be overused, but it’s an option for when you find yourself in a bind.

Are there other situations where you find yourself needing to use this tool?

Time and Practice

It’s December. Our fast-paced world just got a million times faster. What with holiday parties, extra gigs, Advent services at church, and getting ready for Christmas, everyone is walking around in an exhausted stupor. How will you fit in practice?

Here are some ideas.

Get Up Early

Get up earlier than normal. If you do all your normal stuff, quietly, earlier than normal, then you can practice during the time you normally would get ready. It’s late enough that you aren’t disturbing the household, and it checks that item off your list. Woohoo!

Alternate Practice and Something Else

I talk about this a little more extensively in this article. I personally like to use the timer and alternate between housework and practicing. My oldest daughter likes to do this kind of practicing while she’s cooking supper. I endorse this kind of practice to help make homework go faster.

The Time Crunch

Normally you would practice for an hour, but you only have half an hour today. What do you do?

Do a Five Minute Warm Up and run through the toughest pieces that you’re working on. It might be your etude (lesson book) and bits and pieces of your repertoire. Start with the toughest stuff and work from there. That way, if you get to everything, great! If you don’t get to everything, at least you did something.

Mental Practice

This is a good one for during a commute or something like that. Run through the piece in your head, all the way down to what your fingers are doing on each note.

This article explains in better detail how to do it (not an affiliate link, just a fan) and how much it helps.

Practice on a Pencil (Flutes Only)

Sometimes you find yourself waiting or with some dead space in your schedule, but it’s not socially appropriate to whip out your flute in the middle of the Doctor’s Office or the Laundromat. Believe me, I’ve been tempted!

You can still practice your fingerings on a pencil. It’s advisable to also breathe as if you were playing the flute and try to articulate the notes, too.

What’s great about this technique is that it takes out some of the factors that may have been troubling you, like making sure you’re still making a good sound or balancing your flute. In other words, it simplifies things so that when you go back to your flute, you can rock it out.

Listen to your Repertoire

This isn’t practicing per se, but it does help you play things better. It helps your musicianship, your articulations, your dynamics, your phrasings, I could go on and on, but you get it. It helps.

I recommend that my students listen to their repertoire (recital pieces) at least five times per day. Get it stuck in your head. Have the biggest ear worm of all time.

Conclusion

These are all my tricks! If you have a way of fitting in practice that I didn’t think of, feel free to share.