Re: Practicing tips


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Sean Chisham on March 05, 2003 at 19:33:53:

In Reply to: Practicing tips posted by Alan Herold on March 05, 2003 at 18:54:58:

I would venture to guess that many of the same factors went into his students' successes that went into Mr. Perantoni's students' successes. While not a formal degree seeking student at IU, I did try to take lessons as often as Mr. P's schedule would allow, took a summer ensemble course, and soaked up the environment while there.

First of all his recruits are of very high caliber. There were almost zero slouchers when I was there. Not everyone got a gig, but a good number did.

Secondly, Mr. P has an uncanny ability to pinpoint all nuances of practice and performance in lessons. Nothing, and I mean nothing, not even your thoughts, escape his ears and eyes. He is an absolute master of teaching and listening and judging what will work and what won't.

Thirdly, and this is a point which I am certain must pertain to Dr. Bowman's studio, the students get to hear each other practice and perform on a DAILY/HOURLY basis. Think about that. Think of all the players who just recently won jobs from Dr. Bowman's studio. Almost certainly most if not all of them have listenned to each other practice and perform daily for a good bit of time. This interchange of ideas is what I really remember most from IU. Listenning to people practice like Jerome Stove, Brian Sands, Richard White, David Salzman, Tony Kniffen, Bryan Mack, other students, and even Mr. P himself working on music in his studio had a profound influence on my humility and my drive. You really get a better prospective on how you should be progressing when hearing these people play daily, especially in the infamous tuba basement. Everyday was like a mini masterclass. Each person had some strength(s) which were better than mine and each others.

Mr. P encouraged this comradery in weekly excerpt classes in which 6-10 people or so would sit in a circle in his studio and round robin excerpts. One would play and the others would critique, then it would pass on to the next guy to play. No place to hide when you have both the pressure from Mr. P to be 110% but also peer pressure from fellow students who are sitting right there and hear it all and speak out.

Failing in that environment took more effort than succeeding did.

For me to even attempt to keep up with those guys I had to bite the bullet and log many more hours per day than I ever had before. I also had to develop the dedication to keep it up for what could be many years with the strong possibility of still not landing a playing job. I found that strength through a newfound love of music itself and the sound of the tuba. I set goals such as a recital and worked towards it. I also had weekly goals to earn enough respect from Mr. P in my lesson to have him tell me that next week would work into his schedule. If I heard him tell me after a lesson that he was going to be pretty busy for a while and did not know for sure when the next lesson could be scheduled than I knew that I had failed that week. In order for him to be willing to make time for me, I had to be willing to put forth the effort daily to make that lesson worth his time. He didn't need the money, although he certainly accepted it :) Every lesson with him was an audition for my next lesson. Let me tell you this, there is no way I could fake preparation. He could hear a fake lesson and it became obvious even during the lesson, cause he would not have me play all that much and spent a lot of time talking instead. Who wants to listen to a failure?

Another thing which kept me going strong was humiliation. May sound strange, but for a while when I was beginning to practice again after 2.5 years of not playing at all, I actually practiced a few times in the tuba basement. Mr. P's students probably thought some community band member had wandered in. I am sure I sounded well below par for that course, but I kept at it. I would go home with a newfound drive to up the standard and get back on that horse. You have heard the statement that you should never practice, only perform. Well, I can tell you that the focus and attention to detail goes up about 500% when you know people are listening, especially peers, who can be ruthless in water cooler conversations.



Follow Ups: