.” In other cases, the practice is unproductive because of some kind of technical deficiency, perhaps from an incorrect fundamental approach or even failure to engage in daily and systematic practice of playing fundamentals. Such issues, once identified, are often simple (though not always easy) to address.
A very common issue with practicing-but-not-growing students is a lack of internal musical concept. I have sometimes called this concept “how it goes,” and wrote about this at some length several years ago. I’ll not repeat all of the material from that article here, but I will suggest a way to identify students who may be having difficulties in this area. Students who lack a solid internal musical concept will struggle when playing alone, as they engage in a constant “play and evaluate” process, always waiting until after the note sounds to determine whether or not it was correct. These same students, though, will show immediate improvement when playing along with the teacher—and not just because the teacher’s sound is covering theirs. Rather, these students have practiced enough that when the teacher is providing a musical concept for them to emulate, they can do so with relative success. Removal of that external concept usually leads to a partial or total relapse to the prior level of playing. Such students should be advised to follow a process like that outlined in the article linked above.
Amusingly, this concept bears a passing similarity to the “Think System” promoted by the fictional conman Harold Hill in the musical The Music Man. In the musical, the “Professor” aims to defraud the citizens of River City, Iowa, of their money under the pretense of forming a boys’ band, and goes so far as to order instruments for them. However, having no musical training whatsoever, Hill does not hold rehearsals but rather encourages the boys to “think” the Minuet in G, and plans to skip town with the money before the first concert. I’ll leave it to the reader to watch and find out what happens. Suffice it to say that while the “Think System” absolutely cannot work as a standalone approach to learning music, even the most diligent and systematic technical practice will not yield satisfactory results until one “thinks” about “how it goes.”
Today I am reposting, for the tenth year, one of the more popular articles on this blog. With high school students preparing for auditions for all-state groups and similar ensembles around this time of year, posting this article every fall seems appropriate.
Let me also remind Mississippi band students that I have created a series of videos specifically related to preparing low brass players to audition for the Mississippi Lions All-State Band, which appear in the YouTube playlist below. I began creating these videos over nine years ago now, and while I have recently begun updating and replacing some of the older videos there is a mix of very recent recordings and older ones. All of the information remains relevant to the current audition format; the newer videos simply have a somewhat higher recording quality.
While some of the material below repeats information covered in these videos, the ideas here are intended to be more broadly applicable, both to students that play other instruments and to those taking auditions in other states. Teachers, please feel free to share these ideas with your students if you think they will be helpful.
1. Keep your instrument in optimum working condition. This should be obvious, but often a student’s playing is hindered by a slide that doesn’t move well, frozen piston valves, noisy rotary valves, etc. If your instrument has a problem of some kind, have your band director or private teacher check it. Perhaps all that is needed is a thorough cleaning, or a minute adjustment. If your teacher is unable to resolve the problem, take your instrument to be serviced by a qualified technician.
When your instrument is in good working order, make sure to clean and lubricate it regularly. Often mechanical problems that can “make or break” an audition are the result of a la