This applies to all instruments

[Leo Salu]

ts

[sxpoet]

If you are a music sheet player – you definitely have to practice various stuff to make sheet playing easier, they both go hand in hand.

Like i said before ‘Practice makes perfect’ can be true and can be false – get a music teacher, you’d be surprised and unaware that you could be practicing something wrong and developing bad habits.

By recording your practice and playing it back and comparing the way it should be played is a must, but it still doesn’t show up any bad habits you’ve picked which will be pointed out by a teacher watching you play.

They don’t just listen, they look at what you are doing with your fingers, how you are controlling your breathing and your posture, and also how relaxed your hands and body are – you wont get any of that from playing back a recording. Also they can tell you how good or bad your setup is and if something is holding you back.

I started learning to play the Clarinet, and like the sax there are three different register ranges.
Chalumeau register – Low E(below middle C) to low F#(in treble cleff)
throat notes register – Low G(in treble cleff) to Bb (in treble cleff)
Clarinet register – Low B(in treble cleff) to C above the treble cleff.

After a few weeks, i’ve started on the Clarinet register notes – it’s a bit like learning to play altissimo on the sax, but not as difficult. You have to go up a reed size to a size 3 reed, otherwise the notes are hard to play, for me its easy because i play a size 3 on the sax and i’m used to blowing, unlike a beginner

[sxpoet]

However when i play music sheets in the clarinet register i struggle. The only way to get round that is for me to practice playing scales – so yes, you have to practice scales whether you like it or not.

The best music sheet players on any wind instrument are the ones who spend a lot of time playing scales. Any music teacher will tell you that, in fact they can tell straight away by listening to someone playing from a music sheet that they don’t practice their scales enough.

The other must for a sheet player, is practicing the timing of notes, starting and stopping of notes. There quite a few combination of timing notes that frequently appear on music sheets, these combinations need to be practiced separately, no matter how long you have been playing.

[Author]

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