The Practice 'Hour'

I have recently put a lot of thought into the use of my own practice time. The 'hour' can be more of a symbolic time frame, rather than exactly one hour; in other words, however long you have to practise for. The following is a suggested breakdown of the time - I have found this to be very effective in my practice and that of my students, also developing good habits and efficient use of time.

• Long notes and Overtones (harmonic series): 10mins. Concentrate on Full Tone, Breath Support/Control and Intonation
• Scales and Derivative Patterns: 20mins. With the Metronome, varying the articulation and maintaining an even tone and secure time.
• Active listening and Transcription: 15mins. Go into as much depth as possible with the theory behind what you are hearing. Analyse everything!
• Repertoire: 15mins. Relate this to Scale work and Transcription. Pick a tune, pick it apart and put it back together again.

Of course, these elements can be combined with one another, so that each aspect of your learning relates to the others. I have left out Composition in this instance as at the moment my Compositional work consumes many many hours of my time - obviously this can and should be linked in with saxophone work wherever possible, as these two things should inform each other. The important thing is to remain creative and explore thoroughly the sounds that particularly resonate with you, whilst maintaining discipline and getting to grips with the actual physicality of playing an instrument.