My First Day
Sunday, February 16, 2020 by Gary Johnston | 21-Day Challenge
Piano
Well, my first day of the 21 day challenge has been largely spent getting myself organized. Once I decided what I wanted to do and needed to do things got easier.
I began with about 5 minutes of scales and Hanon exercises to just warm up. Afterall, it's still -12C windchill out there.
Then I spent about 12 minutes working on my nemesis, the diminished scales. These are great scales for jazz improv and transitioning between key changes.
Then I spent a solid 45 minutes on repertoire. I have two big shows coming up in March and I need to be on top of 40 or so pieces. One show, an Eric Clapton Revue, contains very little keyboard work so I have to work up my own parts. Very time consuming. The other show is a Jazz East show. The Jazz East show has all written charts so it's just about getting to know them and practice soloing if necessary.
Then I just played for 10 minutes for sheer enjoyment. Always a good way to end a practice session.
That's over 70 minutes.
Ukulele
Again, I played scales and LH technical exercises to begin and then moved on to discovering new chord fingerings on different places on the fretboard. Then I tackled some classical tablature to try and sharpen my tab reading skills. I finished with playing some good old Woody Guthrie tunes having a good sing.
Summary
Now I don't expect my students to spend anywhere near the amount of time practicing as I do as a professional player but you could apply my approach as a template for your own practice.
- scales and technique
- repertoire
- playing old material for the sheer joy of it!
Divide your time in thirds even. One third on scales and technique, one third on new rep and one third on playing older rep. So a thirty minute practice would look like:
- 10 minutes- scales and technique
- 10 minutes new rep
- 10 minutes old rep
Or any way you choose.
Have fun and become amazing.♥
