How I practice

There are all kinds of rules about how to practice, what to practice, when to practice, and how much to practice.

I don't follow any rules.  Unless you're particularly driven or have masochistic tendencies, you shouldn't either...for your own good.

I almost always hate practicing, especially when I'm in lousy shape, and as far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to suffer any more than I have to.

For me, how I practice depends on what the practice is for: to increase or retain technical skill building or to learn new repertoire.

For skill building-retention here's my order...usually:

1. I spend a few minutes convincing myself that practicing isn't as awful as I think it will be, and that I won't absolutely hate it once I start.

2. I start out with major and minor scales, broken chords, and arpeggios, all slurred. These take about ten minutes to go through all of them unless I'm particularly out of shape. If I'm out of shape, I start slower than I think I could play them, then repeat as my fingering becomes smoother.

3. I do some triplet exercises, exercises, all slurred.

4. I go back to the scales, chords, triplet exercises, etc., and work on my single and double-tonguing. (Double tonguing is new to me, but it's necessary because my articulation has slowed down so much that it's embarrassing.)

5. I take a break. The length of the break depends on how much I still hate practicing at that point.

6. I pull out my passage book. My passage book contains copies of all the tough passages in repertoire or etudes that I either haven't ever mastered or that I'm not entirely confident about. My book contains several dozen of these, and I pick and choose from them . The contents of my book changes all the time; I'm always adding some or  deleting others that I'm sure I've mastered. 

7. I may go over some old repertoire that I'm fond of, but not new stuff, just as a breather from the drudgery.

8. I run over some articulation studies again.

For learning new repertoire, here's my order...usually:

1. I warm up to the point where I am my clarinet don't feel as if we're fighting each other.

2. I run through the piece from beginning to end without stopping...no matter how many mistakes I make.

3. I run the the piece again, this time marking every technical or musical thing that I want to fix.

4. I go over those marked parts until I pretty much have them down...for this session.

5. I play the piece again, as in 2, never stopping. 

6. If I've practiced the piece before and I'm confident that I've fixed the things I marked, I erase any markings that I don't need anymore.

I have no qualms about breaking up practice into various sessions during the day. The only time I insist on going through a full session with no significant breaks is when my embouchure is weak and I'll be performing for long stretches, like for a recital or concert. But I don't practice for much longer than a performance is expected to last. (It would be different if I was in a service band or some touring orchestra playing eight hours a day. That's a different story.) 

Other than in those situations, I see no value in practicing for two or three hours straight. Worse yet,  insisting on practicing a particular amount of time accomplishes nothing by itself other than possibly strengthening your embouchure so much that you can moonlight as a car jack for people with flat tires.

Overdoing it by practicing for too long at a stretch will damage you, especially if the length of time you set for your practice sessions to to the point that your embouchure muscles are collapsing,  If you overdo it, it'll take you longer to spring back for your next session.

If you want to practice in several sessions, do it! You'll probably progress much faster and be happier about sitting down to the music stand than if you forced everything into one session.  (I usually practice my articulating or technical passages by themselves when there's a break in the day. Twenty minutes here, ten minutes there. It helps!)

Oh, I almost forgot: Practice stuff SLOWLY until you've mastered the technical stuff, then speed up gradually !

Over and out.