Make Deliberate Practice Actually Work for You!

[@cltplayer]

Josh…great content. I often think of my fingers like children…they do whatever they want to unless you tell them not to so sometimes telling the fingers don’t lift too high works

[@QuickStartClarinet]

😂 That's perfect! The pink elephant idea isn't quite as necessary for the fingers, like in the example I used, since we are so used to consciously controlling our fingers. However, it can be really impactful on muscles that we have less control over like our tongue and embouchures. Often when we think don't bite or don't move our tongue too much we actually bite or move more. Replacing those with something more positive like move just the tip of the tongue, or keep the embouchure steady or open can work better.

[@bririch7]

I love this video. Well done. I want to practice smarter and this explains how to do it.

[@QuickStartClarinet]

Awesome! Let me know how it comes together for you!

[@irisroberts5893]

This idea is my new “New Year’s Guiding Directive”!!! Great that you have linked it to the scientific method-and into extended areas of life; this supports the value of the arts! To use an Aussie phrase: “Good on ya!”

[@QuickStartClarinet]

Absolutely! Learning to make deliberate improvements in our clarinet playing can yield great results in just about all areas of life!

[@sovereign142]

Thank you once again, pertinent to me. Can you show me where your practice form is please. I just tend ( and usually forget) to scribble in a notebook

[@QuickStartClarinet]

I'm glad it was helpful! If you go to www.quickstartclarinet.com/getstarted you can create a login for my free Members Area and the practice template (as well as a bunch of other good resources) are in there. Let me know if you have any difficulty finding it!

[@PinacoladaMatthew]

I am kindda stuck at 94bpm (16th notes) tonguing speed, already been doing it slowly and being mindful about minimal tongue reed distance. Well, I started at 80bpm 2 months ago, so i guessed i made some progress😅

[@QuickStartClarinet]

That is definitely progress! And, hypothetically, if you keep up that progress you will be over 120bpm in just 4 months, that's not bad! See if you can go deeper with the problem though to maybe improve faster or at least guarantee you continue improving. That is great that you are being mindful about the minimal movement, but maybe there is a deeper or at least different problem to solve now? Keep experimenting, and keeping an open mind to what could actually make the difference and then test it out and see if it works. One warning about that though, try to avoid doing anything too weird. You may find that tonguing with the under side of your tongue on the corner of the reed makes it go super fast (or something like that), but is that really practical to switch to that in context, and does it still sound good? Try and look for the solutions that make things simpler and more straightforward.

[@PinacoladaMatthew]

@@QuickStartClarinet Thank you Josh, very very useful feedback👍👍