OBSERVATIONS OF PRACTICE CHARACTERISTICS OF UNDERGRADUATE CLARINET STUDENTS IN PRACTICE SESSIONS AND PRECEDING APPLIED LESSONS

Abstract

This study observed practice characteristics demonstrated in the practice sessions of sixteen undergraduate clarinetists, and examined the relationship between those characteristics and the activities each student experienced in a preceding private lesson. Part I of the investigation observed characteristics of effective practice in student practice sessions within a framework modeled after Duke, Simmons, and Cash in their 2009 study. With few exceptions, results were mostly consistent with those of Duke et al. Data indicated that almost all students (94%) addressed errors immediately when they appeared, most (63%) demonstrated mostly thoughtful practice, and half (50%) appeared to conceptualize the material with appropriate musical inflection. Most students' practice sessions lacked an effective process for correcting errors: while about half (56%) usually identified accurately and isolated problem areas, many fewer (25% or less) exhibited systematic tempo alteration, effective repetition, or a lack of persistent errors.

Part II of the study compared individual practice sessions to the preceding private lessons, and case studies were presented of four students. The two students whose practice exhibited the highest number of effective practice characteristics both engaged in conversations about practicing in their lessons, indicating a possible relationship between students whose lessons consistently incorporate the topic of practicing and those students who demonstrated the most characteristics of effective practice. Several questions arose in the case studies, including whether applied teachers can or should help teach these skills of effective practice, rather than the common occurrence of students figuring them out on their own through trial and error.