4 Winter/Summer Break Practice Projects

by Sammy Johnson

After returning to graduate school to pursue my Doctorate, I forgot how easy it is to get lazy during summer/winter breaks if you are not actively participating in festivals and performances.  To keep myself busy and engaged with the clarinet, I started creating ‘projects’ for myself. I not only wanted these projects to be fun, but I wanted them to further my study of the clarinet to help prepare me for qualifying exams for my degree.  Here are four ongoing projects that are enjoyable and useful when I find myself in a performance lull.

1. Record Etudes or Unaccompanied Pieces
   
   1. Return to some of those Rose 32 etudes you know and love dearly from your early days of playing.  Record them straight through or exercise your producing chops and record the etude in chunks.  Become familiar with and learn audio software such as Adobe Encore so that you can learn to produce your own (and potentially a clarinet quartet’s…) recordings and videos.  We live in the age of technology, so familiarity with music and video production software is an important and entrepreneurial skill.
      
2. Learn New Music in Batches
   
   1. Public Domain music is readily available online from sites like IMSLP.  If you are still in a college town with a music school, walk over to the music library and check out a stack of pieces you have never heard of.  Read through them, listen to recordings, read a bit about the composer/piece, and then return for the next batch.  I have started revisiting several easy to intermediate level pieces to refamiliarize myself with pieces I am not necessarily going to ‘study’ during my graduate studies or in my professional career.  Knowing these pieces is essential when building a studio of students or teaching graduate level students who may be teaching students of their own.  
      
3. Create an Orchestral Excerpts Binder
   
   1. I am one of those people that LOVES to get organized.  I walk into the plastic container and organizer section of Target and I hyperventilate from excitement.  Organization helps me to be more efficient with learning new music and feeling confident that I have all my ducks in a row.  Start collecting excerpts from auditions, online (like IMSLP), and your school music library.  Create a copy for each excerpt, place it in a plastic page protector, and order them in a binder that fits your needs.  By composer, by genre...whatever helps you find your excerpts quickly.  This also allows you to keep your notes each time you have to pull an excerpt out for an audition.
      
4. Start Your Website and CV (Curriculum Vitae)
   

If you have a desire to start or expand your studio, audition for jobs, or apply for professorships, you will need a professional website to show off your monster clarinet skills.  In today’s modern age, there are several DIY website builders out there.  A few include Wix and Weebly (Novacane’s choice) which allow you to drag and drop applications, text, pictures, and buttons.  These sites make it very easy to create a professional website for your budding career.  Start to build your Curriculum Vitae, as well, as this can become a very long list of the repertoire you have played, masterclasses you have taught or performed in, and awards you may have received.  It will be hard to remember EVERY little thing you have played on, so take note now.  Check out David Cutler’s The Savvy Musician more more information about websites and CVs! ​​