Exercises

So I thought to start a topic about all the different kinds of exercises musicians/composers might do.  Do you do any (and what kind if you do) warm-up exercises on your instrument when you first start playing for the day?  Do you do any particular etudes that get your fingers (or arms/hands for percussion) nimble?  Do you do any exercises before composing such as ear-training?  (and what tools/websites do you use to train your ear?)  Do you do any singing exercises?  Are you currently doing any composition exercises such as practice transitioning between two unrelated themes, or four-part chorale writing?  (which I guess would also qualify as a voice-leading exercise)  Have you done any orchestration exercises?  What about transposition exercises?

I guess another question I should ask is:  do you find the exercises that you do gratifying, beneficial and effective in honing the particular skills that you're practicing with that exercise?  I've known many musicians that have struggled with making their practice time more effective and meaningful.

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Do you do any (and what kind if you do) warm-up exercises on your instrument when you first start playing for the day?

Not often, but when I do, I often play preludes by Bach and Chopin.

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Do you do any particular etudes that get your fingers (or arms/hands for percussion) nimble?

As I said before, Bach and Chopin Preludes.

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Do you do any exercises before composing such as ear-training?  (and what tools/websites do you use to train your ear?)

Nope, I've got perfect pitch so no need for ear training.

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Do you do any singing exercises?

Nope, I'm not a singer and even if I were, I don't know of anything made for Alto singers in particular. Back when I was 10 years old, I could sing tenor, alto, and soprano. But then as I went into adolescence, the tenor range got cut off immediately and the soprano range got restricted. It started with an upper boundary of G6, and over the years that upper boundary went down to F# and then eventually C. Now, I can articulate higher notes than that C with my voice, but it requires me to reach the high C first, I can't do it unprepared. And even if I could, my Soprano is terribly squeaky, so I tend to go down an octave by instinct instead of staying up there. And yet, most vocal works and exercises I have seen have been for Soprano, Tenor, and Bass. Sometimes I see the Tenor exercises and works with an Alto option, but nothing that I have seen is primarily for Alto, which is my natural range.

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Are you currently doing any composition exercises such as practice transitioning between two unrelated themes, or four-part chorale writing?  (which I guess would also qualify as a voice-leading exercise)

The transitioning between 2 themes, I do that all the time in my compositions, so no need to practice that as an exercise. And 4 part writing I rarely ever do. I've written chorales in several of my pieces(like for example the Bb major section of my Summer Evening piece), but they often end up in 6 or 7 parts, not 4. 

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Have you done any orchestration exercises?

I treat every arrangement I do for orchestra as an exercise so considering that I have arranged Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Prelude in G minor by Rachmaninoff, and the Pathetique Sonata for orchestra, yes.

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What about transposition exercises?

I did that in my early years as a pianist, but now, I just transpose on the spot, no exercises needed. I can even do major to minor on the spot(example, taking an E major melody and transposing it down to C minor)

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do you find the exercises that you do gratifying, beneficial and effective in honing the particular skills that you're practicing with that exercise?

Yes, especially the orchestration exercises.

3 minutes ago, caters said:

I've got perfect pitch so no need for ear training.

So having perfect pitch - does that basically mean you have a 'golden ear' so to speak?  I've found that doing ear training exercises helps me most with melodic memory/recall as that is where I've become rusty the most over time.

3 minutes ago, PaperComposer said:

So having perfect pitch - does that basically mean you have a 'golden ear' so to speak?  I've found that doing ear training exercises helps me most with melodic memory/recall as that is where I've become rusty the most over time.

 

Yep. I can tell what note, octave, and often instrument is being played even blindfolded. The only 2 instruments that I have a hard time telling apart without visual cues are Violin and Viola, that's it. And as far as melodic memory goes, mine is probably the best out of a lot of people, I can hum or sometimes even sing the entire Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Not any specific instrument, just the overall sound of the symphony.

5 minutes ago, caters said:

And as far as melodic memory goes, mine is probably the best out of a lot of people, I can hum or sometimes even sing the entire Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Not any specific instrument, just the overall sound of the symphony.

Wow - that must be great for composition!  But could you also write out all the parts of any given symphony after hearing it once?  If so, you're on par with Mozart's abilities when he wrote down a whole mass he had heard in church (I forget the exact story but I think there was only one copy of the score and he wasn't allowed access to it so he decided to write it all down in spite of that LoL).

On both viola and piano I have to practice. Usually start with something relaxed I can play, then get down to it. Then end with something easy, maybe an improvisation on a lounge number (piano) or a Kinsey easy study on viola.

I still practice a couple of Liszt studies (I can only play 2 adequately) to keep nimble, exercise stretch and aim. They usually tell me where I need more work. Liszt was my best piano teacher. I learned to suspend a melody in the middle using thumbs of both hands. Also those nasty arpeggii where you have to move the entire hand to change from thumb to little finger and vice versa.

I also do hand exercises away from the keyboard, keeping up with finger independence.

All grist to the mill as they say!

7 minutes ago, Quinn said:

I still practice a couple of Liszt studies (I can only play 2 adequately)

Do you mean the Transcendental Etudes?  If you can play any of those you're definitely a virtuoso in my book!  I've played some Chopin Etudes myself but I don't use them as a warm-up!  LoL  The Revolutionary and the Aeolian Harp etude are among the easier ones and I've also tried my hand at the Op. 10 No. 1 Etude in C major and the "Winter Wind" Etude is probably the most difficult that I've ever tried to learn.

13 minutes ago, Quinn said:

I also do hand exercises away from the keyboard, keeping up with finger independence.

I twiddle my thumbs and I've so far been unsuccessful at learning how to twiddle a pen/pencil between my fingers LoL...

9 hours ago, PaperComposer said:

Do you mean the Transcendental Etudes?  If you can play any of those you're definitely a virtuoso in my book!  I've played some Chopin Etudes myself but I don't use them as a warm-up!  LoL  The Revolutionary and the Aeolian Harp etude are among the easier ones and I've also tried my hand at the Op. 10 No. 1 Etude in C major and the "Winter Wind" Etude is probably the most difficult that I've ever tried to learn.

I twiddle my thumbs and I've so far been unsuccessful at learning how to twiddle a pen/pencil between my fingers LoL...

 

Yes. It took me over a year to get Feux Follets into any sort of shape but it does contain a lot of material that can be replicated elsewhere! Liszt put almost no pedal markings in and I wanted to play it that way. Most "professionals" have the pedal down the whole time blurring the harmony and detail, and making it sound more like stirring treacle than will-o-the-wisps!! But it is easier to play like that as un-smoothness gets covered up.

As for hand exercises, a teacher gave me a book called 'the Cowling System'. I never looked back. Also made an octave stick. As our supermarket Tesco says: "Every little helps".

But you've done well enough with Chopin's studies, surely? They aren't easy at all and I'd fear to even think of trying with most of them. No 12 Op 25 appeals but it looks horrendous. Well done with those. It rather puts you in the virtuoso bracket I'd say.

EDIT: I still don't know how to divide up a quote, like you can split the quoted post into separate parts to answer points separately. Obviously I'm a bit dim.

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@Quinn I usually just select the text I want to quote and there's an automatic little pop-up/button that says "+Quote" and I hit that and it inserts the quote at the last active position you were at in your text entry box.

A-ha! Right. Thanks.

I'll try that next time I want to split a quote.

Cheers.