Students should practice an average of at least 30 minutes per day if they are to make progress. The following is a suggested routine for practice:

       Warm-Up  -  10 Minutes

This should consist of Long Tones, followed by scales and exercises. This   is perhaps the most important part of a student’s practice, and yet it is almost always the most overlooked by the student. Most professional players consider this the most important part of their practice.

Long, sustained tones, in a variety of ranges and dynamics, combined with a deep concentration on the part of the student on the quality of sound and the center of the pitch will improve every aspect of a student's playing in a remarkable way. Such practice takes much self-discipline and patience, which is why young students often neglect it.

Scales are another essential practice item that must be addressed every day by the young student. All music is based upon scales and arpeggios. If we can play a scale, we can easily learn to play any song based on that scale or key. Scales should be practiced very slowly at first, with the emphasis on perfect rhythm and even fingers. Only when a student can play a given scale perfectly, many times in a row, should he or she increase the speed.

Adding octaves to scales allows us to increase our playing range (how high or low we can play).

Band Music or Test material - 10 minutes

Work on music to be performed and exercises assigned as test material.

Song Practice--------10 minutes

Students should spend this part of their practice time playing songs they like. There are many songbooks available at area music stores that contain popular and traditional songs for instrumentalists at varying levels of proficiency. Students should spend some time looking through these books for material they would enjoy learning. Scales, long tones, and exercises are necessary to build the control needed to play music. Band music does not always have the melody line in every part. To become a good musician, and to enjoy playing, students should play melodies every day! F.B.A. Solo and Ensemble Festival provides a great opportunity for Advanced and Concert band students to perform a Solo. Flute World and Allegro Music carry music for all instruments that is graded and on the F.B.A. music list.

The old adage, "Practice Makes Perfect" is only partially correct. To that, we must add, "If Practiced Perfectly," if we are to get real benefit from our practice. Much of what we call practice is really necessary experimentation. Many students "experiment" many times until they get it right, and then think they are finished. In truth, each unsuccessful attempt is just experimentation to learn how to achieve a result. Once the correct result is achieved, we must repeat the correct response over and over. This is what practice really is, playing the song, scale, or exercise correctly, over and over again. Remember, if you play something 9 times wrong, and play it correctly on the 10th try, you have a 1 in 10 chance of playing it correctly on the next try. Only when you can play the song 10 times in a row, without making a mistake, can you really say you know the piece!