I'm curious about folks' practice routine. Do you work on any scales or exercises, or do you just play tunes? Do you play through all or a big part of your repetoire or do you just work on one or two specific tunes? Do you play through a whole tune over and over or do you concentrate on one part or phrase? What does practice look like when you have a pile of tunes under your belt? Do you concentrate on the new ones - and if so how do you keep the old ones from slipping out of the muscle memory?

I'm curious because until recently I'd just play my half dozen tunes over and over again - that was practice, along with some exercises. But I've learned a bunch of new tunes and now I not only need to keep working on the old ones, but also work out the rough patches in the new ones and get them up to speed.

Thanks in advance

Patrick,

There's no one specific method to learn -- rather, you've hit on all of the important points. The big thing is; practice as much as you can. If you've only got 15 minutes, just work on scales and ornamentations -- specific riffs. If you've got a couple of hours to pull, start with scales and proceed to songs. Break them down into intro/verse/chorus/turnaround/outro. A metronome or click track is always a handy gadget to have with the longer practices.

~R!CK

I practice as much as possible.
I often start with playing a few songs I know.
Mostly the songs (about 50) that we play with the band.
If I will play all the songs I am playing a long time.
I also practice exercises or licks wich I try to find from records and use them if I can find a place to do so.
Also new songs take much time.
It should be great to know more exercises to practice the specific groove of Cajun-music.
Not only for me, but for all players who begin playing the cajun accordion.
Now I'm going to practice, because I'm the only one in the house.

Patrick,

Here’s a nicely unorganized plethora of ideas on rehearsing!

Daily, I’ll do a brief “rehearsal” in the AM whilst the shower
water warms up, for ~15 minutes (Actually, I let the sink “trickle”
so I’m not wasting gallons of water).

(I usually do my more "serious" rehearsing in the
evening after werk.)

For me, “practicing” means attacking one or more of
several goals:

It depends on what I think I should be working on
at the moment.

For example, one thing that I’ve noticed as my ears continue to mature, is that many
of the great players have such nice dynamic articulation on accordion!

i.e., you can hear the rhythm dynamics beyond just playing the notes.

So, maybe I'll target this additional "Rubik's-Cube" as a goal
of my rehearsal for the session.

Rehearsing in general:

- Recalling newly learned figures/riffs
- Rehearsing smooth transitions into/out of newly learned figures/key changes
- Tempo stability – working with a metronome (If I’m not careful, I’ll gradually start racing the tempo over time)
- Technique – Smooth legato left hand foundation supporting right hand techniques
- Developing articulation/dynamics into pieces .. rehearsing dynamic articulation of riffs
- Right hand – working with staccato and legato techniques
- Vocals – getting the lyrics correct
- Vocal technique – working on delivering vocals with conviction (selling it)
- General memory – running thru a play-list, touching on parts that are starting to droop.
- Playing thru a song as if I’m performing it on stage .. no backing-up

Also beneficial is to record yourself, and analyze the play back. I may even AB my
recoding to a performance that I’d like to emulate and determine where I fall short
of what I want to sound like. I suppose that doing a video recording may be helpful too!

Another helpful trick is to create your own rhythm track (which is easy with
a computer) in order to provide an accompaniment to play along with.

I’ll probably think of more

Keep squeezin’!

--Big Nick

Big Nick,
Can you elaborate a bit on how you create a rhythm track?

My computer knowledge doesn't really extend very much into the realm of audio...so use little words.

Jude

Jude,

It can be very simple, up to fairly sophisticated

What kind of computer do you have access to?

i.e., Mac based or Windows PC (or other)?

Merci,

-Big Nick

Windows XP with a Multimedia package (whatever that means).

Jude,

Sounds like you’re one your way to becoming a home
recording engineer :-)

To pursue this farther, we’ll probably want to discuss
this “off-line” (i.e., email me directly) ‘cause we’re
starting veer of the topic of accordions .. But, here goes!

You’ll need to plug in a microphone into the back
of your computer. The mic jack is usually identified with
a small microphone symbol (icon). You may need
to reference your hardware manual to locate it.

You can get a microphone at Radio Shack. You’ll
need one that has a miniature plug (also called
3.5 mm or 1/8” plug) to fit the computer.

Now, the easy part.

Click:

Start/All Programs/Accessories/Entertainment/Sound Recorder

And a small sound recorder should appear. Use it just like a
cassette recorder.

The only other thing that you may need to set up is the
computer’s internal connection from the microphone to
the sound recorder.

Click:

Start/Control Panel/Sounds and Audio Devices.

A “Sounds and Audio Device Properties” panel comes up.
Click on “Advanced” and viola! You have a mixing panel.

Click on “Options/Properties/Recording”
and a recording panel pops up, allowing you to select
the microphone as a recording device, and control how
high the recording level will be.

It sounds complex, but it really isn’t.

Anyway, if you can do all this, you can record
a guitar rhythm track to play back and practice
along with.

And, there are all kinds of freebee multi-tracking
programs that will let you create a whole
band to play along with in a similar manner.

Puff, puff ..

--Big Nick

Thanks for the help. I've downloaded Audacity to help with recording and I've found a cheap microphone to start off with.

Now I just need to find a guitarist...

Jude,

Sounds good .. hope it all works out.

With out going nutz on this topic .. yet another
way to do this is to procure software that can
play audio "loops", such as rhythm/drum instruments.

And, MIDI can do this too.

It may seem elaborate, just for the sake of rehearsing,
but if you become comfortable with the technology,
it can be quite a simple process

--Big

I have a couple of friends who play guitar. I think I can get one of them to lay down a rhythm track for me.

Thanks again for all your help.

Jude

Practice????

Bonjour O'Boudreaux, mon ami. Comment allez-vous?

Dwight

Hello Mr. Shacklefordeaux -

We're doing well here in the Midwest. I tested the waters at Balfa Camp for the first time this year and had a blast. And then made the ritual pilgrimage to Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend where Bon Soir Catin was teaching. So a great spring and summer of new tunes. Now I just need to get a halfway decent handle on them!! Someone hand me the ViseGrips.

I started out first with the Dirks lesson, VHS tapes. Went strictly by them for a long time. Once I learned the scales and blends, that is when I was really playing something decent, you get the know the pattern of the accordion when you play scales. As time goes by you work on your techniques, like wine it gets better as it ages, so will your playing. Get the basic down first, stick with the lessons, them fingers will bend and you will be amazed how much your fingers have grown, being able to reach that No.2 and one button with ease. That was my plan, now I practice at least 2 or 3 times a week now. I will go through what I know, and then work on something new.

What I like to do is set up in the garage where I can get some volume and play through an amp along with a drum machine also plugged in. For Zydeco I think you need to practice with the internal mic played through an amp or system so you can get some volume especially from the bass side. People really like to hear that wooshing bass under the treble. Then I pick a song and try to jam on it playing it as many different ways as I can. I try to remember what sounds good and remember not to play what doesn't! I'll practice vocals and try to play it like I'm at a gig with an emphasis on improvising different thngs while playing at the same time. I'll use different beats and vary the tempo. When working on new stuff I always try and start out real slow until I can play it without thinking. Then gradually speed it up. I finally got a nice version of Waxia Special off of Steve Riley's instructinal DVD done to a Zydeco beat. Now that is a cool song to do because the chord and key changes are just so beautiful. Try it!

I crank it up in my bath and make bubbles