Music students practice to make perfect

Most non-musicians never really understand why practicing is such a central part of a musician's life. Some musicians can spend almost half the day playing their instruments. This is because musicians are on a quest for perfection, and practicing is the main tool they use to get there. \nMusic is a language -- and not practicing for a day is comparable to not being able to speak for a day, theorizes founder of the Suzuki Teaching Method Shinichi Suzuki. Just as becoming fluent in a language takes speaking it and thinking in it every day, the musician develops an ability to play music fluently by practicing every day.\nMusic students at IU practice between two to seven hours everyday, sometimes even more. Their responses are similar: They practice to get better, and they enjoy it -- when they see the results. \nSophomore and voice performance major Yoo Ri Jang said she spends about two hours a day practicing. \n"If I could practice for as long as I wanted, I'd do three hours everyday -- anything more will probably harm my voice," she said with a chuckle. "But if I was a pianist, hey, try me for 12 hours."\nIf singers such as Jang practice more than a maximum of three hours daily, their voices could get damaged. The same goes for wind players and their embouchures, the mouth shape formed to play a wind instrument. Having a proper embouchure allows the instrumentalist to play with a full, clear tone without straining the muscles. String and keyboard players are more often than not, the people who practice the most. And for nearly all musicians, it's really up to their stamina and ability to concentrate. \nFor most college students, finding several hours during the day to focus on something other than class is a major problem. Many music students often discover they practice less than they would like to.\nBut does practicing so many hours a day make musicians somewhat reclusive to the rest of the world?\n"Yes, practicing is such an independent activity -- it needs your own individual concentration, sometimes people practice so much that they lose interaction with others," Jang said. "It is possible to practice so much that you get isolated from reality."\nJorja Fleezanis, violinist and concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra, said she used to practice three to five hours a day during her time at college. She emphasized making practicing an efficient activity.\n"Practicing should be a balance between two things: muscle training (of the fingers and the arms) and the study of the music," she said. "As musicians we have to spend some part of our training devoted to getting better. There's no way around it. You have to practice slowly, with a metronome, and with discipline. "\nFleezanis said practicing does not always have to be done in the practice room.\n"Listening away from the instrument helps you get the complete sound in your head," she said. "Studying the score, how the music comes about, is very important. The people who are only spending time practicing the muscles are definitely losing the important point -- which is the music, which is about life and life's experiences. I don't think you can become a good musician only by practicing your instrument alone."\nSpending time practicing usually leads to technical improvement, Fleezanis said, but for musicians to express what the composer intended requires much more than just hours in the practice room.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Khai-Ern Ooi at ooik@indiana.edu.