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You are here: Home / Jazz Lessons / Practice Habits / A Practical Practice Routine Lesson
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A Practical Practice Routine Lesson

A Practical Practice Routine Lesson

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 3 customer ratings
(3 customer reviews)

$9.99

SKU: 120 Category: Practice Habits Tags: jazz improvisation, learning an instrument, practice routine, video lesson
  • Description
  • Reviews (3)
  • Lesson Sample

Description

In this lesson I take you through my practice routine of the past 20 years. This lesson has to do with one of the most asked questions i receive by email……..How do I practice? What do I practice? I talk about the 5 elements of the routine and how I focus my practice time on specific goals and areas for each practice.  The areas I focus on are Tone, Technique, Tunes, Sight Reading and Ear Training.  I talk about how I divide my time and how important it is to focus on one specific thing. i hope you will get some great tips that will help you in your practice. Enjoy!  (Video)

3 reviews for A Practical Practice Routine Lesson

  1. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    Mark – November 23, 2010

    I recently downloaded the ‘practical practice routine’ this gives great focus to the areas that you need to develop, it identifies issues of information overload and encourages you to highlight an area of improvisational technique that requires improvement. There are five key areas including tone, tunes technique, ear and eye training, this is a lesson that could be easily missed but should form a crucial part of a players toolkit, Steve also talks about the importance of ending your practice on a mental high. I love the way these lessons all integrate with each other, every lesson containing part of the big picture, this is probably the biggest reason I like to source all my learning from Neffmusic.

  2. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    Mark Crowley – May 10, 2011

    For the longest time I felt overwhelmed with how much information one must consume when learning a musical instrument – let alone learning jazz theory. My practice sessions felt unorganized and I wasn’t sure what I should be concentrating on. In this lesson, Steve really puts things into perspective and gives you an organized and focused road map on how to practice the jazz saxophone effectively. He explains how to break up a practice session so that you hit all the important areas (technique, theory, repertoire, etc.). I found this lesson to be very helpful!

  3. Avatar
    Rated 5 out of 5

    Vincent – April 30, 2015

    I must have these tips of Tone, Technigue, Tunes, Site Reading and Ear Training right near or on computer. There are so many times where I have no plan and practice has been bad becomes a waste of time. This lesson is essential to moving forward. Thank you.

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Lesson Sample

https://public.neffmusic.com/A%20Practical%20Practice%20Routine%20clip.mp4

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It is so refreshing to have a great player, who can provide lessons and examples in a manner which is understandable to most any enthusiastic saxophonist who is ready to improve. not just the, do this, do that, memorize this, memorize that… while all that is absolutely necessary, you go on to give reasons and examples to explain and validate why you have to do all of these things, the benefits, if you will… that is the key for me, you tell, explain, demonstrate, explain some more, you give perso… Read more
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Your lessons on playing the blues is so clear . I have been through many books on blues playing and not one of them explains as clear as your lessons . Most of them say “Play the same blues scale over all three chords of a 12 bar blues ” Its very misleading .     Thanks
Martin
Two years later I began a search for a sax teacher and happened to come across Steve Neff when I was searching YouTube for sax teachers.  I went to neffmusic.com and was very impressed with the lessons Steve Neff was offering.  The concept of selecting lessons was an approach that I thought was unique and purchased a few lessons.  I liked the lessons so much that I signed-up for a 6 month package. I was very happy with all the lessons I selected.  I also purchased Steve’s book Mastering the B… Read more
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Steve- I joined your site this month and have downloaded 4 lessons and also purchased your new book and video on diatonic patterns. I just want to say I am very pleased with your approach and teaching techniques. I am getting back into playing after laying off for some time. The information you offer on your site is of great value and I am enjoying being a member. Thank you for what you are doing for the saxophone community.
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For anyone living in remote areas away from live jazz sax teachers, Neff is the way to go. In fact this is a great resource for anyone seriously interested in mastering the sax. I’ve never been disappointed in a lesson.
Oliver
By the way, BIG COMPLIMENTS to you, Steve! Not only are you a great player, you are also a great teacher! I, too, am a woodwinds player/teacher. I have new inspiration to play and teach because of you. The concepts and “thinking” is similar to what I already learned in College, but hearing you explain and PLAY the concepts REALLY MAKES THE DIFFERENCE! Also, your written patterns are more interesting than other books I have seen! Keep up the good work. I will be recommending your sit… Read more
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Thanks so much for putting all this great learning material out there. I don’t often have the time to take a lesson with a teacher, so the ability to download lessons is really invaluable. My playing has improved enormously (I think :)) – and the lessons are so varied there’s always something to be inspired by. Incredible value too!
Roger

Steve,

I have played for many years and have enjoyed going “back to the basics” in some of your lessons!  You have such a gift for explaining concepts.  As I have gotten older, some of the basic things have gotten muddled because I just play, not knowing why.  As I refresh myself with “why”, it increases my confidence and expands my playing.  Thank you so much for using your gift!  You are a blessing!

Julia
First, I’m really excited about your materials! This site is a vast resource for any aspiring (and maybe already inspired) jazz musicians. I’m not a sax player, I play mandolin and fiddle, but have been learning jazz and playing weekly with a quintet for the past 6 months and have been struggling with all of the issues you get into in your lessons. I bought several books and lessons and plan to continue with some others as soon as I organize my practice routine. Thanks again for a great site … Read more
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I have NEVER seen material like yours.  Amazing!!
Jerry

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