Effective Practice
TedEd – How to practice effectively…for just about anything
Use reference recordings
Most arrangements you’ll play in school bands have a demo on the publisher’s website or on Youtube.
“Transcribe!” (available here) is a software program available for Mac and Windows which I use in lessons (and in my own practice!) to slow down tracks that we play along with. It also enables students to select a different starting point for playback or loop a selection rather than having to waste time rewinding a CD player or fiddling with a regular player like Windows Media Player or iTunes which makes it very frustrating when you want to go over sections partway through a song.
For students of all levels, I encourage use of playalong tracks whilst practising as it’s almost like having a teacher with you the whole time pointing out how you should sound. This program makes it much easier to be disciplined slowing a difficult phrase down by a measurable amount and then increasing speed in small increments. It’s much harder to have the patience and attention to detail to repeat a phrase over and over without any tools. You can get a 30 day free trial if you don’t want to commit to the $39USD price-tag straight away (that’s for a license code that lasts forever for either Windows or Mac). I’ve been using this program for years for my own practice and with students who always show tremendous improvement after getting the program as their practice efficiency skyrockets.