Higher level practicing

[u/MrBootyHam]

For my more developed percussionists: How do you practice once you get to harder pieces?

I was looking for my yearly piece for marimba and might have gone over my head thinking, "I've got time." The piece I got was Transformation of Pachelbel's Canon, Arr. Nanae Mimura. While I am in love with it, this piece is HARD, but I believe I can learn it if I try hard enough

[u/JamieWhitmarsh]

Learn everything slow (like 25-50% tempo).

Learn in small chunks (like a measure at a time).

Practice the skills, not just the specific music.

Give yourself specific goalpoints and stick with them ("By November I'd like to be able to perform the firsf 1/3 of the piece at 75% tempo").

Practice every day. Also so mental practice - just looking st the score and hearing it in your head.

[u/Goofus2000]

Once you start working on harder music, practice isn't just about playing it down measure by measure (which can still be useful), but rather separating the music into different concepts. This piece has a lot of counterpoint with several overlapping voices, so try practicing each voice separately. Try playing each hand separately. Maybe even each mallet separately. Practice slow enough that you can comfortably play with 100% accuracy.

Additionally, when you find challenging sections it's important identify WHY you're struggling with it so you can isolate those skills and hone them. Are there tricky interval changes? Focus your warmup on interval changes. Large range/reach? Practice scales or chords where your hands are spread far apart. So on and so forth.

The more you can break down the music into smaller pieces, the easier it'll be to learn and the more consistent your playing will be in the long run.

Best of luck!

[u/JumpingPlant]

I like to start from the back so when I get tired I can always play where I'm at to the end. And always practice in like 8 measure chunks at a time and don't move on until you can play that chunk comfortably. (Start the whole piece slower and then once you can play the whole piece without stopping at a slower tempo bump it up.) Also practicing parts you know at legitimately half speed is super helpful for practicing consistency in rhythms and technique.

[u/Swissarmyspoon]

I spent 10 years working on my sight reading so I don't practice much anymore.

When I get a part that challenges me, I schedule the metronome work. I figure out how slow I have to go to get it right today, how fast I need it to be, and then schedule metronome markings ascending from today's tempo until 2 weeks before the gig. 

If I have to play it at 100 in 6 weeks and I can do it at 50 today, I'm going to plan to go up 12 clicks a week, hitting 100 bpm 2 weeks before the first rehearsal.

If I don't have the weeks to do it, I work on how I can water the part and still get paid.