Baroque musician reveals the most important elements of her practice routine
1. Plan your practice according to how you feel
If you’ve been travelling and carrying a lot of bags so feel weak or tired, you’ll have to build up slowly during your next practice session. If you’ve had a run of a routine of practice, you should be able to start at a slightly faster pace and work from there.
2. Warm-up
I warm up for 20 minutes to half an hour, depending on how much time I have. Play scales, arpeggios and double-stops in the key(s) of the repertoire you’re working on at the moment. Then play a study. When you’re playing Baroque repertoire you’re usually in the primary keys – there aren’t many pieces in F sharp minor, for instance. I choose studies that take me into more ‘outlandish’ keys.
3. Improvise
Improvisation and ornamentation go hand in hand. In Baroque music it’s vital to know the harmony and bass line, and to be able to improvise within ..
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