Teaching | Pedagogy | Time Saving Practice by Gary Karr

In 1999, when I was on my college Double Bass studies with professor David Murray at Butler University, he shared with me a very interesting article by Gary Karr, which was published on February of the same year, at the American String Teacher Magazine exposing a MORE PRODUCTIVE PRACTICE, IN FOUR STEPS AWAY FROM THE INSTRUMENT; an idea not only addressed for Double Bass players but also for all String players.In 1999 I used this article on a Psychology of Music Learning class’ final paper, and now, 15 years after, with many thanks to Professors Karr, and Murray, as I still think The Four Steps are so useful, I’m here sharing my outline, and the original article.


STEP ONE | RHYTHM


STEP TWO | INTERVALS


STEP THREE | BOWINGS


STEP FOUR | FINGERINGS


PUTTING IT TOGETHER


Karr refutes his concept saying that in addiction to the work on intonation, bowing and fingering, after completing the four steps for time-saving practice, we begin automatically to form musical ideas about how the piece should be played. Karr also says, “There is no stronger motivation to playing well than a musical idea.”

Karr's 4 Steps for Time Saving Practice

The original article at the magazine:

American String Teacher 

February, 1999