I'm going to be a senior next year and i need to take my playing to the colege level. i'm preparing for collage auditions and florida has alot of compotition. i have tons of time this summer to get some serious practicing in. i just have a few questions for the guys who have been there.

how much practice in one day is too much?
if i wanted to get tree or four hours in worth of practicing, how should i devide the time up between seshions?
What are good ways to get large amounts of practing done?

The important thing remember is that it is the QUALITY of practice, not quantity.
Practice as much as you can, as long as...
1... there is no pain or discomfort in your chops/hands/arm, etc.
2... you are still able to stay focused
3... you are able to play with only minimal mouthpiece pressure
4... you are still actually accomplishing something
This last one is important. There will come a time where you keep working at something and you're frustrating yourself instead of actually making any progress.
Summer time is great because there is time to break up your practice over the day. This allows you to cover a lot of material while giving your chops and your brain time to take a break and recover.
Now here's where I go against the conventional wisdom...
I personally believe there is something to be said for pushing your chops every now and then. Think about it. If you practice in spurts of 30 minutes with 30 minute breaks in between, what happens when you play a gruelling two hour gig?
If there is one thing my job has taught me is the importance of endurance. Now, this doesn't mean beat your chops to kingdom come every day. But push yourself every now and then, just a little beyond, and you'll notice good things.
What you practice is up to you. It all boils down to playing with a great sound, in tune, in good time, with good articulation and appropriate style. You can work these things with just about anything.. it all just depends on how critical you want to be.

Ok thaks for the advice. i'm open for any further advice i can get for improving.

I would also recommend that you NEVER overlook the importance of your warm-up. During your warm-up you should be trying to accomplish something: good, even tone, clean attacks, consistency in pitch, time, execution. During your warm-up you focus ONLY on the fundamentals you need to incorporate into the next etude you are learning, or solo you are learning,etc.

Often times I see one too many students just play mindlessly through some warm-up just to say they "warmed up."

PRACTICE EVERYTHING WITH A METRONOME! EVEN LONG TONES!! it's a good way to practice starts and stops since it will be metered out and have to be specific, breath on the click, start on the click, release on the click, etc..

-Raul

thank you for your advice. i do take my warm ups very seriusly. i try to keep a stedy tempo but i probably do need to take my metronome out more often. i thank most trombone players would agree that metronomes suck even though they are nessesary.

Most people hate metronomes because they can't stay with them. That's the idea. Your body(fingers, arm, wrist, tongue) will do what feels natural, hence the inconsistency in almost everything you do, tempo, phrasing, etc. The metronome forces your mind and muscle memory to adjust and conform to precise, well-timed movements and requires near-perfect execution in order to stay with it.

I love metronomes.

I think something is wrong with my metronome.. it keeps speeding up and slowing down on me

In all seriousness, I see it all the time... someone practicing with a metronome and completely ignoring it.

One of my percussion students says that ALL THE TIME. THOSE GUYS ARE THE WORST ABOUT IT--having good time, and staying with the met!

I think something is wrong with my metronome.. it keeps speeding up and slowing down on me

Ah, but when I was an undergrad I had one of those old mechanical metronomes. I dropped it a number of times on the way from my first-floor locker to the fourth-floor practice rooms such it developed a limp and so did my playing. I bought another mechanical metronome and the same thing happened again. Eventually I splurged for an electric metronome. (Tiny electronic metronomes hadn't been invented yet--or if they had, I didn't know of them).

In all seriousness, I see it all the time... someone practicing with a metronome and completely ignoring it.

I have to think that this is more likely to happen when you use a metronome constantly--it becomes background noise that automatically tune out. I also think there's a danger of becoming too dependent on a metronome. I think you should practice pieces both with and without. After all, you won't have one at the concert.

The metronome, like any other tool, can be misused. What you get out of using one depends on you.
One thing I like to do is record myself playing without a metromone, then on the playback, use the "tap" function to see just how steady my tempo is (or isn't). It can be very eye opening.

Tip: Pay attention to everything you do, don't let anything slide. Try to be extremely critical of your playing and get everything right (but don't go too far, you might go crazy). If you're paying more attention to what's coming out of the bell then you're more likely to catch things and fix them.