2 reasons for practicing

Well, there are many more, but here are two reasons for putting in good practice sessions close to concert date:

1. Improve my playing even by an increment on the pieces we will be performing.
2. Keep my CHOPS IN SHAPE. It is great to get in good solid practice sessions leading up to the concert so my chops are READY for all that playing come concert night. It will be good to have solid rehearsals tomorrow and Friday. 2 hours of rehearsal time on this concert band music means that my chops should be in great shape by Saturday's performance. Even tonight and last night when I had really good practice sessions, I actually didn't get in much more than an hour of playing time.

Playing in symphony, sometimes the hardest time to keep my chops in shape is right before the concert, because we have so much rehearsal time, and when there are a lot of rests for us brass players, that's a lot of time when we could be practicing, that we are counting. We're great counters, though. :)