Shostakovich

Wow, I watched the YouTube of Leonard Bernstein conducting the 4th movement of Shostakovich's 5th symphony and I still feel shaky. Man, those trombones rock!

Great practice tonight, even before I watched the YouTube. I'm working on less material, more slowly, and I am making progress, and I like that.

Clef studies!

Lunchtime practice:

Very methodical warmup, without the tuner, just listening to myself. I became suddenly aware of how much weight I am typically putting on the right hand (slide hand) with my modified grip, holding the horn with my ring finger rather than my middle finger of my left hand. I switched to my middle finger, after padding it first with my homemade padding arrangement, but I know already that too much pain lies there. I need to be very attentive to this. I cannot keep putting weight on the slide as 1) that just slows my action down and 2) is probably a bad thing for the slide long term.

I worked on alto clef in my Ralph Sauer clef studies book and that was quite productive. Mr. Sauer says in his introduction that his idea is to give people new things to play, that are musical, as they learn clefs, so the student (that would be me, in this case) does not fall into patterns and not actually learn to read the clef. Sort of like the difference between speaking Spanish rapidly and knowing how to count to one hundred in Spanish.

I also worked on one of the Beeler scale etudes, this one in the key of Ab. I am discovering that I don't have a good sense of what Db should sound like. I did this today without the tuner at all and I kept being pretty fuzzy and out of tune on the Db. Quite interesting. 5th position! There's just so much room there!

return to a little reality ... and it's my 102nd straight day of practice

cool time practicing tonight. I am just bringing a different focus. Goofy little exercises, I'm just working over and over again. Is it that I'm tired of playing things not quite right? Or is it that what every one says is sinking in - play it right and then the speed will come. Or rather, that I have this little break where I can just luxuriate and play around. What heaven. I even played around a good bit with the trumpet tonight before I started on the trombone, trying to pick out a scale, figuring out the partials - such fun to go so high!!!! Wow.

I counted up my days and it really is my 102nd straight day of practice. Granted, a few of those days have just been buzzing a couple of scales on the mouthpiece (while traveling), or the occasional late night sneak in a few surreptitious quiet passages. But, oh, can I see the value of doing this every day. Not in being amazingly better, not at all, but in the desire, the need, now, to play something every single day. Ha, I am almost at a third of a year.

Oh, but for the promised reality. After my wondrously relaxing Christmas break, tonight I pulled out the Shostakovich and I realize that what I must do is play this enough that I almost have it memorized. I simply cannot be translating this from alto clef. I have to get this into myself and our first rehearsal is next week so chop, chop! And I just must get a recording of this symphony so I can get THAT into my head.

teeny tiny

The best laid plans ...

A beautiful meditative weekend led into clambering around town in the snow looking for groceries and gifts, then to throwing together a delightful birthday dinner for my sister-in-law Sharon, and family ... I made this soup, recipe from Carey. I used cranberry beans instead of fava beans (fava beans are too dry for my taste), no chickpeas, a different chili paste and only half of what they called for (didn't want it to be too hot for the kids), and substituted quinoa for the couscous. It was terrific!

All that did not leave much time for practice, sigh. I played a few scales after 9, quietly (and quite nicely on the high end, I might add).

Oh, and I have no idea why they said to saute the vegetables in water, I used olive oil.

Moroccan Fava Bean Stew

1 large onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 tomato, cored and diced
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
2 cups diced pumpkin or butternut or acorn squash
1 cup cooked small fava or cranberry beans, drained
1 cup cooked or canned chick peas, drained
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 tablespoons harissa (Moroccan chile paste)
1 cup couscous

1. Saute onions and bell pepper in 2 tablespoons water for about 5 minutes.Add tomato and garlic and cook for 4 minutes more.

2. Stir in the remaining ingredients (except couscous) and cook for 30 minutes over medium heat until the squash is tender. Stir occasionally.

2. Stir in the couscous, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

very steady and slow practice

I sneaked in a little late, practicing until 9:12 but I have such artsy people upstairs housesitting for Charlie that I just figured I could get away with it.

I did very slow scales, 2 octaves, very slow and in tune.

Then I worked on only the Beeler allegreto piece, carefully. I need to be playing it in 2 but I keep doing it in 4, so I got out the metronome and worked and worked on it to get it in 2. Singing it in 2. Playing only one note to get the timing right. Playing odd transitions very carefully, over and over again. Since I didn't have much time, I just used what I had to get it as right as I could.

I will try to practice more tomorrow; had a social obligation today that took seven hours. (One hour of prep, 6 hours to get there and back, and visit. Mercy.)

first bassoon part

I'm playing the first bassoon part for one of our student symphony pieces. A lot of eighth notes - three pages full, but I played almost 2 of the 3 pages just now, and it is fun music, if I can keep up once we do it at full speed.

I worked on the Allegreto exercise, and on a piece on pp. 12 - 13 of the Beeler.

I may do another practice session later on tonight. It is quite pleasing to have chops in such good shape after playing that Christmas music. I played for about an hour just now and could barely feel the effects.

Jesu, Joy

Why don't I have those positions nailed?

What's up with the trombone that it's so hard for me to know where notes are? After the last post, with Herb gone home, I just poked around playing Jesu, Joy from memory. I can sort of do it, but whew! it is tricky to find the notes.

Then I dig into it more. Is it tricky because I actually don't have the melody fully in my mind? Is it trickier now than when I was a kid because I am not spending the hours and hours on it, expecting it to come all at once instead? I think, maybe I don't have Jesu, Joy fully in my mind, but then I can sing it, so I do, but I'm not giving myself the time to take it from my head to the trombone.

Ok, mini-goal, I love Jesu, Joy, it sounds lovely on the trombone, that can be my song that I play when called upon ... but, oh, my, I also have to learn to play Happy Birthday as we are always called upon to do that!

Enter trumpet!

I asked Paula if I could borrow her trumpet to try it out, and she gave it to me for Christmas. Wow. I love knowing a lot of musicians.

Had the pop over for Christmas. He played cornet just a bit in school. He's where I get whatever smidgen of musical ability I have. I brought out the trumpet and he tried hard to squeak out of few notes. I popped it up and squeaked out a few, and even started to pick out some Christmas tune. Where did that come from?

Then I brought out my beautiful trombone (this is all after a bottle of champagne, mind you) and played taps. He asked me to play something I usually play and I didn't have something laying around in the back of my mind! That's ridiculous! I work so hard at what I am practicing that I don't just have a song laying around in the back of my mind to play?

When I was a teenager in Tokeen and poking around on the recorder for hours at a time, I remember I had that penny whistle tune down (from some Hoyt Axton cassette tape as I recall), had Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring memorized.

Must remedy this. Why else am I playing.

And why was it so easy to pick out a little bit on the trumpet when it's not on the trombone? The newness?

Remiss at Christmas

I have been rehearsing or playing every day since Saturday Dec. 20. Which takes a lot of time; hence my spacing out my blog (sorry to be so neglectful, pat, pat).

Our little Christmas at Eaglecrest yesterday went perfectly. The torchlight parade down the mountain afterward was just lovely, the lights swooping back and forth down the mountain like a gracefully choreographed dance.

Christmas music is great for exercising the chops. Now I am in good shape to return to my usual practice. Whatever that is.

Bloody Nose in Christmas Performance, Part II

Well, this was an interesting twist. I never get nosebleeds, but I got a doozy today right in the middle of the sermon at the Salvation Army church where we were playing Christmas music.

I had to slip out the back, but fortunately there was a door right behind me, so I slipped out, stopped the nosebleed, but there was no where to go to wash my hands or check my face (it would have been very gross to be sitting up there playing with dried blood on my face), plus blood had dripped on my blouse - all a very strange experience for me, as this just NEVER happens to me.

But, it was a strange and beautiful thing to be able to sit back there in the little anteroom and hear the music. Our trombone section was strong so it was OK that I sat out. It reminded me of why I like playing Christmas music so much. It's beautiful. It's singable. We know it.

This is it for this little group, and tonight I rehearse again for the Eaglecrest Christmas Eve music.

Christmas music, Performance I

Mall performance - sweet, sweet. My sister-in-law Sharon came with my niece and nephew - they loved the sousaphone when Peter whipped it up around his shoulders. The big news from their household is that one of the gerbils they are watching for their teacher over the holiday had BABIES this morning! Robert was quite pleased.

We had our first Eaglecrest rehearsal today at 4.

I, too, love playing Christmas music

Wow, this stuff is fun. I had one very nice early practice session, then my second session tonight was not so good so I just quit while I was ahead. It may have had something to do with the nice red wine I was drinking ... or maybe my mouth was worn out ... but in the earlier practice session tonight I could so see how just playing this stuff a few times makes a difference.

I can punt if I want!

I made it through all the rest of the Christmas music (see playlist at www.tinyurl.com/reindeerband). And I made the executive decision that I'm just not going to even going to try to play The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting on an open fire) or March from the nutcracker. All else - fine - but these two, I just do not have the time or lips to get these down in the 36 or so hours before we play at the mall.

This is great music for an embouchure workout, I must say.

Intention, part II

My immediate intention is to play the Christmas music at the mall Saturday and at the Salvation Army church Sunday, to the best of my ability.

My goal today is two practice sessions, and in those sessions to make it through all of the music in our repertoire that I didn't play earlier in the week, at least.

Intention

From Elizabeth Gilbert, about prayer:

Prayer is a relationship; half the job is mine. If I want transformation, but can't even be bothered to articulate what, exactly, I'm aiming for, how will it ever occur?

Does this not ring utterly true about practice?

Half the benefit of prayer is in the asking itself, in the offering of a clearly posed and well-considered intention. If you don't have this, all your pleas and desires are boneless, floppy, inert; they swirl at your feet in a cold fog and never lift.

Substitute practice for prayer and you have it, in a nutshell.

Christmas music toasts the lips!

Whew! Christmas music is like marching band music, really works the chops.

I made it through Jolly Old St. Nick on our playlist before I just decided to give the chops a break. I need to pick up on Joy to the World when I get back, but that is not until Wednesday night. I'll take the music as well as my mouthpiece with me and practice some of it with the mouthpiece while I am gone (in Anchorage) ... we play Saturday and then Sunday so once again, I am cramming in practice.

But that is OK with this stuff, it is just plain fun to play and easy, too. I am not perfect but not too bad either. And I'll be flanked by Larrys both of whom play better than I, so I can tune myself to them and we'll all be better as a result.

Anatomy of a tricky piece

Set stage: Hohne duet, that I have been working on for a few weeks now. It has my tricky G, but also some fairly fast passages all above the staff, easy to get confused on.

1. Michelle starts in on the top line, desiring to hit the first note, an E flat, pure and clean. Michelle sings the note, bringing her voice in tune with the tuner.

2. It starts beautifully, cleanly.

3. The first little run is choppy, so the second little run, containing the dreaded G, is just plain crappy.

4. Michelle pauses, holding the trombone down, to her side. Almost in tears, she analyzes the situation: I have trouble with the G, which makes this piece hard. I am falling apart on the runs because I am not practicing them enough because I have trouble with the G.

What to do? Is there no hope? Am I worthless?

Deep breath. What do they tell us to do?

PRACTICE IT SLOWLY.

5. Michelle slows the pace way down, starts at the beginning again on the top line. The fast passages, while not PERFECT, all work. All of them. The G's come, while not perfectly, in general, nicely.

6. The practice session moves on to a Good Session.

Lesson: Slow it down. Don't cry.

Christmas band, etc.

A lovely fun Christmas rehearsal this morning, and now I've just finished practicing my lesson material ... my mouth kind of wore out and I started to feel a tiny bit discouraged, and there is simply no point in that, whatsoever.

Nice to get two solid playing times in today.

85 is a sweet little soft scale

I went out tonight for Friday night celebration of 8 years on the job. My octave party, I called it. So, tonight, after a bracing walk home from the Breakwater, I just played a little scale bit ever so quietly, sneaking up on each note from just a breath.

84 it is

I got a little distracted at lunch so didn't practice then. My practice tonight was not the fierce high practice I was intending, but a nice, solid practice nonetheless. I did do the Michael Davis warmup and am stoked to see how much easier it is coming. I also worked through the commissioned piece completely and sent feedback to the composer.

Now I must clean my slide.

Yesterday 83, today 84

Today I plan to come home at lunch to practice, and that will make my 84th straight day of practice.

Last night I was gentle in my practice, very little high range work. Quite a lot of new material from my last lesson, so I worked on that slowly and methodically. This is sometimes a hard task, because you don't necessarily get a sense of the music by carefully working on it, but I am really finding it to be the case that if you can play it slowly, you can play it at the up-tempo, and if you can't play it slowly, you can't play it well! Just like my teachers have always said.

So the task is, keep my interest while I am working on the new material. Mix it up.

My lunchtime goal today is to just do a warmup - maybe the Michael Davis warmup, speaking of mixing it up - and then to play through the new commissioned work by Thomas so that I can give him feedback. If I have any time left over, I will work on the Shostakovich.

Well, THAT was ambitious!

I did everything in my goal except for working on the little arpeggio exercise - but that's OK.

I feel great about my improving sight reading ability, which is still weak weak weak, but I am improved enough to be able to power on through and stay with the rhythm even while blowing notes right and left (blowing, as in totally not getting them right) - progress!

I like my tone, too. I like playing in the kitchen. I really hope I get this house as I could try out all these different playing spaces.

revitalized goal

Goal tonight:

- Warmup
- Previous lesson material - all
- One piece Beeler, one duet of the new lesson material
- Around about here, octave and pedal practice
- A treble clef piece read as tenor clef
- If any time left, 2nd movement of the Shostakovich!

Oh, and it looks like I will be doubling on the 2nd trombone part of the Shostakovich, which will be a great opportunity for me - to hear my part right next to me and to match it - what a cool chance and one that I have not often had.

did I mention ...

Did I mention that I love my lessons? Well, if I didn't, let me mention it now. I had a wonderful lesson. Jack says he thinks my playing just took a big shift; he asked me if I felt that way, too, and I do. I played well. I think it is because I have been listening to myself better. I wonder if it has anything to do with moving my playing into the kitchen where I can hear myself better. Or, maybe, slowing down a little in order to focus myself - on my legato, on playing in time, on listening, listening.

To Do:

I need to not try my notes before starting out, but to just boldly go where none have gone before and play the first note as if it will be coming out perfectly, to play as if I am the best trombone player in the world and my notes will be pure and beautiful.

Jack gave me some ideas about my troublesome G, that I will work with, though I played it pretty decently in the lesson when I worked on my octaves.

I also need to start working on my vibrato when I work on my scales.

That was just one good lesson. Meanwhile the snow is dumping down as if it must meet the weatherman's prediction of 12 to 20 inches. I actually took a cab to and from my lesson.

round two is not quite perfect

Round 2 of playing today did not quite have the perfect character of my earliest practice. OK, fine, be that way. ;)

I worked on the student symphony piece, it's the Bassoon I part for Beethoven's piano concerto. I picked up at measure 36 and played to measure 101. Need to pick up there the next time I work on this. I want to play through the whole thing to make sure I can do it. Of course I am playing it much slower than it will go. It will be a total workout at the called-for Allegro con brio. It's interesting so far.

I worked through the first movement of the Shostakovich. This is my second time through this piece.

Then I wanted some sweetness, so I played a couple of my easy solos for trombone, Liebenstraum and Bist du bei mir. Worked a little on Mendelssohn's On Wings of Song, but I don't have that in my head. I'll see if I can figure that out on Smart Music or YouTube.

love how playing makes me feel

There must be a lot of endorphins released in good playing sessions - I just love how a good hour of playing makes me feel. Washed with happiness.

I am very pleased with my progress and I am looking forward to a good lesson tomorrow. Got through all of my material, plus the little arpeggio exercise (still very rusty on that but I know that the work I did on it today will help with tomorrow, etc.).

I thought about playing in the empty room down the hall and actually went down there with my music and trombone, but there is no overhead light in the room and I could not see my music. I am quite keen on experimenting with acoustics these days, and am still playing in the kitchen. It just sounds great.

On this topic, last night at the Bach Society concert, Dennis was at the mic at the beginning of the performance tweaking something, and when he moved away, I felt a noticeable difference in the sound, just from the removal of that one standing person. I wonder if I imagined it? Or if my ear is becoming more sensitive?

with SINCERITY

After my beautiful practice time yesterday, I want to do two solid practice sessions today. I was going to eat breakfast first but am short on food supplies, so had to put a pot of brown rice on to cook, which takes an hour ... so I'll do my first practice session hungry - who knows what kind of an edge that will provide! Probably not the best of edges but you never know. (I'm kind of in a macro-biotic phase and don't want to eat white rice - picky, picky, picky.)

My goal for this two-phase practice today is to work all of my lesson material in my first session, and then to work my rehearsal material for the winter and spring concerts in my second session. HA! And to get in one tenor clef piece in the second session as well.

Off to hit it!

addendum

I have a lesson on Monday and today I feel like my hard work on the lesson material is paying off. When you play it carefully again and again, it really works. What a surprise.

The other lesson for me at the moment is that I really, really need to practice twice a day. I haven't for the last couple of weeks and I think that has been part of my low spirits and seemingly slow progress. I played Christmas music with brass band this morning so this is my second long session on the trombone and it shows, it makes a big difference. I am playing well. I love it.

79 I love brass band music

I am taking a break from practice to settle my lips down. I would love to continue but my mouth was falling apart on my high notes and I'd like to squeeze in a little more time today.

I need to head over for Magnificat at ... about 7:15, I think, to get there early enough to get a ticket and a seat. http://juneauempire.com/stories/120408/mus_364075923.shtml. Oh, that leaves me with more than an hour to get rested up and do a little more practice!

I did warmups up to my octaves and pedals, but then I started working on my Beeler and duets first to get further warmed up before I pushed high and stretched low. IT HELPED, especially with the high notes. I did not start breaking apart until the C above middle C. Very nice. The G in 2nd position came nicely even, though rough in 4th still.

I'll finish working the last half of the second duet and then want to move on to the Shostakovich, picking up where I left off a few days ago in the 4th movement. I also realize that I need to start working on the student symphony music. I am playing a bassoon part for the Beethoven violin concerto for the spring concert and there is an alarming numbe of eighth notes. As in, 3 pages. 3 pages of 8th notes on the trombone! Mercy.

And, rearranging my blog today, I see that one of my goals for November was to work on tenor clef music every day. Well, I have not been doing that. However, I will point out (to my little self critic since I don't see anyone else bashing me) that with the Shostakovich in alto clef that is a challenge in and of itself. However, the critic is right in that I need to keep working on the tenor clef. I moved my goals up in the page, but of course now I need to update them for December. Sigh.

day - whatever

Had the best gallery walk ever tonight, with wondrous friends and a very happy town. I bought a great print from Jim Hanes, bounced all over the place, many conversations, sushi at Seong's at the end of the evening ...

and just played a bit, my Peer Gynt and Amazing Grace and playing pretty, tonight when I got home (at 9:30 - gasp!).

Peer Gynt

It is such a pretty melody.

Last night, on a whim, I decided to try playing standing in my kitchen rather than in my little sitting room. Anyone who has been to my apartment knows it is tiny, so it is almost a joke to talk about playing in the kitchen ... it's just 6 feet or so from where I usually play in my tiny sitting room.

But standing in the kitchen, my sound is so nice. This idea to move my playing space is informed I think by my solarium playing with the beautiful echoes.

Nice practice, my sound was nice, my G's were even ok, and I played a few minutes after 9, as I started late due to a late BEAR on the front porch ... it is a long story, but she was one bear that did not want to move and she left a MESS.

numero 75

What's that, diez y siete y cinco? I don't think that is spelled correctly, but it's my 75th straight day of practice, no interruptions.

I worked on high notes only when I got to my troublesome G in the duet I am working on and I tried something different, I just blew them like I was blowing into a bottle and trying to get a high note out of the bottle, and they came more easily. Then, after practicing the duet some more, I worked on my octaves seriously and also my pedals and the pedals came - snap fingers - instantly. I think they work well when my mouth is very warmed up. That was pleasing.

I worked more on the Shostakovich, made it halfway through the section starting at Measure 111, in the 4th movement. This movement is the most challenging but also the most interesting.

Sometimes I feel like I play so poorly ... but I have been playing only by myself now for the last 10 days. I have a lesson Thursday and play the Christmas music this Saturday. That will perk me up, surely. But still, today, I enjoyed my practice and I think it was good to start without the failing notes right off the bat.

I usually start my practice sessions with a warm up, then practicing my octaves until I get up beyond my range ... then shift to practicing my pedals, which are pretty much below my range. So I start off every practice with some handy touches of failure.

Now. If I want to practice sounding beautiful, I must ask myself if I want to begin my practice sessions by pushing myself to failure.

Tonight I will wait until later in my practice to work on my high and low ranges, and really focus on playing with good sound first.

searching for reminders

Just at 2 minutes before 9 tonight, I got my beautiful trombone out of its case and played for 4 minutes. I played a little passage from Peer Gynt from memory, working about 20 notes over and over, playing by ear, trying to make each note, each transition between notes, beautiful. Making the natural slurs as perfect as possible but beautiful, too, and legato on the other notes smooth, pretty, pretty.

I just practiced a little bit each day while I was gone and so was feeling ... oh, maybe low, that I can't play as well as I would like. I read something today on the trombone forum today, though, about practice, and this one person said make it sound good, that is the whole point. So my tiny practice tonight was to make it sound good and to enjoy myself.

I am home now from my trip to Wrangell, as of the 6:15 am arrival time of the Malaspina, so I will get back to a more regular practice now.

echo in solarium

I've been practicing every day but haven't been blogging. I came down to Wrangell on the ferry Taku on Tuesday, arriving Wednesday. I practiced in the solarium on Wednesday on the boat and the sound was outrageous, it echoed and echoed back at me and it seemed like the most perfect way to tune, as if I could hear the note and how it was supposed to sound so perfectly. I played Amazing Grace in a bunch of keys. It gives me shivers now just to think of it, it was so cool.

Now I'm at my mom's house and going upstairs every day and having my little practice sessions, just working on my exercises and duets, which is so nice, relaxing, just trying to play things right and make them sound good. I need to start working on the Shostakovich.

Lovely Thanksgiving yesterday, with 92-old grandma borrowed from the hospital for a couple of hours. She loved it but now remembers nothing. Such is 92.

66th straight day of practice

OK. I can play everything in the Shostakovich, and reading the alto clef is just a little bit tricky. Hardest when it gets way down below the staff, as I am just not accustomed to reading down there. It'll come, though. I only played through the first movement, but read through the rest.

I did well on the pedals and not too bad on the G, either. I played around with my Jolly Good Fellow up an octave for the G and A practice, and also worked on my pretty duet by Hohne, which pops around with the G ... it is nice to practice it on something so pretty.

And I did practice with sincerity instead of seriousness and it was lovely ... did not time myself, either ... I'll take a break now from that.

And wrapped up my final exam today, too!

ALTO CLEF

Just when I was congratulating myself for doing better with tenor and treble clefs, the Shostakovich is in alto clef!

I have not played it yet but it looks playable. After a good warmup in which I practice my high notes and my pedals with SINCERITY, I am going to tackle this new music to make sure I can indeed play it. I am not writing in letter cues this time. We don't perform until February. That is enough time for me to become completely comfortable in alto clef. This is my goal.

too much fun to bear

I just got home from rehearsing Christmas music at the Salvation Army church and I have to say, that was so much fun I can hardly stand it.

when a trombone plays in the forest

Landlady Kay. She is moving out today.

Before I moved in to this apartment a year ago on Dec. 1, interviewing on the phone for the apartment, the first thing that I told Kay was that I played the trombone and that I had to play every day. Unlike the other landlords I had talked to - "Oh, I can see that's important, but that wouldn't work here," Kay said on the phone, "Oh?" - with a certain lilt in her voice. She invited me up that first night that I called to look at the apartment.

I suggested after seeing the place and knowing how perfect it was for me, that I come up the next day with my trombone and play, so that she could judge if the sound would be a problem. She liked the idea and I like to think liked me, and said yes.

I came up the next morning with my trombone. The upstairs neighbors were gone at the time, but Kay went up to their apartment to listen to my playing. I played on two poles: I played something beautiful - I don't remember what now, maybe Bist du bei mir, which I was memorizing at the time, and on the opposite pole some really squeaky high stuff from Mars that I was working. I did not want to leave misimpressions about what this experience would be.

Kay came down after I stopped playing and I had already put the trombone away in its case. She sat in the tiny sitting room and said that it sounded just fine upstairs. Then, sitting opposite me, she said, "Play something for me," and I took the trombone back out of the case, and put my music on the music stand, and played a song or most of a song for her. She was only feet away, 5 or 6 feet away, and I played ... whatever it was, I don't even think I finished it.

She just appreciated it. She sat there feet away from me and she smiled and she just liked it that I was performing for her.

I was in. I moved in December 1. I practiced every day, and I tried to adhere to good practice times and etiquette. I didn't practice in the morning. I came home a lot at lunch and got in 20 or 30 minutes. I immediately took the "not after 8:30 pm" request from my upstairs neighbors and stretched it to 9:00 pm. But almost never after 9.

The notes from my trombone are part of this place now. I played Taps for the funeral for Kay's beloved dog Dakota. Whenever I ask if I am bothering her with my playing, she says, no, no, it is wonderful to hear me and I am improving so much!

So. Kay is moving South now. Yakima is the place of her birth and the home she wants to return to - she wants to look out her window and see cows instead of bears.

And I thought tonight, when I was playing scales for my little Friday practice, I am playing, and Kay is not downstairs and she is not hearing my sound tonight.

no timing

Lovely practice, not timed, careful warmup, good high notes, improving pedals, progress on my exercises, nice use of treble clef with two flats added to practice my tenor clef, and just plain all in all happy to have a relaxed practice. There is surely something to be said for relaxing at times.

62nd day of practice, uninterrupted

If they say that doing something for 21 days straight makes it a habit, I guess I have that measure beat.

I read something like the amount of time you put in on practice is not so important as whether your goal in practice was achieved. Tonight I had a light warmup, then worked very, very methodically on some of my Beeler exercises, and then on a duet - actually, a lovely little duet, but on the top part I had a hard time hitting the G (I have to laugh at myself) ... while I did work on my high notes a little yesterday during my brief practice, and today a bit at lunch, I have not been hitting them as assiduously perhaps as I should - so no small wonder that I had trouble with it. I'll dial up sticking with my high and low warmup practice every day ... it did slip this past week leading up to and after the concert.

It was nice just practicing slowly and not feeling a desperation about getting the music right for an upcoming concert. I was attentive to not being sloppy, catching myself when I was. It felt just right, tonight for a practice. And I worked on the Etude study at lunch today, and that is fun.

3rd time's the charm

Another delightful Peter & the Wolf, last one, this time at Gastineau School in Douglas. There were a lot of people I know there, many of whom aren't usually at "arts stuff" around town. Landlady Kay came and she just seemed delighted.

Now I have that slightly depressed feeling after all that build-up ... but I will sleep good and be happy playing again tomorrow.

next steps

The concert was good again today, a larger audience, but we didn't play quite as well ... weren't as tight on it as we were yesterday. I actually broke some notes on one dramatic part - but, so be it. It was still a good show and a great time.

We have one more performance tomorrow evening at Gastineau School and I am feeling good about that one. I've actually called a couple of people to come. Ah, and I just read the concert report from Rick, where he is telling us to have fun being our characters tomorrow!

One thing that performance always does is mess up my practice schedule - I realize what a funny thing that is to say even as I write it. Damn those performances, they are getting in the way of practice! But, here's where I feel I am ... I think my demanding practice schedule leading up to the Fall Symphony concert, with my focus, really kicked my playing up a step. I have more confidence in my notes, I sound better, I know that I have a better sense of time. But. That practice schedule just completely wiped me out, that and the final rehearsal week before the concert. I need to have a better balance but I also really want to have that kind of focus and discipline so that I continue to improve.

How to do that? I need to practice every day, but a full hour every day is often hard to achieve - and it is time from other areas of my life. So, here's a thought: Practice every day for a total of 7 hours a week. This is 1 hour less per week than what my goal was leading up to the concert (weekdays 1 hour a day, weekends 1 1/2 hours a day).

I also need to think about a way to keep my longer term goals before me so that they don't slip ... like, I need to keep remembering to work on my clefs! Maybe I can use the right margin of this blog to do that, put monthly goals there.

Success! What a great concert!

It was really, really beautiful and sweet and wonderful and we filled the house, the audience was so appreciative and happy, and Rick was just amazing ... what a fun, fun, fun performance and I can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

Peter & the Wolf & Saturday happiness

We had a very sweet rehearsal last night. I think this concert will be so sweet. It is such a fun and beautiful piece to play and for this piece in particular, the awkwardnesses of the student symphony, our missed notes, just add to the completely beautiful piece of music and theater that Peter and the Wolf is. And we have a great narrator (Bill Chalmers) and a great illustrator (Toe) to accompany us.

Ursula stayed last night, too, and after rehearsal, over red wine and dark chocolate, we watched the Peter & the Wolf DVD that my friend Jim gave me - it's the European one, the animated version, really a great production. Ursula repeated from something she had heard once: "All music was once new." That's a thought-stopper.

So now after a very nice little visit, I have my space to my own and will get in a solid practice - which I have not had now for several days, what with rehearsals and company (it's hard to get solid practice time in on the trombone when you are rehearsing for Peter & the Wolf - all of my 18 or so notes - :) - well, 18 notes is exaggerating low, but I don't exactly play a lot - I consider this good practice for playing trombone in symphony music - you need a lot of counting practice!).

Now, for goals: After I walk over and check the mail and swap out laundry at the cleaners, I will:

• Warm-up, with pedals
• Play my Jolly Good Fellow in my two octaves to aid my "high" practice
• Play through all of my Peter and the Wolf (those 18 or so notes)
• Work on the Beeler exercises

Saturday. Heaven.

Rehearsal tonight, perform Saturday

It was a nice rehearsal tonight, with just one more before we perform our Peter and the Wolf. It's a late night with company, so short post ... suffice it to say that I played and I feel good about my playing for this concert.

perfect practice

30 minutes. Perfect. Warmed up, good high range work, good but limited pedal work, then to add one more nuance to the high range, I poked around and found an easy song to play that incorporates that troublesome G. I have Jolly Good Fellow in treble clef, so I played that up down an octave first to get the sound in my head, then up an octave to dance around with that G. It also has the A in it and I found it very productive to work on.

Also fun to sight read in treble clef. I think I am breaking through with my clef issue. All my sight singing has been in treble clef, and then with all the tenor clef work from the symphony concert, plus also working now on taking a treble clef piece and adding two flats and then playing that in tenor clef ... the little mind barriers are falling, one by one. The bass clef castle is crumbling and we now have a field of varied clefs dancing around on that wrinkled gray surface ...

Off to work ...

I love lessons

I just returned from a lesson with Jack, just an excellent lesson. I love lessons.

And I had an earlier sight singing lesson today with Rick. When it rains, it pours. That lesson was great, too.

From the trombone lesson:

• We worked a lot on legato vs. clean tonguing vs. the little messy slur that I fall into.
  

1. Legato. I need to mimic as closely as possible transitions where I don't need to tongue - as in, G to F. Because I change partials there I can make that transition without tonguing and that is how I want my legato to sound when I am moving between notes in the same partial. I have a very strong sense of this today. I don't always catch myself when I do it wrong - usually when I am focusing on something else like rhythm or the key signature, but Jack stopped me numerous times today when I did it wrong, and I heard what was wrong, did it right, and heard what was right.
2. Clean tonguing. When legato is not called for, I need to be cleaner in my separation. It's better to be almost staccato right now as I clean this up, than it is to fall into legato or into my sloppy technique of almost-glissandos. (Note, I am the one calling it sloppy; Jack is far too nice to call it sloppy.)
3. Little messy slurs aka sloppy technique. I need to work on speeding up my slide action, so the slide is already in the right place when I am ready to tongue the note.
   

Just in general, I could hear what was right, hear it when it was clean. I have a good sense of what I need to focus on. I feel relaxed about this. I feel like I understand what I am trying to do here.

• That accursed G. I did OK on my octaves, but we also talked about trying too hard. This interval between lessons, I am going to really focus on pushing a lot of air on these higher notes, and also experimenting a bit, and just trying it and then letting it go if it doesn't work.
  

• Sight reading. Because I had not practiced my material a lot, we did a good bit of sight reading, or close to sight reading. I am getting better at this, particularly if I do not allow myself to be lazy when reading the music but instead power on through. Jack mentioned powering on through and Rick has also emphasized that in the past.

In my sight singing lesson with Rick, I felt good about what I was doing, and also could really tell when my confidence slipped ... then my notes slipped and my rhythm slipped. Very interesting correlation.

• For practicing a series of sight singing exercises:

1. From the previous exercise, sing the last pitch.
   
2. From that pitch, find the tonic for the new exercise (the tonic is the first note in the scale of whatever key it is).
3. From the tonic, find the starting note for the new exercise. Sing the scale to get the right key.

:) Happy clam I am.

lunch & rehearsal

I practiced at lunch, then rehearsed Peter & the Wolf this evening with the student symphony. Good lunch practice, though working on my "high" notes and then the low pedals ran me out of breath and almost to tears, during my warm-up at lunchtime. I must change my attitude about working on these notes that are hard for me to reach. I am trying so hard for them that I sometimes exhaust myself before I even get to the material I am practicing during that session. Now, that makes no sense whatsoever.

sweet, sweet, sweet

Damn, assiduous practice does help. I played for about 50 minutes last night and now just snuck in about 20 minutes of practice home for lunch from my meditation program (I am also feeling just a tiny bit blissed out from all of that meditation and esoteric practices). I messed around with some scales to warm up and then worked very carefully on my little tricky patch in Peter and the Wolf, and it is coming! It sounds so much better.

Back to the meditation cushion ....

Day 51, Round 2

It's my 51st straight day of practice.

I had a lovely 35-minute lunchtime practice while home from my meditation program. I warmed up and worked on Peter and the Wolf ... darn, I wish I could figure out how to write in Russian in this blog, I have a DVD from a friend with the title written in Russian. Питер и волк ... Cool! I copied it from google translator ... and of course I have no idea if that is correct. What my friend wrote on my DVD was: Перт и волк ... but he was not sure if that was correct, either (he only knows a little Russian).

I used my keyboard, too, to try to get this sound locked into my brain. Sometimes I wonder if there's a disadvantage with the trombone in that we don't too often get melody so have to figure out what something is supposed to sound like without the benefit of it being a melodious little lick. I'm not complaining, just musing.

Anyway, tonight when I got home I watched/listened to the DVD twice to get a better sense of how my parts sound. What a story! The poor duck! The poor little Peter!

But, I feel freed to play in my practice tonight - I'll warm up, work on my Beeler, then duets, then tenor clef, and if I have lips left over, I'll return to that old wolf.

little bit of Peter and the Wolf yesterday, meditation today

I played at lunch yesterday, just a little bit of Peter and the Wolf, and then scales just a bit in the evening. In Peter and the Wolf, I am doubling on the wolf for 2nd horn, and there is one little part that I can't get into my head. It goes from A flat to F# to G ... which chromatically at least to this ear, is just weird. I played it on the keyboard yesterday, could sing it with the keyboard, but I can't get it into my head.

So I need to think about singing this straight. A flat is G#, so the issue is getting a sound that is G#, F#, G. So if you were going to get the right scale in your head, wouldn't it be working with the scale in the key of A. Three sharps.

But no. Because that leaves out G natural. I need to think about this.

Oh, and I am doing a meditation program this weekend, so the "I need to think about this" makes me smile. HA HA HA.

community band

I stayed at work tonight and made up a Gantt chart for my class, then went to the Juneau Community Band rehearsal - just to listen! I'm not playing and I can't attend the concert Sunday (I shall be meditating all weekend, as a matter of fact) so I listened in for about an hour and a half. I just loved it. Brassy, loud, pretty, fun ... really a nice variety and good musicians, all just having a blast. Isn't it something, all of these people who like playing music so much that they give up evening after evening just to play together, to get ready to perform. It is a beautiful thing.

Anyway, got home at almost 9 and then made up a little dinn as I was starved, so no further practice tonight ... that's okay, my perfect lunchtime practice is carrying me through.

32 minutes

Beautiful practice. I am back in love. I am over my slight depression about how hard this is.

What is my practice goal?

I am here for lunch, ever so briefly. I've just put on a pot of millet to cook (I'm in a whole grain phase), and while it is cooking I shall practice.

Goal:

1. Warmup
2. Pedal exercise. We worked on pedals yesterday in my lesson and I feel more prepared to tackle them anew
3. Peter and the Wolf
4. If I have any more time, Beeler book
   

renewed faith

I love lessons. My heart has been a little low lately about playing and now my heart is renewed. Jack has faith in me and is willing to keep working with me - how can I not have faith in myself?

My biggest problem is my sloppy legato. But it is not necessarily an easy thing to do, so I have to keep working on it, and I can rest assured that Jack will keep correcting me when I play poorly!

A wonderful lesson and my headlamp was illuminating with a blue light, there and back.

headed out for the midnight lesson ...

Well, not midnight ... but 8 pm. Odd time, to be sure, for a lesson. I had a nap tonight beforehand.

I bought a headlamp for all this wandering around in the dark with my trombone. I also have reflectors on either end of my trombone case.

very, very quiet

My practice tonight got all disrupted by the remarkable and momentous election of Barack Obama. Woodie brought over a bottle of Mumm's and we celebrated, stunned.

I didn't get to practicing until 9:30, half an hour after my cut-off time, so I played very, very quietly, just slowly up and down the chromatic scale. It reminded me of something Jack talked about when I first started taking lessons with him, about playing a note just under the amount of air needed to create the note. Tonight I felt like I had a sense of the sound before it came, somehow. I also surprised myself at how well my high notes came in, so quiet.

I wondered again at choosing this instrument. It is so hard to make good music with it, sometimes.

in reverse

For my lunchtime session, I thought I'd be clever and after my warmup, went backwards - first the clef study #3, then on to the duet book. That's all I had time for - 30 minutes, but it was a smart move to do it this way. I worked my way through the clef study and it even started to sound musical, then did the same with the top line of the "Slow Air" duet - and actually did not do too poorly at sight reading on Slow Air.

I was reminded again that when it is work, when I have to work at the rhythm, work at hearing how it is supposed to sound, I have lazy desires - oh, this is too HARD ... wahhhhhh!

I picked out a couple of things on the keyboard that I was having trouble hearing in my head - one little tuba Peter and the Wolf bit, and one bit from Slow Air. That helps so immeasurably.

and here's how it went

An hour + 4 minutes. Mouth got a little tired, but really I quit when I didn't want to think hard on clef studies ... :)

• Warmup, with pedal practice. I have a lesson with Jack on Wednesday and I want to work on the pedals with him as I'm not really there ... they are very hit and miss.
• I played with C major scale yesterday so this time I will go down, B major scales.

I got more pedals this time! Had fun with my B major scale starting from the trigger B but I was just a little funny as I figured I would pop it on up to the next octave ... started to fall apart just a tad on the G# ...

• Beeler: Scale study, Red River Valley top and bottom, Excerpt from "Martha"

Now this was fun. My hard work on "Martha" the other day paid off big as I was really able to get a feel for the music today. On the scale exercise I paid attention to where I was messing up and worked those sections carefully, circled the places where I keep messing up. Red River Valley - the same thing as for Martha held true on the bottom part - I had a MUCH better feel for it today.

• Peter & the Wolf, everything I play (not saying much)

Done deal. I like working on this now as I am really hearing how my notes should sound correctly. It was fun in rehearsal today, on this.

• Selected Duets, if I make it that far

I worked the duet at the top of page 8, both top and bottom

• Clef Studies, if I make it that far

This is where I bagged it ... I played #1, in tenor clef. I've played this one a lot before and it was easy. Then I jumped to #3 (Jack says, just focus on tenor clef, very little music is in alto clef - and the even numbered pieces are in alto clef). On #3, I had to start working hard (gasp) and it was the end of my practice time, and the end of a good day ...

Day 45, goal to enjoy my practice

I have played every single day for the last 45 days.

Although practice can be work, work is best when you are enjoying it. I want to be relaxed and happy tonight in my practice, even though I will be working hard.

I've already played today, a good and enjoyable sectional rehearsal on Peter and the Wolf.

This evening's goal:

• Warmup, with pedal practice. I have a lesson with Jack on Wednesday and I want to work on the pedals with him as I'm not really there ... they are very hit and miss.
• I played with C major scale yesterday so this time I will go down, B major scales.
• Beeler: Scale study, Red River Valley top and bottom, Excerpt from "Martha"
• Peter & the Wolf, everything I play (not saying much)
• Selected Duets, if I make it that far
• Clef Studies, if I make it that far
  

Working hard

I worked for more than an hour today, though it was not real solid mouth time. I very carefully lined out what I need to do for Peter and the Wolf, which got a tiny bit more complicated with a couple of doubling on tuba parts added. Now, I have my road map all constructed and I also worked on every bit of Peter and the Wolf - which is not saying a lot, as there is not a lot there. My thinking is that since I have so little, shouldn't I focus on playing every bit I have just as well as possible?

I worked quite a bit on my tuning in Peter and the Wolf as well. I have a bunch of places where I come in from out of the blue, play one note, and then don't play again for 20 measures or so. I would actually like those notes to be in tune.

I worked on the Sinfonietta piece, tried out the revised Lament part, which I am liking, and sent feedback to the composer.

Then I worked the current scale study in Beeler. I am focusing on playing well, making myself slow down when it is not played well.

Finally, I finished with the Red River Valley piece in Beeler. I felt a little tiredness and frustration growing, and gave myself a bow-out - it was a good practice.

I want to use these in between times practice sessions as best as possible, which to my mind at this point is to take my time and play well. There is no need to be frantic right now, about anything. Ha - is there ever a need to be frantic? Perhaps not. So - if I feel frustration rising when I play a run sloppily - well, what am I frustrated about? Do I need to slow it down? Or maybe I need to play each note separately to make sure they are fully in tune.

Sometimes - maybe it is time to stop. I am using these times of less immediate stress to listen to myself. Yesterday was quite interesting, as a matter of fact, along those lines. I worked through a new little piece in the Beeler book. It was one that I'd never played before, maybe a dozen lines long. It had some slightly complicated rhythm patterns, and I actually had to work at getting through the whole thing, stopping sometimes to figure out the rhythm before I could play it - I did that numerous times. I watched myself, halfway through, getting tired of thinking hard about it and wanting to stop - enough practice now. That was interesting - I wasn't tired of playing, I was tired of thinking hard, or working. I stayed with it, played through the whole thing in my hop skip and a jump fashion, so that the next time I go back to it, I won't have to think as hard and will be able to play it just a little better.

But the division is interesting. You're doing a lot when you are playing. You're listening to the tone, to the pitch, you're playing the rhythm right, you've got all the self-talk going, coaching and cajoling yourself. Sometimes you're loving the sounds you are making; other times you just have to work so hard to keep the lid on the frustration basket. And so much of the time, you are working hard at it.

43, What do I learn in practice?

43rd day of practice, straight.

I was relaxed in my practice, tonight. I want to be relaxed in my practice.

It sounded good and I was very tuned to the sound. I played 42 minutes and had all kinds of technical thoughts to log, for improvement. Then my landlady Kay called and told me there was a very dangerous poltergeist at large in the house and I should be very, very careful ... so I took my trombone and a glass of wine downstairs to scare it away on this Halloween night. I played long and loud and low tones down the dark staircase. And Kay, with her dark glasses and hat and long incisor tooth mask, in the dark with candles. We had a lovely visit and she fed me apple pie and ice cream, and I suffered through Fox News, and we talked politics and life and parents, and her moving to Yakima ...

I had a lot of thoughts about what I learn in practice but they are gone, for now, to return another day

practice, practice

Tonight I went out with the gals for drinks after work ... but still got in a little time on the horn when I got home. I played "we all need somebody to lean on" - what is the name of that? - in a couple of keys, poking around, for fun.

Yesterday I worked on my Beeler exercises ... so this week, I am still practicing every day, but WAY scaling back while I get my feet back under me in the rest of my life.

;) I met with the banker today about the house ... playing the horn in that big space is that much closer ...

September 6 to October 26 - what did I learn?

I started this practice blog on September 6 and the final concert was October 26. That's 7 weeks of very focused, very intense practice and playing. What did I get out of this?

I believe my ear improved during this time. I attribute this chiefly to
1) playing between two very skilled trombone players and really listening for my sound with them, and their identifying notes for me that I was out of tune on, and my following through and really working with the tuner to lock myself in on the notes I was having trouble with;
2) the sight singing lessons I am doing with Rick - I feel that I am gaining a huge amount from these lessons both in hearing and singing pitch and in rhythm, which is surprising to me because I have had no time to practice in between the lessons; and
3) just all the time on the horn both in practice and rehearsal.

I learned that an hour a day on the horn on weekdays and an hour and a half on weekends is a lot of time allocated from my life to playing, and not at all a lot of time in the sense of what I could actually use on the horn in order to improve significantly.

I believe that my overall playing ability, articulation, sight-reading, and legato tonguing is better, again from playing so much, from working on the material one-on-one with Jack, and from playing between such good players. Also from concentrating so hard on trying to play this material just as well as I could.

That's all the lessons learned I can think of for now ... except that I need to get out my clef books and start working methodically on reading tenor clef!

Still quite exhausted

I got up at 4 am and worked for almost 3 solid hours on my class projects. Then work; I am very focused and productive at work these days. Then home, a good, good stir-fry for dinner, then cranked hard to finish and post my class projects by the 8 pm deadline (midnight EST). :) Made it, though.

I did an easy warm-up, found myself just getting annoyed at working on the high range, and worked on some scale exercises in the Beeler book. Enough. I practiced; I am exhausted.

BPU Day 39

Keeping the focus, ever so slightly.

I am exhausted from the emotional intensity of that concert.

But I did practice a little today, practiced Peter and the Wolf with Ken (tuba) at work before going to student symphony rehearsal (where I played my small number of notes). That was just fine, just about the right amount of practice. I actually just need a little space around this, need to spend a day or two getting in some practice but not driving myself so hard around it.

I also have a big assignment due for my class tomorrow, and I worked on it tonight and will get up early tomorrow to work on it, but just have to give myself some space around it as well.

Coming down ...

Whoooooo ... a whole evening now to come down off the long build-up to this concert. That was intense. I didn't play as well today as yesterday - and actually played a note a measure early once - gack! - but still OK. I'm so happy to have been able to play, and so motivated to improve, in order to do better next time:

• Learn tenor clef
• Continue my work on my ear. It's gotten better. It has to get much better.
• Play with confidence. When I am afraid I will play the wrong note, I play cautiously. That means I don't come out. Why else play? Play with confidence and do everything I can to get the right notes.
• And now just relax ... I've done all I can.
  

Watching Men in Black and toying with my plan for how in the hell I am going to get my assignments for my class done by Tuesday. Notice that I am not working on my class, just planning when and how I will do so.

What Fun

The concert was fun, great drama, I did not play perfectly but acquitted myself well enough, and I am happy and relaxed and pleased about it. I think overall we put on a really nice performance with good music.

The crowd was good, too, very responsive. Kyle was wonderful, as always. Herb (my dad) came, and he and his friend Jack Kelly specifically talked about how much they enjoyed Chasing Light - which is very cool, for a brand new piece. It was such a treat for me to have my pop there - the first time he has seen me perform (though he couldn't see me - ha!).

I warmed up a little this morning - just about 15 minutes ago - practiced a rough spot in Hansel and Gretel, and worked a bit on Hexenritt, which I just got two days ago (because I swapped out the 3rd for the 2nd trombone part with Mike). Then I put my baby away in the case, so my lips will be good for our 3 pm performance. I always play better in a day when I have already played once that day already.

Now to try to get in a little work on my class before this afternoon's performance. I have an assignment due Tuesday and as far as I have gotten on it is to log in to the class and open the reading. Too much energy going on this weekend for me to concentrate.

clean slide, will travel

I cleaned my slide, oiled my trigger, and I am good to go. My father is coming to this concert, the first time he's seen me perform. Thrill, fun, this makes me happy.

last rehearsal

We had our last rehearsal this morning and now I am home, trying to catch up on all of the this-and-that that has escaped me for the past some days - washing clothes, cooking up a late lunch, munching on a fresh apple landlady Kay brought back for me from Yakima - YUM!

And listening to the rehearsal tape. I love how much more meaningful music becomes when you've played it, a lot of times. The music for this concert is really quite beautiful, and dramatic, and fun. Kyle said today that the winter concert will be Shostakovich's 5th symphony, and that it is hard. I am not sure I'll even be playing in that one.

So - it was a good rehearsal and I feel happy and relaxed about the music. Mike and I swapped out the Mussorgsky last night and I'm playing the 3rd trombone part now. The third trombone part is in bass clef. I was just not carrying the second trombone part well enough - it's got some important little runs and I could do them when practicing alone, but just can't keep up playing it with the full symphony. It was a good switch. I'll be able to handle the 3rd part.

I came out of the rehearsal feeling the way I usually do after a good rehearsal - big smile on my face, just feeling happy! Since I rarely do rehearsals at this time of the day, it was odd for me to have that elated post-rehearsal feeling right there in the middle of the day. Usually it's at 10 pm or so, and I don't get to sleep until after midnight because it takes time to come down ... so it has been a sleep-deprived week for me this past week!

Now I just need to have a relaxed time for the rest of the afternoon. I have several big assignments due for my class this week, so I'll work on that some today, but won't drive myself too hard on the class. There's only so much of me to go around.

great rehearsal tonight

Fire! in Chasing Light

The kids concert was a blast, even though I played just terribly in Batman. I don't know what happened, but at a certain point, I think I just need to give up on analyzing everything and roll with it. It's over, let me do better in rehearsal tonight, let me do my best in the performance tomorrow.

The kids LOVED the costumes, especially movie characters. They loved Jared as Dumbledore (I think?) and they LOVED Bill Paulick as Darth Vader. They LOVED The Simpsons! It was a great choice to start off the concert! Kyle was wonderful talking to them, teaching them in little snippets, introducing the instruments - he is just amazing.

But - partway through Chasing Light (which I don't play in, so I was offstage), the FIRE ALARM rang! We all had to file out, then the kids all went home, then all the slightly dejected musicians went home :( ... but still, in total, it was so worthwhile.

Of course there were the expected jokes about Chasing Light being too hot, etc.

wonderful to play between two such good players

It is a treat to play between Jack and Mike ... they are not aggrieved when I don't play as well as I am sure we all wish I would, and give me little hints for little nuances in a very nice way. The B natural that I was flat on, on Tuesday, and have been working on - I got it right today right off and Jack noticed and commented on it. The D in 4th that I was playing sharp - I played it sharp once in the first run through of Batman today and Mike was VERY nice in noticing something was wrong - "I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's me" kind of thing - then I just played it in 1st position and it was great, he liked it.

Anyway, they are both such good players and they are both such very gracious people.

stop while ahead

23 minutes .... oh, that's right, I'm not going to count this week.

Interesting lessons. On Hansel & Gretel, I played the second page nicely, it was pretty, but on the first page I was rougher. Then I went back to the first page and played it and it was good the second time around. Yes, you could say it was because I was warmed up the second time around (though I did warm up before I played), but I think more than that, I was more relaxed and thinking more about the song, the whole music. I want to carry that memory into rehearsal tonight. Get myself out of the way as much as possible.

Here also is the technique I want to bring into rehearsal tonight: warm up, then carefully tune my tuning slide. Play my troublesome B natural and D in 4th position. Listen for them and feel for them. THEN I will be ready to play.

Incidentally, I NAILED the B natural perfectly just now, right out of the blocks.

Leak! slight delay in lunch practice

This howling storm has created a leak downstairs, and my landlady Kay is out of town! I put a bucket down and called someone to come look at it. Minor lunchtime excitement.

Since I was focusing yesterday and playing beautifully - and why else would I want to play? - my little lunch break will be on just that. I plan to not bring myself to the point of almost fainting like yesterday, but instead have a relaxed but focused practice ... I'll play on the Humperdink and also on the Batman ... then rehearsal at 7 tonight.

The weather is absolutely hideous.

for not measuring time ...

Wow, I practiced another 46 minutes tonight, for a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes today.

I do like goals.

Tonight though, I really, really needed to feel relaxed. The midterm last weekend, working up to the concert, tying up various symphony business related to the auction, not to mention work, which is very demanding right now - I've had so little time to relax. So tonight, to start my practice I played around with scales, just played around, for my warmup. Then I worked on my B natural and my D, then I played pretty music for a bit - from my little solo book, Liebestraum and Bist du by Meir. It was beautiful and I liked really working just at making beautiful sounds come out of my horn.

Often practicing for this concert or that, I am so focused on the technical aspects, driven to get this rhythm right, to hit that note right, that I don't focus enough on just what a good sound is, so it was nice to play easy music for a while just listening for it to sound good.

By the time I got to "working" on symphony music, I was in the right state of mind. Played my little bitty Mahler bit, then I worked quite a lot on Bald Mountain. I backwards practiced this as it was the second page that gave me trouble last night. Worked very hard on some rhythms there. Syncopation is just hard for me off the page, though when I can hear it with others I can fall into it. But it is so hard for me to just read it and play it off the page. My brain can't quite get the signals right, it feels like.

I have to say, though, that as an adult learner of an instrument like this, the analytical side of me is utterly fascinated by this challenge. I think there are some things that I can't learn, that I just won't be able to get - and isn't that a tough one to face for an adult that is accustomed to just trying harder and you'll eventually succeed. But then with aspects of playing that seem impassable, I will work at it from this angle, that angle, try, try, try, then have a breakthrough of sorts and be able to do it - just a little bit, but a little able. Always giving me that tease that there's more out there for the seeking and trying.

So, my lunch practice was the workout and my evening practice was the deep breath. I needed it.

That was one 34-minute workout

I am still light-headed. I thought I was going to faint doing the pedals (which I can just barely start to get, but you have to start somewhere).

I worked Batman through measure 23 and the 6 measures from 319 on. Really worked hard on the tuning, really paid attention to that B natural. I think I have been playing it flat, the one in 4th position below middle C. After 39, worked on the D in 4th position, and I have been playing it sharp. It sounds much better played correctly! HA HA.

Back out in the howling storm, to work. Will it never stop?

Batman Lunch

My goal for is to do a very good warmup, including the pedal exercise, and then work carefully and methodically on Batman. Paying particular attention to my B natural and D being in tune.

First I must eat, I think I can nuke up some rice and beans. Such a good standby.

time does not count during rehearsal week

Enough of keeping track of how much time I play each day, except for tomorrow as there is no rehearsal tomorrow. Otherwise, rehearsals every day, very full schedule. As much as I can play, that is what I get. Like Carey said, there aren't two of me.

It was a fine rehearsal tonight, just lovely fun, and I am hearing where to play much better, hearing how I fit in, learning how to watch Kyle ... he was kind of in the dark today so a little hard to see, and Todd was in front of me playing the bassoon, so I was looking around him just slightly - I will make sure I am better arranged on Thursday.

I'm playing a couple of notes in a couple of spots out of tune. The B natural in Batman, which is a long held note. Jack says that after I am well warmed up, with my tuning slide adjusted correctly, to work on getting this note in tune. I need to hear it better. My ear is not the best but I know that it can slowly improve, because it has. These sight singing lessons I'm taking from Rick, I think they will help my ear. I think they already have, and I've only just started.

Also a D - where's the D ... I think it is in Batman, too, after measure 317. I need to double check on Thursday, but I think Jack and I play in unison for the 5 measures starting at 319, and I think that is where my D is out of tune ... actually, Mike thought I might have been out on the D in Symphonie Fantastique, at the very end where we play the note a LOT (exciting finish). I was playing that one in 4th position so I need to try it in 1st and see if I can nail it. Again, like the B natural, I need to get the sound in my head.

So these two notes are a high priority for my practice tomorrow. I also want to work the Simpsons WITH THE METRONOME to force myself to keep up. This piece moves so fast and as soon as you get through one little part another one is upon you. I just need to turn on the metronome and rip through it.

I'd like to work on Batman and Hexenritt if I can fit them in tomorrow, but like Carey said, there is only one of me. What I must do, however, is work on Bald Mountain, particularly the second page ... in fact, I am going to sit down with the music right now and write in enough letter cues so that I won't get lost with the tenor clef. The first page is fine because I have the music in my head, but I kept getting lost in rehearsal tonight on the second page.

Enough. Nice practice. Wonderful people to play with. It is dumping cold rain outside and I got soaked on the walk over, but Jack gave Mike and I a ride home.

And another 45 ...

I think if I had 4 hours a day to practice, it would still not be enough. This is an interesting exercise, to just up and decide to learn the trombone as an adult. What was I thinking? Not to trivialize any other instruments, but the trombone seems to be a particularly odd choice. I mean, it is so noisy when you play wrong! Which I do with astonishing frequency!

I hope I get this house as I am so looking forward to being alone in a big house just playing out ... though I must say, I play pretty loudly here, too, and I have endlessly patient neighbors.

Well, I finished my backwards practice, including some repetition of the work earlier today, on the Berlioz. Then moved on to Hansel & Gretel and I think I played the part I was focusing on nicely. Though I am still making some mistakes, and this is so not a complicated piece to play. Most of my mistakes, I would say, are arising from me playing it in tenor clef but I want to keep doing that to enforce my recognition of that clef. I have other pieces in tenor clef and I must keep carving those little neural tenor clef pathways in my gray matter.

Then I finished with Hexenritt, backwards practicing it too (I forward played Hansel & Gretel), all the way. I like this piece!

Then 9 pm happened, the witching hour (no pun!) ... and a glass of Malbec and a little mindless TV before bedtime, and do it all over again tomorrow. Sigh.

Exam is done

My exam is drafted - it is due to be posted tomorrow so I'll review and edit it tomorrow morning before work - so now, deep breath or six, quick warm up, and play. I'm going to finish my backwards practice of Symphonie Fantastique, work on Hansel and Gretel and getting my notes in that first passage to come cleanly - I have been tending to slur between the D and the C in one measure and I need to be very attentive of that, and making it clean.

Then I will just work through material until 9 pm, my cutoff time. Charlie's back in town (Squirmo is one happy cat, you can bet!) so I don't want to play late.

what's more important - the "A" or playing well?

The juggling! I must finish my midterm exam (IT Acquisitions Management, for my master's) tonight and I am forcing myself to do it before I practice. I even just turned off Jon Stewart to force myself to concentrate.

My goal is to finish the first draft of the exam (I'm 4/5 of the way done already but it is a long exam) within one hour, so that I can play from 8:15 to 9:00 pm.

BPU Day 32, and backwards practice

Rick has always advocated "backwards practice," where you start at the end of a piece and work backwards through it in segments. The reason for doing this is that it is more typical to start at the beginning and then run out of time or energy before the end is reached, resulting in the end of the piece being short-shrifted.

I did this today with Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, starting at Rehearsal Mark 58, doing that and 59, then bouncing back up and doing 56 and 57 ... got halfway through the piece working backwards in my little 30-minute lunch practice.

First, though, I did my warmup, adding the pedal practice Jack gave me yesterday. I'm hardly getting any pedal notes now, but I know I have gotten them before and am confident that if I perservere, they will come, they will come. I have two pedal notes in this Berlioz, actually, B flat and A, and there is just no way I'll hit those reliably for this concert ... so will take them one octave up.

got my time in, and plus

I had great sectionals today, worked on student symphony material at 1 and symphony material at 7:30 pm. This is the final week before the performance and there will be many rehearsals, and I need to squeeze in practice time, too, whenever I can. With the very specific caution by Jack, to not practice much outside rehearsal after Thursday, to save the mouth for our concerts Saturday and Sunday.

I like playing such a physical instrument.

evening of 44 minutes

OK, I finished the Batman, did the Simpsons, and the first page of the Mussorgsky ... just the second page shy of doing all of the music today. My total practice time today was 1 hour 44 minutes. Now for a leetle sip of wine, and on into the evening.

1 full hour, post 101

I just noticed that this is my 101st post in this blog. I must say that keeping this practice blog has indeed been a productive motivator.

Though I wish my motivation had magically created hours and hours more of practice time earlier! Oh, that I could play as well as I want to.

I just spent a full hour on the trombone, warmup (I think I'll quit saying that since I always do it), E major scale in two octaves starting with the trigger, finished working through the Berlioz (ow) and got through Batman to measure 340. It was a very good practice but I wish I knew this material better. There is just so much material to play for this concert!

I had to completely reconsider the tuning of my F-attachment for the Batman. There is a rapid A-B-C, then an F (at the bottom of the staff, bass clef) -E. I have been tuning my F-attachment so my B natural is right in line with the A just below it, for ease of playing the B natural. But this means that the F at the bottom of the staff doesn't come in with the F-attachment (ironic I suppose considering its name) ... anyway, to get this quick run, I tuned the F-attach so the F plays true in first position with the F-attachment ... it works, I just now need to retune my brain for the B natural. I might try this for a while and see if I like it better tuned to the low F.

Best news though of this overall good practice is that Squirmo handled it just fine. He got up and turned around in his little basket a few times when I started, but then settled in and slept like a baby. I was thinking about it in the context of a friend's newborn baby ... she brought the baby in to work and someone said, "She's hearing us like she has been all along, but without the buffer!" Which we all chuckled at - but as for Squirmo the cat, he has heard me practice every single day one floor up ... so it makes sense that he would not be too phased by a trombone playing 3 feet away from him. The sweet sense of community.

And Friday is like Saturday, and it is E flat major

I am having such a fine day off. My favorite day in the world is Saturday, and this week I get two of 'em!

I just put in 54 minutes of practice. Did:

• Warmup - good high notes, my scale was E flat major (forgot where I was in my progression of scales)
• Worked through the Student Symphony commissioned Sinfonietta part and gave feedback to the composer, Thomas Reiner
• Did Hansel and Gretel - in tenor clef, of course! I am feeling better and better about my ability to read tenor clef.
• Hexenritt. I like this piece.
• Tiny Mahler part. We are supposed to really rock on our little three-note spot (as in, LOUD), so I want to hit that every day.
• Berlioz through Rehearsal Mark 54. Pick back up here at 55.

I want to get through all the music today, but I look at the clock and my busy schedule - gack! I don't know how. Must return to it tonight. And I don't think I will even begin on my midterm exam today - gack! How can I be so busy on a day off!

Now, I am off to pick up a print from the Pop for our silent auction, and then to arrange for Squirmo the Cat to move downstairs with me for awhile ...

BPU Day 28. Three day weekend!!!!!

We played Hansel & Gretel, Hexenritt, Batman and (they) played Mahler tonight at rehearsal. (We didn't make it to the tiny trombone part in the Mahler.) I did not play too well, but for some reason it did not crush me tonight - I KNOW I can play better and I haven't played for three days, and I have a THREE DAY WEEKEND coming up in which to practice like a maniac.

I think the best thing I can do is play at least 1 1/2 hours a day for the three days coming up. I'm meeting Jack on Sunday to work on our material, which is good as I can take detailed notes of anything that is a problem or that I have questions about. Then we rehearse Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (morning). Perform Saturday and Sunday.

I also really need to touch every single piece every day. Wow, I don't know if I can do that very effectively in 1 1/2 hours. So much to play, so little time.

good. good.

Warmup, Hansel & Gretel, Simpsons, a little on Mussorgsky.

Back to work.

save the chops!

I get my first real practice since Sunday here in a few minutes. My goal is 30 minutes, working fairly quickly through our rehearsal order (which I just got in an email from Val!). I am EAGER for a practice, but must control myself in order to keep my chops in order for rehearsal tonight!

buzz buzz buzz

When you don't have your instrument or you can't play due to lateness of night, you can blow on the mouthpiece to keep your mouth somewhat in shape. This is called buzzing the mouthpiece.

This is what I did for the last two nights, on a work trip to Anchorage. Tonight, I didn't actually get back in the house until almost 10:30, so I buzzed again tonight (don't want to wake up landlady Kay). That makes Day 27 of Bonnetti Practice Uninterrupted. Sorry, I won't take any arguments, buzzing has to constitute "practice" as sometimes the trombone is just too difficult an instrument to schlep around.

Sandy and her son Toby gave me a ride home from the airport, after I'd waited around for a cab at the airport, with a cheerful Juneau crowd - complaining mildly about the lack of cabs but completely unfazed by the howling wind and rain.

high notes ... is it a discovery?

I have been having trouble for a very long time with my higher notes, starting in particular with the G, the G that sits on the second line up of the treble clef, the one right there at the swell of the round part of the treble sign. I have worked and worked and worked on it. I work on my high notes every day in my warm up, playing octaves that start at low C to middle C, on up. When I get to G, the octave up is very hard in 4th position; I can get it more easily in 2nd, but it still is a thin note. I am almost driven to distraction because although it is getting better, and I can play the A, B flat, B, and C above it, I am just having a dreadful time with this note.

Well. Tonight, in my warmup, I just did something a little different and I am almost scared by how much better my high notes came - scared because my question is, "Was that an anomaly that will never happen again?"

I kind of pushed more of my lower lip in the mouthpiece and the result was that the high notes came out sounding entirely differently, not necessarily fuller and rounder, but different. Try though I may to not do it, my tendency has been to get the higher notes with my upper lip, but whatever I was doing today had them coming right out through both lips ... and they were almost effortless! And now I want to try it more, but it is too late to practice, and then I will be up in Anchorage tromboneless for the next three days!

I might have gone this route today because in my last lesson, Jack was talking about how to get pedal notes and the relative position of one lip versus the other. I don't know, I just tried it and something worked.

there's music, and then there's business

Ah, how to fit it all in!

I had a great 33 minutes of practice and then was interrupted by an important phone call - symphony business! How to fit it in! It's too late now to return to practice (9 pm cutoff for my neighbors), but I made it well into the Simpson's - that piece is all about the rhythm and moving very fast, and I think will go just fine.

I'll have to take my mouthpiece tomorrow on my trip to Anchorage - I'll take my mouthpiece and Bald Mountain or Batman, and work on those with the mouthpiece alone.

If I get this house, I can practice whenever I want ... enticing thought, just enticing.

Silence does not mean no action

Day 24 of practicing every day

We had student symphony brass sectional again today, with Austin leading us - he is a sweetie. Rick popped in a couple of times, too, and as he was leaving, told us how wonderful we sounded from outside the studio - he spoke with his hands, gesturing to show how the sound of our practice in the studio felt to him from the outside, how the building itself was the source of the music.

My goal then for this evening is:

• Warm-up
• Next major scale in line ...
• Hansel & Gretel from tenor clef
• Mahler
• Simpsons
• If there is anything left, back to Night on Bald Mountain

Though our sectional was an hour and I warmed up before, I can scarcely even call it 30 minutes of practice as there is so little trombone playing. So, my time goal for tonight is one hour if my mouth holds up.

2nd round of the day, 28 minutes

Finished my work on Bald Mountain, ran my tiny Mahler bit, then played Hansel & Gretel through, in tenor clef. Very pleased with my progress there.

only 30

Worked hard on Bald Mountain, some tricky rhythms, had trouble with the high notes 30 minutes into it, so decided to quit and give the mouth a break.

E flat major

Goal: 45 minutes

• Warm-up
  
• Mussorgsky from before Rehearsal P to the end
• Mahler
• Simpsons
  

Care's Bear

I got home at 9:35 from the opera, Puccini's Il Trittico (2 of the 3).

I walked home, about a ... 20 - 25 minute walk. Rain throwing itself ferociously out of the sky as if to hammer every part of me that it could, wind slapping the rain in my face, my pants soaked and hanging from the weight of the water. Dark dark night like only an October night of pissing rain and fierce wind can be.

Walking past the Governor's mansion, up ahead on the sidewalk - a bear. DAMN. A small one. I am thinking, "where's mama?" I shouted at it, waved my arms, but there is no friggin' place for a bear to go there, it is all street and sidewalk and drop-off. It skittered off a bit, but there was a car coming from the other direction. A cab.

Bear decides - which way to go? Across the street in front of the cab! I'm already waving at the cab, gesturing, pointing. Cab stops. Bear crosses the street right in front of it and up the stairs of the white and blue house across from the capital. Gets out on the little tiny strip of lawn by that house. Poor bear is freaked.

Cab starts moving, slowly again, toward me. I wave at him some more and he rolls the window down, I ask him if he'd mind giving me a ride just up the street, that I didn't feel like sharing the street with the bear. He nods, I go across the street, get in, he turns around in the Governor's mansion little turnout, he says yeah, he was wondering about the mama. I told him, wait, I don't have any cash, we have to go to the ATM. He says I'll just take you to the corner, no problem. He takes me to the corner by the State Office Building, I fish around and try to give him $3, all I have, he said, NO, I told you this was on me, just call this cab company when you want a ride. I told him was a hero. He was. My little hero of the night.

Oh, and the opera was fun, too.

And I played all of my major scales tonight, as my very light Friday practice.

And, fruition

35 minutes more, actually 37, so I have my hour today.

The Mahler was fine and the new Mussorgsky is fun! I am doing pretty darn well with the tenor clef, and this interpretation is much more accessible to me. I like it a lot. I made it through rehearsal P but when I start on this again I must play into rehearsal P because the transition there is just a little tricky.

Boy, there is nothing like getting a little sleep to dispel sadness and tiredness.

Evening goal

After my lovely practice earlier today, I feel at peace with my playing. I will do:

• Warmup
• Mahler, my itty-bitty part
• The new Mussorgsky
• If I still have enough left in me, I'll practice the tenor clef Hansel & Gretel to do some cementing of what I was doing earlier today.

I've been doing symphony business this evening and have a couple of calls out, so I may be interrupted. I also must go sit with Squirmo after I finish playing. I'll bring my cup o' tea upstairs and pet the purr-ball.

Day 21 delightful

Oh, that was just delightful, delightful. All I did was my warmup, D major scales, and Hansel and Gretel. After I worked through all of H&G, I worked on it more in tenor clef to try to get myself more solid in that clef, and I am really coming along. I am solid with C, B, and the F, the G too, I guess ... anyway, it was just a lovely little practice time.

D major, Hansel & Gretel

My goal for lunch. I didn't make my hour yesterday but I seriously needed the mental space that a little rest gave. I had just worn myself out.

YAY

20 minutes, I am back to myself, did D flat scales, Mahler, Hansel & Gretel.

Dust myself off

Sleep is always a good thing. The alarm woke me at 4:30 - forgot to change it - and I just turned it off. Oversleeping can also be a good thing.

After my disappointing playing last night, I'm ready to set my goals again for the day. Last night, they switched out the Mussorgsky and the Berlioz so I was sight reading these pieces in tenor clef. That I got any notes in was pleasing to me. So, all the work I put in on the Mussorgsky - well, it is not wasted especially because melodically it is the same, and practice time is practice time, building my ability - but, my time to devote to my practice is so precious that I wish I had known we'd be swapping that one out. Oh, well, at least I don't have to try to squeak out those high notes. The part that I now have doesn't have the notes that are on the edge of my range.

OK, I will practice at lunch. We have such a tiny part for the Mahler Symphonie No. 1 that I should be able to nail it every time. I'll work on it today, and to ease myself in after my disappointment last night, and because it is a short lunchtime practice, I'll work on the Hansel and Gretel.

Tired myself out

I got up at 4:30 this morning to finish a class assignment. Worked all day, watched the debate with sister-in-law Sharon and the kids, then rehearsed from 7 'till almost 9. It was a disappointing rehearsal night for me. I'm tired. You can push yourself too hard sometimes, I think.

relief to not play at lunch

I have a 3-hour rehearsal tonight, and I am home at lunch but not playing. It is GOOD sometimes to not be goal-driven.

all's well that ends well

I felt just a tiny bit crabby last night in student symphony rehearsal - I was feeling a lot of pressure from all that I have going on right now (I am a bit overcommitted) - and then it was close to 45 minutes before I got to play a note. Ha ha, the fate of the trombonist in a symphony orchestra. Then we went a little late and the kids were being kids - sigh.

But, after student symphony rehearsal I went and did a symphony sectional with Jack, and that just went great. I feel really good about the music, about my ability to play it, about my ability to figure out the rhythm patterns, etc. It's a lot of music and it is challenging, but I feel good about it.

I got MORE than my hour in yesterday!

thoity-five minutes

Good practice, warmed up, Bald Mountain, ended with just a teeny bit of Red River Valley. Now for a walk.

home today

I took the day off to work on a class assignment. I'm making great progress on that. Now it is time to take a break and play a little music.

• Jack's warmup
• C major scales
• Right straight into Night on Bald Mountain. I need to get that clef internalized and work those high notes every day
  

Peter & the Wolf on Bald Mountain

On Peter and the Wolf, I played all of my long and very complicated part (hee hee). I worked on those low grace notes - I'll just blurt them out in rehearsal in all my trombone glory and if I should not be playing them, then so be it. Actually, I'll try to corner Austin, our new brass section lead, and see how he thinks I should play them.

And then I worked on Night on Bald Mountain, my piece in Alto clef with the high notes, and that went very well.

More than an hour long practice tonight. It's feeling good.

BPU Day 17 progress and intent

I had a student symphony sectional today. Austin, French Horn player recently returned from college, led our sectional. He was young and fun and did a very nice job.

I'll give myself 30 minutes credit for that (the sectional lasted an hour), following yesterday's "reassess not obsess" philosophy.

My goal then tonight:

• Good long warmup
• B natural scales
• Peter and the Wolf, since I played it today, to cement things
• Mahler's third movement
• Mussorgsky

reassess and not obsess

Now, I think I need to reassess my calculations.

I spent two hours in rehearsal. Close to one hour getting back and forth to rehearsal (~ 20 minute walk each way).

Then I spent another 20 or so minutes at home marking my part so I can play it better. Then played for 25 minutes at home.

I think I need to not nickel and dime my time, and call that good, my hour and a half for the day. After all, there are a few other things I need to do in life ...

Day 16 B flat scale

Wow, the high notes are hard to get, but the high end of the second B flat scale is actually starting to sound good!

25 minutes on warmup and Night on Bare Mountain.

New Week

My trombone week appears to be starting on a Saturday. After my great success with meeting my goal of an hour a day all week - even though I did not make the 1 1/2 hours on the weekend, I am staying with that same goal for this week: 1 1/2 hours a day on each weekend day, 1 hour a day on weekdays, except Friday when all I need to do is "just play."

We had the second symphony rehearsal today. We played the Mahler, Night on Bald Mountain, The Simpsons, and Batman.

Mahler: Practice the dynamics. The low brass has a tiny part, but Todd wants it to be very dynamic, as written. Be "brass band" like - he'll tell us if we are too loud!

Mussorgsky: Wow, the alto clef was hard to read. He started out in 2, and fast. Practice this piece like crazy. Jack and I are going to work it together after my student symphony rehearsal. I want to work on this today.

Simpsons: Wild rhythm patterns, but I think if I work it on my own, I will be able to pick up on the rhythm by following Mike and Jack. They are aces. This was the first time I had seen this music, today.

Batman: There's a lot here, and I really need to work on this one, too.

I was at rehearsal for almost 2 hours, but let's just call it 45 minutes of playing time, for purposes of my goal. The trombone section spent a lot of time waiting and counting during the Mahler.

Goal for the remainder of the day is to warm up, play my next scale (can't remember which that is), and work on the Mussorgsky. Oh, and the symphony musicians were not real fond of this interpretation of that piece, in general.

BPU Day 15

I met my goal, no hour tonight, just played a little, about 15 minutes, scale exercises.

Lesson tonight

I am always so happy after my lessons and tonight is no exception. My G is starting to come cleanly, in sharp second. It is still a little rough in 4th position, but I am starting to have faith that it will come, slowly, slowly.

I need to work on my legato. It's either too short and choppy, or sloppy and slurred.

Work on my intonation. My A was flat tonight and I am not hearing it well.

In Red River Valley, concentrate on playing the note at the same level through the note, rather than growing into it. I know exactly what Jack means in the context of Red River Valley so if I work on this on that piece I should be able to extend it to other playing.

There was one other thing I need to pay attention to, but I forgot it as soon as I walked out from the lesson.

It was blowing hard on my way home, a warm dry wind. It blew my hair to standing up, from my new haircut, and I loved it, walking home in the dark with the warm wind racing the leaves all around, with my reflectos on each end of my trombone case and my little flashlight.

My hour of playing came from my lesson. Happy camper I am.