Ow

My left hand hurts! You know, much of the weight of a trombone pretty much rests on one finger - also on the heel of the left hand, but that finger on the brace is carrying a lot of weight.

I got a brace today, that I'd ordered with last week's paycheck, a "Bullet Brace." For it to work with my instrument, however, the brace's clamp will have to be taken down, and I'll need to see if Bill Paulick can do that or if I have to order a different brace. This is made by the Edwards Company and many people swear by it. Properly installed, you carry the weight in the crook between your thumb and fingers rather than on that finger. I am so looking forward to it.

I had a great practice session tonight, and actually my hand didn't start hurting until after I stopped. :) I did a different warmup than usual, Michael Davis' 15-minute warm-up routine (it took me more like 25), with lots of lip slurs. Then I worked more on the 4th movement, on the 2nd movement, and touched on the 1st movement, the part in 8. I worked a couple of my exercises and called it a day.

Tomorrow I want to try a short practice early again with the long practice the second one in the day. I like that. I'll start with the 1st movement.