Scales till my whole face tingles

Whooh! I love that. I started with my low F and played long, slow scales all the way up to my next F, half step at a time. I started with doing two octaves but gave that up round about my A flat scale.

I'm taking a break and studying a bit now, to let my face settle down.

Vows

I did all that I vowed to yesterday - but that was a lot. More than an hour.

On the Brahms, I worked the 6th movement, a Vivace movement. By then my mouth was gone, so when my notes started breaking I stopped, did a little pedal practice and an E scale, and bagged it.

I worked the 1st movement of the Sinfonietta.

Tomorrow I want to work the Brahms 6th movement and the 2nd and 3rd movements of the Sinfonietta right after I warm up, before I do anything else, to get good practice in on those. And oh, yes, I worked all the fast passages slowly in the Beethoven, on the first page. So, tomorrow, 2nd page of the Beethoven.

Lesson last night

Well, I finally got two of my exercises crossed off my list! Not because I played them perfectly, but certainly because I played them better and I've been working at them for too long. Jack took pity on me.

We worked on the student symphony and the symphony material quite a lot. Jack gave me ideas for working fast passages and we also talked about air in relation to my tricky G. The Beethoven in student symphony has that G quite a lot, and I am getting closer to being able to play it reliably but it still needs work. I also want to try playing it on the keyboard first, as I am starting to think that part of my problem may be that I am not hearing it before I play it. Because there is so little margin for error there either with the slide position or with my embouchure, I wonder if my not hearing it means that I am just taking a stab at it and hoping it comes out right - and that just ain't working.

It was very good to hear Jack play some of the Brahms, as I have a feel for what it should sound like. I also have a lesson with him next week. My goals for practice toward that lesson are:

1. Work on 1 - 2 Beeler exercises, just to keep making progress there.
2. Work on 1 - 2 duets from the duet book. I have a couple of those almost nailed so a little extra practice could go a long way.
3. Work methodically and slowly on the fast passages in the Beethoven. I need to have worked on each one by Monday's rehearsal, but I also want to work on them toward my next lesson.
4. Work on the Brahms - at least the Vivace movement (can't remember the number) and the second movement, that Jack played last night. Let's see if I can cement the sound in my little brain.

The Brahms is in tenor clef, did I mention that? I'll have that clef nailed by the time the April concert is done.

And Jack did tell me to keep thinking about clean tonguing. That is the first thing that goes when I get lost or confused in a piece, and then I sound really miserable. Better to tongue cleanly on the wrong note that to muddy them all up and be wrong to boot.

missed rehearsal

This never happens to me unless I have to travel, but tonight I missed my student symphony rehearsal. Major issues with our Reporting Services resulted in 5 programmers and 2 data processing managers working until after 7 to produce 150 reports that one of our program managers needed for a meeting that starts at 8 am tomorrow. Lots of numbers. :) 11-hour day for me, and I just never do that anymore. He has people flying in from out of town to score these applications/reports and it would have been very bad if we had not been able to do this.

I am whupped but we pulled it off. I'll do something on the horn tonight but not much. This is one tired puppy.

good practice, but just one

I had a very nice practice early in the day and fully intended to add a second practice later to round out what I hadn't worked on ... but oh, life gets in the way. I'd wanted to spend more time on the Student Symphony material, but oh well.

poor practice, good community band this morning

I started off the morning playing with Community Band - first spring rehearsal, with a tentative concert date set for May 1. This is very fun and nice and brassy.

I thought I'd have a great practice this afternoon, but my lip does not seem to be in much shape at all. I struggled for a while with the Beethoven - and DID NOT GET FRUSTRATED - but my sound was bad, my high notes weren't there, and I just felt like I didn't have the mouth for it. Tomorrow, tomorrow.

It was warm today, above freezing, and it didn't rain. Spots of dry pavement between the snow and ice. I love it. I so want spring. We are two months after solstice today.

Perfect Sectional

We had a student symphony low brass sectional after work. Worked on the sinfonietta a bit, and then Ken and I worked with Rick on the bassoon parts for the Beethoven. Fun, fun, fun, fun. Working like that just makes us want to do our very best. It made me so happy.

addendum, oh, and Day 153

On the Beethoven, I played further than last night, through rehearsal mark F. I worked my fast run passages quite a lot. I think they'll be OK.

Then I played on the Sinfonietta until my mouth gave out and now it is time to hang it up. 1st & 3rd movements of that.

No Brahms tonight.

Use that trigger

When I was at the Chamber Music program at Humboldt, Billy Robinson came up to me one night after our performance and told me that I was not taking advantage of the trigger. My slide was zooming back and forth and I was not taking advantage of alternate positions that are possible with the trigger. That was one of the amazing things about that program, you'd have these amazing musicians watching you and listening to you and just giving you tips, out of the blue.

So I was just working on this one goofy little allegreto Beeler exercise, and it has actually been a thorn in my side. It's not the most pleasing thing to play - not bad, but bouncing all over the place. I've worked on it for a long time. Tonight I was working it with the metronome and it was quite rough (because I'd added the metronome) and I suddenly decided to add more notes with the trigger. Wow! Much better flow of several little passages.

I do have a Blume "36 exercises with F attachment" which gets you playing notes in alternate F-attach positions, but I'm always so busy working on upcoming pieces, etc. that I have not managed to incorporate it into my routine.

Good practice tonight. I'm going to eat some dinner and then I'll get back to practicing some more.

completely successful & I even touched the Brahms

I did all on my list and more, and even cracked into the first movement of the Brahms. It feels like I have the ground back under me again. That was a long time without ground below me.

deep breath

Off to practice, and Back to goals:

Warmup. G practice up to and above. Pedal practice.

Beeler first two exercises on my list.

Beethoven for Student symphony ~ 1st page.

All done gently. No frustration. Slow it down if I get frustrated. Catch frustration before it can ripen.

Don't worry be happy

wooooooohhhh, I've been overloaded. If it's not totally intense rehearsal week, it's completely jam-packed study week. I will be so glad to finish this master's degree. Next fall.

I had a symphony board meeting after work last night, so I got home at about 7:30. I just ate, watched a little Colbert Report, played around with "Don't worry be happy" in different keys (interesting pick of a song), and fell asleep to the TV.

February - oh, it's here

Last night I had company over - my brother's 50th birthday, celebrated in this family's low-key way.

After everyone had gone home and I had all the dishes left (kitchen's too small to share dishwashing), I left them there on the counter and had just the nicest, quietest practice. I started to get just a little frustrated at one of my exercises, then took a break, got my grounding again, slowed it down.

I worked a lot on the sinfonietta. In the first movement, Innocence, I have a line of melody that I like a lot. It's been running in my brain the last couple of days.

I think I will set my February goals finally, and have a small focused practice. I have student symphony in a couple of hours but that shouldn't preclude a little practice now.

dixie

I just played Dixieland this morning ... I was going to practice tonight but fell asleep instead watching Star Wars on TV at 7 pm. We played that theme for last summer's pops concert. Talk about fun.

"low brass rehearsed together Friday afternoon"

From Rick's Student Symphony Rehearsal Report - we rehearsed together and had a grand time. Jered on his baritone, me on my trombone, Ken on his tuba. Rick commented that all of his low brass section was Alaskan-born. Maybe we're the steady types.

tinniness

I reinstalled the brace the other day and the sound of the instrument is tinny. I don't like it but I want to give myself time to adjust, adjust the way I play since I have adjusted how I hold the instrument. It's a tiny bit frustrating, and also just a little trying that I still have hand pain from holding the instrument - but the pain is different and maybe it will subside, so I need to give that time to adjust, too.

I warmed up with the Michael Davis routine, then practiced my pedals and one Beeler exercise, slowly. I played for maybe 40 minutes, really taking my time.

It's a little discouraging to have the tone problem right now, so I have to just be gentle with myself and give it space and time.

acres of time

Last night I wrote about acres of time. I am loving my acres of time. I just wrote in my journal and now I am utterly grooving on the Shostakovich CD, but I shall stop it - gasp, in the third movement - and commence to practicing.

Last night I did exactly what I had set out to do. I'll practice the two student symphony pieces again tonight, emphasizing the Beethoven tonight but touching on the commissioned piece, and I will work on two of my exercises.

I think I might have to finish listening to Shostie's third movement first, however.

Decadent time

I am wallowing in my decadent abundance of time. I left work when it was still light, went round to check the mail, now I'm listening to the news, have dinner cooking, and am going into the evening with acres of time laid out before me. Decadence.

I think I will just work on one of my Beeler exercises tonight, and then work methodically on student symphony material - both pieces. In the Beethoven I have quite a few long runs that are extremely doable, I just have to get them down.

I also have a lot of G's to play, a couple held for two whole notes, so I will work carefully on my high range. I am off to do that now.

Michelle to Self

I'll get back to my usual goal-driven self in a day or two. I just came from student symphony rehearsal where I had my usual grand time. I haven't been practicing this material as I've been consumed with symphony rehearsals, but I like it! And I feel good about working on it enough to play it well. The Beethoven bassoon part is lovely, fun, and has way more notes than the trombone usually gets. The commissioned piece is also a treat to play, and working with Rick on the rhythms in it last week in my sight singing lesson paid off tonight.

I walked over and walked back, to the high school ... it's about 20 or so minutes each way, so rehearsal times are always a great exercise program for me. It's dark, it's snowing. About this time of year I feel like I have always and will always walk around in the dark, in the snow. But my little intellect whispers, "5 minutes a day! We're gaining 5 minutes a day!" In another life I wore shorts and shirt sleeves.

I can't remember if I've already written this here or if it was something I told Carey, but another fundamental shift in my playing that has occurred is that I am just not getting bothered by not being able to play something, in rehearsals, with people I don't know; it's just not the way it was. I used to cry in frustration - literally - at not being able to play something. Now, I'm just breezing on through and I am just not getting frustrated. And I am having so much fun.

It's the way it is supposed to be, no? I'm attributing this new attitude to:

1. I'm playing better so if I mess up notes or can't get a run, I have confidence that it is there and I understand what I missed better,
2. I've demonstrated to myself that if I work on something hard very methodically, I can master it,
3. I am getting better at sight reading, and I can find my place almost all of the time now - I used to spend a lot of time completely lost, completely lost.
4. I have been meditating for half an hour a day. That just makes everything in my life easier.
5. I still think that I have gained some change in my ability to hear myself. It just trips me out that my ear can get better, but it is. I continue to be amazed at how a person learns music, learns about music.
   

Giddy

I'm just giddy from that concert. All three pieces were great, the audience loved it. I think we had a bigger house today than yesterday. I'm just plain giddy.

REALLY successful concert. Very happy audience and very happy musicians.

We do it again tomorrow at 3. The Shostakovich was just beautiful, to hear and to play. The Kodaly and the Mendelssohn and Franz on the Mendelssohn was just beautiful, to hear.

I love this music

It is hard to describe how incredibly exciting it is to be sitting in the orchestra while we are performing this music. It's both while we're playing and while we're not. Trombones rather famously count a lot of rests; we don't play a lot. In this Shostakovich, there are long sections, and in fact one entire movement (the 3rd) where we don't play. Well, rather than being a boring exercise in figuring out where you are, it's a spine-tingling exercise. The music is so interesting and tells such a story, with the main theme woven throughout, coming up here and there, surprising you with little twists, thrilling even after you know it from having heard it so many times.

I don't have the words or the musical knowledge to describe this as well as I want to. Last night during rehearsal, I just felt so lucky to be there. So lucky. It's hard to believe my good fortune in being able to do this.

close

We are close now. Tonight our out of town musicians had arrived. I had to adjust a little to the change in the sound, but I loved it! The sound was bigger.

I am tired but I feel very, very good going into this concert.

OK, I'm tired now

We rehearsed last night and I came home and went straight to bed.

Today I worked a long day, came home and did a class assignment, and just now I only played a little, picking out music on the trombone. Unchained melody and Taps in a bunch of different keys. Now I am going to eat some dinner.

Rehearsal last night was fun. This music is great. My friend Clare emailed me today and told me that her son Fu Bau is telling everyone about the symphony concert and that his friend Michelle will be playing trombone in it. Then he makes a "trombone playing impression." I gave Fu Bau an old trombone a month or so ago, because he loves music so much. He made good old trombone sounds right off the bat.

Yesterday, Day 137, Student Symphony

The only practice I got yesterday was playing in student symphony; I had to interview someone for work at lunch.

This will be a very busy week with rehearsals every day except Wednesday. On Wednesday I have an assignment due for my class, and I likely won't even start on it 'till then, because I'll be rehearsing all week!

2 practices = much work

OK, I just practiced again for about 35 minutes. Here's a thought about two practices a day. I worked very hard in my earlier practice, oh, for about an hour. Tonight I did a nice long warm-up and just plain got tired of working hard on my material again. But it's not a lazy tired. My class has begun for the semester and it requires a lot of work. I have a demanding job, made even more demanding this week by hard travel and by complications due to the hiring freeze. I just need a certain amount of down time when I'm not working hard, and when I am working on material like this for the upcoming concert, I am working hard.

Two practices a day are a great idea. Doing it moves my playing ability forward significantly. I think, though, that my goal might need to be for one of the practices to be easy - warmup, scales, one exercise maybe. I got too exhausted last fall. Granted, there was a lot more material to work on, but still, much as I want to play better, I have to balance.

Most excellent, and mechanical too

I did just what I'd stated as my goal, practiced my "tricky licks" in the Shostakovich - all of the movements. Before I started, I messed around and installed my new "bullet brace," the intent of which is to take some of the weight of the instrument off my finger and put it in the crook between thumb and forefinger (to cause less or even no pain).

Several immediate effects. Right away, as in the first note I played, my sound was much fuller. I have observed recently that although you are not supposed to, and I did not think I was doing, I have been supporting the instrument to some degree with my slide hand. No, no, no. Not supposed to do that, and I think by not doing that my sound just got bigger. Enough that I was startled.

Second effect is that the slide is moving much more freely. This was so nice that I stopped and cleaned my slide to enjoy the full effects.

Third effect is that there is new pain around the base of my thumb, but my jury is way out on that one, let me have some time with this adjustment.

I was also contemplating today how fun it is be a musician and get to say things like, "playing a gig" and "tricky licks."