American Overture

I worked on my concert band music tonight. American Overture by Joseph Wilcox Jenkins, and worked through a little bit of the Alaska Flag song.

I please myself with how much more easily I can tackle strange rhythms and new note patterns. Just go into them and try them, and I get the sound and feel so much more quickly these days. Sometimes they are still hard - off-beat patterns trick me - but the confidence gained from having played tricky things stands me well. Like Rick says, slow it down and figure it out, and the speed will come.

Last night, all I did was the Michael Davis 15-minute warmup. HA! 15 minutes. I probably spent a good 30 minutes or more on it, but there, too, I was so pleased at how much better I played through it than I have in the past.