and back to intent

My lesson on Thursday was a little discouraging, actually. Not that Jack was discouraging, at all; no, he was positive. Just the sense, though, that there is so much I need to do to get better, and the road is so long and progress is slow.

I knew it would be a somewhat tough lesson, coming after almost a week of not playing. It was pleasing that I had good tone, good volume - which might be partly due to the week off. But I was rough on a lot, repeating a lot of my old problems and issues - maybe that is what has me a little discouraged.

I took notes again. Here is what I need to work on:

Legato. Light tongue between notes. No tongue when I am changing partials. No sloppy slide, and not too staccato either. It's such a fine touch that it is often hard for me to remember what I am striving for.

From the brass master class, Jack passed on the idea of not stopping after the in-breath before playing, but having the in- and out-breath be seamless flow with the note coming with the out-breath. I like this and can relate.

Also from the master class but from my last lesson, too, each note having the same value throughout. Not little mini-crescendos. Not <, but [___] (imagine a horizontal line at the top of that figure). The note starts the way it is played throughout, and ends the same way. I really, really need to work on this. Clean tonguing. Clean tonguing. Clean tonguing. I need to work on pedals every day. I actually finally started to get in the lesson, how to hold my lower jaw/lip more stable, and using my upper lip for the pedal. This is so I can keep them from being so flat, using the upper lip gives much more control of the note. I guess rather than both lips flapping, you just have one! I also read on the trombone forum recently that Doug Elliot didn't start playing pedals until he'd been playing for three years ... so I feel kind of in league.

From my 5-7 lesson, remember what I learned: More full lower notes in my warmup. Really be attentive to how I am starting the notes from B flat on down. Almost no tongue, and lots of air, kind of a tube of air pushing right through. Keep lips relaxed on the low notes. Make sure I do vibrato in my daily scale exercise. Pay attention to my legato in my daily scales! Okay, so for today: Warmup:

• Full low notes, relaxed, clean-starting.
• On scale, clean legato. Vibrato.
• Work on pedals using the method we worked on last Thursday.

Work one piece from Duet book, one from Beeler, at least one symphony piece throughout.