Off to DC

I am off to DC for a few days so I won't be posting.

But I will be trying trombones at Washington Music!

Maybe I'll come home with a new trombone ...

okay, just some scales again

Damn, life intervenes sometimes. All I did was some sweet slow scales last night, but listening listening to myself, trying to play each note right and holding each note, trying to retain integrity throughout the note.

I didn't even pick up the horn until after 9 (it's the mountain's fault, I had to go up it again) so didn't play long ... just think, in less than a month I will be in my own place if all goes according to plan, and I can play at any time I please.

just scales

Just ran through all my major scales tonight. Got home late. I want to get to where I do them all fast with good legato. Got a bit to go. :)

Breakfast!

Got the CD and book "Breakfast" (Intonation practice for trombonists) by David Schwartz a few days ago and today after my regular practice I started playing with it. Played until my hand and lips feel like falling off!

It's really interesting. The point of the whole thing is to improve your ear by playing with drones on the CD player. I'm totally intrigued and I can't wait to keep doing it and keep listening myself. I can hear when I'm wrong!

beautiful little practice

I'm doing this hiking challenge, so I'm not getting home from that 'till about 8 each night, which does not leave a whole lot of room for practice. But I'm practicing every night, working on my material and just loving it. I really want to work hard on my technique. I am working hard on my technique. There's so far to go! So much room for improvement! But I'm seeing it, day by day. I like this time away from a performance commitment, a lot, but I know myself, I'll be itching soon to get back in the game.

good practice ...

I've been sick for the last two days! I couldn't believe it, but as friend Carey said, It's not a character flaw, after all.

I came out of it at about 6 tonight, in time to get in a great little practice session. I worked on a lot of material and I am happy with the way I am making progress. Steadily, no pressure, but I'm motivated. Making steady progress.

Don't be afraid of fast passages

This was the parting message from Jack in my lesson yesterday, or at the least I remember it as that. Just because it is fast it doesn't mean I should play it sloppily.

I'm taking just a tiny little break from practicing, and I must say that I am having a wonderful time playing today and loving the sound that's coming out of my instrument.

Now, back to practice those fast passages - slowly to get them down, then faster. :)

It is a long, slow process

I am doing this challenge of hiking up Mt. Roberts for 30 days, and today I was comparing hiking with music, with my hiking buddy on the shoulder of Mt. Roberts. You make progress, but it is incremental.

Today we shaved one minute off our time up the mountain to the tram, from 61 minutes to 60 minutes. It's just like practicing a piece. You play through it the first time and it is so bumpy. You come back the next day and a few of the rough spots work, and a few of the other rough spots are just a little easier. You keep coming back and little tiny bits at a time, it gets better. You get better. That's it, by working at it just enough, you get better. That "just enough" is key, 'cause you can only do one little bit in a day to get better. There's just plain nothing you can do to make the leaps, it takes diligence. But it also takes enjoying the mountain so you keep wanting to come back. It takes loving the music so you want to come back.

I had a lesson tonight and I was actually physically tired from hiking and all the ancillary walking I had done today, but it was a good lesson. I am so grateful to Jack for squeezing in the summer time for the lesson. It keeps me on track.

Jack gave me some solo pieces to work on. I am stoked.

Where is this coming from?

I am just loving my sound, but I do not know quite where it's coming from. Look behind me - is that me playing that horn?

tone

My tone surprised me tonight. It was rich and deep. It made me listen to it and pay attention. It made me think about my embouchure and what I might be doing differently to get the tone I have now vs. other times ... as in, yesterday.

Charlie has moved out and I have a new neighbor upstairs. Before I went on my mountain hike tonight, I squeezed in a little practice. I kind of felt it was important to break in the new neighbor with the sound of a trombone downstairs. I don't want him to get the impression that trombone playing is an anomaly in this neighborhood. I did my warmup and worked on my material, then I played some of my simple beautiful pieces. There has to be some benefit to the neighbors and I hope I can play one or two things that sound good through the floors.

I did shut the windows before I practiced, however.

Now I am home from my hike and listening to Pink Martini playing Brazil. Goddamn that trumpet player knocks my socks off.

quiet scales

I got home kind of late, ate, and just played some quiet scales after 9. Very gently, listening hard to the sound. Very nice.

I'm loving taking the time

I am really working thoroughly on my music now. When I hit a spot where I am messing up, even just a little, maybe the transition between two notes is not clean or I'm hitting one note badly half the time, I'm going back and working that little area carefully, carefully. Then expanding my area to include the notes around it. I backwards practiced one whole little piece today - didn't want to practice it from the beginning and leave off the end, and by backwards practicing I made it through the whole thing.

Having this much time to work on things, I can really see the improvement over time, even from day to day. I want to carry this with me into this next year. A little bit at a time. I have been taking on way more than I can chew, and right now I'm chewing it really, really well - it's digested music. Yum.

The other lesson from the day to day improvement is to give myself a break if I can't play it right the first time through. If I can't play it right the second time through, that's fine as well. I know that if I keep working on it, IT GETS BETTER. Like magic.

This program's working

I played "played" tonight. I focused on playing right and taking my time. I played again things that I had worked on yesterday and they were better today - imagine that. I played new things and they were rough so I took 'em really slowly and just left them in their imperfect state because I know I'll come back to them tomorrow and they'll be better tomorrow.

Then I worked on playing beautifully and my window was open and I hope it sounded as nice outside as it felt to me inside. It's not perfect and I actually am starting to realize that it probably rarely will be, but I liked it.

There is something to this program of taking it slowly and making my simple things sound good, rather than always feeling in over my head. It was very cool and it really, really was playing, playing for fun.

a little anxiety, a little music

Had a little anxiety over playing tonight. Then I let it go and practiced some more. Down with anxiety.

Play!

Well, the parades were a great success yesterday and we had about the most smashing 4th of July possible. Incredible weather and an entire city filled with happy and excited people just having fun.

I wore myself out completely and collapsed at home at about 5 o'clock yesterday. I was just totaled by the day - marching in Juneau, walking over to Douglas, marching in Douglas, and right in the middle on the way to Douglas, I got sunscreen in my left eye that took almost an hour to clear. Was that ever painful! And no water on the walk over.

So tonight, now with no rehearsal pressure whatsoever, I played for a long time, my practice broken up in the middle with a break for my lips. First long scales, very slowly, listening listening, playing everything slowly for the sound. When I came back after a housecleaning break, I played practice material. But I didn't work on it, I played it. It sounded good. Then I worked on played beautiful music, little solo pieces, Liebestraum, Bist du bei mier, On Wings of Song by Mendelssohn. Miss Marple was on in a mystery on TV and dead blackbirds played into it. I picked out the blackbird song. :) My horoscope today said: "It's not always about production; sometimes the most significant experiences are the transient ones that have no apparent tangible value."

kids and cartoons and the 4th

Sharon and the kids stayed over last night to watch the fireworks. The kids are awake now watching cartoons while I work on my exam at a relaxed pace ... lovely morning.

Parade today, march march march, play play play. My sense from the stupendous weather and the crowds downtown yesterday evening for fireworks, and the presence of our governor in town (in the parade?) is that there will be BIG CROWDS for the parade. There are 80+ floats and it's supposed to be a mile long! I really hope we get in the front ...

Getting the chops in shape

I've been trying to push myself a little playing as my chops will get a bit bashed up tomorrow. I definitely do not have the marching walk down where my mouth doesn't get banged up by the mouthpiece. So I'm trying to build up some chop strength.

It is is sunny and warm. I am playing with my windows and doors open and I like to think of my march tune practicing floating around the hillside. :)

Sit-down concert a SUCCESS

We played our second sit-down concert yesterday, in Marine Park. The first was on Sunday in the JACC due to rain potential. Both concerts were good, for different reasons - the Sunday event was all about history, our 50th anniversary as a state, speechifying, etc. Yesterday's was just about playing the music and it was a BLAST. LOTs of players, great audience (repeat, great audience), we played well and we were just plain playing fun music.

As we were setting up yesterday, a woman off the ship asked me when the concert would start. I love the way that people know that something's happening and just start gravitating toward it. When we played our first song, the National Anthem, yesterday, we started the song with a small audience. By the next song, the Alaska Flag song, we had a big audience. Just like that.

I have the thought sometimes when I'm getting set up for a concert, and playing it, of the long history in humankind that I am a part of. For how long have musicians, performers, set up to play, people see them setting up and know something's going to happen, then the event is there and we are making the music and our audience is loving it, and we've all just transformed the space for that little chunk of time. It's hard to describe, it makes me emotional thinking about it - this is such a human thing to do, and now I am part of this long, long, long line of people throughout history who have come together to play for people like this.

I am so ridiculously lucky to be able to do this that I can't even find the words.