Week 4-5 of November

These past two weeks were actually better than I thought they were going to be on my clarinet playing, with thanksgiving break involved. I actually did get to practice about half the days that I was home, so that was a big plus, and while I didn't get to practice too much this week because of a busy concert schedule, I did play a lot in rehersals, where I managed to put in some work on the stuff I wanted to.

I worked mostly towards the technique exam these past two weeks, since that's coming up tomorrow. I feel like I should do pretty well on it, and I can usually get the scales down when I'm practicing. I guess I'll find out how I'll really do tomorrow.

I used my work on my scales to work on the resistance change during the throat tones a good bit. I think I'm starting to really get the idea of not letting the resistance control me, but I do think I still need to put some more work into it. I also used the scales to work on range a bit, and it does feel easier to play higher up in the altissimo register, depending on the day and how my reed is for that session.

The thing I ended up working on the least was the stuff for my jury, which is unfortunate. I wish I could have put more time into those, specially in really cleaning up the Saint-Saens movement 2. I still have a feel fumbles on the Rose etude, but that one is coming along well, and the Dunhill is coming along well too. The only thing I'm a little worried about in the jury is that I don't have a pianist for it yet, though I believe I don't need to have one both semester of the year (I have to confirm that tomorrow).

As a side note, I'm happy about how the symphonic band concert went tonight. And with this I also have my recital attendance finished up!

Weeks 2 and 3 of November

These past two weeks have been completely different from each other. The first week was pretty awful: I was stressed out, overloaded, tired, and sleep deprived. This week, on the other hand, I've taken the time to relax and do very little, and I'm back to feeling normal.

Last week I focused almost entirely on Saint-saens, but I feel I got a lot accomplished there, and I feel really good about how rep class went. I'm definitelly paying a lot more attention to intonation of individual notes now, though I have trouble telling some times still since my ears aren't quite trained enough for pitch.

After playing on rep class friday and having my history exam I decided that I needed some time off, so I did absolutely nothing on the weekend; this includes practicing of course. I feel somewhat bad about that part, but I really needed a break and I don't regret it. On monday I was busy with NCMEA, so I didn't have the chance to practice then either. That wasn't planned.

In any case, I actually feel like I'm playing better now than I would have been if I had not taken that break. Practice actually went really well, and I started to work on Phantasy Suite's movement's 1 and 2, and a little on 3. I also worked a lot of the new rose etude these past two days, and that's going pretty well; I actually felt good enough about it to add tonguing already.

I guess the lesson to learn these past few weeks is that a break can sometimes be a good thing.

Week 1 of November

This week (and next week) are really hectic for me, so my clarinet practice time has suffered a bit. On the plus side, the practices I did have were actually really good this week, and I feel like I at least got something accomplished with the little time I had.

First, on the scales. My fingers keep getting better at hitting the right spots on the keys. It's really feeling more natural to keep my left index curved now, and all my fingers on top of the keys even when they're not pressing on them (that part isn't quite as good yet). I think the times I have the most trouble with this is when I have to go across the break very quickly, of course, but in slow sections it has gotten much better.

I didn't bother tonguing on the rose etude this week, as I didn't feel like I was quite at that point yet. I should be able to add that this coming week. This pieced helped me realize that I actually have a good bit of trouble slurring from notes where I have lots of fingers down to notes where I don't have many down (like, from high D to high C or something like that, or octaves in that range).

I focused almost entirely on mvt 1 of the SS this week as far as rep is concerned. I took the time to practice several sections very slowly, not only including the runs but some other sections that I hadn't really worked on yet, so I feel like that piece is doing a lot better this week. On a side note, I need to find a pianist for next week still, so I'll try to contact one this weekend when I have a bit more time.

Week 4 of October

I feel like I made a lot of progress this week on my left hand. I'd say I'm keeping my index curved on the A and F# keys around 60-70% of the time now, which is a huge improvement over last week. I've also gotten a lot better at keeping the ring finger on the C hole.

This did bring out another problem to light: My pinky fingers on both hands. I don't know if it's the clarinet that just has slow action, or if my pinky just isn't pressing hard enough, but except for the C/F key, there is often a delay in the sound that comes from the key not being pressed all the way down right away. This happen most often when I'm using my left pinky (it doesn't really matter which note it is, which is why I think it's a problem with me and not the instrument).

The Rose 20 is doing better than last week, but I still can't really feel how this song goes for some odd reason. I'm not sure if I should move on to another one or keep going with it this week... it's just very awkward for me. At least the left index portion of this etude is doing a lot better.

As far as embouchure goes, I feel like I still have trouble getting the high notes to speak. It's not a really big deal anymore up to a high D, but E and up (especially F) are still rough. I notice this a lot when playing through the Albert D Major scale in thirds. I'm not entirely sure if this is a tongue position problem or a jaw problem... I think it's a mix of both.

The Sain-Saens is doing better this week, but the problems that occur due to the above are still apparent. I think I'm doing the tapers a little better, but they still need more work... they'll be easier to do when I get the jaw/tongue position straightened up I believe. As far as getting the 16th note sections musically, I think there is some improvement, but I won't really be able to master that until I master the fingerings completely... just one of those things that happen only some of the time. The second movement is doing much better I believe than last time you heard it. Some of the sections I used to have trouble with are still there, but they're at the point where I can get them about 65% of the time now I'd say overall.

On a side note, I got a neck strap this week, and that has helped me out a lot I feel. I never really realized how much tension the clarinet would cause on my right thumb until I got the neck strap. It doesn't solve problems on its own, but I think it was a good investment on my part (it's an elastic one, so it also helps me a bit on embouchure by pushing the clarinet up a bit for me, which was harder to do with just my hands). I also go a new ligature to try out, though I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it yet... I'll keep going with it for a bit to see how I like it once I get it broken in.

Oh, and I think I'm pretty much done with that cold I've had for the past two weeks finally!

Week 3 of October

I'm not sure what to think of my practicing this week. I got a little sick for a few days, but I never had any really bad practice sessions (they weren't great, but not bad). But based on my playing earlier today, I just feel like I could be playing better, specially on the saint-seans.

The scales are going fairly well. I don't have them all down without any problems yet, fingering-wise, but they're pretty close. It's more strange than I thought to think about lift while playing... it's still something I need to get used to, as it's a relatively new concept to me. Scales in 3rds really help here.

I think I'll need another week or two on the rose #20. It's hard to work on the "wuh" when I still have trouble with the notes. For some reason this etude just doesn't make as much sense to me as some of the other ones, so it takes longer to learn.

I worked a lot on the wedding dance spots (I would really like to have it completely down by the time we start rehersing it regularly, but I probably won't), and they have gotten a lot better, specially the high part. I decided on working with the alternate fingerings for that section, since they are a lot simpler once you get used to them... only problem I have is with how flat the D and C# sound like that (I get the register down for the other notes, so they're not a problem at least).

For the saint-saens I feel like I've gotten worse at some spots, and better in others. I'm not really sure why either, since I don't feel like it's been long enough that I've played those spots that they would have gotten that much worse (it's mostly on the first movement). I circled the spots I feel give me the most trouble.

Week 2 of October

This week was fall break, so I went home for that. Consequently, I ended up not being able to practice for a few days when I travelled and was busy with other things. I did get some good practice time in with the little time I did have, at least, even if I had to split a lot of it with leaning our new symphonic band music.

The albert scales don't have an Ab minor page, so I did g# minor instead. In today's practice I managed to do pretty well on that as far as fingerings go, so I could focus on sound more, but the other days weren't quite as good. F minor went well, though.

Rose 18 is interresting... it's actually not too difficult to do that one without any dynamics. I think I'm doing a better job of keeping my jaw forward for longer periods, but not quite where I need it to be yet. It's very close.

Unfortunatelly with the little practice I got I didn't get to do as much with the sonata. I went through all the movements and marked some places where I tightened up some, but didn't get to really do much as far as finding out why that was or how to fix it yet. I can answer that on some of them at least.

Week 1 of October

This was a sort of busy week. With the symphonic band concert tomorrow night, I've had a bit of a tougher time focusing on my lesson work. I did still get a lot of practice in, but my mind wasn't there 100% of the time.

I don't feel like I made as much progress this week as I did these last two weeks. Not that I didn't get to practice enough or that I think I didn't improve at all, but I can't really notice as much of a diference in my playing like before (that could be a good thing, of course).

My main focus this week was to work on keeping a steady tongue position... that's surprisingly difficult to do! It seems that I can last for about 4-7 measures at a time right now, depending on the song, but after that I need to take a break to reset tongue position and embouchure. It also gets worse as I keep practicing, and by the end of my practice sessions I can only last a measure or two, and some times I have trouble doing it at all if I practice for a long time.

I guess this just means that I need to work on stamina/endurance now.

week 4 of september

I didn't get as much practice time as I thought I'd be able to this week (that piano exam required more work than I wanted it to), but it was still a very good week for me on clarinet.

I think tongue position is finally starting to click with me... I'm not entirely sure I'm doing it right yet, and I can't do it 100% of the time, but I'm definitely closing in on it. My altissimo register is responding much more easily and I can actually notice a difference in tone. Tonguing is also significantly easier because of this. It's actually gotten me pretty excited about playing this week.

My F# and d# scales are doing much better too, so that extra week on them was a good idea. I added F, d, Bb, and g this week for the four flats.

I think with the crescendo thing I'm doing a little better, but I don't think I'm still opening up a bit when I do it.

Probably what helped me the most this week was really thinking about how exactly I needed to be playing before I started. I kind of did that before, but I emphasized it this week.

I'll try to get more sleep tonight as well, hopefully I'll fall through with that...

Week 3 of September

Well, I typed this up but it got deleted, so here it goes again :(

This week was kind of rough at the start. Thanks to a history exam on monday (my birthday too... terrible way to spend that day!), I didn't really parctice on saturday and sunday. I did get some good practice days on monday-wednesday, though.

My B and g# scales are going fairly well, but my F# and d# are a little rough still. This is good for working on not stopping myself so much. However, I don't think I progressed on that so much this week. I still feel like I react to mistakes too much, and it'll probably be a while before that habit goes away. It's something to work on.

I worked on my tongue position some this week too. I tried to be really conscious about keeping it high. I'm not really sure about where it is supposed to go, or where it is right now, but I have noticed a few things when I try to raise it, such as

Week 2 of September

Ok, so this was a somewhat rough week for me. First, I got sick again, so it was not really a lot of great practice on this weekend. Then on monday I just had the most awful time with playing in the morning, though it did get better in the afternoon. The other days I still didn't get any great practice sessions... just kind of OK ones... maybe the fact that I have a big history exam next monday is messing with me a little too much.

I did do one thing well, though, and that was to really focus on the breathing thing. I had to stop myself basically every few minutes to correct myself, but I has gotten better. I can't say it's where I want it yet, but in another week or so of doing this I should be pretty good on taking breaths correctly.

I noticed this is much easier to keep up earlier in my practice sections than near the end. As I get tired I tend to forget or ignore problems until later on when I realize that I start to sound bad and start biting too much. This is probably due to just natural fatigue, but it's something I need to keep working on. I can say I'm definitely willing to stop myself at least... A LOT... any time I noticed I was messed up I would stop and reset, then restart from a spot that seemed ok.

Of course, my willingness turns to frustration near the end of my practice sections when I get tired, but that's understandable and something I just need to suck up. I also believe I'm going in circles now, so enough

first week of september

This week was pretty interresting as far as my playing goes. I found a couple of things out that I really need to keep working on to fix:

1. I found out that I have a tendency of biting too much when I hit the upper altissimo register (problems start around an Eb for me).

2. I also have a lot of trouble tonguing on the upper register still. I guess it should be sort of expected since I wasn't tonguing correctly at all until about half way through last semester.

3. My fingers are moving too far from the clarinet when I play. I noticed this when looking at a mirror. The problem is usually worse around the A/A# keys because my left index doesn't curve enough. I worked on this last semester, but it seems that I have taken a step back since I haven't been really working on it too much.

I worked on a few scales this week, G, e, D, and b, full range. If I slur them I don't have much trouble with the upper register of G and e, but when I slur two - tongue two I have trouble getting the instrument to respond. I have a feeling the problem is my embouchure and tongue position, as usual.

Cleared up a few things in the first movement of the Saint-Saens Sonata. I don't think I'm where I need to be yet, but it's getting there. The tonguing section is getting better as I lighten up the tongue.

With the second movement of Saint-Saens I still have trouble with some really strange sections (notes-wise). Strange as in, I shouldn't be having trouble with them... not sure why some of those passages are being so difficult to me, while others aren't. I do have the majority of the song down though, so I should be able to start working on the actual music soon.

The Busoni Elegie is a different story. With my high register problem it's hard to play some sections, and the 32nd note sections are pretty awkward still. I did get a good bit of work done at least, so I shouldn't be too terrible for my lesson tomorrow.

Also, my ligature is finally starting to settle into the mouthpiece, so maybe I won't spend 10 minutes getting a reed placed in this time. I'm considering getting a neck strap as well... the weight of the clarinet is bending my right thumb a bit much because of the shape of my hands... if my thumb rest was a bit higher it wouldn't be as big an issue, but it won't go further. The neck strap would help reduced the stress a bit and postpone the arthritis I'm sure I'll get some day.

First Blogging Assignment

Well, I guess this is a lot of questions, but I'll try to narrow it down to the biggest ones when we're able to talk about it more

Self-definition: Do I feel more like my authentic self when playing my instrument or less like my authentic self? Do I feel more or less authentic when performing rather than practicing? Or more or less authentic when practicing rather than performing?

Perfectionism: Do I try to use music to try to prove to everyone (and myself) that I am not really that flawed after all? Do I know the difference between perfectionism and healthy striving?

Self-compassion: Do I regularly beat up on myself emotionally for the things I don’t feel I do well? Do I include self-compassion exercises as a regular component of my practicing?

Letting the body go: Do I try to play “correctly”? Does my way of practicing both encourage LEARNING THE INSTRUMENT and DEVELOPING MUSICAL IMPULSES? How do I balance these?

Alignment of time use with goals: How do I spend my free time? Does my use of free time align with what is important in my life? Do I plan or do I just let my use of time happen?

Practice technique: Do I practice lots of hours, but in an unstructured way? Do I set goals and try to achieve them? Or do I just decide what to play based on what I feel like in the moment?

Playthroughs=hard: Do I expect a level of perfection that makes it difficult for me to play through a piece, even after I have been working on it for a while?

Practicing methodically/thoroughly: When practicing a difficult measure over and over again, when do I choose to move on? Fingers hurt? I am bored? My body has learned the passage? Feeling a sense of anxiety that my competitors will surpass me if I don’t move on to something else?

Looking in the mirror: Do I listen to recordings of myself? If not, why not? Technology reasons, emotional reasons, or other?