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.