Well, this week was rather productive thanks to me having less homework to do.
I worked quite a bit on the Eugene method, almost entirely on the tone building exercises. I tried to alternate between D Major and b minor every other day, so I probably spent about an even amount in both of them. Somewhere this week I started to play with a far more relaxed lower jaw, and I've been liking the results in response and ease of playing, but I'm not sure on the sound since I haven't had anyone really listen to it yet (so that I know I'm moving in the right direction).
I rather enjoyed this week's Cavallini etude (Op 3 #1). I focused a lot on playing only the first and last 3 notes of each figure so that should sound alright. I managed to get the tempo up to the written ones as well.
I didn't really polish the Debussy all the way, but I feel like I want to move away from this piece for a bit and work on something else. I'm sure I'll come back to it eventually. What that something else is I have absolutely no clue since we already ran through all the rep we chose for this semester from last year.
The Borodin excerpts still have a good bit of work left on them, but I can at least play them at a lower tempo for the most part. I wasn't able to get an A clarinet (turns out they're all checked out right now), so I just did them on the Bb.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Weeks 8 and 9
Well, I didn't write a blog last week because I was so busy and tired, but this week finally settled down some. Because of the lower workload, this week has actually been great to my playing, and I feel like I'm finally back on track with practice. I managed to get new reeds for the new mouthpiece (switched down from 3 1/2+ to 3 1/2 V12s), so they're in the process of being broken into. Meanwhile I'm still playing on my old MP some times since I have to work way too hard with the old reeds on the new MP.
On scales I did a lot of slower work to figure out finger positions and low movement. I tried to speed up a bit towards the end of the week, but that was not my focus. I'd say I spent about equal time on both A Major and F minor, so I should be able to do most of the exercises on both of them at around the same level. As a side note, Vol. 1 of the Eugene book should be coming in this week, so that adds another option for technique work for me.
For the cavallini etude this week (Op. 4 #2) I feel like I could probably master it better in another week, but I probably got most of what I needed to from it. With the new MP, I feel like I'm still using a bit of bite to do large register leaps that I used to not do with the old MP, but that's likely due to reeds being too hard/reeds not being broken into yet. It's something to watch out for in any case.
On the Debussy, hopefully I can redeem myself a bit after last week. I did a lot of work with the metronome on the technical passages, so I shouldn't be too far off being able to play it fluently. The hardest part is still the little chromatic run near the end, but that's getting there. We'll see if I can play more in time than last week as well.
Hopefully I can work on learning my Symphonic band music this week a bit more since I got some less work, as well as the work for lessons. I have to take advantage of this week since next week I get busy again with about a million recitals to attend/play on coming up.
On scales I did a lot of slower work to figure out finger positions and low movement. I tried to speed up a bit towards the end of the week, but that was not my focus. I'd say I spent about equal time on both A Major and F minor, so I should be able to do most of the exercises on both of them at around the same level. As a side note, Vol. 1 of the Eugene book should be coming in this week, so that adds another option for technique work for me.
For the cavallini etude this week (Op. 4 #2) I feel like I could probably master it better in another week, but I probably got most of what I needed to from it. With the new MP, I feel like I'm still using a bit of bite to do large register leaps that I used to not do with the old MP, but that's likely due to reeds being too hard/reeds not being broken into yet. It's something to watch out for in any case.
On the Debussy, hopefully I can redeem myself a bit after last week. I did a lot of work with the metronome on the technical passages, so I shouldn't be too far off being able to play it fluently. The hardest part is still the little chromatic run near the end, but that's getting there. We'll see if I can play more in time than last week as well.
Hopefully I can work on learning my Symphonic band music this week a bit more since I got some less work, as well as the work for lessons. I have to take advantage of this week since next week I get busy again with about a million recitals to attend/play on coming up.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Weeks 6 and 7
It was a bit strange having a lesson on monday last week, but the lesson ended up pretty well. The rest of the week, on the other hand, not so well. I've been SO busy this week (two exams on monday plus an exam on Tuesday, plus a concert last thursday and rehearsals all over the place). After all this work going to the Wind Ensemble concert tonight was a much needed break.
It's not that practice hours were low, but I just could not focus on what I needed to like I usually can.
For the first time this semester, I feel like I haven't really improved much from the last lesson. On technique, I couldn't quite play my scales at 120 yet for the most part, and I was so unfocused that I had to make the executive decision of just focusing on the upper half of the circle of fifths for this week (up to 3 sharps and 3 flats). Even then, I didn't manage to get all of those scales up to 120 yet, and the tonic chord arppeggios aren't at 112 yet either.
This is largely due to me just not having enough time to work on scales. I just had too much new music to learn this week, with an etude, the debussy, the piece for Keith Miller's recital in a few weeks, the mozart piece for the festival, and new symphonic band music.
I did manage to get a good bit done with the cavallini etude and I know the debussy to the point where it's recognizeable at least, so at least I'm prepared enough for the lesson this week. Hopefully this next week will be much better for me with the lower amount of studying I have to do.
It's not that practice hours were low, but I just could not focus on what I needed to like I usually can.
For the first time this semester, I feel like I haven't really improved much from the last lesson. On technique, I couldn't quite play my scales at 120 yet for the most part, and I was so unfocused that I had to make the executive decision of just focusing on the upper half of the circle of fifths for this week (up to 3 sharps and 3 flats). Even then, I didn't manage to get all of those scales up to 120 yet, and the tonic chord arppeggios aren't at 112 yet either.
This is largely due to me just not having enough time to work on scales. I just had too much new music to learn this week, with an etude, the debussy, the piece for Keith Miller's recital in a few weeks, the mozart piece for the festival, and new symphonic band music.
I did manage to get a good bit done with the cavallini etude and I know the debussy to the point where it's recognizeable at least, so at least I'm prepared enough for the lesson this week. Hopefully this next week will be much better for me with the lower amount of studying I have to do.
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