sevenhelz

Totally unmotivated this week. I've done enough practise to keep my lip in, but not really enough to improve. I had no lesson this week which didn't help. D is a good teacher, but without him I'm working on the same pieces and exercises again. I might get a new book of studies, Vizzutti or Clarke. If I were really focussed I could work on every aspect of playing that I need to with the Arban studies but it does get dull. I noticed this week that my hand position slips on certain exercises - the easier fingering makes me lazy sometimes. Just another ounce of concentration needed.

Our last session with Bob til after Christmas. I took my euph again but at times I was very tempted to sing instead - it's only recently sunk in how loud the euphonium is compared to woodwind or string instruments (which also affects how I play in wind band). Also I felt the singers in the group had more freedom and not many used it in interesting ways. Bob is a very vibrant figure but not everyone catches that energy from him. Still, we were all listening to each other better this week and the free improvisation actually sounded like a group, rather than a bunch of people just making noises.
I washed my euph at the weekend. It surprises me that supposedly serious players sometimes leave it so long. I can tell the difference in sound after a couple of months, not to mention problems with valves and slides. Of course washing it means it plays oddly for a while, but an hour's warm-up on Monday fairly well sorted that out.

I found out at the weekend that my uncle is dying. I was quite emotional, and when I practised Peace I think I managed to get some of that out. Even though I'm less upset now, I hope I can keep hold of that interpretation. The expression can vary throughout the piece, I think, not just through dynamics but tone colour and vibrato. If I feel confident I think I will play two phrases completely without vibrato - a solemn, calm beginning, followed by a mix of strong and negative emotions. Then a pause, a reflection upon the life of the lost one, with the euph part floating above the accompaniment, and a return to the main theme in a calmer and more accepting frame of mind (though not without emotion).

Good lunchtime concert this week. The sax soloist Iain Harrison was brilliant, and the music showed off all kinds of techniques available. He had a really clean, quite rich sound and was very fast fingered and flexible. What really pleased me was the perfect pitching of the notes though - I think it's all too easy to split notes on sax, or get a kind of gruff undertone. I'm working on a theory, that a lot of instruments have one really tricky element that you just can't really get to grips with until you're right up there technically. For violinists, it's tuning. That's part of why I don't listen to a lot of string music. Iain was a good example of what it means to be truly virtuosic - to be so good at what you do, it's almost like playing a different instrument.

This week started well. David was pleased with my playing, though disappointed in Concert Gallop. I performed it for grade 8 and it's hard going back and cringing at all the bits I still find difficult. D went through the second page particularly, saying I needed to put more energy in, up my dynamics and basically not be afraid of it. That motivated me, especially when I played it back louder and could hear my tone improving straight away. In practise that evening and on Tuesday I simply played louder, trying to relax physically and mentally and not worry about top notes. It works, not just for sound but to improve interpretation as well - I had played Peace less confidently in front of D than in private practise, and didn't reach the top notes, but when I looked at it later and stopped worrying about the top C, I could focus on phrasing and emotion in the rest of the piece.
With D I also worked on the cadenza in Concert Gallop. Again I didn't reach some of the top Gs. David suggested working through it by slurring and putting emphasis on the first note, then going through again with emphasis on the second note etc. This has helped a lot but I've also been thinking about something he's mentioned in passing once or twice - the corners of my mouth. No-one's ever explained this to me properly but when looking in a mirror I can see that (as D has mentioned) I'm stretching out like a smile to hit top notes. It gives me a bad, tight sound and more often than not I don't hit the note or it's horribly out of tune. D also pointed out that I tend to lift my lip off the mouthpiece to breathe in; this means I have to reset my embouchure every time and I'm slow coming back in, not to mention out of tune quite often. I should be opening the corners of my mouth to breathe, creating a space there for fresh air rather than under my mouthpiece. Since I've realised that the two problems are linked I've been working on removing the habits, and learning to feel how I'm doing things wrong as well as see and hear. Hopefully this will help in next week's lesson.
The performance lecture this week was on practise. We went through a lot of techniques like which section of the piece you play first - this is something D has already mentioned and to some extent I have done, but will think about some more. I've been playing my new study (no.15) in four sections, usually two a day for variation. What really struck me was the idea that we have six modules of equal value on the course; if I do a 36 hour week, I should be spending six hours on each module. Realistically I am going to be working more than that, and most musicians recognise that a major part of the work will be on performance, but perhaps I shouldn't worry so much if about how much playing I do. It's impressive that my lip is coping so well, with ensemble playing as well as the amount of practise I'm doing. I think I'm using less pressure than I used to, and despite the problems mentioned above I am putting more air through already which does help.