Busy busy

Been really busy with end of the year stuff.  So, just like before it's been back to fundamentals and hopefully I'll get lots of time in a week after all but one of my classes will be done...

Re-Recording: Snedecor Lyrical Etude No. 1

Here's another recording of the Snedecor Lyrical Etude No. 1 that I made today.  Got about 15 minutes in a nicer room so I decided to try and get some recordings in.  This was the best of the bunch:

Sunday Fun Day

So, for the past 4 or 5 days I've been primarily working on the Air Force Band stuff along with the fundamental studies.  On Sunday I realized I wasn't focusing as much as I should so I decided to just pull out some fun rep and just play through it for a while.  After that, my chops felt pretty tired, but it was fun.  I think I'm going to start doing this once a week so I don't start getting burned out with the same 4 excerpts.

Not Enough Hours in the Day!

So I dramatically overestimated the amount of time I was going to have to practice yesterday and today.  I had forgotten that I had another recording session as well as a concert tonight (so dress rehearsal too).  I haven't had nearly as much time with the horn as I would've liked.  But tomorrow = no more concert and no more recording sessions so I'll ACTUALLY have time to do the practicing that I need to do.

On a completely unrelated note, I ended up doing better on my econ midterm from last week than I thought, so, you know...yay for that...

Thoughts: Spin

Had my lesson today and after playing the Snedecor recording for him, we started talking about the lack of spin in my sound.  So my focus for the next lifetime is to make sure to have that.  What will hopefully help this is to focus on singing through every note, especially at the beginnings of phrases.

Also, at the end of my lesson we hit on the Summon the Heroes solo and my sound was starting to get really thin in the upper register.  I definitely need to focus on maintaining a good upper register sound through fatigue.

Unfortunately, because of a midterm and recording session I won't be able to get a good practice session in today.  BUT, finally, tomorrow I will be able to get a good day of practicing in and I should be able to really work hard without interruption for at least the next 2 weeks (so be on the lookout for new recordings/re-recordings)

Recording: Snedecor Lyrical Etude No. 1

So here's my first official recording post.  What I'll do is post the video then critique it in the comments section, so as to not bias you in your listening (yay for trying to obey survey rules!).  Again, feel free to leave any comments at all regarding the recording (the good, the bad, and the ugly):

H2n Arrived!

It arrived much earlier than expected so I was super excited and quickly recorded the trumpet excerpt from Hindemith's Symphony in Bb.  The playing is so-so, but I'm pretty happy with the sound quality and I plan on posting many more recordings here (I promise the playing will be more polished in the future).

Even Less Practice Time, but...

Really didn't have any time to practice today (barely got any kind of a warm-up in), but what I did play was flowing very well and I got a couple good comments about my sound.  Didn't even get an hour in but here's what I did:

Cichowicz Slurs (Up to High D, want to keep expanding the range everyday if I can)
Schlossberg Lip Slurs (Fifths, Thirds, Octaves, etc.)
Arban Single Tonguing exercises

Unfortunately, that was all I was able to do (in about 45 minutes).  I did try doing some slow breathing on the walk to school today so maybe that helped me feel more relaxed and open while I was playing (I'll try it again tomorrow).  Since I didn't get any substantial work in today I expect my chops to feel pretty crappy/weak tomorrow so air flow is going to be even more important.  I should really start doing Breathing Gym work...

Short on Practice Time

Due to a lot of stats and econ work this week I haven't been and won't be able to practice as much as I would like.  I've only been getting in one session a day and it will most likely be this way until the end of the week.  Fortunately, this isn't the first time this has happened and my philosophy in these situations is to focus on fundamentals and, for the most part, forego solo and rep work until I can increase my practice time again.

In each session I get I focus on the following:

Good air flow
Scales
Lip slurs
Articulation

Today I found that my air wasn't flowing particularly well so I should probably start off later today (if I get a chance) or tomorrow with slow, big breathing.  Scales were alright, although with the bad air flow I didn't like my sound in every register.  Lip slurs were better than the scales (possible that I was getting more warmed up and air flow was getting better), however my sound wasn't always as clean as I would've liked.  My articulation was actually the best of four categories.  I was able to focus my sound with my single tonguing and my multiple tonguing was smooth.  My biggest issue with the articulation warm-up was my lack of clarity in my multiple tonguing particularly in the low register.  I'm going to need to make sure my multiple tonguing is impeccable and each note sounds pure, especially for the Air Force Band list (Russlan and Ludmilla Overture as well as much of the live round material).

Tomorrow will probably similar material and still focused on the fundamentals.  Going to try to get my air moving a lot better at the start and see if that helps things out.

H2n Has Shipped!

I ordered the Zoom H2n a couple days ago and it just shipped.  Once it arrives (should be here by next Monday) I will start recording myself daily and posting the results here/to YouTube.  Feel free to listen and leave comments, suggestions, critiques, slanderous remarks, etc. (I promise you won't hurt my feelings and any advice will be greatly appreciated).  I plan on posting something at least once a week if not more often so when you find yourself with some spare time please visit and listen!