28 April 2008
Crash, Bang, Boom!
I guess I should have seen this coming. My past experiences have proven that when I am practicing just for the sake of fundamental development, I lose focus on why I am playing in the first place. It is easy enough to understand; when I have a performance coming up, I practice more often and more attentively. When I do not have anything scheduled, I have trouble staying motivated after a while. Right now I am caught in a cycle of "play this" and I do and then... what? I find myself not really motivated to practice pieces out of a book without an opportunity to perform. It is taking a greater effort to put in the practice time behind closed doors and on pieces that will make me better but without immediate reward. That's tough for me right now. Anyone have words of wisdom to share?
03 April 2008
Do not open with a sharp instrument!
That advice is seen on a few boxes at work, mainly with clothes in them. I always think of a flute when I see that. Anyway...
Well, it finally came today! My first tuner came in today and I am excited about this particular piece of equipment. My trombone teacher allowed me to use his one day and well, I loved it so much I had to get one for myself. It is a tuner that attaches right to the bell of my horn and gives me an accurate reading of my pitch. It not only tells me if I am in tune, but it also tells me what note I am playing. Even better, I don't have to change it in order to tune different notes. It automatically re-calibrates, so I can play a piece and see to it that ALL of the notes are in tune. If my wife ever wants to play her clarinet again, guess what! She can use this tuner too! How cool is that? I hope that when I become a teacher, I can find a way to get one of these to all the students for little or no cost. It's funny how we as musicians would tune to a concert B flat note and then try to play other notes and hope they were in tune. I know for my trombone sections, it was always a crap shoot. How much better would we have been if we all had tuners like this attached to our bells?
Well, it finally came today! My first tuner came in today and I am excited about this particular piece of equipment. My trombone teacher allowed me to use his one day and well, I loved it so much I had to get one for myself. It is a tuner that attaches right to the bell of my horn and gives me an accurate reading of my pitch. It not only tells me if I am in tune, but it also tells me what note I am playing. Even better, I don't have to change it in order to tune different notes. It automatically re-calibrates, so I can play a piece and see to it that ALL of the notes are in tune. If my wife ever wants to play her clarinet again, guess what! She can use this tuner too! How cool is that? I hope that when I become a teacher, I can find a way to get one of these to all the students for little or no cost. It's funny how we as musicians would tune to a concert B flat note and then try to play other notes and hope they were in tune. I know for my trombone sections, it was always a crap shoot. How much better would we have been if we all had tuners like this attached to our bells?
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