The Weekender:
This weekend, my last weekend of freedom before BOA takes over my life for the next five weeks, was a concert weekend. I wanted to make sure that I was playing, but not playing too much. On Friday, Anna and I were able to go see Guys and Dolls with the ISO. The box office was unaware of our free tickets and thought it was a scam. We still got our free tickets; however, they weren't the greatest seats. It was still a phenomenal show! Saturday, I was able to attend both the Choral concert and the Jazz concert. Both were great. I was especially impressed by some of the new pieces that the Choirs were singing, including a Nocturne that featured a small percussion ensemble and a new Morton Lauridsen piece. The Jazz concert was also great. They played two charts that I had played with my jazz ensemble in high school. Sunday was the WE concert. I was worried about the concert because of the ensemble's lack of preparedness, but we all came to perform on Sunday. Music for Prague and Mosaico both went fairly well. I was especially nervous because this was the first time that my parents had heard the ensemble. Ok now to my practicing:
Friday
4:00 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
Shenandoah - 2
Flexis - 5
Scales - 5
Pottag - 5
Kopp - 5
Beethoven - 5
Fantasy - 5
Morceau - 15
Warm Down - 5
Saturday
12:00 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
Shenandoah - 2
Flexis - 5
Scales - 5
Alph - 5
Kopp - 5
Beethoven - 5
Fantasy - 10
Morceau - 10
Warm Down - 5
Sunday
8:00 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
Shenandoah - 2
Flexis - 5
Scales - 5
Pottag - 5
Kopp - 5
Beethoven - 5
Persichetti - 5
Harrison's Dream - 5
Morceau - 10
Warm Down - 5
Monday
9:00 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
Shenandoah - 2
Flexis - 5
Scales - 5
Pottag - 5
Kopp - 5
Beethoven - 5
Fantasy - 5
Morceau - 15
Warm Down - 5
Tuesday
4:15 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
Shenandoah - 2
Flexis - 5
Scales - 5
Alph - 5
Kopp - 5
Beethoven - 5
Polka and Fugue - 10
Morceau - 10
Warm Down - 5
9:10 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
Gabriel's Oboe - 2
Flexis - 5
Scales - 5
Pottag - 5
Kopp - 5
Beethoven - 10
Fantasy - 15
Warm Down - 5
While I did not get to practice that much over the weekend, it was enough to keep me warm and ready for the concert. Fantasy is going very well and the only thing I need to work on is getting the last section up to tempo. Morceau is also going well, but the phrasing in the 2nd and 3rd movements is not as developed as the first. I am very excited for tomorrow. I can't wait for my lesson, but more importantly the end of classes for the week.
Quote: Gottfried Leibniz
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.
Today was another great day. I really hope this continues as my practicing has become much more focused and efficient. Besides getting plenty of practice time in on both piano and horn, I also had a great day at work. My first days at work have included doing research and finding contact information for band parents. Well, after all of that info, I finally got to personally call the band parents. Getting to hear these people and their stories about band was great. Getting to share my love of music with them was fulfilling. It is also great to see that people appreciate my ideas. My boss, the Development Director is actually not a band person and is in awe of my knowledge of band. The common joke is that if you are passionate about band , you have "Had the Kool-Aid." She extended that for me that I "Formulated the Kool-Aid." While I was slightly embarrassed that I was being called the biggest band nerds of band nerds, I realized that this is what I love to do. After work, I found out that I won tickets to go see the ISO perform "Guys and Dolls." I correctly answered the trivia question and received free tickets! Anna and I are so excited to go!!! Ok on to the practicing:
9:00 AM
Breathe - 10
Buzz - 3
Air Attacks - 2
"Oh Shenandoah"
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Dynamics - 5
Alphonse - 5
Pottag - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Beethoven - 5
6:45 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
"Oh Shenandoah"
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Pottag - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Beethoven - 10
Morceau - 10
Fantasy - 5
WD - 5
10:30 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
"Gabriel's Oboe"
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Alphonse - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Beethoven - 5
Morceau - 10
WD - 5
Having three full practice sessions today felt great! Even Thursday being my busy day, I was still able to practice three full sessions. I have really attached myself to the Reynolds idea of playing something familiar before you do maintenance work. I played both "Oh Shenandoah" which is one of my favorite songs to play around with and sing. It has the opportunity to open up the range a bit and be very very expressive. "Gabriel's Oboe" has a beautiful melodic line that has stayed in my head for a number of years. I have been using my metrotune much much more in my practice sessions to both grade achievement on scales and check intonation on nearly everything. Unfortunately, I am not sure how much practice time I am going to be able to fit in tomorrow.
Quote: Plato
9:00 AM
Breathe - 10
Buzz - 3
Air Attacks - 2
"Oh Shenandoah"
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Dynamics - 5
Alphonse - 5
Pottag - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Beethoven - 5
6:45 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
"Oh Shenandoah"
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Pottag - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Beethoven - 10
Morceau - 10
Fantasy - 5
WD - 5
10:30 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
"Gabriel's Oboe"
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Alphonse - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Beethoven - 5
Morceau - 10
WD - 5
Having three full practice sessions today felt great! Even Thursday being my busy day, I was still able to practice three full sessions. I have really attached myself to the Reynolds idea of playing something familiar before you do maintenance work. I played both "Oh Shenandoah" which is one of my favorite songs to play around with and sing. It has the opportunity to open up the range a bit and be very very expressive. "Gabriel's Oboe" has a beautiful melodic line that has stayed in my head for a number of years. I have been using my metrotune much much more in my practice sessions to both grade achievement on scales and check intonation on nearly everything. Unfortunately, I am not sure how much practice time I am going to be able to fit in tomorrow.
Quote: Plato
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Which is more musical, a truck passing by a factory or a truck passing by a music school?
So I need to start by correcting my quote from yesterday. The quote was from Sir Thomas Carlyle, not Benjamin Britten.
Today was a great day. While I did not meet many of my goals set the other day, it is a step in the right direction. The great thing about today was that I was able to practice plenty of horn and plenty of piano. I was also able to read a lot of the Reynolds Horn Handbook, Froydis, and Doug Hill. I applied most of it in my evening practise session. (I like the European spelling of practise).
10/7/2008
8:00 AM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 5
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Alphonse - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Morceau - 5
Horn Fantasy - 5
4:00 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
air - 2
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Alphonse - 5
Mosaico - 5
Kopp - 5
Morceau - 10
Fantasy - 10
WD - 5
10/8/2008
11:00 AM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
Air - 2
LT - 3
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Pottag - 5
Morceau Intro - 2
Fantasy Intro - 3
Lesson
C-flat and C-sharp Major
F-sharp and C minor
Circle - Fun Inversions!
Orch Excerpt: Beethoven 6
Flexies: Morceau mm 69 in all keys
Pottag 68
1:00 PM
Mosaico - 10
Prague - 5
Las Vegas - 5
Pottag - 5
8:50 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
LT - 3
Familiar Tune: "A Mighty Fortress"
Dynamics + Tuning (Reynolds) - 5
Flexies - 5
Morceau 69 - 5
Scales - 5
Kopp Transposition - 5
Pottag - 5
McCoy - 5
Beethoven 6 - 10
Horn Fantasy - 10
Warm Down - 5
I was able to stay very focused on horn today and partly yesterday. I had a few personal issues, but I found that if I didn't think about them and did something else, I would be fine. I went to the Chamber Concert on Tuesday and I absolutely love the Brahms Trio. My lesson today went very well. My scales did not go as well as I had hoped because I wasn't using enough air. I felt I made some great improvements on the variations in Morceau. I also started an orchestral excerpt as well, which is very exciting. I'm finally putting my $100 Thompson Edition to good use. My evening session was very experimental. I read the entire Reynolds section on practising and applied his dynamics and tuning exercise and his idea to have the first thing you play be a familiar melody so that you establish musicianship right away. This seemed to work and I focused on having a beautiful sound constantly. I believe that is it for tonight and I will hopefully be writing tomorrow.
Quote: John Cage
Today was a great day. While I did not meet many of my goals set the other day, it is a step in the right direction. The great thing about today was that I was able to practice plenty of horn and plenty of piano. I was also able to read a lot of the Reynolds Horn Handbook, Froydis, and Doug Hill. I applied most of it in my evening practise session. (I like the European spelling of practise).
10/7/2008
8:00 AM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 5
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Alphonse - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Morceau - 5
Horn Fantasy - 5
4:00 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
air - 2
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Alphonse - 5
Mosaico - 5
Kopp - 5
Morceau - 10
Fantasy - 10
WD - 5
10/8/2008
11:00 AM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 3
Air - 2
LT - 3
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Pottag - 5
Morceau Intro - 2
Fantasy Intro - 3
Lesson
C-flat and C-sharp Major
F-sharp and C minor
Circle - Fun Inversions!
Orch Excerpt: Beethoven 6
Flexies: Morceau mm 69 in all keys
Pottag 68
1:00 PM
Mosaico - 10
Prague - 5
Las Vegas - 5
Pottag - 5
8:50 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
LT - 3
Familiar Tune: "A Mighty Fortress"
Dynamics + Tuning (Reynolds) - 5
Flexies - 5
Morceau 69 - 5
Scales - 5
Kopp Transposition - 5
Pottag - 5
McCoy - 5
Beethoven 6 - 10
Horn Fantasy - 10
Warm Down - 5
I was able to stay very focused on horn today and partly yesterday. I had a few personal issues, but I found that if I didn't think about them and did something else, I would be fine. I went to the Chamber Concert on Tuesday and I absolutely love the Brahms Trio. My lesson today went very well. My scales did not go as well as I had hoped because I wasn't using enough air. I felt I made some great improvements on the variations in Morceau. I also started an orchestral excerpt as well, which is very exciting. I'm finally putting my $100 Thompson Edition to good use. My evening session was very experimental. I read the entire Reynolds section on practising and applied his dynamics and tuning exercise and his idea to have the first thing you play be a familiar melody so that you establish musicianship right away. This seemed to work and I focused on having a beautiful sound constantly. I believe that is it for tonight and I will hopefully be writing tomorrow.
Quote: John Cage
Monday, October 6, 2008
Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine.
Some say that radical events take gradual change. While it may take gradual change, it does take one radical step to initiate the change. I want to take that step today. I want to make myself presentable, take care of myself, care about everything and not just one thing, do something I love, etc. Here it is in my blog, so I have to keep to it.
1. Update this thing daily
2. Wake up in the morning and practice
3. Make a schedule and keep it
4. Go to the HRC!
5. Eat healthy
Ok, organization is key. Organization is key. So you may be wondering why I did this. At my internship, the organization is very mission driven. I want to have my own mission, my own goals in life. I really think that this possible arts administration path is where I want to go and I want to be prepared for anything it throws to me. Ok back to horn business. My goal for this week is to update this thing every night. If I don't, someone please slap me. I had a rollercoaster of a week practice-wise so I will inform you of all. And off we go:
9/29/08
10:00 AM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
LT - 3
Flexies - 5
Scales/Circle - 5
Alphonse - 5
8:15 PM
Breathe - 10
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Morceau - 15
Fantasy - 5
9/30/2008
4:15 PM
Breathe - 10
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
Flexies - 5
Scales and Circle- 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Pottag - 5
Mosaico - 5
Morceau - 10
Fantasy - 10
Warm Down - 10
10/1/2008
10:00 AM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Morceau - 15
Fantasy - 5
Lesson:
Scales: F# Major
G and F# Minor
Major Minor Circle
Alphonse 9 and 10
Kopp in E flat
8:00 PM
Breathe - 15
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
10/2/2008
Day Off
A Break for explanation: Tuesday, I had one of the best practice sessions I have had. I did mock performances of most everything and played extremely well. I played for a while so I warmed down plenty. Wednesday, I did not feel too well at all. I felt pretty poor during my lesson, but was feeling a bit better by the end. In my evening session, I was not feeling well and felt I was doing more harm than good. I decided to rest up, consume plenty of Vitamin C and take a day off. And now to finish off the week:
10/3/2008
10:00 AM
Breathe - 10
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Morceau - 15
Fantasy - 5
WD - 5
10/4/2008
12:00 PM
Breathe - 10
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Morceau - 15
Fantasy - 5
Prague - 5
Mosaico - 10
WD - 5
10/5/2008
9:30 AM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Morceau - 10
Fantasy - 10
Mosaico - 10
WD - 5
10/6/2008
7:10 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
LT - 3
Flexies - 5
Scales and Circle - 5
Alph - 5
Pottag - 5
Upper Range - 5
Polka and Fugue - 5
Morceau - 5
Fantasy - 5
WD - 5
I was feeling much better by Friday and I felt that my playing was back to where it was Monday and Tuesday by Saturday. My only concern is to have a purpose and be proactive about organization. iCal is my friend. I also began to work on my upper range. My biggest issue in my upper range is my chin and pushing too much. I ordered a hand support strap so that I will be able to tell easier when I am pushing. Well in order to keep with my resolutions at the beginning of this blog, I need to get to work on my Chamber Music paper.
Quote: Benjamin Britten
1. Update this thing daily
2. Wake up in the morning and practice
3. Make a schedule and keep it
4. Go to the HRC!
5. Eat healthy
Ok, organization is key. Organization is key. So you may be wondering why I did this. At my internship, the organization is very mission driven. I want to have my own mission, my own goals in life. I really think that this possible arts administration path is where I want to go and I want to be prepared for anything it throws to me. Ok back to horn business. My goal for this week is to update this thing every night. If I don't, someone please slap me. I had a rollercoaster of a week practice-wise so I will inform you of all. And off we go:
9/29/08
10:00 AM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
LT - 3
Flexies - 5
Scales/Circle - 5
Alphonse - 5
8:15 PM
Breathe - 10
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Morceau - 15
Fantasy - 5
9/30/2008
4:15 PM
Breathe - 10
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
Flexies - 5
Scales and Circle- 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Pottag - 5
Mosaico - 5
Morceau - 10
Fantasy - 10
Warm Down - 10
10/1/2008
10:00 AM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Morceau - 15
Fantasy - 5
Lesson:
Scales: F# Major
G and F# Minor
Major Minor Circle
Alphonse 9 and 10
Kopp in E flat
8:00 PM
Breathe - 15
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
10/2/2008
Day Off
A Break for explanation: Tuesday, I had one of the best practice sessions I have had. I did mock performances of most everything and played extremely well. I played for a while so I warmed down plenty. Wednesday, I did not feel too well at all. I felt pretty poor during my lesson, but was feeling a bit better by the end. In my evening session, I was not feeling well and felt I was doing more harm than good. I decided to rest up, consume plenty of Vitamin C and take a day off. And now to finish off the week:
10/3/2008
10:00 AM
Breathe - 10
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Morceau - 15
Fantasy - 5
WD - 5
10/4/2008
12:00 PM
Breathe - 10
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Morceau - 15
Fantasy - 5
Prague - 5
Mosaico - 10
WD - 5
10/5/2008
9:30 AM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
Air Attacks - 3
LT - 5
Flexies - 5
Scales - 5
Circle - 5
Kopprasch - 5
Alphonse - 5
Morceau - 10
Fantasy - 10
Mosaico - 10
WD - 5
10/6/2008
7:10 PM
Breathe - 5
Buzz - 2
LT - 3
Flexies - 5
Scales and Circle - 5
Alph - 5
Pottag - 5
Upper Range - 5
Polka and Fugue - 5
Morceau - 5
Fantasy - 5
WD - 5
I was feeling much better by Friday and I felt that my playing was back to where it was Monday and Tuesday by Saturday. My only concern is to have a purpose and be proactive about organization. iCal is my friend. I also began to work on my upper range. My biggest issue in my upper range is my chin and pushing too much. I ordered a hand support strap so that I will be able to tell easier when I am pushing. Well in order to keep with my resolutions at the beginning of this blog, I need to get to work on my Chamber Music paper.
Quote: Benjamin Britten
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