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