This week I tried to pay particular attention to breathing and air. It is something that I have not truly focused on in the past – as crazy as that may sound. When paying attention to it I noticed how vital it is when playing the trumpet. If I “tanked up” and played a phrase it sounded so much better than if I just took a quick breath of air. I also noticed that if I ran out of air while trying to play a long phrase I would immediately resort to using extra pressure to get the notes out. If I had enough air – no problem. My tone was better and my chops were not as tired after a 30 minute straight playing session. I played my usual Clarke studies but tried to stretch out the number of measures I played before taking a breath. That was a true work out. I also recorded the Getchell #13 piece again. I played it slower but I tried not to breath as much in between phrases. I did it in the beginning but went back to my short breaths near the end. Sounds like I need to hit the studio again. You can check it out in the Sound Room.

Speaking of studio – I purchased some software called “Band in a Box“. It is pretty cool. It allows me to enter chord changes to songs and it plays back the accompaniment. You can change the style of music, the tempo… it’s really flexible. One of the first things I’d like to do is re-record Summertime. I want to slow it down to match the tempo of the Miles Davis version from “Porgy and Bess”. Stay tuned for that. I also want to start writing my own songs.

Guess what? I’m getting another horn. I sold one of my current horns and I’m using the funds to buy another. You’ll be the first to know when it arrives. I can’t wait?