As great as things were 2 weeks ago — this past week was better.  Saturday I had my first master class with my regular group (not subbing for an existing/more advanced group).   I had one of my best jazz lessons ever and part of the reason was the information was provided  in small chunks and at a very basic, beginner’s level.  I think one thing that can confuse a  novice player is being bombarded with too much information (as mentioned in last  week’s post).  That did not happen here.  We were given some specific  exercises to work on for the next session and I’ve been crunching on them for 3 days  now along with some of my other materials.  Already I can hear a difference in my playing  over the blues.  Nothing drastic but enough for ME to notice when I listen to  recordings.  I’m looking forward to  my next session.  The musicians I’ve been grouped with all seem to love the music and are  interested in improving while having fun.  I don’t think we can ask for much more than that.

I played in church again and did ok.  I selected “Precious Lord” and decided to use the flugelhorn again.   It seems like this could be a regular thing (every Sunday).  I’m on the fence only because I  use a lot of my practice time preparing and it takes away from the time I need to improve on my fundamentals  and improvisation.  That being said – there is nothing like playing in public and reaching people  (and God) on a  spiritual level.  I think I get as much from it (if not more) than they do.  Perhaps I will do it once or  twice a month.  This will give me time to prepare and maybe even tackle some more advanced material since  I will have extra time to prepare.  We will see how it goes.  I definitely plan on continuing.

Lately I’ve been thinking seriously about making the flugelhorn my main instrument.  I’ve been playing it more since I’ve been doing the solos in church and it really seems to speak to me.  I also get a lot of compliments on my flugelhorn sound – way more than I do on trumpet.  It is so easy to play lyrical and flowing lines on a flugelhorn versus a trumpet.  That appeals to me.  Since I’m a beginner my improv tends to hug the center of the staff and below and the flugelhorn sounds good in that region.  Not that my trumpet doesn’t  sound good there — flugel just sounds better to me.  I also wonder if my personality lines up more with a flugelhorn (mellow  and laid back) vs. a trumpet (aggressive and energetic).  I’ve gone over the possible reasons for a few days now  and nothing is crystal clear to me.  I do know that playing the trumpet will NOT have a negative effect on my flugel chops. The same can NOT be said to playing more flugel and neglecting the trumpet.  I plan to continue to practice on trumpet mostly and play the flugel if the mood hits me.  It may be my primary instrument with the master class group and when I  mentioned it, they had no problem with that (they thought I sounded great on it).

…and before anyone even asks — my Lawler is NOT for sale.