Remember the disdain and disgust for my performance on the Water Suite? Last night we went over it again and I did MUCH better. There were a few parts that I still need to work on but for the most part – a marked improvement. There was even a point where the director asked me to play my part out which he never does. I was the only one on the third part. That was a big confidence booster and now I want to make sure I am tight through the entire piece.

There are many parts that need some polish but I recorded most of it on my mini disc and will work some of the sections at home this week. The concert is on the 7th of December. We all have a lot of work to do before then but I really think we can pull it off.

In case I don’t get online during the next few days – everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Before you chow down be sure to take a moment and think of all the things you are thankful for. Me? Family, friends, health, music and of course – the trumpet.

This Sunday I deviated from my normal routine of staying home and playing while watching football (the Chargers lost so perhaps I won't do that very often – kidding). Instead, I spent the better part of the afternoon with a fellow trumpet player and I'm glad I did. There is nothing more inspiring (and fun) than talking shop with another musician. Someone who can appreciate the goofy look you get on your face when you hear that perfect solo or a rich chord that fills the cracks you didn't know existed. This guy is an amazing player and doesn't give himself enough credit in my opinion. I was wowed by his tone and technique on both the trumpet and flugelhorn. He passed more than a few helpful nuggets of information my way and I plan to make the most of them. He also gave me a few compliments which is always good. Coming from a player like him – it meant a lot. Was it the beer talking? 😉

Trumpet Brother #1 – YOU DA MAN. Thanks to you and your family for welcoming me into your home. Hope we can do again one day soon.

I got my Bach Megatone mouthpiece back from Bob Reeves and it looks GREAT. I ordered the Bach and loved the way it felt but it was too small for the reciever end of my flugelhorn. He did a fantastic job and I highly recommend that you contact him for any brass work you may need. Be sure to visit his site – http://www.bobreeves.com. I plan on playing a lot more flugel now. Keep a check on the Sound Room for new sound files.

Sometimes I get play with a community swing band and I feel so very fortunate that I have the opportunity to do so. The director of the band has been more than gracious enough to allow me to sit in and learn from other musicians. It is when I perform or practice with this group that I am happiest. Oh, there are times when I get run over by the freight train… get the quick count, stumble out the gate and look for whole notes and half notes to jump in on. I appreciate everyone’s patience as I try to get up to speed. I really love playing with this band.

One thing I am learning – in order to play trumpet – you MUST hear a tone in your head before you attempt to play it. When I played clarinet and sax – I basically blew and hit the fingerings. Nothing against woodwind players but brass players have it much tougher. There are several different tones to each fingering on a trumpet. In order to nail that tone you need to hear it. If you don’t hear it you will undershoot it or overshoot it. If you get lucky and lip it correctly – you’ll be either sharp or flat IF you don’t hear it. You gotta hear those tones. It makes sight-reading that much more difficult. I realize it is something that doesn’t happen over night but I know I need to be conscience of building that skill set (along with everything else).

I love this music – Jazz.  I’m writing this entry while listening to a
few of my personal favorite players…  Irvin Mayfield, Jeremy Pelt, Ingrid
Jensen, Roy Hargrove, Donald Byrd, Miles Davis…  I could write on and on
about the expressive music that has completely captured my heart and soul. 
I should not be surprised when the music itself was created using those same
very important elements – heart and soul poured into every phrase, every
note…  every unplanned use of space.  It is that same love that
drives me to practice and work at getting better at the trumpet.  I want to
be able to express that which is not expressed with words…  those
feelings trapped inside of me that cannot be relayed with the spoken word. 

Sure I have my moments when the horn frustrates me to no end.  I’m
having one of those moments now.  I wonder why I ever wanted to play such a
demanding instrument.  The perfect remedy for those
detrimental thoughts is a good listening session.  Today Irvin Mayfield’s
"When Passion Falls" was the cure.  Last week it was Miles Davis
"Porgy and Bess."  There is plenty more where that came from.

The music has woven itself into the fabric of my being and to turn from it
now would be denying who I am.  That is NOT happening…

Going to go practice now…  enjoy your Sunday.

The past few days – starting around this time last week, I found myself playing with amazing
consistency with regards to my sound. I have also found it a lot easier to hit
my ceiling notes like G on top of the staff.  Granted, that usually weakens
as my chops get tired but it is still much better than usual.  Prior to
this – I usually had 3 days out of 5 or 6 where I was pleased with the sound I
was creating.  The other days I struggled with mouthpiece placement, tone
and range.  Right now my embouchure setting is pretty much automatic and I
think I have found the idea placement that works for me.  Needless to say I
am very pleased with the results.  I’ve been listening to a lot of Donald
Byrd lately and I have to think his crisp (almost flawless) tone are helping me
develop the right sound ideas in my own playing.

I’ve been doing a lot of work in the Herring Progressive Etudes book and it’s
great.  I usually work one exercise for my entire session – not running
through the entire song regardless of how it sounds.  Instead I break it
into measures and work each section until I feel I am playing it to the best of
my ability.  That includes tone and articulation.  Once I nail one
section, I go back to the beginning or where I started and play through it –
trying to maintain the same consistency.  It’s a great workout for the
chops but more importantly – an excellent way to focus on making music.

I haven’t recording anything in a while.  This week I’m hoping to get a
new sound file up to show off my new found consistency.

In the past I always stated that I only wanted to perform or play jazz. I’ve come to the conclusion that this statement probably came from the same mind that said “I don’t want to play this game anymore!” when I was a kid. I’m sure you remember it – playing a game with older kids and getting crushed or defeated. “Since I can’t play and win… I don’t want to play…” you tell yourself. I’ve realized that this is probably where my non-jazz ideas came from.

The past few weeks I have gotten great joy from playing with my concert band. We are preparing for our fall concert and some of the music is quite challenging. We are performing Handel’s Water Music Suite, Richard Roger’s Victory At Sea and a medley of tunes from West Side Story. While it is difficult – it is really GOOD music. All of the songs mentioned above have prompted me to go out and purchase recordings so I could get a better feel for the music.

While jazz remains my music of choice, I still find that I can get pleasure playing other genres as well. I also know that the best way to improve in anything is to push the envelope. Challenge yourself. If the music is challenging it is helping me get better as I rise to meet the new watermark it has set.

I had one of the those evening practices where EVERYTHING went right. Long tones in lower and upper register came out effortlessly. Lip slurs were smooth and my articulation was great. It was one of those practice sessions where you want to play all night – not knowing how long this feeling will last. My biggest problem on nights like this is I forget to rest properly. I normally play for 15 and rest for 15. Last night I played for 30, rested for 15 and played another 30. Near the end, fatigue kicked in and my playing got sloppy. I’m anxious to see if the good feeling shows up again tomorrow when I practice.

I had a very good rehearsal today. Tone production was great even in my upper
range. I focused on moving air and staying relaxed. My tendency is to allow
tension to creep into my body the moment I see a note that is considered high
for me. I noticed by staying relaxed and concentrating on air flow – playing the
horn is MUCH easier.

I spent some time working on scales. I am terrible at practicing my scales
and I have moved this up on my priority list – especially considering how
important is when improvising. Rather than looking at notes on a staff – I write
the scales out. For example:

Bb Scale:  Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

For some reason, trying to learn scales in this format are much
easier for me and it sticks in my brain better.  I think it also helps if
you want (and should) learn the scales in different octaves.  So far I know
C, Bb, G, F, Eb, D by heart.  That’s pretty pathetic.  Time to step it
up.

I should have stayed in bed..

The day started off good enough, went to early church service and came home prepared to enjoy my usual Sunday ritual of football, trumpet practice and laundry. Practice started out great. I realized that I was forming my embouchure slightly different everytime I set to play. To help make the setting automatic, I formed my embouchure, played a soft long tone and removed the horn from my mouth. I repeated that process several times. When I formed the it correctly my sound was good and I could tell immediately when I formed it incorrectly. The Good!!

The bad began with my Shetland Sheepdog. I was playing my horn with the bell pointed down towards the ground (mistake number one). I played a high note and she lunged nose first right into the bell of the trumpet – smashing my lip! HORROR! No blood but it started swelling right away. Ice kept it from getting really bad but so much for practice the rest of the day. The Bad!!

I didn't want to waste all my usual practice time so I decided to wash my horn. Ala Bleek Gilliam from Mo' Better Blues washing my horn is almost a ritual. I almost feel like I'm bonding with it (stop laughing). I had Coltrane's Blue Trane playing in the background (Lee Morgan!!) and the project was moving along nicely. As I was drying my 3rd valve slide it slipped from my hands and CLANK – dropped on the bathroom floor. The normally round ends were slight bent – not much – but just enough to make it hard to insert and remove from the instrument. I will have it fixed but not now – I'm not sure how long a repair of this nature will take. The Ugly!!

I keep telling myself that things could have been much worse. My lip is fine now and the horn is still playable but I learned some valuable lessons today.

It amazes me how your mental state can effect how you perform physical activities.

The past few days I haven’t been in the best of moods and it has shown in my playing. I have heard it said that the music you make is usual a direct reflextion of how you feel at that moment. My last few practice sessions are proof of that. I’m just not as sharp or focused as I was earlier in the week. I had a difficult time focusing on an idea sound and as a result – my tone was thin and very airy.

When this happens I have learned that it is not a good idea to push it. That usually leads to frustration which in turn leads to tension which leads to ZERO quality. I spent more time on long tones and more time blowing down the leadpipe – focusing on moving air. I have little doubt that I will return to my normal quality of playing once I get out of my emotional funk.

Today I had community band practice and we focused on the Finale movement of Handel’s Water Music Suite. I had worked on this piece at home but I had not gotten to this movement.. Lord I wish I had!

First of all – it’s in the key of E which contains 4 sharps. I’ve been really bad at learning my scales and I had not begun work in that key yet. I spent the first minutes scribbing sharp marks all over the place and there were plenty of them. There two parts in particular where the rest of the band drops out and the trumpet are out there bare and naked. I say bare and naked because that is how I felt. Bare and naked with my trumpet fumbling to keep up. It was pretty embarrassing and of course the conductor had us play by ourselves a few times. I was the only one on the third part and I struggled. It got so bad I put my horn down and just attempted to finger the notes. Of course my immediate cop out was ‘SEE – this is why I don’t like playing classical music!’ Then I thought of some of the Charlie Parker transcriptions I’ve seen in books. So much for that theory.

I took heart in the fact that the band as a whole had a difficult time with this movement. At the 1.5 year mark I should not be surprised that a piece like this would cause problems for me. I did however play MUCH better when we made a second pass. The director actually came to our section afterwards and was very encouraging and supportive. One thing about me is I’m pretty determined and I love a challenge (why do you think I’m playing the trumpet?). I plan on working this piece till I can play those two ‘bare naked’ sections by heart and with feeling. I will also post my sound files in the Sound Room so everyone can hear my progress. I will knock some socks off next time we pull this one out?