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?