I had swing band rehearsal this past Thursday and as usual I enjoyed my self immensely. I still feel very fortunately to be able to play with these guys and I always learn something. I still find that I do well on the slow and medium tempo stuff. The cookers however usually leave me staring at the page wondering what the heck just happened. I used to be really hard on myself when that happened but I don?t anymore. I know I will get better with time and I?m putting in the hard work. It is going to happen. Range, tone, articulation? everything will fall together if I keep doing what I?m doing.

This Thursday I have a lesson with my teacher and we are going to put together a jazz related lesson plan. I do very well with my trumpet related studies? drills and exercises that improve my playing because I have a clear definition of what I need to work on. What I feel I am lacking is a clear road map to improve my improvisation skills. This visit should get me on the right track. I?m looking forward to it.

I had some strange feelings with my lip today, probably due to over playing. I haven?t taken a day off in a long time and I sometimes forget to alternate between easy and hard days. Today I took it VERY easy ? not playing anything above a C in the staff. I did some long tone work and easy slurs focusing on my sound and attack. I found out that I tongued notes above A (in the staff) differently than I did notes below that. As a result it didn?t sound as good UNLESS I used a breath attack like I use in my Caruso 6 note studies. I think it might be tension but I will pay special attention to it the next few days to see what is going on. One thing of note is I don't tongue with the tip of my tongue. The tip stays anchored behind my bottom teeth and I use the middle of my tongue to start my attacks. Hard to explain but I think I read somewhere that Herbert Clarke tongued this way. If anyone reading this has suggestions regarding tonguing – please share.

I?m flip flopping on mouthpieces again. Later this week I am planning on putting all my mouthpieces in box and taking them to my parent?s house. This way when I practice I will only have the ONE piece to work from. Drastic measures perhaps, but it will definitely fix this problem.