Geronimo the Clarinet

Geronimo will soon be packed up and put away for the year as music class ends in one week!! :(

Music Practice June 3rd

I played my clarinet this morning for about 15 minutes. I started with some long notes and played some high notes for warm up. Then I worked on the chromatic scales. I also switched my reeds and played with a 31/2 for the rest of the practice to make me practice using more air. When I swtich back to my three in class I will be able to play louder and longer before breathing. I played through my chromatic scales 7 or 8 times. Then I went on to my A major scale and played it through three times, and I reviewed the study #5 and the rhythm study. I still did not play them perfect, but often times a bad last rehearsal leads to a good performance!

Music Practice June 2nd.

This evening I warmed up with my chromatic scales. I sometimes still slip up on them, but overall I have it completely down. I would need to review before I play them for the exam tomorrow. I then went on to my scale and played it through about 5 times, over and over again to solidify it. I also played through the study number 5 to learn the slurs and the rhythms perfectly. It took about 5 or 6 times running through with stopping to work on the bars I messed up on to get it perfect. I also played it though one last time to make sure I have got it down for tomorrow. I ended off by playing through the line on p.30 twice or three times with a little break in the middle.
Later, I visited my friends house and helped her with her clarinet (Tamara in grade 9). I played some technique stuff there like long notes, jumping using the register key, and staccatos. I also played through my chromatic scales twice from memory, and got it absolutely perfect the second time through. I think I should run through the pieces again tomorrow morning, and practice playing them as if I was in an exam.

Music Practice June 1rst

I played my clarinet four about half an hour. I started with some long notes and my dog sang along with me. I really worked on my chromatic scales getting the notes down right and making sure I had the pattern perfect and wasn't skipping any notes. When I was finally confident that I had all the notes right, I worked on the slurs, which were very easy because I count the notes in sets of four. I finished off by reviewing the other studies. I need to learn the rhythm in the p.30 one and I need to solidify line 5. My scale is very good, but I can only play it the second time through. I always make mistakes the first time I play it through.

Answers to band questions

1. What has been your biggest improvement this year as a player?
2. What is the area you most struggle with?
3. What was your greatest musical highlight this year and why?
4. What areas do you feel the band excels at and what area do we struggle? Give specific examples

1. My biggest improvement this year as an individual player has been in playing scales and fast passages. I have become much more confident in playing fast passages, and I finally figured out how to play the passages slowly and them speed them up. I was very impatient before and tried to speed them up too quickly. Figuring this out was my best Eukeka moment this year.

2. The area I struggle with the most has been sight reading, or, more specifically, trying to learn new pieces when surrounded by other people playing other pieces. I find that I cannot learn music in a noisy environment, I need to be able to hear myself play. This also affects my sight reading ability in band, because I cannot hear myself individually, so I am not sure that I am playing the right notes. to solve this problem I need to take my instrument home and play the song through once of twice, and them I know it very well.

3. The greatest musical highlight of this year is very hard for me to pick. It was either playing Rumble on the High Plains, or in being in Honour Band. Playing Rumble that one time was awesome because we finally all came together and it turned into a real piece of music. It was amazing to be part of, and my parents told me that it was amazing to listen to. Thank you Mr. Stevenson for that moment, I will cherish it forever, and I hope you do too as you go off to Lucas. I also loved being part of Honour Band, Dr. Richardson was amazing, and it showed me what it must feel like to be in a good band or orchestra. Hopefully I will have another opportunity to play with such amazing musicians again.

4. The band is very good at playing loudly and at rhythms. An example of this is how we liked to play louder throughout Rumble, and in how well we can sight read pieces. I think that we are weak in balancing and tuning. We have problems with balance because some people like to play loudly all the time, and when the melody is moving around a lot (end of rumble) it can sometimes get lost. Tuning is also a huge problem because many people do not practice it and do not aim to be in tune. I think we could have sounded a lot better with more practice tuning, especially for some of the younger students. We are also not very good at playing more than what is written on the page, and even after we have been taught things over and over we revert to just playing it as written on the page. An example of this is 85 in Light Eternal, where we went through that part time and time again, but many people still forgot from week to week. It also happened in Rhosymedre, where we could have added much more phrasing and musicality, but we didn't. We had most of the basics down, but there was a lot more that we could have done if more people had practiced.

Music Practice May 29

I played my clarinet for about 15 minutes and worked very hard on the rhythm study on page 30. I worked out the "tune" and worked on remembering what phrase came next. (so, mostly notes) I got the articulation and dynamics down, however, there are still a few rhythms I am not confident in yet, but that will be in next practice.

Clarinet Practice May 27th

I went and bought 10 new good reeds the day before, so I had to try them out. I put one in water for about 4 hours before using it, and the other I just played after a minute of getting it wet. I didn't find that letting the reed soak in the water improved the sound or responsiveness of the clarinet. I played the other reed for about 10 minutes, reviewing the scales I learned in class. I memorise all my scales. I found I had all three of them pretty well down pat. Now I need to maybe touch up on them a bit so I won't get lost when playing them, and then I need to learn the two songs, and maybe I will even practice some sight-reading!

Clarinet Practive May 18th

I started by warming up with long tones, and then tuned. I played through the hard parts of Thrillers and Chillers a few more times, concentrating mostly on dynamics and making sure I was getting all the articulation. Then I went to Carmina Burana and worked on the 1 bar I still have trouble with. I understand it much better now, and am able to play it and make it fit in. I ended off with some long notes, and then I listened to Beethovens 9th here on my laptop, and wished I could play as well as they can. :-)

Clarinet Practice May 15th

I warmed up with long tones, both high and low, and made my dog sing :)) Then I tuned the clarinet, so that I know approximately what position would be in tune for next Wednesday. I also played some scales up to the fifth note and back down again, and did that from high C up to starting on high B, but I could not remember the fingerings for the higher sharp notes, so I stopped there. Then I got out thrillers and chillers and worked on the hard passages. That included the runs, and the section in the middle that I could not play (measure 143 I think it was) I also solidified the Devils Dance tune by playing through it twice, and also the Escape from the City. I spent some time working on phrasing and dynamics in the Dracula section and in the Voldemort section. Throughout the whole practice I tried to play for as long as possible at one time, because I noticed that my lips are getting weak. For that reason I need to practice again tomorrow. Over all I practiced non-stop for 25 minutes.

Clarinet practice May 6th

Today I practised in two 15 minute sections, since my lips were out of shape from not having played for 5 days. I started both sessions with long tones, and then worked on Chillers and Thrillers, which does have some challenging parts for clarintet. In general this piece is hard becuase of all the accidentals. I worked through all the parts with accidentals. The devil's dance part is hard because most of the intervals are not major ones, and no two are the same. The same goes for the challenging 6 bars or so right in the middle of the piece. I played through these parts slowly and made double sure I had all the notes right, then worked on memorizing the sounds and patterns of these parts. I also worked on the runs, especially the 2 bar section at the end. It really isnt that fast, but the notes are not as simple as a scale pattern. I think the 5 minutes I spent on the timing in that section were really helpful. I still need to work on the rythms in the ending March, which I will do after I have heard them again in band.

Music Practice April 23

I practised for the class playing test on Thursday. I had practised the scales and study during class, but I needed to go home and play it by myself, since I learn music from hearing the sounds that connects with the notes. I memorise the sound, not the physical action. After playing the scales and the study two of three times through I had it down pretty well pat, since I had practised fingerings in class. I still had to work on articulation in the study, so I spent the rest of the time working on articulations and intonation. Overall I played for about half an hour.

Music Practice April 22

I came home from the Kiwanis Challenge class full of adrenalin, so I decided to play some more music. I got out Geronimo and worked on the "little fugue" which I love. I worked on all the fast runs and hard parts, slowing them down and working out the patterns. I still cannot play the second last set, which alternates from from high C to high D at the tempo, but I did work on it slowed down. I also played the music on the piano, and I found that I pretty well knew the whole song already, I could hear all my parts in my head.
I also worked on the rhythms too, there are a few places where the rhythms are not just straight 16ths or 8ths, and I also worked on the rhythms where it changes from 16th to 8ths or vice versa, becuase I tend to have problems with those parts. Sometimes I play the 8ths like 16ths if I'm not careful. So I slowed down the rhythms and counted them out, and then I played them over and over so I wouldn't forget next time I played that part.
I really love Little Fugue so much!!

Music Practice April 18th

I wanted to transpose the section at 196 in Light Eternal for efer, so I got out both my clarintes and played through to figure out the transposition. It's not really practicing, per se, but I did play them a bit, and it was great to work on teh transposing stuff we learned in class. Playign two clarinets and the piano has really helped me with this transposing stuff.

Music Practice April15

I played for 45 minutes today. I worked on the scales and the study we were working on in class yesterday. I find it very difficult to learn music in a loud environment, since I have to be able to hear myself play. I spent a lot of time working on the 4 scales and the 3rds, especially in figuring out the fingerings. By the end of the practice I could play up and down the major scales without tripping, but I still need to speed them up a bit. The 3rds and minor scales need more work. I also mainly worked on the notes in the study, since we don't normally play with so many flats. The chromatic scales are coming along very well, but I find I cannot learn them from the book, I like to play them memorized with my eyes shut :)))

Music Practice 14

On Saturday morning we went to Belle Air and and picked up some more Eb reeds, 3 1/2's actually. When I got home I tried playing on one of them, and worked on long notes and tuning with the new reed. I think I also did some tonging and fingering exercises. I also ran through my test sections a couple of times. I probably played for about half an hour. It will be nice to have the same hardness of reeds on both clarinets, it will make the switching back and forth a lot easier.

Music Practice 15

This morning I practiced my two eight bar sections of Holst for about 20 minutes before school. I did some long notes to warm up, and then I basically reviewed the music, since I had it ready fro Friday's class, but I needed to solidify it in my head again. I also worked on tuning again.

Last Honour band Practice :(

Today we played Rumble in class, and it felt like a walk in the park compared to honour band stuff. I've learned so much in one weekend.
So, I ran through Slavia one more time tonight, and I decided to try playing some of the sections very fast. There is one very fast section of about 20 bars of eighth notes, so I played them as fast as I could, and I experienced a tired tongue for the first time. Normally my fingers get sore first, but this section doesn't have much note movement, and it is very staccato. I'm feeling much more confident about my performance tonight, I'm just scared now that I might take off with the notes.
I will practice my sections for the test Friday tonight. I haven't picked the easy one, but I know what is the hardest part of the song for me, from section A to section B. All the rest are medium hard, except maybe movement 2 going from A. I play that part a lot since I love it so much.

Honour Band

Honour Band went really well today, I can't believe that we have only a few more hours to work on out pieces. I think I'm going to practice a bit this evening. I couldn't hear myself in the band, and I learn my part by hearing it, so I need to practice it by myself. Now I know what I'm working towards though.

music practice for honour band 2

I practiced my Honour Band music on Saturday but forgot to write about it. I tried playing the pieces with the music on the CD to learn where the hard parts are and what all the parts sound like. It was a good way to practice, i learn a lot more from hearing other people play the piece than from looking at the sheet music, although I do need both. After I tried playing it with the CD I turned the CD off and worked on the challenging parts, there are a few very fast runs in Galop and some interesting fingerings in the van de Roost piece that I worked on. The slow piece by Mozart I have no idea how to practice effectivley. I cannot play with the CD since it is a different arrangement in a different key, I think. I hope it wil be alright just to have aquainted myself with the sound of the piece and with my individual part, hopefully I can put it together when we all play together. I am comming to like theses pieces very much.

music practice for honour band

I played through the honour band pieces once each, to get a feel for the fingerings and notes. I have already listened to the songs about 20 times, now I have to connect my sheet music to what I have already heard.

Music Practice 13

I played through Rohsymedre and Rumble last night on my new reed. the reed seems to be working very well, so I will probably use it tomorrow in competition. I mostly worked on breathing and dynamics with the new reed. (about 15 minutes)

Music Practice 12

My mother bought me some new reeds today, so I tried one out. It is much harder to play the new one than my weak old one. I'm not sure if I will use the new one for music fest, I guess it depends on how much I play on it until then. I played through Rumble twice and Rhosymedre once, took me about 15 minutes. I worked on breathing, since the reed needs more air, and on tuning, especially the high notes.

Music Practice 11

I played my clarinet for 10 minutes this morning to memorize the piece we have to play for a test today. I find I play it much better when I have it memorized, and when I don't have to concentrate too hard on the notes or the rhythms.

Clarinet Practice 10

I tried to play my clarinet for about 5 minutes, but I was tired, and kept squeaking. It doesn't really count as a practice.

Music Practice 9

I played my clarinet for about 15 minutes. I played through both Rumble and Light Eternal, looking for spots that I still have trouble with. In Rumble I worked on 41 to 62 to see if I could bring back its excitement, and I worked on bars 187 to 194 for fingering and notes, because I tend to squeak there. I also worked on the scale at the end, to have it memorized. In Light Eternal I worked on bars 8-24 to cement it into my brain. I seem to be able to play it fine at home, but not at school. I also worked on bars 50 to 68 for the same reason. I'm still having problems right before bar 147 in the key change zone. There is a lot of jumping around and accidentals there.
I think most of my troubles in band in this piece is because I do not keep track of counting very well. I should pay more attention :) Its hard to practice that at home though.

Music Practice 8 or 9

Hm, looks like I might have messed up the numbers on my posts.

I played efer for about 15 minutes. I mostly just worked on hitting the high notes of Second Suite in tune, but I also was diverted for about 5 minutes playing Robbie Burns songs from another book.
Good night! There is band early tomorrow morning!

Music Practice 8

I played Efer for 20 minutes. We worked on the first two movements of Second Suit. I mainly concentrated on articulation, and on finger-tongue coordination. As well, I did some work on dynamics, but I think I can still improve. I still need to work on tuning, making sure I am playing the high notes right. I found that one of my keys was ticking, but I cleaned my instrument well when I put it away, so hopefully that solves the problem.

Music Practice 6

I apparently didn't make my previous posts detailed enough. Sometimes I just sit down and play for fun, just to keep my mouth muscles working. I don't always sit down with the intention of just practicing one part.
I played Geronimo for about 20 minutes. I worked on bars 157 to 194, and the scale at the end of Rumble on the High Plains. I mainly worked on dynamics and on smoothness of notes. Sometimes I find it hard to connect notes smoothly in a slur, because of the keys. So I worked on making them smooth and even. As well I worked on tone colour a little bit.
I also played through movement one of The Aviator, Icarus, because I really like the running sixteenth notes. I think working on those passages will help me increase my finger speed. As well, I wanted to work on reading the notes, especially when they go by so fast.

Music Practice 5

I played my Bb for half an hour tonight, and an hour last night. I also played with my dog for the same amount of time, so its all fair.

Music Practice 4

I practiced my piece for the test today for about an hour and a half, between last night and this morning.

Music Practie 3

It was so warm and sunny out, so Efer and I played outside for about 15 minutes. We played Second suite. After a few more days I will have the whole thing memorized!

Greetings to the newest kid on the block

Efer.
Its almost my name.
We played together for about ten minutes tonight on my newest favorite piece, 2nd suit. (Links to youtube were included in a previous post. )

Names anyone?

Now I need a name for Geronimo's little friend, the Eb clarinet. Any suggestions?

Music Practice2

I took 25 minutes to play through Holst's Second Suit in F on my Eb clarinet. I was quite pleased to have a piece for my Eb. I really like the the piece, the tunes and harmonies are beautiful.
Here is my favorite youtube version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oa8FrffYGc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYADwzvhZYk&feature=related

Music practice day 1.

I practiced the middle section or Rhosymedre for about 15 minutes, because I was not happy with how I played it in class. Rhosymedre looks deceptively easy, but the notes and the"jumps" or the intervals are hard.

First day of Music Class

Geronimo thought that class went very well. He was quite pleased with all the playing, and amused by how many laughs we have already had.