October Update

It has been a ridiculous amount of time since I last posted, and a lot has happened! This semester at NSU brought a very strong start to the Pro Musica Ensemble, which I'm glad to be co-directing (check out the Upcoming Events page). I got married in September, and just last week finally bought a new (to me) clarinet. The end of this week (October 10th) is also my one year anniversary at ASM, where I teach piano. Good times!

 

31 days of Change

Last night I made the mistake of watching a lecture on veganism, and it's safe to say that I'm pretty skeeved out by animal products now. Besides that little adventure, I have been eating in a pretty unbalanced way and I need to get myself heading in the direction I've been wanting to for a while.

I'm going to try to make it 31 days eating strictly vegan.

Yes, I said "try." I know that it takes commitment to make these things happen, but if I just say that I will do this and then mess up, it's all going to be over. So, in an attempt to keep myself on the path that I want to take, I'm going to say "try."

I have a few other goals for this month, but I'm going to put them a little lower on the totem pole so I don't overwhelm myself. The first goal is to practice every day. Every. Day. I'm getting ready for a recital in November, and the spring and summer will be taken up by the Latin Flute Affair, so I want to get some quality practice in now, and stock up on some solid technique as well as assuage some body use issues before the pressure hits.

Besides regular, quality practice time, I need some exercise. My yoga practice has fallen by the wayside since we moved. Mostly, it's because getting to my old studio would require me to drive in fairly heavy traffic, and I haven't found a new one in my area yet. Plus, I just haven't made it a priority lately. Mostly it's that. I'm also hoping to go walking/jogging more.

So far today I've been a good vegan and a good flutist, let's keep it that way!

Quarter 1 is coming to a close.

There are just a few weeks left in this first quarter! It's been quite an experience so far. I know I haven't been posting as much as I used to, but I think it'll take a while before I can get to the point where I'm posting frequently and not sharing inane thoughts. I mostly wanted to drop in to say that I'm still here, and still practicing.

I've begun practicing clarinet and saxophone again, which is actually kind of fun. I'm alternating days on each one (of course practicing flute/picc every day). Rehearsals for Wild Party are going to start up at the end of the month, so I'll be starting to dig into the book soon. I've been avoiding practicing it so far just so that I can get reacquainted with the instruments themselves and try to build some general skill with the instrument itself, not just learning the licks I need to know to collect a check.

I'm working on some ideas for next quarter and next year, but I don't have anything concrete to share just yet.

Forward motion

There are many things I could complain about, but I'm not going to. While I'm limited on practice time and energy, I am fortunate enough to say that my sound is improving, and I'm maintaining the same amount of openness at the embouchure hole (i.e. - rolling out), which is really great.

I've been working a lot this week, and I enjoy my job. I would like to be working in music sometime soon, but I'm glad be able to honestly say that my current job isn't intolerable, and sometimes is downright enjoyable. Paychecks are finally coming in, so while I hesitate to say so, it would appear at the moment that things are finally going to start looking up again. I still think it will be at least one full month before it all really levels out.

Week 5 is coming to a close...

Okay, I admit it. I'm getting burned out already! It really sucks too because it's stress about other parts of life that's keeping me from being productive in the studio. I'm overloaded with concerns about money, jobs, interviews. I'm trying to keep my practicing going forward, and also trying to get and keep this blog up and going! Despite what seem to be endless stresses on the home front, I've managed to make a pretty significant leap forward this week.

"Roll out!" is phrase I heard quite frequently as a student. I always struggled with staying rolled out, even when I was really focusing on it. At first it's very unsettling, it feels like every note is going to crack, which is probably why I never fixed it before now. I just wanted to feel safe, even though it was really pushing me and my musical progress backwards! However, after spending a few weeks taking a hard look in the mirror (metaphorically and literally) I'm making the real effort to fix this problem, and it's working!

The first step was to watch myself in the mirror - but I mean REALLY watch myself. I needed to become familiar with what I was currently doing, how my lips were moving, check the shape of my aperture, etc. This led to a few realizations:

My aperture is too wide

In addition to being too wide, it's also slightly to the left of center.

I instinctively roll in and out at will, usually when I feel insecure, although it happens so often you almost wouldn't believe it.

These tendencies and habits are incredibly harmful for long term, successful playing.

A wide aperture wastes air. This means that not only can I play fewer notes per breath, but my sound lacks focus and a richness of harmonics which allows the sound to carry.

An off-center aperture isn't inherently bad, but not being aware of it can be. This is an interesting "realization," because I was already kind of aware of it...when playing piccolo. When practicing piano passages on the piccolo (and occasionally flute), I noticed a significant tendency to shift the aperture to the left. This actually worked really well and made a gorgeous pianissimo for me, but obviously it's not practical to shove the instrument to one side or the other while performing La Valse.

Sudden, haphazard changes to the air stream direction via rolling in and out is, not shockingly, very unsettling, even when I'm doing it intentionally so that I will feel more secure.

Once I noticed these characteristics of my playing, I set about finding ways to adjust and correct. I decided that I would stick with the off-center aperture, because it allows me a very consistent sound and response across the full range of the instrument. I've been working on forming a smaller, better controlled aperture as well. Obviously, rolling out (and staying there!) has also been a priority.

Now, I don't want to spill all the beans in this one post, so I'm going to go into more detail about these changes in a separate post. Despite the myriad frustrations this past week has brought, I'm resolved to stay optimistic and to keep moving forward! As I continue to work on these changes over the next week, I'll be sure to post updates and explanations about how I'm going about making these adjustments. Stay tuned, and happy practicing!

Day 3

While I haven't lost any of my excitement or fervor for practicing and achieving goals in general...I'm pooped. We only have some 30 hours left in Motown before we hightail it south, and it feels like we're all set to go and yet only beginning to scratching the surface of the work left to do.

I could only play for a few minutes today, but I really tried to make it worthwhile. I did some harmonics exercises from Jim Walker and some work on Bolero. I'm happy to find that the JW exercises are getting much easier and more consistent as the days go by. I used to struggle to reach the second partial, but now I'm able to get to it with little difficulty.

When I reviewed the recording of Bolero that I made on Wednesday, I was very shocked at how arrhythmic and unsteady my playing was. Granted, I can admit that I wasn't "in the zone," and that I had done all but maybe five minutes of reading over it, but still. I decided I would try to begin tackling that issue first, since rhythmic integrity is paramount to...well, everything.

Even though I didn't spend much time working on the excerpt, I do feel that progress was made. I'm heading to bed before I fall asleep typing.