Practice Blog #13 - Reflection

For this blog, I worked on Sun Cycles. This piece is a very interesting one and I really like the way it sounds in class. Overall, I feel I have good notes and rhythms, as well as pretty good tone and intonation. In the first passage, Sunrise, I don't play much but during my part I need to work on slurring all the notes together in order to achieve a smooth, connected tone. In the second passage, Journey through the sky, I need to work on articulating every note at the beginning part from m.22 to 36, in order to get every note out. From m.44 to 55,  I need to work on dynamic contrast because m. 44 -47 are soft and then m.48 is louder. Then, at m.65, I need to work on timing because all my notes are not together and I need to count the rests properly. For the third passage, Underworld, I need to work on having a smooth, connected style and tone throughout, as well as counting all the half notes properly in m.101 to 106. In the final passage, Renewal, I need to work on slurring and adding some dynamics to color the section a little bit. At the end, in m.121,  I need to stagger breathe and hold the long note so it doesn't fall flat. Overall, this piece is good, but requires more work. 

Practice Blog #13

This is my third practice blog. 

Practice Blog #12 - Reflection

For my second practice blog, I worked on March to the Scaffold from m.51 to the end because that is where I start to play the melody. From m.51 to 71, I think that I got all the notes, rythmns and dynamics, but I need to work on having more space between thenotes and making it cleaner and march - style. At m.79 to 88, I need to make sure I know where I have to breathe and get out all the high notes in tune and on time. I need to watch my dynamic contrast from m.88 to 96 because there is a lot of different dynamics in that passage. From m.96 to 107, I need to make eight notes quicker and sharper so they will stand out. At the end, I need to work on the intontation because the high E is very easy to get out of tune and it sticks out as dissonant. Overall, this piece is progressing satisfactorily. 

Practice Blog #12

This is my second practice blog.

Practice Blog #11

For my first practice blog, I decided to practice some scales and etudes. However, my camera was not uploading so I'll just write about it instead of uploading a video. I worked through the circle of 5ths for scales, doing C Major, G Major, and D Major on the sharp side and F Major, Bb Major, Eb Major, Ab Major and Db Major on the flat side. I also worked on my Bb and F chromatic scales. I also did some etudes from a book that my teacher gave me. Etudes are very important because they help develop technique and allow you to focus on small things without worrying about the song as a whole. I worked on improving my technique, range, intonation, and articulation by playing through some etudes. Also, this helped with my sight reading because I sight read most of them the first time I played them. This really will help me through the next blogs as I get to our band music.