Dave White - Weekly Practice Diary
I realized the perfect application for quiet practice here at home. Since I am on night shift this week, I want to stay on schedule. Practicing at night though has been difficult, but I’m just realizing the benefits of sitting down with my trumpet and reading music and fingering the notes. Also, I am thinking more about the music itself, and how to memorize it. Also, breathing and where to breathe, how much to breathe in. Until I did it, I didn’t realize how much it uses my brain!
So I am going through the technical exercises for the level 1 exam, namely the scales portion, and am considering ways to help memorize these. Well, I had to think more about what natural minor, melodic minor and harmonic minor are instead of just relying on the written music. I have to say that my eyes have been opened to more possibilities to add constructive practice to my day. And I am finding that I have more time to practice now so can move from just trying to maintain facility and on to gaining more abilities. I have a dedicated studio to have everything ready to go in a moment.
31 replies
-
Thanks for posting here Dave! It's wonderful to see your commitment to regular practice and setting clear goals.
Two possible recommendations come to mind to even further strengthen your practice:
- When it comes to memorizing scales, I certainly wouldn't just memorize the names of the notes. I'd take a more logical approach toward generating the scale, so you can be free of reading and fully present mentally. If you know your major scales, it's quite easy to figure out natural minor scales from that. If you're trying to play E-flat minor, I'd simply play G-flat major starting on E-flat. Then to get to melodic minor, simply raised scale degrees 6 and 7 so they resemble a major scale. For harmonic minor, put scale degree 6 back down but keep the raised 7th. Get used to these sounds. Try jumping straight into harmonic minor in a weird key without using the sheet music. If you want to truly memorize something, you have to build a mental map of how it's put together. Does that make sense? Perhaps you started doing this already!- In terms of your answer to the first question "what are you working towards," I that this a fine and noble goal that you wrote down. I'd give some thought to what your goal will be after you finish this exam. Does music stop for you? Will there just be another exam? What's the bigger purpose / vision you have for yourself as a musical artist?
-
Practice plan for Week of September 9th.
-
I ran out of time to edit that post :) I have also added the Getchell #13 where I am cutting the notes short to work on....
-
When you say "cutting" these short notes - do you mean that you're not holding the notes long enough, or that you're literally cutting time from the bar?
The first one is solved by just picking the right place to breathe, and the second is solved by practicing with a metronome.
-
Yes to the former.... not holding the notes long enough and interrupting the flow of the phrase... but keeping in time. From the RCM page, breath marks are at the end of each measure.
-
Aha I see. Are you running out of air? Or is it just a stubborn habit where for some reason you're cutting the notes off?
-
A stubborn habit that my teacher has been pointing out for a few months now....
-
Do you think it could be related to your tongue? Hesitancy before articulating?
-
Not too sure Ethan. Likely hesitancy. I'll send a link for a video of me playing it once it's available.
-
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JfhKEYbtbHH5yCPH9 that's a link for a video of me playing it....
-
Hey David, everything sounds as if it's quite legato – I don't really notice what you describe. I do think sometimes your notes could be a bit better in tune. Start by just trying to get exactly the tone you hear in your head OUT into the world – something pure, open, and resonant. Odds are, it'll be pretty well in tune the more you tune into the result you want. I'd steer clear of tuners at first, but I do encourage the use of drones at ALL times... they're incredible (of course, don't overuse them or you won't be able to play without them lol).
-
I am probably going the other way on the spectrum to eventually find the middle :) I'll work on that and get back with another recording I think is closer on turning and the articulation. I just finished a practice working on tone production, but not with a drone today. I do have the Veldkamp drones that come with the target practice book, which have a solid drone and modulation underneath, and the Chase Sanborn Tuning Tactics drones which are a single pitch, sine wave sound. I have to think on the quality of sound I'm going for. I like the sound of Pacho Flores, but how much of that is the space in which the recording is being made? I like my sound when I'm in the 20x20 main room of my house (and I'm "on"), but it's hard to gauge when I'm in my practice studio that has very little delay in reflections and, there is no sound absorption which makes it seem harsh. I do think I know what you're saying though. I heard Barbara Butler say that we should think of us each as having the best sound we've ever heard - in our heads - the combination of our listening to our favorite players. Our job is to work on getting that out there.
-
Regarding sound - you're spot on. It's really important not to base our entire sound concept only off recordings! Recordings are highly manipulated both digitally and acoustically, so they won't give us a fair reference point when it comes to our own sound in our bedroom. Try to hear great trumpeters live, or at least those with sounds you admire. Often we end up trying to manipulate our sound to match what we think we hear, rather than what players actually do.
-
-
Here is picture of my practice journal from the last week and a bit.....
-
-
-
my last week's practice journal.... Incorporating:
- drone with a pure-tuned root and fifth for my warm up
- flexibilities to gain more range
- breaking down "The Water is Wide" and "Up on the Housetop" to work on each section. Hitting low C from staff G is iffy, so tightening up pitch there.
developing my mental concepts of the relative major scale for the natural, harmonic and melodic minor.
-
For this week I am focusing more in on the exam for next week...
-
Here is my practice journal from the past week. I had a lesson today simulating my exam (happening next week) and have discovered more time is needed to put towards memorizing the scales. Sound production has improved which is a positive!!
-
I had my level 1 exam a couple of hours ago. It went alright, but definitely am taking away a few ideas to improve on my next one... Better prepare by thoroughly reading the syllabus :), and make sure my interface is working right - my accompaniment backing track didn't make it through to my examiners. I did manage to memorize the scales I needed to play for the exam, and I am very happy with how my sound is developing.
