Monday, 5/9/22 (90 min)
Warm up on Altes daily exercise (reversed the pattern). I’m focusing on the third octave legato playing, especially between D, F/#, A. I noticed these fingerings are problematic for me in both Dvorak 8 and Firebird.
I also practiced those third octave exercises with both the RH 2 and RH 3 fingerings for F#. Most of the time, I use RH 2, but sometimes the other fingering facilitates the passage better.
I’m thinking about a slight rotation in my elbow to alleviate some of the tension I started feeling in my RH pinky. Sort of a small lift and rotation to give more “space” to that joint.
In Voliere, concentrating on playing with a very legato airstream and an immediate response to allow for very light and fast tonguing.
In Leonore opening, subdividing for confidence/accuracy in the rhythm and creating shapes in the phrase.
2 weeks to audition!
Tuesday, 5/10/22 (90 min)
Being careful not to overpractice (practice way more than usual), because it messes up my embouchure.
Still focusing on 3rd octave fingerings and slurs.
Practiced tuning with a drone on G and various passages from the rep in G Major- there’s a lot of big ones in G! Mozart, Scherzo, William Tell, Leonore.
Practiced transitioning between 8ths and triplets in Leonore solo- rhythm still needs work there.
Firebird as a duet with metronome. I’m alternating Voliere and FB for now to really let the technique sink in. Focusing on very legato air stream through the larger intervals.
Wednesday, 5/11/22 (80 min)
Chromatic scales- composed a couple of chromatic daily exercises for my collection of EJs I’m working on for my students. I noticed my chromatic were a little bumpy when I played Voliere on Monday.
Dvorak 8, changing rhythms to enhance finger control. Also using legato air for those ascending slurs.
Spent two hours working on promo for mock audition! That stuff takes time, but it is worth it.
Thursday, 5/12/22 (90 min)
Not going over 90 min/day, to save my embouchure. The past two weeks, I have practiced 9-10 hours, and don’t want to make a major increase of practice time.
My logged practice time does not include orchestra or band rehearsals. I’m being conservative, because I also have an orchestra concert this week (and four rehearsals).
Faun- transposing skeleton of opening to improve quality of sound in the staff
Firebird- still practicing duet version with metronome. After all my 3rd octave practice, still having issues. Many focusing more on the airstream will help?
Friday, 5/13/22 (90 min)
Started the practice off with harmonics, and got to thinking about FB again…
Then I remembered how Cathy used to often have me replace notes (especially in the 3rd octave) with their harmonic fingerings to get the embouchure to be more accurate/engaged.
I then proceeded to play the whole movement with all 3rd octave notes played with harmonic fingerings.. which made my lips suuuper tired. But! When I went and played with the regular fingerings, it was sooo nice and smooth.
I had suspected the fingers were not the issue, because I have been really working on finger coordination, and it wasn’t improving the issues on FB. But, I think this was it! The airstream and embouchure.
Learning harmonics is great for many reasons- a single harmonic fingering in a tricky run can facilitate the whole passage. If you don’t know how to get around the instrument with harmonics, I highly recommend practicing the partials and figuring out the patterns of the pitches!
Also had a Pan-Tones rehearsal in the afternoon, which is always so fun. Excited for our two shows next week!
Saturday, 5/14/22 (25 min)
Just a short warm up before morning orchestra rehearsal with some piccolo and harmonics.
We have a concert in the evening (my first one with this group), so I’m “saving” my embouchure.
Sunday, 5/15/22 (25 min)
Another short warm up before church service today.
Orchestra concert went really well- I am so happy I went ahead and auditioned and participated in that group!
I had mixed feelings about the idea of playing with a community orchestra, but it ended up being a great experience. I met a lot of great musicians, played some awesome music, and put everything I’ve learned into context. More than anything, it gave me a lot of confidence in my abilities, which is something I really needed!
After the church service, got to hang out with Emily and family and rehearse for my recital on Oahu next month. It’s hard to think about that right now with my upcoming audition, though. Will focus on that more after the audition.
Alyse Hokamp 