How to Have a Good Practice Session When You Sound Like š©
Okay, so the other day I was inspired by @noelle_oboe to break out the old chestnut, Barret #3.
I used to play this etude daily as part of my warm up. The first three lines transposed in every key take you through almost every trill youāll ever play.
After hearing Noelle play it so beautifully, I soaked up a reed and hit record. I was interested in what I could learn at this time in my life and I thought it would be kind of cool to write about the experience. I mean - I used to play this every day, right?
Surely it couldnāt be that badā¦
The first thing I noticed was that my fingers felt like they were either in desperate need of oil or about to fly away to a distant country. And my embouchure felt a little funny - but not in a āha, ha, itās good to be alive!ā kind of way. And my reed was small and inflexible, like a plastic coffee stirrer. And, shoot, I forgot about that G# trill. Why is that always so awkward? Huh.
Normally, thatās enough negative stimulus to send me crawling under the nearest rock.
But hereās where I became a rockstar.
I began by getting interested in the way my fingers felt on the keys. What was the temperature of the silver, could I notice a difference in my finger temperature? (Weird, right? I donāt think Iāve ever thought about that before - have you?) I noticed the smoothness of the keys. I experimented with keystrokes to find the right proportion of softness and intentionality as I searched to decide what I wanted my fingers to feel like as they interacted with the keys. I did the same thing with my embouchure. And again with my tongue stroke on the reed.
Then I did something super-duper-crazy. I watched the video. You know how you record yourself in a lesson or practice session and then ānever have timeā to listen to it because you donāt want to deal with the fact that youāre not perfect? Really? Just me? I mean, I donāt do that eitherā¦
Anyway, I watched the video - but hereās the best part - without the sound. Maybe I didnāt feel like not being perfect, or maybe I just didnāt want to concentrate on the usual - you know, notes, rhythm, tone color, articulation - those tired subjects. I was curious about what I could learn by just watching - and you know what? It was really interesting! Here are a few of my thoughts:
How come my pinky decides to become like an English lady at tea time? I didnāt know it did that. I wonder what actions cause that to happen?
Huh. Never noticed those little quick, tense movements in my cheeks when I go to certain notes. Wonder if I can figure out if I need to do that?
Wonder why I raised my eyebrows there - do I need it? Wonder if it affects the sound?
All-in-all, it was an interesting experience. And, I learned a few things. AND, it wasnāt painful because I was just observing and asking questions.
I had taken the āI sound like ______ (insert favorite poop metaphor here)ā out of the equation.
I think Iāll try it again sometime soon.
