My practice mute arrived today with a few other “ointments” for the horn. I bought a nice Denis Wick practice mute for my roommates sanity sake and so I moistened the mute’s cork with my breath and put it in. After a few notes it was obvious that I’m not even at the level to need the mute yet. Slow and quiet long tones are still where I am and it’s really hard to focus on the quality of the sound when it’s muted.
The biggest thing that the long tones are helping with is relaxation. I’ve noticed periodic muscle twitches in my right arm and face. In the back of my mind I got the idea that it’s muscle memory trying to do what it was capable of 11+ years ago. I had to just stop and relax a few times with deep breaths. There is this in-tenseness I’ve acquired from the last few years of typing that I need to learn to get over.
I’m still working on buzzing with the mouth piece on and away from my face. I can do it only for a few moments before fatigue sets in. Before when the need of practicing complex pieces over weighed the desire to retrain my self to not use pressure I would just give up and go on. It’s really nice to go back to the attitude I had when I first began playing (wow 20 years ago) and just focus on playing without expectations other than my own.