My practice mute arrived today with a few other “ointments” for the horn.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 After a few notes it was obvious that I’m not even at the level to need the mute yet.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
The biggest thing that the long tones are helping with is relaxation.\u00a0 I’ve noticed periodic muscle twitches in my right arm and face.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I had to just stop and relax a few times with deep breaths.\u00a0 There is this in-tenseness I’ve acquired from the last few years of typing that I need to learn to get over.<\/p>\n
I’m still working on buzzing with the mouth piece on and away from my face.\u00a0 I can do it only for a few moments before fatigue sets in.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My practice mute arrived today with a few other “ointments” for the horn.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 … Continue reading