Abi:
Continue to warm up with those long tones, I’m glad you do those. Try them a little longer and with added dynamics as well! Remember to do the lip slurs as well. Those will be great for your range and control.
Major scales: Using the Circle of Fifths and your ear is a great way to go through all the scales. Take your time with these, theres no race! Just do the fingerings first then put the horn to your face. Get F,Bb,G & D comfortable with a metronome at 60bpm for our lesson next week. Fell free to do more if you want.
New Duets: Arabian Song should be a good challenge for you. It’s simpler then it seems but the challenge comes from the register and articulation. Take it slow, even out of time, and slowly build it up with the metronome to get the proper rhythms. I’m pretty sure my recording is at 95 bpm so aim for that when using a metronome.
Matthew:
Mouthpiece warm up: This is a great exercise to warm up with. Take a full breath – without tension – and buzz through the mouthpiece. Explore playing softly, loudly, and moving the pitch around; you can also work on tonguing here. This will help you get comfortable all over the horn.
Lip Slurs: Nice job with these ones. Slurring up four notes can get tricky and I think you’re close to getting it down. Just think about speeding the air up and close you lips a little bit to get up to those higher notes… crescendoing through it will help a lot as well. Another important thing to note is to try to relax!! You look like you’re really in pain when you’re doing these. Just take your time and move from note to note ONLY when they feel comfortable.
Duets: These will be great for your playing. They in a good register and they have a very friendly range & key signature. Try to work through Russian Hymn and if your get it comfortable enough, play along with the recording I put in the Google Drive. Listen for tuning, phrasing and where I breathe. Try to match me as best as you can!
RCM tunes: The RCM rep I think would be the best to work on would be… From list A: The Saint Cathrine, and from list B: All through the night. Alternative options could be German Dance in D major, and My Bonnie.
Google Drive Link
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DZdYvu1GP-lQXJqVq22ABrjqgY_g53oe?usp=sharing
Duet Sheet Music: