Cooper

Great work on air support today! Your tone sounded so much better when you increased the speed of the air. Try to keep that fast air going in all your playing this week, especially in the upper register.

Warm up:

• During your warm up use the tuner and the metronome and concentrate on getting a really nice sound on everything – remember to keep your air moving fast – your core should be engaged while playing – that’s your sound support!
• For your octave Ds make sure the low D is steady – no pulses or growls. Drop your jaw and think of orienting the reed into your upper lip while cushioning with your lips – keep the air flowing!
• Play the lower octave of D major with the metronome at 60 – hold each note for 4 beats taking breaths as needed – keep an eye on the tuner to make sure your pitch is good and adjust as necessary.

Scales:

Work on the second octave of D major this week

• Work on the upper D and C# remembering to try to play with as little reed in your mouth as possible
• Keep the air speed FAST control the pitch by dropping your jaw to flatten, adding air first and then a small amount of lip pressure if needed to raise the pitch
• the less reed in your mouth the more the pitch will come down
• If you get a wild uncontrolled sound you probably have too much reed in your mouth. take less reed in your mouth and apply fast air – if it is still wild add some lip pressure to cushion the sound.

Pieces

Gymnopédie No. 1

• Work on the second half of the piece from bar 22 to the end – play everything mf for now and concentrate on tuning and keeping your air support going.
• if you have trouble in a section, narrow it down to 2 notes and play them back and forth until it feels easier – then add another note, then another, then play the phrase again.