Greetings Capital Crescendos,
Theme of the Week: Slurs and Phrases: A slur is a musical notation indicating that the notes it links (usually two but can be three) are to be played without separation. A phrase is one musical idea. Within a phrase you can articulate by tonguing but you should not take a breath. If you really cannot play the phrase without breathing, arrange with others in your section to breath at different points in the phrase.
Theme of the Week: Slurs and Phrases: A slur is a musical notation indicating that the notes it links (usually two but can be three) are to be played without separation. A phrase is one musical idea. Within a phrase you can articulate by tonguing but you should not take a breath. If you really cannot play the phrase without breathing, arrange with others in your section to breath at different points in the phrase.
Administration
Heather provided information on the website www.8notes.com which has some interesting and fun programs.
This Week’s Rehearsal
Following our clinics, we started our rehearsal with Balladair which is all about phrasing and breathing. Next we practised John Williams: Movie Adventures which has a number of tempo changes. Remember to watch Heather as we move from one tempo to another. Finally we turned to Three Folk Miniatures and played all three movements.
Next Week (Heather’s Ideas for next rehearsal)
Things to try when rehearsing at home…..
1. Try small chunks of music at a time -for example 2-4 bars. Work out the notes and fingering, isolate rhythmic problems, check for articulation and dynamic markings and don’t move on until you can play it consistently a couple of times in a row without mistakes. Then do the same with the next chunk (perhaps another 2-4 bars or even just a really long phrase).
2. Now you can play 2 independent chunks of music so you need to join them together. Try playing slowly from one chunk to the other. If there are problems you have to analyze what is causing the problem…is it a fingering or note reading or a rhythmic insecurity. You need to CORRECT THE PROBLEM IMMEDIATELY! Never PRACTICE your MISTAKES!
3. Now you can play smoothly and perfectly for 2 chunks or phrases or sets of bars. So you can continue this process and just keep adding more chunks and before long you have the entire piece learned.
4. You can also do this type of practice by starting at the end of the piece and working backwards toward the top.
5. You can add memorization into this routine. We will discuss how to memorize in another issue.
Cheers
See you Thursday
Happy practicing!
Heather
Important Dates
Thursday March 15: No band rehearsal, March break
Sunday April 15 at about 2:00 at Woodroffe United Church: Our spring concert
Thursday March 15: No band rehearsal, March break
Sunday April 15 at about 2:00 at Woodroffe United Church: Our spring concert
Thursday April 19 in the afternoon: tentative date for our community concert
Listening Links
Balladair:
Earth, Wind and Fire Dance Mix:
John Williams: Movie Adventures:
Three Folk Miniatures:
The Thunderer:
The Thunderer:
