After Practice- Concert Soon!!

Brave

I think that I really improved my tone for this video, but I always have the problem that it loosens up or becomes less focused and clear towards the end. I am better and being more accurate with the rhythms and notes, which came with practice and listening to advice during rehearsal. Throughout the process, one of the most valuable things I have learned is how really to have an effective practice session, instead of just playing the pieces over and over again.

Sun Cycles 

I feel much better about the tempo for this excerpt than I did before. I used to go too slow or rush through it, and I believe I have found a good middle ground. My tone is also much crisper and clearer than before, and I no longer get tripped up towards the end. As I mentioned before, watching myself before practice and after was really effective throughout the process. Even though I did not record all of this in my blog, it really helped me see what kind of practice strategies worked and which ones didn't.

Before Practice Videos

Brave

Tone more focused... but then slowly became less focused again
Intonation needs work- seemed sharp, especially at high notes


Sun Cycles

Tempo much better
Better tone- still fuzzy though
Needs more clear articulation between notes- some blended together

Just checking in

In addition to working on my selected excerpts, I did a lot of exercises to practice scales and work on my tone and intonation during long notes. I also marked up my music with reminders for correct notes and proper articulation. Some things that I really improved on:

• Intonation
• More focused, clear tone
• Accuracy and articulation 

Hopefully I'll be able to keep up the improvements in the next post!

Post 2- After Practice

It has been a week since my last post. Now instead of recording myself before practice, I recorded myself after practice.

Brave

Reflect:

• Still need to work on some intonation, again last note
• Tone is still fuzzy and not focused
• Better rhythm and accuracy than before

Sun Cycles

Reflect:

• Improved accuracy but still need to prefect last few notes
• Intonation is better
• Tone still not clear

First Video- Pops Concert

For this set of blog posts, I decided to take small excerpts from the music and try to focus on certain aspects of them. I also want to have some videos before and after practice.

I will be focusing on

• Brave measures 65-86
• Sun Cycles measures 26-36

These first videos are me playing without any practice or warm-up. Later, I practiced them againand saw major improvements.

Brave

Focus

• Tone- making it less fuzzy and more vibrato
• Rhythm- perfecting articulation and counting
• Intonation- especially long notes

Practice

• I worked on this by practicing with a tuner, and warming up a lot before playing to improve my tone.

Sun Cycles

Focus

• Tone- again making it less fuzzy and more directed
• Accuracy- Being confident about every note
• Counting and Rhythms- making sure each note length is accurate

Practice

• I had a proper warm-up and played the excerpt a few times over and over to hit the right notes.