As of my last post, my schedule was pretty ridiculous…I was not looking forward to being so busy. Well, since my last post, our awesome congress decided to let the government shut down. Luckily, we are still being paid, but there’s no money for gas for our vehicles to get to gigs! So we are not allowed to do any community relations gigs…so not wind ensemble concerts, etc. Military gigs only. So my calendar opened up quite a bit because probably half of our gigs got the ax. It was interesting looking at our gig board and seeing red X’s all over the place. I have still been very busy though…we’ve been having tons of WWQ rehearsal (we actually had a gig on Saturday night). We just changed up personnel, and we have a new unit leader. I am really enjoying it, everyone is really good – there are no weak links. It makes rehearsals super fun! I missed having a group to play in like that.
So for the last couple months I have been playing in my scale books at least an hour a day (or trying to anyway). I went through my Didier “Le Gammes du Clarinetiste” book, and now I’m going through my Baermann volume 3. I do a key per day, and I do each exercise several times with different articulations (at least 5 times). I have really noticed a difference! It takes a little time, but I feel like my fingers are more relaxed and I can play fast things easier. I’ve also incorporated the President’s Own audition excerpts into my daily routine, playing them extremely slow (half tempo). I’ve even been playing the Mozart Concerto at half tempo! It’s really tough, but I think its making me better. I want to be able to play that stuff in my sleep!
Anyway, what else is going on…oh my A clarinet got stuck together again…but I found a solution. If I leave the clarinet right in front of the A/C vent and turn it on, it will shrink the wood enough to get it apart. Probably not the best thing for it, but neither is being stuck together. Speaking of that, I’m super frustrated with my A clarinet, the tuning is all jacked up because I can’t fit the upper and lower joints together completely without risking them being stuck together. I really don’t want to, but I might have to go and get the joint fitted a little better if the wood doesn’t shrink down in the next month or so. It is making all my “lower joint” notes flatter than the notes that I only use my left hand for. The difference is quite staggering actually, at least a 10-20 cent difference on the tuner. I’m just afraid that if I do get it fitted, once the humidity goes down, will it become wobbly? Ugh. Not quite sure of what to do, especially with that Marine Band audition coming up.
Sandy Herrera, Clarinet 