Before I say anything, this week turned out much better than last week. I felt much more organized, and I really felt like I got something accomplished! I went into my recording session feeling much more prepared. Unfortunately, I neglected to empty my SD card and I ran out of space about 3 ½ minutes in to my recording. Whoops. Luckily, I had decided to also record an audio track with a decent recorder (aka not a phone or a GoPro), so I had a Zoom recorder going at the same time! So it wasn’t a total loss. If I were preparing this video for an actual audition submission, I would be screwed and I would probably have had to re-do it. But for my purposes here, I just did some editing to add the audio track to what I did get on video. The audio keeps going in my video even when the picture cuts out (I just dubbed the audio track over the video, Voila!)
Obviously, I’m still struggling with focus and keeping the mistakes at bay. I’ve actually been doing a really good job in my practice sessions to be extremely deliberate in my execution, and I never “practice” the mistakes I make in my videos. It is so frustrating when I make stupid mental errors when it comes to the actual performance. Ugh. I guess this is why I’m doing this challenge! Practice, practice, practice.
I am much happier with my sound though. Not sure if its actually better, or the recorded audio is better. As I said before, the audio is from a Zoom recorder, so its actually decent, even though the room kinda sucks.
Week 7:
The assignment for next week (week 7) is pretty much the same as last week. We are still focusing and working on technique, but all group 1 and 2 excerpts should be played as close to the final tempo for the video this week.
- Mozart concerto, entire exposition. Play with metronome set on half note = 58 (or whatever your final tempo is)
- Three group 1 excerpts chosen at random
- Two group 2 excerpts chosen at random
After this week, we start “Phase 2” of our preparation, in which we polish our technique and start to focus on more musical ideas rather than technical. To prepare for this transition, I am also assigning some listening. Find at least one example recording for each excerpt, preferably more than one, though that can be difficult with some of the band excerpts. I want you to come up with a word or phrase that comes to mind for each excerpt when you listen to it. Write it on a sticky note and put it on the music, so that you see it when you play it. This is meant to help you get “in the mood” musically. Do this for all excerpts, including our group 3 excerpts and the Mozart Concerto.
Have a great week! I would say see you Friday, but lets be honest…its gonna be Saturday or Sunday. Ha!
Sandy Herrera, Clarinet 