Milde Scale 1 went well this time. Really well in fact, I think better than I've ever played it in practice. It got so I was nervous about ruining the streak of smooth notes, and messed up from losing focus. I'd done lots of practicing, missing only one day, and I'd played twice yesterday and also twice today, before my lesson. It doesn't seem like things improve, but I guess they do. I was going to ask about the finger movement thing, but it didn't happen, so
Still complaints about tone in upper register, despite my work in that direction. Especially A4 and up. Lips firm against teeth but as loose as possible against the reed mute the reed less apparently, if that doesn't sound too contradictory. All support from the air, very fast air. No biting or anything like that of course. G4 is a good note to start on, since it's easy to get a good tone there, and then work up. Thin and dead is what I'm trying to avoid.
Elgar: very long lines, look for the dissonant downbeats->resolve figures (appogiatura). It's all very exposed, so every aspect of every note counts. I think this is the first piece I've played which has been hard due to phrasing, rather than just notes.
Scales: just keep the ones I'm working on, C F G D, their relative melodic minors, and arpeggios, maybe slowly work up speed. I played them at 60 in the lesson, which felt comfortable, though I've also been working them slower in practice, eg 53.
Bocals: I played on a new-to-me bocal, a CD1 I got off of eBay. It feels different than my other one, thinner and more metallic somehow. Probably no audible difference to an external listener, but it feels quite different anyway. For reed, I played on G5. I formed a bunch of tubes before I went on vacation, and really need to start finishing some of those reeds.
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