Update and a possible opportunity...

Lately its been hard to motivate myself to practice clarinet. Its not that I don't want to play, its that I have so many other things that I have to do. Like work...I've been working about 50 hours a week lately and it doesn't leave much time to do anything else. Unfortunately, I really don't have a choice about the work thing because I need to pay my bills! And until that day when I have enough private students to sustain a living or a win a full time performance job, I will have to accept the fact that I need to manage a 9-5 job. Also, I'm trying to be more committed to exercise. I feel (and play) so much better when I am in shape (ish), so I'm trying to put in the time. But it is so tough! I am trying to squeeze in an half hour workout, at least 2 hours of practice, lessons, AND work every day, while trying not to totally depriving myself of sleep. Oh yeah, and I have a husband that I want to spend time with too! Needless to say, sometimes things that I want to do don't happen.

When I do get into the practice room, its been good. (If you don't want to hear about my daily practice routine, you can skip down a couple paragraphs - I won't be offended!) I've been really focusing on fundamentals. I do about a half hour of long tones everyday, focusing on different aspects like sound, fingers, breath, etc. I then do a key out of the Didier scale book, which focuses a lot on scales in 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths, and octaves in addition to various types of arpeggios. I've been doing them slowly (eighth note = 72) with a focus on air support and relaxed fingers (especially that "pop" sound that us clarinetists sometimes get when we are going from little to no fingers to all or many fingers! So hard not to do!!) Last "required" thing that I do is what I call the "articulation scrubber". I base it on a practice technique that my teacher at CSU introduced me called "the scrubber":

I adapted it by playing it tongued, in a "key of the day" in all registers. I repeat each part 3 times before holding the last note in a femata. I focus on light tongue with fast air, which is hard, especially when you get to the altissimo register!! Hellooooooooooo scheherezade practice LOL. (most clarinetists will know what I'm talking about there) Recently I've gotten to quarter=55, the 32nd notes are little bit of a struggle at this tempo, but I can do it...most days.

After I've done this, I usually do some sight reading (I have been taking music off of free-scores.com, not always the best music, but its something), and then I've been practicing the Neilsen concerto, or Weber concerto No. 1. Which one I do depends on which clarinet I'm playing that day. Depending on what I have planned for the day, I sometimes don't even get to this part, unfortunatley. I've been trying to get my Eb chops back into shape, so sometimes I just move on to Eb practice after the scrubber. I do about 15 minutes of long tones on Eb, the articulation scrubber, and then usually I'll do a few excercises in the Kroepsch scale book. Then I usually work on the Bolero excerpt for as long as I can stand....usually only 5 to 10 minutes haha.

(for folks who skipped my boring play by play of my daily practice routine, you can start reading here)
Some developments have transpired in the last few days...last Friday I got a call from my best friend who just got out of the Navy. She ran into the assistant director of the Southwest Navy Band in San Diego, and mentioned that I am a clarinet player from Eastman blah blah blah, and he ended up giving her his contact info to pass on to me. The regional bands are a little different from the premiere bands, in that you don't get permanent assignment in the regionals like you do in one of the premiere bands. Also, where you end up is not guaranteed. I want to be able to live with Ben, so probably the only way that would work out is if he went to UCLA and I was in the band in San Diego. I did contact him, and he really wants me to audition for him. I need to talk it over with Ben (and we need to figure out his school situation also - we haven't heard from anyone yet!!), and talk it over with some other people - get some advice. The prospect of music being the focus of my life is extremely tempting! Even if it is in the military.

I've been really depressed lately, and I think its because for the first time in many years music is not the primary focus in my life. I really thought that I would be doing something by now, but I'm not and that is extremely disheartening. But this whole Navy thing has given me a little bit of hope for my future. Someone's gotta want me to play clarinet!! I think I have mad skills, its just hard getting people to notice.

Dying sucks

This post doesn't have anything to do with clarinet...or music on the other hand. This morning I waltzed into work, excited that my boss was off today (not that I plan on doing anything different, ha). I open up my email, and open up the university bulletin that we get every day (which I always read, sometimes there are interesting things in it). Today through that bulletin, I found out that the senior clerk in the ESM registrar's office passed away suddenly on Sunday.

Now, I was a work study student in the financial aid office for a year and a half, which is basically in the same office as the registrar, and this particular person was one of my favorite people there. She was always asking me how I was, and if I was doing anything new with clarinet, etc. She always showed a genuine interest in my life although she barely knew me. I always enjoyed chatting with her, she was one of those people that I felt like I had known my entire life. I was absolutely shocked and extremely saddened when I found out about her death.

I just recently (last week) applied for a job in the ESM registrar's office. One of the many many many things that attracted me to the job was the possibility of working with her. It makes me so sad to think that I won't get that chance, and that my friends in that entire office will be faced with a hole in their daily lives that can never be filled. She was such a wonderful person to be around, she will be sorely missed.

I haven't been very good about posting lately....obviously. The last month or so since my last post has been somewhat unproductive. Maybe not unproductive, per say, but I'm definitely feeling lost. I am discovering that I need clear cut goals to progress at anything. Like auditions, ha! Right now, I'm sort of practicing for the ICA orchestral audition competition, but I've been sort of a waffle about actually doing it.

So I'm making a decision right here, right now. I'm NOT doing the competition. Here are my reasons: one, my broke-ass cannot afford the $50 registration fee. Two, I really don't have the time or the money to find a good place to record all those excerpts. Three, I really want to concentrate on other things besides excerpts right now. Like, FUNDAMENTALS, ha. I feel like I got NO fundamentals when I was younger and now I'm paying the price. I still have a lot of catching up to do.

This is an interesting blog entry from one of the many blogs that I read and (try) to keep up with. It made me think about my practicing, and especially WHAT I should be practicing in my period of "no auditions": http://musiciansway.com/blog/?p=1491 . In it, the former (retired) principal oboe discusses what he did in the months prior to winning his job with the philharmonic. While I haven't gone so far as to make a chart (but maybe I should...) I have started to emphasize long tones, scales, and etudes instead of excerpts (and solos, I suppose). While I don't have the time to do 2 1/2 hours a day of long tones, scales, and articulations, I'm thinking that should get as close to that as possible, even if I have to sacrifice practicing other things for awhile.

So the last couple days I've been trying to figure out a daily routine of scales, thirds, long tones, articulations, etc that I can do that will take about an hour or hour and a half to do that I can really commit to do EVERY DAY. I've been really bad about even playing my horn every day, so I need to make some changes so that I can.

I'll try to keep an update on my progress!