Practiced last night like crazy.

Honour Band this weekend. Performance was phenomenal. Dr. Richardson blows my mind with her ability to take 100 of us and make us into a great band in two days.
It was a great experience to play with 5 tubas instead of just me, it was quite a change. Working with Dr. Richardson i s a constant challenge, for she never conducts a piece the same way twice. For the second time, Honour band has been an incredible experience that I got a lot out of, and truly enjoyed.

The clinic where we worked with a music teacher who plays tuba was very enlightneing as well. He pointed out things that Ive never even considered before, and gave some amazing techniques to improve embrochure, range, etc. Without the difficulties of wrong notes (usually) and poorly played rhythms, the band comes together in a way that has amazed me twice now.

Im very glad I went, it was a wonderful experience.


I believe we played for a total of 50000 gajillion hours though.

Practiced last night and tonight, for about 15 minutes and 25 minutes.

A lot of going over honour band rep. Again, slowly went through Holst suite, and improving fingerings of accidentals, but making sure not to put too much focus on the piece every night, and Ive been going back to Fusion. Ive struggled with the complex rhythm from the beginning, and gradually been improving. I did this in order to improve my "sight reading" skills, considering I havent seen it in 2 months, but I was really pleased to face the challenge of a very complicated rhythm that I struggled with. It made working to improve that much more fun.

PLayed through chromatics both nights as a warm up, and been going throguh some of the new scales in the purple book that Ms. Stinson has been getting us to look at. My knowledge of accidentals and in playing in different scales is improving quite well. I noticed this today when we sight-read the circus piece and I was able to pick up on it very quickly.

Very pleased overall. Need to work on dynamic contrast more effectively still. Unfotunately, the parents dont agree with forte on the tuba late at night when my sisters tring to sleep haha.

35 minutes today.

A lot of my practice was sent on honour band rep. After listening to the music several times, I tried playing along with it. I found that this helped a great deal. I could easily stop and restart any parts that were challenging and listen to them at the recorded tempo, then slowly work to improve my ability to play those particular challenging rhythms.

I played through our band rep. Did my best to keep dynamics in check so as to not disturb the neighbours. Im avoiding the splat! effect. I found that after playing on a few different tubas that Ive played since grade 9, I came to a conclusion that choir has really improved my lung capacity and the ease at which I can play very loud or very soft for a prolonged period. Without the intention of making an excuse, I am quite certain that this, combined with my added efforts in the large auditorium, were the reasons why my playing was so obnoxious during music fest.

I think I am developing a poor habit of working on one challenging part of any piece, regardless of what Im struggling with, for much too long of a period. I work on it until my lips are sore sometimes, and by that point, Im not any further in my development as a player. I need to cointinue to improve breaking up my practice time into sections, and coming back to the parts Im struggling with. However, inly working on those parts for 5-10 minutes at a time.

Overall, noticing a great deal of improvement with practice. Quite pleased with myself

Practiced from time to time over March Break. Mostly just 15-20 minute practices, but all just for fun. Played through my favourite band rep and other things that I have memorized.

Ive been listening to the honour band recording almost every day. When I pick up my tuba to play it, the result was that sight reading became very easy. I only struggled through some difficult rhythms. Again, to take away from this, listening to a piece several times beforehand to get a handle on how it sounds and where you fit in with the group is extremely beneficial.

2o minutes today. Went over grade 10 band rep. Went over some of the awkward rhythmic sections. played through chromatic scales and scale skill again. Confidence improving on these, especially compared to conserved playing during the test.

I have noticed that choir has improved the duration that I can hold notes for on my instrument. Im impressed.

Played through our band rep quickly. Same trouble spots, but improving.

Practiced for 35 minutes today. Started with line 5 on page 11 of purple book. I tried to run it at a reasonable tempo to see where it needed some work. I struggle to hit the accidental in the 3rd to last bar, as well as the slurring rhythm isn't always played consistently. So I worked on it. First i played bar by bar, and started over when I made a mistake, then I went to the metronome once I had a better feel for the study. I ran it a few times at a slow tempo, and gradually increased. Some mistakes started to fade, but others came into play. The slurs were more challenging to play accurately at a faster tempo. So I stopped and sang it. Then played through it again once I had the rhythm in my head. it became easier. By the time it got too late to hear my dog barking at the obnoxious noise, it wasn't perfect, but I was pleased with the improvement. Need to work on getting an unusual rhythm with greater ease and less time, but that will come with practice.

I spent about 10 minutes of interspersed time to play some band rep. Finally getting the Holst piece down pat, and its going well. Quite pleased with it. Need to check fingerings for accidental sharps in ascending pattern..it doesn't sound nice.

Overall happy, could be a little more confident in the scale study, but I won't get much farther tonight.

yesterday I practiced for 15 minutes on the grade 10 band pieces. I ran all three with very little difficulty, I just had to slow down a difficult rhythm.

Today I sang along to the scale study on page 11 while playing the metronome at the same time. This helped me get a better feel for the tempo I was looking at, and to force me to figure out the fingerings without my tuba. This way, as soon as I picked up the instrment, I was ready to play it fluidly. Little difficulty, just need to work out some fingering issues. (20 minutes)