Wanted: Practice Time

Back when I was in High School I practiced ALL the time.  Truth be told, it's because I really didn't have anything better to do with my time.

Back in College I hardly practiced at all.  Of course, I was playing all the time.  I'd do a quick 20 minutes in the morning and would play off and on all day long.

Now that I'm liking playing again, I desperately crave practice time!  It's funny, as previously I always dreaded starting practice time, but once I started I was good with it.  But now it's all I want to do!  I'm sure part of it is because I'm NOT playing all the time.  Another part of it is it's a part of my life that I can for the most part control.  I can (theoretically) become a better horn player if I put in the time and practice.  The more I practice, the more I (should) improve.

But as it stands, time to practice is a hot commodity in my life.  I have my morning time, but that's only about 20 minutes.  During that time I hit the basics: long tones, air exercises, flexibility exercises, range expanding exercises, scales, and, if I have the time, an etude or two.

(I'm still using the same Kopprasch book I had in High School and College.  It's funny and sad that I can still see the markings on the exercises I did for lessons, but now I can't just rip them off like I used to.  Are my aforementioned caveats proof that I in fact am NOT improving but slipping backwards?  Or maybe I just need to actually practice the silly etudes ...)

And then there's the issue of the practice mute.  I do love my practice mute, but it's not quite the same, and that difference is starting to be a bigger and bigger issue.  Probably my biggest concern is with Intonation.  It's okay, but it's not 100% with the mute, and as a result I chip notes I shouldn't chip.

Speaking of chipping notes, BKWS has a concert this coming Sunday.  We really didn't have a lot of time to put this one together.  I'm not concerned for the group, but personally I would have liked to play through the numbers a few more times.  One in particular - Hymn to a Blue Hour - has a solo passage that's extremely exposed.  In rehearsals I'd usually chip like crazy. (I heard a recording of the same number on YouTube and the horn there chipped in the same places!)  I blame that damn 4th line D.  I'll be sweating bullets until I get past that one passage.