This is going to be an intentionally short post. I had an epiphany the other day while working with my best student. For the first several years of his playing, we focused on getting the right notes. Now that he has the basic fuctionality of the horn down, I now have to get him out of the mindset of "the right notes." Sometimes, you can tell that he's focusing so intently on the right notes that musicality takes a back seat.
When I work with him, and also in my own practice sessions, I have definitely found that, if I work for musicality and for the ability to repeat something (articulations, dynamics, inflection, etc.) then the right notes generally take care of themselves. However, if we focus on only the right notes, the performance sounds miserable.
This may be one of those "no duh!" type posts, but I believe that all too often, we're so fixated on the right notes that we do leave other, more important things out. As long as the fundamentals are down, musicality should obviously be a priority.
Just a short thought.
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This blog page is a collection of thoughts on horn playing based on the valuable experience I've gained over the past few years while rebuilding my embouchure. I don't profess to being anything but a student of the horn, but much of what I've struggled with and learned could be useful to others. Please enjoy!
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