Sluring E5 to G4 to E5

1369 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by jbtsax, Oct 1, 2007

Canadiain

Discussion Starter · Sep 28, 2007

Alto solo in new piece for community band has thrown up a challenge...
:space4: :line2: :space4:
Am I the only one who has difficulty doing this quickly without the lower G getting hung up? Or do I/ my horn / my mouthpiece / my reed / the horse I rode in on/ all of the above suck?

Is there something I'm missing to make this particular transition fast and smooth, or do I have to cheat and put a little re articulation on the G to get it to speak. Its hard to get the low G to speak quickly while sluring down and then quickly back up to the E. Practice is probably the answer isnt it, but any hints or tips of what to practice (other than the obvious) would be appreciated

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Canadiain

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 1, 2007 (Edited)

Thanks Jolle, I'll give that a go.

What I have found helps is starting the phrase without the octave key, using it only to jump back up to the E5. (I cant get it to jump fast enough without...its a fastish 16th note thing, if it was slightly slower there is no problem with response and its easier to get it to play the high E5 with a bit of attack...so hard for me to slur up that way so far without the octave key)

Its getting better with practice. Taking a tiny bit more mouthpiece into my mouth also seems to help.

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Canadiain

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 1, 2007 (Edited)

Its based on the french carol Patapan I think... the phrase in question is an eighth and a couple of 16th notes at about a 120 tempo, repeated. At about 100 its not a problem.

The horn is in great shape...but its still fairly new to me and I'm still learning its ins and outs. I wouldnt even be trying to do this right on the old one

Sluring up is not a problem, its getting the break going down, which seems to be a lot easier if I just leave the octave key out of the equation.

The tip to release the octave key before heading down to the G makes a lot of sense in that context...I just need to get the brain to do it now

I take it its not just me that has problems with this then? I will try focusing on voicing the G.

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