Posted by Aubrey Foard on April 24, 2001 at 23:33:01:
In Reply to: Re: Pitching problems posted by Gareth on April 24, 2001 at 17:40:11:
If you spend most of your time playing highly technical pieces, it might be time to tone it down. I usually spend an eighth to a quarter of my time each day on simple etudes and methods, focusing mainly on sound, airstream, facial technique, etc. If you want to learn play a highly technical piece or some big, loud excerpt (i.e. Fountains of Rome, Bruckner 8), usually the best way to learn it is to take the tempo and dynamics down a few notches so that your face can get used to where the notes should be. Then you can gradually work both variables up to where you want them to be. Hopefully, this will go a long way in ridding you of your facial contortions. Good luck.