Re: Getting back into it


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Posted by Rick Denney on July 09, 2001 at 12:56:22:

In Reply to: Getting back into it posted by Wondering on July 09, 2001 at 12:14:26:

Here's my advice, worth even less than what you paid for it:

Come back into playing the same way you learned to begin with. Start with tone production, then proceed to breathing, scales, and so on. I went right back to my beginner method books.

The difference is that you will progress through these very much faster than you did the first time around. The longer the layoff, the longer it will take. But progress should be based on the same principle as it was the first time--do not proceed with the next lesson until the previous one is mastered. I broke this rule, and learned all sorts of bad habits--habits I'm still trying to break 20 years later--by forcing my way into the upper register before I had good tone production in the lower register.

The other important point, and one that is sometimes at odds with what I just said, is to always have fun. Do something at every playing session that makes the time worth it to you, so that you will always looks forward to your practice sessions.

Rick "whose mouthpiece still feels like a toilet bowl after a month of vacation-induced layoff" Denney


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