Hello my name is Robert Lane. I have started this blog as a way to chart my progress with the trumpet method Systematic Approach to Daily Practice for Trumpet by Claude Gordon.
I am a comeback player who had a break for roughly ten years. The reason i stopped playing was because i had my embouchure changed and became frustrated with the lack of progress and the awful sound i was making. I lost my tone, range and flexibility and felt embarrassed whenever i heard my playing. I suspect that i was practicing too much as a way to speed up progress but this seemed to make things worse.
Anyway i know that i was not enjoying any aspect of playing. So i stopped.
I stared again just after New Years 2010 when we went to the Nereil Creek Folk Festival. I noticed how much fun everyone was having sitting around campfires jamming with their fiddles, banjos, mandolins and guitars. And i really enjoyed listening and wanted to be a part of it.
So i decided to buy a banjo that i would practice and play at the next festival. The only trouble was that i didn't have enough money for a banjo. But i did have an old Yamaha [ i had sold my Bach Stradivarius] students model sitting in the corner of the room. So i got it out and started playing without thinking about how my embouchure was or should be; in fact i had forgotten both old and new. Well i enjoyed it and started practicing everyday.
I want to get a teacher and join a brass or concert band but i live in country Victoria in Australia and there aren't any so at the moment i'm content to practice and play a few tunes and hopefully something will come up.
But back to this blog. This is a way for me to stay focused on my practice and will be used as a self reflective tool to assess my progress.
I bought the book online so i am still waiting for it to arrive in the mail. So when it does i will begin the first week.
Any comments or if you know of a good teacher close to Warburton, Victoria, Australia let me know.
Regards, Robert Lane.
