When I began graduate school last fall, I had been playing C trumpet almost exclusively, and decided to spend the necessary time to relearn the Bb trumpet. However, recently I noticed that the new work that I had done to relearn Bb needed to be transfered to C trumpet as well. So now I'm back to working on C trumpet. Playing simple things, easy things. This is hard to do when you feel like you have lots of music to prepare. But if I've learned anything from the great teacher, fundamentals are necessary.
Tim Hudson tells me regularly that he spends about 80% of his practice time on fundamentals. Wiff Rudd defines fundamentals as: doing simple things very well. Dr. Murray would have me play simple scales on piccolo to really learn the horn. As much as I really just want to work on the music that I need to learn. These great teachers are healthy reminders to daily put our best habits in place, and practice the simple. Do the simple better than anyone else.
Time to keep exploring,
Adam C White
