#arbans

Staring today and continuing until All-Region auditions at the start of December, I will be posting weekly practice suggestions to help you prepare for the TMEA All-State process. My goal in these posts is to suggest some supplemental material take can boost your fundamentals that you can then apply to the etudes. For a while we will focus on one etude a week but as we get closer to the audition date we'll make sure to keep all three etudes under our fingers. Be sure to come back every Monday at 9:00am CDT for the latest installment. 

Week 1 - Wurm Etude No. 26

The hard great thing about playing in minor keys is you're really dealing with three scales in one. In order to comfortably play this etude the performer should be comfortable with the d natural minor scale as well as harmonic and melodic minor. In addition to having our fingers feeling at home in d minor we need to make sure our tone is solid throughout the range on the piece (two full octaves from low b-flat to high b-flat.)

This week's practice regimen comes from the Arban's book. 

I. First Studies - No. 34 III. Scales - No. 57-62 III. Scales - No. 71 (Note: depending on which edition you're working from the pages numbers can be different but the chapters & exercise numbers should remain the same.)

For all these exercises, be mindful of the key signature. The Arban's book has a lot more studies in major than in minor so we're going to change some things to make this work for our needs. For each of the exercises, change the key signature so you are working in d-minor. Furthermore, be sure that you are practicing in all three types of minor scales (adding the necessary accidentals as you go.)

If these studies don't appear difficult to you from the start, it might be tempting to start flying through them at top speed. Be sure to keep in mind that we are working on two aspects of our performance this week, fingers dexterity and tone quality throughout the range. My suggestion is to start the week at a slow tempo and really focus on the quality of your sound. Can you make those high A's sounds just as full and dark as the your middle register? Over time you will build up your muscle memory in the fingers and by the end of the week you can push up the tempo. Lastly, be sure not to cut the staccatos too short, we want to insure we are playing with a full tone all the time. 

Best wishes as you begin your journey! 

www.jeffsummers.com