Saturday, February 04, 2006
Greetings from Chets
First of all, I admit to being a total novice to this 'blogging' business...but now that it's up and running I'm just about getting the hang of it!
Things at Chets are going well - I've recently started learning with Murray Greig, alongside John Dickinson, who has been teaching me for the past four years. In my opinion, Murray is particularly great with all the technical aspects of playing, and learning how to incorporate them into pieces. He's also given me exercises so that I can vary my warm-ups; I find that it's important never to become bored or stale with practice.
I'm also preparing for the Brass Final of the BBC Young Musician at the moment, which will take place later on in the month at the Sage, Gateshead. Playing a 15 minute programme of Torelli (Sonata in D G1 - piccolo), Ewazen (Aftershock for Solo Trumpet) and Tomasi (3rd mvt of the Concerto) is pretty daunting, but I feel I'm getting on well with all the pieces, which I've now performed twice at Chets. In a couple of weeks I'm hoping to have a lesson on the programme with James Watson in London - I can't wait!
I have also been invited to perform with the National Youth Symphonic Brass Wales, with James Watson as Artistic Director, at the opening of the new Welsh Assembly building in Cardiff on March 1st. Having been at Chets since 2002, it has been a pleasure to be invited back to play in my 'homeland' for such a prestigious occassion...I might even get to meet the Queen!
Recently I received a new leadpipe/tuning slide combo from Brass Forum contributor Will Spencer, in order to try out for a prospective upgrade to my Yamaha Xeno C. What a difference! The tuning is easier and the higher register more open...frankly you have to wonder why Yamaha haven't already used something similar on their instruments. Why make it more difficult to play than necessary? At least I know that the issues can now be resolved quickly and easily, and I'm looking forward to getting the job done sometime soon.
Well, I'm off to watch the rugby now! As an avid Welsh fan, Wales vs England matches in the 6 Nations are about as good as they get! I'll resist the temptation to predict a scoreline - but we'll soon see! Suffice it to say that my next post will either be deeply depressive or full of jubilation!
Posted by Huw Morgan
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