a great start

I've had my flugelhorn now since Wednesday, practiced on it Thursday and Friday and I'm already playing notes on it ranging from the lowest F#3 to the F5 (C4 being middle C and 3rd space C being C5 on the piano keyboard) without too much effort. Buzzing on a mouthpiece for several weeks prior to getting my horn has made a huge difference I think. Buzzing on the mouthpiece helped build up my chops to where they are currently and without doing so, I doubt it if I would be as far as I am at the moment. A new mouthpiece versus the stock also makes a huge difference because I chose one with the throat being much more open without a lot of pressure. I can still remember my music college days while studying to be a music teacher, constantly hearing about playing without pressure. Each mouthpiece has so much back pressure created in them so my project was to find something where more air would pass thru it. I chose a Curry 600 Series 40FLM. It is a bit more brighter than the stock mouthpiece that came with the horn and a lot more comfortable for me to play on especially with my crooked teeth. 

Amazingly after all these years, since early 1970's, and only learning to play the trumpet for about 6 weeks, I still remember most of the fingerings and only have to look up a few past C5. I'm mainly working on tone building along with the embouchure and intonation by playing scales and their modes. Modes will come in handy for improvisation later. So far the scales and their associated modes I've worked on these 2 days are: G, Ab, A, Bb, B, C, D, Eb, E, F. I haven't had enough time to get to the Gb or Db yet but will soon. I usually practice playing long notes holding them for 4 measures, then whole notes, half, quarter, eighths and sixteenths. I don't have the technique yet to play faster tempos and stick to ones between 64 to 94bpm.

While dealing with the fiasco from Musician's Friend in trying to obtain a working horn, I had created various accompaniment tracks using Band In A Box and even a couple of full tunes which are about 4 minutes in length. Along with practicing the above, I take a few minutes to work on the tunes I created thus putting what I learn into practice. Today will be my third day of practice with my new horn. As you can see, I'm quite serious and dedicated with a plan making progress. Yes I'm 65.

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