Ponderosa

Today i stayed for another whole hour and nothing really happened. Mr. Ferreira didn't have me give any individual lessons because he probably thinks that they're good enough at their musical level. But, i agree, thinking back on it, they're pretty advanced at the level they're at right now. I have played an important part in their live by helping them advance in their musical life.

Junipero Serra

Today i went to JS to check up on them. I honestly really haven't been going to there lately which is something i truly regret because i really need and want to work with this section. I couldn't bring my trumpet today because im not suppose to practice because my jazz concert was tonight. Mr Ferreira told me that i should've becasue the trumpet section needs A LOT of help! i heard them and they were really behind compared to the other schools. i was sorta disappointed in me...they really need help!

Ponderosa

Today, i split the trumpet section into 2 again, but this time, i worked 30 min with each group! With the first group we worked with easy songs such as "Mary had a little Lamb". After, since we had a lot of extra time, i had each of them to play a specific note to at the same time to create a chord. They didn't know what it was, but when i heard it, it sounded good =]. When the next group came in, i had them play a few easy songs, which was a breeze for them because they were advanced compared to the other group. After, we did some more chord progressions, and i also gave them tips to help their playing such as mouthpiece buzzing.

Buri Buri

Today, i worked almost a full hour with Tommy. I've noticed that he hasn't improved much and that he forgot about the "foot tapping" technique from the last time i gave him a lesson. I sort of lost patients because of this, but i managed myself  and held it in. So, today we re-worked the foot tapping and time. Also taught him some basic warm-ups due to the extra time we had.

Ponderosa

After 2 busy weeks of band trip and preparing and performing at the legendary Reno Jazz Festival, i finally got a chance to see if the students have improved. When i first arrived at Ponderosa, I went straight to the room and gave a lesson to the two kids that struggled last time. I helped them with their timing. But when i did this, all of their focus went to timing instead of hitting the right notes. So, i made them play simple rhythms with certain notes. After a few tries they got the hang of it and we then started to play songs out of the book, which they seemed to improve on due to the exercises we did earlier.

Ponderosa

After recovering from my sickness, i finally got back. Today, i taught the WHOLE trumpet section, but i divided them into 2 groups(15min each). The first group was the harder one because they needed more help. The first thing i told them to do was to play a song together. I did this so i can hear which trumpet player would need help. So, i helped them out...it was just the notes that they needed help on. The second group came in and consisted of two them. They seemed to be more advanced so i just taught them some warm ups that they should be doing on a daily basis.

March 22, 2011 Buri Buri

I really didn't do much today because i was feeling under the weather, so i just sit in and played with the band. In addition i still gave tips to the Tommy and the other trumpet player while they were playing.