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.

Ponderosa

Today, Mr. Ferreira told me to teach two different kids from the trumpet section. It was like the first time; one kid was better than the other. I spent most of the time teaching the one who needed more help. I gave him the usual constant reminders of use more air and tighten your lips as you play higher notes. Telling him this helped but then he got light headed! i was shocked and didn't know what to do. I told him that he can go outside to get air or water if he wants to, but he refused because he said he was just really sick. This made me feel bad for forcing him to use more air, but the problem was that i didn't know the kid wasn't feeling good.

Buri Buri

Today I came back and gave Tommy an individual lesson. I haven't heard him play in a long time it seemed, because lately Ive just been sitting in with the band just playing. Today, Ive noticed something really different about his playing...his tone improved greatly! much more better than before. I asked him if he practiced and he told me that he did, which i could truly believe. The only thing we worked on was his counting and timing. I told him that if he taps his foot to the tempo it would really help him. he started tapping his foot and his timing already made a significant change. He was constantly on beat.

Junipero Serra

I haven't gone to Junipero Serra in a while due to the busy Fridays I've had lately. I also haven't got a chance to give any sectionals or individual lessons to the trumpeters here. Today, i sat in with the band and played with them. It annoyed me that these kids needed a lot to work on, and i wanted to really help them! They didn't know how to play any notes and their tone was also bad. hopefully next time i see them, i will be able to improve these faults!

Ponderosa

Today i didn't give any lessons, i just sat in and played with the band. Ive noticed that the ponderosa trumpet section has a few more players than the other schools. I tried listening to hear which ones actually needed my help. Out of the six trumpeters, four of them did. The other two were actually decent and seemed like they knew their stuff just from me observing them play.

Buri Buri

Today, I got to work with Tommy again. I had him play a few songs and noticed that his tone was improving little by little. I still had to give him constant reminders of putting more air through the trumpet. He also knew most of the notes! which showed me that he actually practiced and studied them.  

Buri Buri

Today I didn't give any individual lessons, I sat in and played with the band. while playing these simple songs, i tried listening to the other trumpet player (who i don't give lessons to) to hear his progress. Ive noticed he knew his stuff- good tone and he also knew his notes. I wasn't sure if he either practiced a lot of was given private lessons. The only thing he needed to work on was his rhythm, because every time he'd catch his breath, he get off beat. After i notified him about this problem, he fixed it after a few tries of trial and error.