| "As far as intonation issues... my lesson teacher pointed out that my E's were a few cents flat, was that was you were refering to? I've really noticed that I have trouble zoning in on correct pitches sometimes. Any suggestions how I can train my ears to hear more exact pitches?"
Your ears will hear pitch as in tune or out of tune in a natural way. You either hear it or you don't, in other words. The thing to do is follow SRs suggestion and go to an in tune piano and just learn that there are certain notes such as the E you mentioned, and learn where to put it. If you could have someone else play the piano while you play your horn that would be the best scenario. Do what you must with your lips.
At your stage of the game you should have a greater awareness of the out of tune notes on your horn. Think of it as have a mental inventory of intonation. When you approach a certain note there should already be a reaction before the note is played. Then you fix it mentally before you play it.
"Just for clarification, in the sausage/bread example.... I should be going for the "sliced bread" sound... correct? Meaning a smooth transition between notes?"
Absolutely. The best description I can give you is the following" think of when you've played a fast, ripping scale, say, F to F. You don't have time to make the minute adjustments you're currently making and you get the sliced bread quality. The trick is to be able to get the same quality at a much slower pace.
Again, nice job.
ML |