Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2004-12-11 14:37
Hi --
I started playing "for real" again (on the clarinet) a couple of years ago, after playing only intermittently and for one-shot occasions (like, something in a group at church) over the course of many years.
The biggest challenge I had was developing the endurance to play sustained passages (breath). There was also the issue of my lips tiring quickly and getting twitchy, and fingers, hands and arms feeling like lead after playing a little while.
After that (and related to it) came the ability to read consistently and quickly. When you're playing by yourself, you can stop whenever you need to. When you're playing in a group, you have to keep up. At first, I found that I just couldn't "see" the music as easily as I once did (i.e., look at the page and have it translate immediately to the fingers).
Joining a community band helped me get back into it -- forced me to get back into it, actually. It was either do it, or quit!
Last year, fulfilling a long-held dream, I started playing the oboe. This year, I am going to play the oboe in the community band -- and I expect that to be a *real* learning experience!
Susan
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