lesson

I have my English horn lesson today.

I have one conclusion, oboe/ English horn lesson are way too time consuming. For an hour slot, the first 10 minutes will be used to fix the reeds, then 15 minute to fix the instrument, and another 5 minute to fix the reeds to the fixed instrument. Walau...

But the 30 minutes will truly worth it. I felt like my tone suddenly alive again, as if I had been playing rubbish before this.

My main question was of course too loud. In fact, too loud that people often scold (mind you, not that mild kind of scold) me. People that never played on my reed before will never know how difficult for it to be quiet. Even my tutor has to shave it twice to make it sound as soft as Mr. Tan requested, and that's why it took so long to fix the reeds.

As I got used to the harder reeds, playing a softer reed now means that less air needed, and a lot easier to play, of course with nice tone. I can't wait for the next band prac already, for I screw up things every time practising with Mr. Tan. I am starting to feel that Mr. Tan is a bit unhappy with my playing already, so really have to do some major improvement.

Tess played for my part yesterday as I went to Guitar Ensemble concert. Later, everyone said that she played a lot better than me. Of course, I really have to admit her tone very nice. But, I have to also say that, the reed she was using is half as hard as mine, and the English horn is also quite low resistance if compared to the one I am using. Well, just want to persuade myself that I can do it, not trying to offend anyone. What I need is still confidence.

And I am looking forward to the next lesson already. As Farid and Tess said, "Every lesson with Mr. Pan, we will learn something new."