As a novice is it better to stick with one tune until you are really happy with it or to work on a couple, possibly for the sanity of my family?!!
Also I have days when I can’t blow a note. I think I have read previously that this happens when starting out. I adjust my embouchure but I just have to put it down some days and try the next. Other days if i persist it does come.
Well two and a half months in I have tried to record the tune below. It did feel quite a bit harder to play than my first tune. I have found myself running out of puff in the B part and blowing too hard on some of the higher notes.
My thinking falls into the camp of, “It’s not how many tunes you play but how many tunes you play well”. That quote came from a player much more experienced and acomplished than I will ever be.
As for the days when you can’t blow a note, just relax and persevere. It’s not limited to new players either. I have those days too and I’ve been at it for many years.
Best advice I received was to put as much time into getting the best out of your instrument as you do in learning tunes. they’ll come round to be the same thing one day, but in the early stages it’s the best piece of advice I got.
Rationale: If you are happy, you will continue to play… if not, you will stop.
Work on tone in whatever way it makes sense for you. You can work on a bunch of tunes, but also spend time just improving your tone with some selected passages, or just notes by themselves.
Ornamentation on top of marginal tone will not give the desired results.
I go back and forth between things like ornamentation, repetoire, rhythm, phrasing… but always, always work on tone.
Try playing two or three times a day for shorter periods of time instead of only once for longer. Even 5-10 min a couple of times and then a little longer for your “real” practice session might be helpful. You don’t even have to play any tunes… just play “stuff” concentrating on relaxing and improving your tone.
I’ve broken my practce sessions down into shorter periods and this seems to help. I try to end with a tune as a reward for the practice session if I have been working on tone alone.
i agree that it is better to play less tunes well rather than many not so well. I asked the question as it can be difficult when learning from books (in isolation) deciding when to move on.
I would say just move on when you get tired, bored, frustrated with the song (after some effort of course).
There seems to be a ba-zillion songs. Just start fresh on a new one and go back later if/when you get the urge. As long as you are playing/practicing, you will be getting better. Why get bogged down on something that is getting frustrating. Do something new for a while.
(unless you promised your grandma that you would learn her favorite tune… then you are still “on the hook”)
I like learning more tunes. More more more. It’s finally getting so that little pieces of new tunes are already known to my fingers and I can pick stuff up easier during the session. My ear is getting better, too. The more tunes I know the more I seem to become better at learning and the better I am at learning the better I can learn new tunes as I hear them.
