Lesson 29 - Part II

[GaryB]

Is the 3-strike rule in effect when practicing SA: Lesson 29 - Part II?

The reason I ask is that the instructions require that you start on a 2nd pedal C and arpeggio upwards as far as possible and then repeat starting on B, then repeat starting on Bb ... Three strikes every time would seem to be a bit much. Also, is the intent to repeat until all the way down to a 2nd pedal F# and if so, when you get to the F# above high C, do you try for the A# above that?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[Jeff_Purtle]

When I studied with Claude we did the 3 attempts. But, if you know it's not going to come-out with three attempts I would move on to the next lower key. The point is to not repeatedly force and miss notes. If you do that, you are only teaching yourself to pick-up bad habits. The point is not muscle building as much as coordination of the Wind Power and Tongue Level. This is something that takes people time to change their mind about. You have to experience it to get over the ideas so many people have about the lips.

You are also correct about expanding the arpeggios beyond what's written when possible too. As you look through the Systematic Approach book you will see that it progresses in many things including the size of the arpeggios. You can see how flexibility and range interconnect in your practice.

I bet you already realize that by now if you are on lesson 29. For me that particular type of exercise was always what I was able to play the highest on. Claude called them "elevator exercises", as in the elevator in an airplane. They really get you to approach the upper register with much more ease.

Jeff
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[GaryB]

Jeff,

Thanks for your thoughtful reply to my question as well as all of your other responses throughout this forum. It is much appreciated!!

By way of background, I have been recently able to consistently play a solid G above high C during the Part II routine - then usually a decent Ab, often a mediocre A and from then on, it usually gets pretty dicey. (For those that may be interested, before I started SA about a year ago, anything above high C was an adventure)

I started Lesson 29 yesterday and what I had not anticipated was how long it would take to do Part II through all of the seven series of arrpegios. Each series is fifteen "events" so to speak - so to do the entire series of seven combinations would be 105 "events." Yesterday, I got through the first series and "struck out" once on the double highC then started on the double pedal B and eventually struck out once on the B above high C. Ditto for Bb. Then I stopped. Rested one hour, etc.

Day 2 (today): I got through the first series and hit a halfway decent double highC that felt like it was at my limit. (I tried not to get too excited about the DHC for I have learned to expect the unexpected when doing these routines.) I did not go for the E above DHC. On the second series, I struck out once on the B above high C and then moved on to the 3rd series. At the end of the 3rd series I actually "skyed" the Bb above high C on my first attempt and hit a wierd sort of DHC and then moved on to the A series and ended up striking out once on the A above high C. Rested 10 minutes. Finally, I started on the Ab series and made it all the way up to a pretty solid Ab above high C without any "strikes." That was followed by the Lesson Three, Part III warm down. Rest one hour, etc.

Tomorrow is another day.