This week's tip is an odd secret from my private lesson teacher, that she picked up from Eric Ruske during a masterclass. To center a Bb above the Treble staff better, bend one of your fingers (I use my index, but it's which ever is most comfortable to you) in the bell slightly. Ruske even says he doesn't know if this is because of physics, or simply psychology. I can't promise this will work for everyone but I tried it today in two ways:
-The first was playing the Bb and bending the finger as I played. My teacher couldn't tell much of a difference but I felt a small "click" in my head and it felt like the note was better centered and more secure.
- Next, I put this trick in context, I started played Strauss #2 at the bottom of the first page, right before the descending triplets. Once I got to the the bottom of the page with the attack on the Bb I bent my right index a little under 90 degrees. Wa-La! We were both amazing at how it came out centered and had no wobbles in the sound the entire way through.
Now, let me reiterate, no one is claiming this is to be the perfect solution to nailing high Bb's. I had practiced that attack in Strauss before and felt confident on hitting it, it was just that I had never hit it in that particular way before. Hope you have fun experimenting with this new idea.
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