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[2026-10-13] · src —
Alto takes today: three days since it was last assigned, the longest gap of the three. With no method book chosen yet, this is a fundamentals session and the target is an even, centred sound from the bottom of the horn up. B-flat major is new this week, so it is the key for the scale work.
6 minutes: long tones on written low C, then D, E-flat and F, 10 counts each at quarter = 60, mp, each started with a soft tongue and held without drifting in pitch. Then 4 minutes of overtones off low C: fingered low C, voice the first, second and third partials, each held 4 counts at p.
B-flat major scale, two octaves, in cells of 1-2-3-1 (B-flat C D B-flat, C D E-flat C, and so on), slurred. Play at quarter = 60, then 72, then 84. Success criterion: three consecutive clean passes at each tempo with even fingers across the break between written C and D, and no change in tone between the low and upper register.
Play a slow B-flat major scale up and down as a melody, one note per beat at quarter = 50, shaping a single long crescendo to the top and a decrescendo back down. Aim for a line that sounds sung and not counted.
About 25 minutes. Stop when the embouchure tires, the tone thins or the low notes begin to crack, even if 84 is not reached. Finish with the slow scale at p, not with the fastest tempo.
[2026-10-13] · src —
hearCannonball Adderley — Autumn Leaves (Somethin' Else) · Tidal · Spotify
An alto sound that is full from the lowest notes to the top: Adderley's tone is the same size and colour across the break. Listen to how he enters his solo with a relaxed, unforced attack, and how the low register stays round and does not thin out when he leans on it. That evenness across registers is what the long tones and the slurred scale cells are aiming at today.