LOA Level 2 study song - 'Temperature'
Hi David,
I have a couple of questions, the first relating specifically to The LOA Level 2 study song, Temperature and the second, a general question about how best to learn the study songs
1) I am having a few struggles with the second chorus in Temperature, specifically bars 23 & 24. When trying to play 2 draw in bar 24, I am running out of breath at the end of bar 23 and having to exhale again before playing the 2 draw in bar 24. I have tried exhaling at the end of bar 20 where the rest is but I still run out of breath at bar 24. How can I get this right?
2) Learning the whole of a study song seems to be taking too long. I practice almost every day for a minmum of half an hour and my method involves getting a chorus right at 30% speed before moving on to the next chorus. At the moment I'm stuck on Chorus 2 in Temperature for the reasons mentioned in 1) above. Is there a better way to learn?
Thanks, Mark.
You're right about air escaping through the nose David. I pinched my nostrils together and could play bars 23 & 24 without issue. Now it's just about ensuring I can stop the air flow without holding my nose.
Thanks for your advice.
Fantastic... happy to help.
Hello Mark.
1) If you're running out of air that quickly, I suspect that your nose is open while playing the 2 draw. Take a look at https://www.bluesharmonica.com/faq and watch the video titled, "I run out of breath so easily!" There's also a more in-depth lesson here https://www.bluesharmonica.com/lessons/breathing_harmonica
P.S.m for right now, you can change 2 draw on the downbeat of bar 24 to 3+.
2) I recommend that you move on, but each practice session work on each problem area for a couple of minutes. This way, over time, as you continue to work through the entire song, the small challenging areas become easier and easier. By the time you get through the entire song, most likely those areas will be manageable.
P.S., each chorus of a song is designed to take a couple of weeks, so Temperate is about a three months study, give or take... just to give you some perspective.