Today I worked on the Sea Chanty more.  I feel I got the rhythm of the song down and am playing the correct notes, however I just can’t make it through this short song.  When I try and play the higher notes my embouchure just falls apart and the note either comes out very weak, or not at all.  It is very irritating.

I looked on the web to see what others did to try and help and found some suggestions.  Hopefully they will help, and maybe I’m just pushing myself too fast and just need to give myself some more time to strengthen my mouth.  The tip I read about was moving your lips in a fashion that they are stretched vertically and then horizontally to their extremes, keeping up a steady rhythm.  I tried this out and could feel the muscles at work.  I’ll try this technique during the day and see if it helps any.  Until then I will continue to play my long tones as this is also suppose to help build up endurance.  I will try to record the song again tomorrow and see how it goes.

I’m hoping that after a few more months I’ll be able to play longer.  Once I can keep at it for an hour I should make much faster progress.  Something to look forward to.