A game for this weekend:
This is the game we’ll play in three steps:
- Listen to the sounds around you. Listen to the tones. Listen to the other sounds.
- When you have the sounds around you in your mind, add a tone to them on your instrument. Don’t worry about playing too much, or too little. Breathe and listen.
- Let the tone emerge and unfold in a long and comfortable exhalation.
If you’re playing a pitch pipe:
- Just blow into one of the mouthpieces and listen to the sound, the pipe will take care of the rest
- Listen to the way the tone changes with the pressure of your breath. Listen to how your tones combine with others.
If you’ve brought your own instrument:
- Try to match the volume and character of the pitch pipes as best as you can
- Play from the concert pitch notes E, B, G, A, D in any comfortable register.
If you’ve brought your own instrument and “concert pitch” is nonsense:
- Just play along with your neighbors, and try to do your best pitch pipe impression.
- Favor slow gestures – just a couple different notes can go a long way. :-)
Above all: don’t worry too much about it and listen to the sounds that happen in the space.