Yay! It’s been confirmed that I can have a trumpet for my upcoming birthday. I’m probably going to get the Conn International recommended by my former tutor and playing partner. I need to investigate whether to get it from Phil Parker or from a retailer in the States given the value of the £ against the $ right now. Trouble is I doubt I could wait for the shipping if I got it from the States and I’m pretty impatient when it comes to things like this.

Had a good practise again last night. Didn’t practise for too long, maybe 30 minutes but I did manage to get a nice clear high C#. Couldn’t get any further and could only just squeak out one of the high Cs in Buster:( Spent quite a bit of time on Partita, the test piece for band. Did quite a bit with a metronome too so I hope Martyn takes at the metronome markings, otherwise I’ll have to watch:) I think the hardest bits for me are going to be the mp crotchets in the first movement as they need to be nice and legato with no airiness about them; and the sudden dynamic change from f to p in the quick quaver feature in movement 3. Everything else is down to stamina and tuning I think.