My thumbs are finally feeling better.

I realized I don't need to necessarily practice the cells I designed in order.

Somehow flared up my De Quervain's right before practicing.

Berceuse - still recording times to achieve goals. I have a wonky idea of how long things take, and what I can do in said times.  Still trying to play pages 1 & 2 x5 with no mistakes. Got page 1 done in the midst of that, in one hour.

LGR -page 1 x5 with no mistakes: I had to break it up into measures and play those x5 with no mistakes at varying tempos, then played page 1 faster than tempo, then at speed. Took one hour. And then I discovered I'd been reading 2 notes wrong. I think those are going to be tricky to fix since they are firmly cemented in my hands.

Short practice - too tired and fingers sore, but still managed to get everything done for today.

Started transcribing Street of Crocodiles by Leszek Jankowski.

Checking more things off my list. It's nice to know I'm accomplishing things and don't need to keep track of what I have to do next. And rotating what I learn seems to be beneficial for my hands as well as brain.

I've transcribed all the Chameleons stuff I wanted. I do not understand the key changes at all. I think if I played guitar it would make more sense.

Figured out how to play last line of LGR faster, but it makes my hand cramp after working on speeding it up for 20 minutes.
Continuing to check off cells from practice chart.

I did overuse my fingers yesterday, but it's ok because I had other things to work on today based on my schedule, and got them done.  I'm surprised with the discrepancy between what I thought I could do when scheduling and what I can actually do.  I'm going to start timing myself to see how long it takes me to accomplish the cells, because I'm getting everything done in about an hour, and when my fingers are working, I can do about 3 hours of practice.

I actually started View from a Hill yesterday, not Nathan's ... whatever.  It's another beautiful, yet easy, one.

Wow, planning out my practice sessions is so much more efficient. I could almost have done more today, were it not for both LGR and Berceuse being really hard on my left 2.   I will be curious to see how much time planning out my next piece saves me. Or if I can learn more than 2 pieces at a time.

Transcribed On the Beach and started Nathan's Phase. Ahead of schedule, thank you very much.

Marathon transcribing of songs to get back on schedule. I finished Monkeyland, started and finished Singing Rule Brittania, and started On the Beach. Monkeyland was such a difficult song for me to figure out. I think because I deviated from my usual method and tried to get help with guitar tabs. They were not helpful at all.  I'm also learning that the songs I like the best are, disappointingly, the simplest. I egotistically thought I had sophisticated taste. Apparently not. However, I liked the more complicated songs more after I transcribed them.

I went through my music and planned out the practice sessions I need to do before the end of the month. If all goes according to schedule, I'll be ready to record at the end of the month. So far, knock on wood, my calluses are getting more robust. Hopefully they won't peel off.

I managed to get all the cells I had scheduled for my session today done in the hour I had left for BOTH pieces. It's mostly going to be work on the dynamics and getting up to speed.

Yeah, need to work on dynamics. Will outline that tomorrow.

LGR needs to be slowed down. It wasn't ready to be sped up to 100.

Ok, next thing to do is record same stuff across the room and see if my hands are still imbalanced.

But after 2 hours, my arms are tired. 

Plan for Su, Mu (ha, Munday): Work only for 1/2 hour on last measures of LGR.

Make copy of Berceuse so I can highlight the @#($*&^ pedal changes!

Then after recording plan rest of campaign. Or at least list steps to finish these pieces.

Tomorrow will be a planning session including recording and listening to LGR and Berceuse to see how to plan the "Campaign".

Reading about how to set up practice goals and steps and levels and I need to digest it all now.

Rebuilding calluses... apparently.

I think I've got too much muscle-memory/cemented wrong things in my hands to get Prelude 3. Maybe someday I will see if Practiceopedia says anything about un-cementing things. I think I will put it away again.

Worked on speeding up trouble spots in Berceuse. I couldn't even play them at regular speed! So they will require more work.

Speeding up LGR will require work on the last two lines.  The dynamics don't quite make sense, either.

Warm-up with random excerpt from (Flight).

Prelude 3 - 3 more notes

LGR - time to speed up to 100.

Berceuse - tested at 50, most is easy-peasy, but ran into trouble in faster runs.

Berceuse - dynamics ok at 40 (still not sure in a few spots), few flaws to fix marked with Xs. Mostly pedal changes. Need to bring out melody more, or might be microphone placement.

LGR - sped up to 88 and it's slightly falling apart, so need to practice Xs.

Prelude 3 - 3 more notes, sort of. Very tired and I think that affected my ability to use my fingers.

Sped up LGR 4 clicks - seems ok, but run through again.

3 more notes in Prelude 3.

Field recording

LGR is up to a speed I can play it comfortably, the dynamics are close to being ready, and then I can start speeding it up.  I need to figure out how not to thunk the first notes in each measure in the ff section.

Berceuse still needs technical work at slow speed.

Prelude 3 - chaining seems to have worked. I now know why I couldn't play it before. It's going to be hard work to get it right, as I have to undo all the previous incorrect work I've cemented in my hands. Question is: do I want to?


I've been wanting to do field recordings and lamenting forgetting to take my microphone with me on walks and rides on several occasions.  And nowhere was that more apparent today than while stopped on my bicycle at a red light. The Greek Orthodox Church right next to me started chiming away.
So I need to find some way, pronto, to:
+ attach microphone to my bike
+ make it wind-proof
+ make it water-proof (especially today!)
+ record with small files that still sound good

Prelude 3 - 3 more notes learned in 20 minutes. It will take 20 more days.  However, gave myself a blister and De Quervain's acted up again, so I can't set a final goal yet. Just a goal to take 20 mintues of practice time to learn 3 notes per day when I can.

Worked a teensy bit on dynamics, of LGR, but didn't want to make blister worse. Need to set goals for LGR and Berceuse, as well.

Weird, now my right thumb tendons hurt and my left hand feels fine, however that was the one that hurt during practice.

Play it again, and again, and again...

After reading some tips from Practiceopedia, I was inspired to work on the problem spot in Prelude 3 again, this time using "chaining".  I learned 3 notes! It only took 20 minutes! /sarcasm. So it will take a very long time, and may not ever happen, but just doing it for sh*ts and g*ggles.

Worked on LGR dynamics.

Not enough hours in the day.

Berceuse - Worked on dynamics, breaths, caesuras, and tenuto on 3rd page. Oops, excuse me. Caesurae. I think I've got it how I want it, for the most part. I think muffling completely would be too jarring.

I moved a couple pedal changes because they are right in the middle of a quiet part. 

Need to work on the A♭ G♮ pedal change - it's really loud!

Railroad tracks

Thanks to one of the lovely members of yahoo's harplist, I now know the the double slash (\\) marking in Berceuse is a caesura.
Caesura - (/siːˈʒjʊərə/ or /sɪˈʒʊrə/; alternative spellings are cæsura and cesura) is a complete pause in a line of poetry or in a musical composition. In musical notation, caesura denotes a brief, silent pause, during which metrical time is not counted. --from Wikipedia.

Next is to figure out if I want it to be a L.V. pause or a muffled pause.

A couple definitions I missed

Senza misura - an Italian musical term for "without meter", meaning to play without a beat, using time to measure how long it will take to play the bar. (wikipedia)
Ten. (Tenuto) - Italian, past participle of tenere, "to hold". The precise meaning of tenuto is contextual: it can mean either hold the note in question its full length (or longer, with slight rubato), or play the note slightly louder. In other words, the tenuto mark may alter either the dynamics or the duration of a note. Either way, the marking indicates that a note should receive emphasis. (Tom Gerou and Linda Lusk, Essential Dictionary of Music Notation (1996))

Berceuse - based on listening to the last page sped up, I'm adding slight pauses (denoted by commas, although I could denote with "ten." or birds eyes on the note to hold) to make the phrases stand out in what I think is a better way.

Wish I could play for hours more, but am limited by my endurance. :(

Warmup with (Flight).
LGR - Left hand is flowing and has dynamic separate from right hand. sounds good sped up.
Everything aches.

Some definitions

As I'm working on dynamics, I'm playing much louder and consequently gotten the skin on the pads of my fingers to that really squeaky point that comes just as blisters are forming.  Here's proof. Ow.

I forgot yesterday when I analyzed my pieces that I didn't know what the composer was asking for. So here is a vocabulary list:
Maestoso - ma·es·to·so  (mäs-ts, -z) adv. & adj. Music In a majestic and stately manner. Used chiefly as a direction. [Italian, from maestà, majesty, greatness]
Poco accel. (poco accelerando) - go faster little by little
Sempre - sem·pre  (smpr)adv. Music In the same manner throughout. Used chiefly as a direction.[Italian, always, from Latin semper]
Conto - a monetary unit in Portugese? Ah. Lento. Italian for WRITE LEGIBLY.
Cantando - Singing style. ?
Più moto - more motion.
Più agitato - more agitated, with implied quickness.
Velocissiomo - very fast, very quick, very speedy.
There are also some commas and double slashes (\\) at the ends of some measures. Commas denote a breath mark for singers. Double slash = ?

Practiceopedia

I discovered a new book at the library called "Practiceopedia" by Phillip Johnston.  It's available at the website Inside Music Teaching. It also seems to have fallen into that "out-of-print-charging-an-arm-and-a-leg-syndrome" over at amazon. $687.90? Really? Even the $125.50 used copies are a rip-off when you can order it direct from the source for a reasonable $39.95. 

Anyway, it had a wealth of practice tips - so many I couldn't get through them all in the time allotted, and I'm trying to incorporate some of them:
+ Analyzing the piece before you learn it - ie, what would you want a critic to say after hearing you perform it? You should have 4-6 descriptors.  I've never thought about that before in concrete terms, so I'm eager to see if it will make a difference in the finished product.  Before, I analyzed pieces as far as what key they're in and when it changes.
+Practice scales. IN TIME. And get them precise.
+Practice piece slowly, then add in dynamics at slow tempo, then speed up. This is very opposite what I was taught, and it's stressing me out, surprisingly. But, what can it hurt? (Besides my hands.) And I'm not getting the results I want using the old way so I need to try something different. You should be able to record the piece slowly, without fault, and use software to speed it up and have it sound exactly the way you want.

Lariviere - scales from ♩ = 50 - 200. Try (flight) instead - much more interesting.
LGR - Analyzed. Finger stabbed with scissors prevented serious work, and serious work is definitely needed.
Berceuse - Analyzed.

LGR sort of up to ♩=100 - worked problem spots to 100, but then couldn't play it all together.
Berceuse shakily at ♩=40.

Finally got Prelude 5 edited to the best of my ability. Let's see if I successfully uploaded it and spelled the link correctly.

Figured I'd just go ahead and commit to (re)learning Folk Song 1 since I was kind of already doing that. Got the first 2 lines to ♪=80 in order to play at d=40.

Berceuse - watch out for low E's, otherwise good to start speeding up.

LGR - quick run-through.

Have some sort of mental block against getting the rest of Prelude 5 edited. Probably because it's crap. :P

Sort of got LGR to 90. Sort of got Berceuse to 50. Played Folk Song #1 at ♪=50.

I'm writing this entry with my Bamboo tablet! My hand muscles were fatigued for some reason and didn't get any better the more I played and I didn't really feel like practicing today so just did some Bochsa etudes. To change things up l tried playing Major exercises in minor as I was as playing. My technique went to sh*t as I was figuring out if I was playing in natural minor, harmonic minor, or melodic minor. Ie. no sharps, 1# on the way up and down, or 2 sharps on the way up and none  on the way down. Also, key changes threw me for a loop because the circle of 5ths really does jack for me. I have to do the "it's the key that's a minor 3rd above" thing. It sounded more interesting, at least, and kept me more mentally engaged.

A couple of quick run-throughs today.

Got some work done on Berceuse - had to dial it back to 35, though.  I was working on the glisses and my fingers felt blistery so I stopped before going on to LGR.  But then started working on Chou Wen-Chung's Folk Songs.

Also, I've gotten page 1 of Prelude 5 finished in Audacity, however, when I sat down to start working on it again, I somehow got sucked into figuring out what Jay Z and Kanye sampled in No Church In The Wild and if I could do the same thing in Audacity. Oh, right, I was transcribing more of Real Life by Tones on Tail and got hooked by that bassline in the second half of the song, and my mind made a connection to that "Dodge commercial with the cool song".  It turns out the "bass" hook in NCITW is actually a guitar riff slowed down by about 30%.  And I figured that out after about an hour of trying to configure my computer to record itself, when the only thing I needed to do was shut down and reopen audacity after changing my settings. Urgh.

I am completely addicted to this:


My fingers are itching to learn it!

The other Flagello (Berceuse) I skipped today.

LGR - got it up to 80 mostly except for one pedal change.

little bit of LGR 1st page to 80.

Berceuse - Page 2 & 3 huge chords need more work.

Whittled 14 takes of Prelude 5 down to 5.

I have been practicing, just not posting every day. LGR - pushing up to 80. Berceuse - trying to get to 40. Work on tempo changes.

Today working on getting Prelude 5 files onto my computer and re-assessing quality and useable parts.

Re-upholstering my couch and my hands have been bothering me from the staple gun, so I've been grabbing minimal practice time here and there when I get a chance.

Today I was able to really practice and am completely wobbly on LGR and Berceuse. Sort of sped them both up LGR to ♩ =72 and Berceuse to ♩= 40.

Recorded slow playthrough of LGR and Berceuse. Lots to work on. Going to try adding dynamic before speeding them up this time.

Also, I probably will never get a good recording of LGR unless I get a new harp. :(

Played through both Berceuse and LGR with metronome. LGR was a little faster than I wanted because I can't find a metronome that goes down to 30.

Also playing with click tracks in microphone and Audacity.  Audacity has what I want, microphone doesn't. Would need a laptop to record in Audacity - or really long cords.

I finished up Berceuse and was able to play both that and LGR through at half speed perfectly. Achievement unlocked! as the kids these days say.  Although, maybe I should record myself to make sure.

Also, I realized I can play "Hurt" on the harp, simply by using G♭ and F♮. That would have been helpful... ulp... 7 years ago.

Continuing to work LGR and Berceuse to 1/2 speed.

Berceuse - Skipped the glisses, finger still hurts from blister. 1/2 a page left to learn before it's a repeat of what I've already learned.

LGR - Went over last 2 lines again at ♪=52. Work on harmonics and get them PERFECT.

I did indeed give myself a blister practicing glissandos yesterday. It's a small one because I stopped sooner rather than later. But it's still a small spot of hurt so I didn't play today.  

Instead, I listened to approximately 1:42:26 of Prelude 5 in order to determine what's useable. As usual, on the first listen, nothing sounded great to me.  Oh, and I never want to hear it again. 

Hands a bit hurty today. Ran into snag with Berceuse glissandos.

Berceuse - Going really well at ♪=92, maybe even too slow because 32nd notes at ♩=35, which is faster.

LGR - Pretty much learned, just need to speed up and polish.

Berceuse - goal: have whole thing at ♪=92. Do not rush triplets.

Berceuse - work on triplet rhythm.

Starting Berceuse - last measure has a triplet in it.

Played slowly through LGR.

Voice Leading Exercise

I used the Yahoo! Media Player I found here and put the javascript in my blog's design template.  What do you think?

I wrote something I actually like! And it's also an excuse to see if I can actually put a player in my blog post.
Player is there! But no music!

ETA: I recorded Prelude 5. Whether I have something useful or not, we'll just have to see.  If not, TOO BAD. I am done with it and I am done with Prelude 3.  I am calling it quits.  Maybe I'll pick these up again someday, but not likely.

Worked on LGR.

Read through Berceuse again and I think this is going to be an enjoyable one to learn (for a change, apparently!).

And wow, playing music shuts everything else. I completely missed two (well, more like 2.5) appointment-type things today.

Tried to record Prelude 5, but couldn't play it AT ALL, microphone ran out of batteries, extension cord took a bit of work to find, etc. etc.

Slightly more productive today. Going to try to record Prelude 5 for reals tomorrow.

ETA: Oh, dur, I also got a new page up on my website today for NIN - http://www.motorharp.com/nine-inch-nails-harp-versions.html

Completely unmotivated today. Tried to practice Prelude 5 and got worse as it went along. So instead "practiced" Vers La Source, LGR, and Berceuse.

Chipped away at more coding of website.

Exercised.

Recorded Prelude 5 to see where it was weak.  The whole thing is weak. I'm tired... of thisss piece...

More exercises.
Little bit of Prelude 5 and 3.

Exercising for today. Worked on website more.

Finger to the point it doesn't hurt when I play at all. Yay!

Poking around fixing behind the scenes things on the website and designing new pages.

Pinky better enough I could play with minimal pain, and of course, I played more than I planned - I missed playing severely.  Just did some exercises.

Spending another day with my fingers taped together.

I think I've actually sprained my pinkie, perhaps multiple times. It was swollen when I woke up this morning so it is splinted and taped to my 4th finger and I'll see what it looks and feels like tomorrow.

I think I now have a blister on top of my cyst. Or it's just coming closer to the surface.  Really uncomfortable when playing now.

LGR - end part up to 1/2 speed. Still think it'll need a lot of work.

Prelude 5 - Still need to work on big picture idea of what this is about

Prelude 3 - Trouble spot slightly better after having played it slowly every day.  Keep doing this for all eternity?

I need to play the last two lines of LGR at ♪=40! S o o o o   s l o o o w w w . . .

Apparently, heat is not the normally wonderful thing it is when used on a finger which has been bent backward.  And my thumbs were hurting while playing.  Bummer.

Played a little Hasselmans before I had to stop.

Prelude 3 - Even practicing this at 44, I knew less than I did yesterday. What is it about these particular measures?

Looking Glass River - Learned 2 more measures.

Prelude 5  - Was losing concentration after working on LGR so decided to quit instead of waste time.

I Finaled LGR and I realize the ending is going to take a LOT of practice.

Going to try to do voice leading with the "melodies" I've been counterpointing, maybe.

Looking Glass River: Refreshed what I already knew and learned another measure at ♩ =60.

Prelude 3: tried those chords again, and yes, it was as if I'd never seen the music before.

Prelude 5: After playing along with Finale version, noticed new spots to fix. Worked on those today.  Need to work on thumb scale especially.

Prelude 5. Playing with adjusted and corrected Finale version.

Wrote a counterpoint I sort of like.

Prelude 5 - Listening to Finale version to see if I can get any insight.

prelude 5 - at a loss as to what to do dynamically.  I basically know it, it just doesn't sound interesting in the true sense of the word: holding someone's interest.

The cyst in my thumb has migrated into the end of my finger, slowly moving along with the growth of my fingernail.  So now I have what is basically a blister deep in my finger, right where my thumb hits the string. And this configuration does not go numb and stop hurting the more I play.

Due to weather, took it easy and wrote some music - 5th species counterpoint.

Also, sitting and working on website. Red border trick from http://css-tricks.com/the-css-box-model/ is really helpful for troubleshooting css.

And now for a bit of a lie-down... zzz...

Good practice today.

Prelude 5 - worked on getting consistent start.  keep working on problem spots

Prelude 3 - worked at 120

Looking Glass River - 1st page at 60

Probably taking today and tomorrow off because of heat...

Back to work.

ETA: Found another mistake, this time in Looking Glass River, either in the accidental or pedal markings. The B♯ or ♮ harmonics in the 2nd to last line. 

So... Lazy...

Prelude 5 is at the point where I can mostly work on shading.  I need to record it to catch the storyline and figure out how to bring that out.

Yesterday, I poured a significant quantity of simmering water on my left hand, leaving me with no desire to do anything with it but to stick it between two ice packs.  However, I really wanted to play and had big plans before the scalding, so I wrote music instead. It was a good compromise - I spent more mental than physical effort.

Today it's been blasted hot outside and in, so even though my hand is almost completely healed (!), I had no energy to play.  So I wrote more. And then practiced a little because my hands were stiff and simply screaming at me to play. 

And now I'm a bit wrung out and feel the need to recline on the couch with a mister bottle.

Prelude 5: Worked on detail spots.
Prelude 3: Played trouble spot slowly a few times.
Looking Glass River: Played through once very slowly. It doesn't seem like it will be too challenging, however, I read about someone else who had learned it and it took them a year. 

Started Looking Glass River by Rudolf Forst. Keeping it real slow to start with.  Need to slow down Prelude 5, too. Different parts keep slipping in and out of my mind as I'm playing so I can't consistently work on anything.

Routine maintenance on my bike ended up taking 6 hour instead of 2, so minimal harp due to time and tiredness.

Low motivation day. Prelude 5: did get one good run-through where I could actually hear the music.  Not able to play up to speed, though - couldn't focus enough.

Prelude 5: Got the whole thing up to speed almost. Need to work on problem areas. Largest area on pg 1.

Prelude 5 Page 2 to 96/76. Easier than expected. ???

Working on getting 1st page over 132. Also, working on prob spot in Prelude 3 again.

Prelude 5: Need to work problem spots as I speed up.

Prelude 4 is done and up! http://www.motorharp.com/srebotnjak-preludes.html

Sort of maintaining at 132.  In other words, working the stiffness out of my arm after taking a tumble off my bike. Again.

Now working Prelude 5 up to ♪ =132.

Hope to record tomorrow.

Prelude 4 done except for second page 16th notes.

Prelude 5: learned 1 page today at half speed. Rest is repetition so hopefully will be done soon.

Prelude 3: Not sure what to do about this one.

Chords are learned. Today, anyway. Now to polish.

Recorded Prelude 4 and have notes:
- tempo (need to get it nailed down in my head, as it changes from 72 to 56)
- 1st & 2nd lines (still get surprised by some of the notes!)
- quieter on finger brushes
- phrasing
- loud octaves
- just a few notes in chords
- last page pp
- bass too quiet

I don't know if some of the sound stuff is me or the microphone.

I think I'm starting to get a mental block on these Preludes. I seem to forget how to read music when playing them. But I did start Prelude 5 after having brain freeze on the last 5 chords that need learning for Prelude 4. Prelude 5 is going to be another super-fast one I will need to work on s l o w l y.  Luckily, I sort of learned it a few years ago and it's coming back quickly.  Goal is to work Prelude 5 up to ♪=112 consistently.

Prelude 4: 5 more chords to learn then it's on to dynamics and tempo.  Learning chords two at a time so I can get the quick placing.

Wish I had more time to practice. Prelude 4: need to figure out how to go from 72 to 56. And start adding dynamics.

Playing around with melody (cantus firmus) and single counterpoint instead of practicing (re: blister). It is difficult to write music I like.

Real Life is 3rds in sets of 4 16th notes - accents are throwing me off, which happens in music I read, too.

Prelude 4 almost done. A few spots just need worked up to speed.

Transcribing: Just figured out one tiny part of Real Life's rhythm.

Also, I have blisters.

Did a few exercises. Long week.

Prelude 3 - Everything except trouble spots easily up to 200. However, thumb joint started hurting and swelling while working on chords, so will work on Prelude 4 for a while.

Prelude 4 - chords - work at ♪=40?  So chords in 3rd and 4ths split in half.

Prelude 3 - Once I was able to get page 3 closer to speed, it started making more sense - the rhythm is like how I used to play the piano before I could play.