Practice: Worked up to 160. Need to work very slowly instead, over and over, maybe about 80 or less.

Transcribe: Need to listen to some things in phrygian mode.  Also, relisten to phrygian guitar mode.

Workout + work on tough lines = sore arms.

Finished transcribing Christian Says to the best of my abilities.  It sounds hilarious in Finale with the instruments I picked.

I'm taking this week to do some more digging on HMLKKBCJ - Hattie Mabelle Lynn Knapping Kittridge Barker Childs Jacobs.

I found another directory listing from 1897 in Worcester Mass for her as Mabelle Lynn, Mrs., a music teacher, at 345 Park Av. "h. do." What does that stand for?  In the abbreviation index it says h. = house and do. = ditto.  Ditto what? She lived and taught at home?

She's also listed in 1898 at the same address.  In 1899, she moved to 11 Murray Ave.

In 1906, she and Henry Jacobs are listed in the real estate record section of the Worcester City directory as follows:
Jacobs Henry L & Mabelle L. Childs, 5 Benefit, blds $5100; 4320 ft. $2800.
I'm going to assume she did NOT own a building with Henry and have that info published in a city directory while she was married to Harry. But hey, you never know.

The contents page says "Real Estate Record: A complete transcript of the city assessors' books relating to real estate, showing name of owner, size of lot, and valuation of every estate in Worcester." Why are there two prices? Does that mean they bought the building together before they were married?

She is listed in 1898 city directory as Alhambra Mandolin, Guitar and Harp Club Director, and in 1899 and 1900 as Alhambra Mandolin, Violin, and Harp Club Director.  She was also listed under orchestras as the Director of the Alhambra String Quartette.

I am trying to find any ancestors, and it seems that her cousin May Belle Grace Dadnum (1876-1941) married Henry Irving Everett (1877-1921), and they had a son Dana Whiton Everett(1915-1985). He married Doris Emily Jenner (1916-2000) and they had a daughter Dorothy L Everett who died in 1978 at the age of 40.  But she apparently had children, and so far that seems the only possible connection to Mabelle.

Practice: 2nd page 2nd and 3rd line need to memorize. Need to learn entire piece then polish.

Transcribe: Got a lot further. My big problem is still rhythm, but it is getting easier. And I can recognize a fifth without having to sound it out.

Good practice - stretched and ate vegetables before. Makes a difference?  Need to buckle down and power through trouble spot w/16th notes on 2nd page.

Got printer ink so I can print out music I finally got spaced right in Finale.

Domain transfer failed again, so website is still not up. So far, everything is going as I expected. :/

Continuing Audacity work.

It took over 20 minutes to get music spaced properly in Finale. It was a case of "select this before you perform this action, but we're not going to tell you what you have selected".

Lower goal tempo for P3 to something like 152.

Worked on p2 of P1 in Audacity.  I may have some useable portions, but that opinion changes every time I listen to it.

Practice - Groggy from allergy meds. Skipped the 2nd line and tried the 3rd. Feel like it's doable now - hands not so stiff as previous few days.

Trans -

Practice: Another flubby finger day.  I feel like maybe I need a "pre-workout shake" before I practice on days I'm tired. 2nd line was impossible hand apart and together today.

I heard a few more notes in transcribing, but only could be sure of 2.

Tendons and joints stiff and swollen, possibly due to allergies, possibly due to getting woken up at 3am by neighbors. Practiced a little hands apart on Prelude 3 and got nowhere.  Or maybe I did - I'll see tomorrow.

Transcribing later.  ETA: Got a large part into Finale, and that seemed to make things make even more sense.

Too tired to do anything really beyond scales.

Practice: Hands apart works really well - when I learn pg 2 line 2 that way I can keep them separate and discrete in my brain as opposed to "AAAAAHHH! EVERYTHING'S HAPPENING AT ONCE!"

Transcribe: I can't hear worth S**T.

My website is down and will be until one of the two companies I'm switching between figures out what's going on.  Which means probably forever.

Practicing: 2nd line on 2nd page needs to be learned and practiced hands apart, otherwise it sounds like a complete mess, in addition to being "modern".

Transcribing: Decided to block out entire song, ie A - verse, B - chorus , C - interlude.  Everything is 4 measures, except one verse is 6, there's one inexplicable key change. Having it blocked out may help to write down what I'm hearing as I'm listening to it.

Out with a cold/allergies/whatever. Played a little to keep limber.

Practicing: Played 1 hr? Got 1st page Prelude 3 up to speed, and beyond, sort of.  I need to remember it's not as fast as I originally thought. ETA Oh, right. Forgot I recorded to see how I'm doing -
Right hand is louder, even at pp. Try to make it less plinky. Let left hand come out for once!
Transitions in 3rd line (again) and chords in 2nd to last line.

Transcribing: I realized I've been fantasizing about getting really good at transcribing and adding it as a separate component to practicing. So now I'm trying to start the habit of doing that. Will go do that after break.

Only played 15 min. Hard to play longer when tired.  Did work through a problem spot in 3rd line.

Difficult to stay within 1/2 hour. 

Another thing that helps with practicing - taking frequent breaks. Like, really frequent - every 10 minutes.

Thumb swelling a little more, but not in joint, so that's good?

1/2 hour - Worked on Prelude 3. Getting speed up to ♪=200 line by line.  Thumb still appears ok.

1/2 hour - muscles and finger pads hurt, but not joints - thumb joint still seems unswollen.

Tried playing for 1/2 hour. With all the arranging and tuning, ended up being 10 minutes.  My thumb joint initially hurt when I bent it after plucking a string.  However, that went away about 5 minutes into playing. However, however, that could be due to my usual "pain in hands goes away when I play". 

I tried closing my thumb more like the left one, ie not aiming the tip of my thumb at the 1st finger knuckle, but the thumb knuckle to 1st finger 1st phalanx/knuckle area.  Kind of like when you make a fist puppet.

I am hoping that I am not just paranoid and that the cyst does not look bigger after playing.

So my goal is to play 1/2 hour every day for a week then bump that up gradually as I get back into shape. I will not be playing Prelude 1 again, though, that's for sure.