Up to Gymnop 1 & 2, Gnoss 3 mostly memorized.

Prodigio - Trying to chain the 3rd mov. was exhausting so stopped. Trying to chain 1st mov. - stuck on 1st small section.

Prodigio - 30 dtd small sections

Memorizing - Debussy Reverie, Satie Gymnopedie 1

Run through rep up to 1st arabesque

Thumb is healing but hurts in a place I didn't cut it. ???

Thumb is healing.

Satie is being memorized. Weird chord progressions make for difficult memorization!

What do you do when you slice off the top of your thumb?

I almost made it an hour. It took quite a bit longer than normal when I have a finger injury for the pain to subside and me not feel like I was going into shock - probably about 20 minutes. Normally? Five minutes. I really wanted to play, though.

Trying to memorize Satie. The non-standard chord changes make it difficult.

Played for about an hour - sort-of repertoire stuff. Now sore back and arms.

And I am suspicious I have a cyst in my left thumb joint, which is probably why it hurts.

Post vacation - 2nd day

Fifteen minutes practice yesterday was not enough, achingly so.

Thirty minutes today was way too much.

Post Vacation

I'm going to try for 15 minutes of practice today to start reconditioning my hands after a week away from the harp. If I can get up from the computer. Of course, I've already sat down and played quietly earlier, but I'm not counting that towards my time.

I almost have Rêverie memorized. Some skips and bumps.

Opus 28 just has one remaining hiccup.

Reverie/30 Days to Done wrap up

Started: Monday 2/20/17

Finished: Monday 6/26/17
Total: 18 weeks

End result: I can play it passably, but it still needs a lot of dynamic work. And I'm trying to memorize it.

Details:
This is a five page piece, not too technically challenging. There is one very difficult section, and four moderately difficult sections.

I stopped working on this from 2/21 to 4/17 (almost 8 weeks) . Not sure why. However, I'm including that time in the learning time since I often can't predict how learning is going to go.

big section work, 2 pages one day, then 3 the next.
small section work, 1, 1, 1, 2.
small section work, 1, 4.
Week one: avg  1.875 pages per intensive work day

big section work, all
Small section work, all
Small section work, 7 days
Big section work, 3, 2.
Week two: avg 1.8 pages per intensive work day

small section work, 2, 3
small section work, all
small section work, 1.5, 2.5, 1.5
spot practice, 1, 2.5, 1.
Big section, all
Week 3: avg 2.5 pages per intensive work day

details, 2.5, 1.5, 1
big section, all
details, all
small sections, all
Week 4: avg 3.33 per intensive work day


Conclusion:
5 pages/18 weeks  = .27
1 page/4 weeks = .25

I could probably use this effectively as designed for a moderately challenging two page piece.

It's a heartening to see my learning increase as I work on the piece - I have to do less intensive work as time passes.

It would be interesting to break this down into hours, and see if I were not working full time how much lower this ratio would be.

I'm starting Sonatina Prodigio by Virgilio Mortari, and will also be interested to see if this ratio holds up. I have learned the first movement (not well) in the past. 

Repertoire day, so tired, too much!

1st page of Reverie is pretty easy. From then on, just minor correction points. Should go quickly, then adding in dynamics.

Sort of practice day. Sort of repertoire day.

Real performance

Today I actually played out in the real world! It went pretty well. The three people that were there said they really liked it. I basically played background music.

I was less nervous than I expected, but still tense. My tennis elbow kicked in mid-way through.

The things I though I had memorized, I had memorized in the context of playing alone at home.

I don't like having the music stand blocking me. 

I was able to focus on musicality for the first half hour and remained somewhat engaged until the last half hour. I didn't get bored.

Eating a hearty lunch with protein, starch, and lots of greens was a smart move.

Repertoire day. Meh.

Henry L. Jacobs, Merchant moved to Providence, RI in, or before, 1909, per the Worcester Directory of 1909. There was a Hattie Jacobs listed in a couple of the Providence directories as cashier, but at a different address in Providence Directory of 1914.

Also, she was the Director of the Alhambra String Sextette in 1901 in Worcester.

Worked on Siciliano - there are some sticky spots.

Worked on something by Cabezon again. PLaying lower so it sounds miedieavel. :)

Relearning, or brushing up on....  something by Bach. Also feeling like I'm catching the cold that's going around and getting dragged backwards. However, that practicing is going really well.  It's coming back into my fingers quickly and I wish I could learn everything this quickly.

For the first time in a month my hands hurt not because they feel like they're swollen, but because of normal muscle aches.

I need to have repertoire work days, instead of just playing through everything.

Dress rehearsal - I have to remember to take a break when I get tired of playing. Everything needs work. Or I need to pick simpler things to play. I have about 2 hours of music.

There are about 4 spots in Opus 28 where I trip up in the memorizing.

Rêverie - worked on 3 against 4.

Dress rehearsal went badly , which is why I have them.

Today was repertoire day. I think I played for about 1.5 hours. It may have been 2.5?

Tomorrow is practice performance day.

Almost have Opus 28 memorized. Need to do that with others! They're so easy!

Starting work on Rêverie, since it's been stuck in my head from Westworld.

Dress rehearsal - it's helpful to play in a different space. Different lighting, difference acoustics. I hear different notes than I ordinarily do and I think getting used to that is useful.

So tired. Managed 15 min of endurance and change schedule to overview instead of large sections. Need to contact about next recording session.

Prelude 4 - I can play sections separately, but things go haywire when I hook them together. The mistakes compound the further I go.

Tambourin - ok

Dress rehearsal - I did NOT focus on tone and dynamics, just like in the studio. I may need to add more of these into my practice schedule.

Tambourin - Memorized small sections  with dynamics. It did not go well. Recording from yesterday was pretty good - only 3 flags.

Prelude 4 -  Memorized small sections  with dynamics. It did not go well. Recording from yesterday had  too many flags to count.


Went through repertoire for endurance.

Still working on the practice schedule. It is grueling. The "trying to come up with appropriate tasks" vs. what I'm actually scheduling myself to do.

★ Tambourin - detail work. Played through and recorded.

★Prelude 4 - worked on opening dynamics. Recorded.

Filled out survey.

Constructing a practice outline. It is difficult. I got day 1 done and had to stop there so I could actually use the day 1 activities.
Working on endurance, as that was a problem during recording. And working on dynamics. Not enough time today. Added that question to survey.

My hands still hurt! It's only the surface of my fingertips. Didn't really practice. Couldn't focus.

Working on practice chart similar to 30 Days to Done, but including more polishing work, as I need more of that.

Also started a survey to see how my practicing affects the quality of my playing.

My hands still hurt. I wrapped them in the heating pad last night and that did nothing.

Playing (trying to play) Tambourin way faster, about 168, makes it seem like slo-mo at 116 and I'm able to get in clearer trills and hit my marks.

Need to practice Prelude 4 dynamically everywhere except the chords, which I'm still trying to get technically right.

Repertoire day.  My hands were hurting before - muscle aches - and now they're really hurting. I noticed I was getting really tense while playing. I need to set an alarm that will remind me to relax. Probably every 5 seconds.

Another snow day!

The amount of work I need to do on these pieces is feeling overwhelming today and my back has a stitch in it, so I only practiced 1 hour today. Worked mostly on Bells in the Snow. Still need to do everything mentioned yesterday. Or Monday. Will maybe have another practice sesh this afternoon.

Late snow day - got two practices in.

Need to figure out how much prep time I need to get recording ready.

Prelude 4. 1.5 hours Today I drilled the chords, and got about half of them attached to the octaves.
Prelude 4. 1/2 hour? worked on single notes.

But this timing may be dependent on when I do them.

Memorizing both.

another 15 min working on Tambourin. Played/practiced it 4 clicks faster so 116 feels slow. Sort of worked, would need more time.

15 min playing Chaconne and Giga.

There is a buzz in my B below middle C. 4th octave B. The whole 4th octave was buzzing earlier. :(

Prelude 4 is a workout! Attempting to record this weekend sucked all knowledge of this piece out of my head. I am going through and relearning it.

The chords  need to be practiced flat and fast.

I need to memorize the octaves. And everything else.

The first gliss is 1 step above the 2nd.

Tambourin - need to memorize with dynamics.

2nd round of practicing: Prelude 4 chords flat. 1st 3.

Things to note for recording

I didn't get any useful takes, but got a lot of useful take-aways. 

One week is too soon to record after not playing for 10 days.

One week is too soon to record after not working out for 10 days.

I didn't get a nervous feeling in my stomach, but in my arms. They are like wet noodles now. I am wiped! I was able to use my force-my-arms-to-relax skill for about 2 seconds. Clearly need to practice that more.

I would probably do better in an 8-12 or 1-5 slot.

Cold weather is not the best for playing either for the harp or me. The harp went out of tune while I was tuning it. It also developed buzzes after being back in a warmer temp.

Really need to have protein as part of my snack.

Try not to knock off the wall and break the glass on the picture of a harp with your harp. The decision between picking up the glass and slicing my fingers and leaving the glass on the ground and slicing my feet was not appreciated.