I've been working on little sections of Impromptu by Lex van Delden because I'm so sick of Giga.  I'm hoping it's a good thing that I'm "setting it aside" for a little while. Hopefully, all the dynamic and musical things will percolate and it will be perfect when I pick it back up again. 

I almost couldn't make myself play today, so I did the CBT thing of "try it for 5 minutes". I lasted longer than 5 minutes, but not by much.  I did play fiddle a little bit after that, and that was fun.  I'm still working on trying to play the notes in tune.

I also sight-read a little bit of Joaquin Turina's Tocata y Fuga arr. Nicanor Zabaleta (thank you, MultCoLib and Vassar College ILL depts) and will probably order it.  I like the pieces and they are arranged REALLY well.  I always wonder when that happens (Dewey Owens anyone?) if the arranger had the same size hands as me, or if they had really bendy fingers like me.

Sick all of last week. A week + was too long to let pieces go, too, so no recording this past weekend. Hands are really stiff.  I'm disappointed and not looking forward to having to work Fuga and Tambourin back up.

Fiddle, on the other hand, was good to let go for a week. Things fell into place much more easily. Pinky slides were working. Regular slides were working.

Tambourin - Still working on trouble spots.

Fuga- Simply played through a couple times. It's sounding a lot better, I think. Still some problem spots. Need to record it and see what it really sounds like.

Played through several other things just to keep them in my hands.

One spot on my bow seems to not hold rosin, so I'm getting no sound out of that spot on my bow. Very disconcerting.

I listened to another version of Fuga, and tried to copy bringing out the melody, and while doing that realized that's what I whistle after I finish playing it.  Hopefully, that will make it more interesting.

The fiddle is coming along. I can get some decent sounds out of it. But not when it's raining, which may pose a problem in Portland, OR.

Violin hilarity rating on a scale of one to ten, ten being funniest: 32470830127

At least I'm amusing myself. My neighbors, probably not so much.



Rigaudon - 1st measure chaining clicked, then unclicked. I tried to play faster than the metronome and that's when it clicked. Then lost focus?  Could feel the muscle strand in my bicep I was using. Wleuagh!

Spent another inordinate amount of time on one line. This time in Italian Pavane. The 3rd and 4th finger rt hand trill is difficult on the larger gauge strings, but only if I think about that. If I think about them as one octave up, I can play it. Didn't quite get it good enough to my satisfaction.

The fiddle is still excruciating, but not as much so.

I think I need to do chaining on Rigaudon note-by-note again. Either that or my muscles just get really soggy really fast in relation to this piece.  I was thinking about how I would record this and Tambourin. I think I'd have to do them in two separate sessions as they are physically demanding.

This past week was one of disappointment: I wasn't able to check off any measures. Everything had a block for me in it.

The fiddle is still going excruciatingly.

I put the marking tape on my violin and got the strap configured so I can have hands-free.

Finally got that one line in Fuga. I was having problems with just two chords right next to each other, which would make me blow the rest of the line. Usually, I would practice the connection between the two chords, but this time I practiced from the second chord to the end, and from the beginning to the first chord. Then when I put it all together, it just magically happened.

Italian Pavane - another line learned. SO EASY.

And this is all despite taking a huge chunk out of my fingernail with a cutting knife last night. It grew enough today it didn't hurt too much this afternoon. It will probably be ok by tomorrow afternoon, but it will take probably a week before it gets back past past the quick.

Somewhere between yesterday and today, I cemented 2 lines of Giga.  I need to write out my variations in Finale.

Today, I got 1 line of Fuga learned that was challenging before but not now (?) and worked on another line that is really challenging, and is still challenging, and I didn't finish it.

Italian Pavane - 3 lines learned and the were fun and easy to play! Quite the surprise based on my initial impression of the piece. I need to figure out when I started this piece by looking at when I made my practice chart.

Holy crap! I started IP on 9/19. That means I learned it in a week and a half?!? A FIVE page piece?!? Da fuh?

Oh, and my fiddle class went well. I still need to get a decent strap, but I finally know how to hold it so it doesn't hurt my right shoulder, and I learned how to tighten the bow, hold the bow, and how to practice bowing with a loose wrist.

Yesterday, had a very productive practice session. I produced an almost-blister with Tambourin. And I worked on Rigaudon. I'm working line-by-line with these pieces now.

Tonight I have my first fiddle class so no practicing harp today.