30DtD Prelude 4 done with week 2.
30Dtd Tambourin have blister couldn't work on the 1 thing I needed to.

Grabbing practice time when I can - can't seem to get as much as I need. Still on week 2 of 30DtD with both pieces. Going to do 2 practice sessions today, hopefully.

Tmabourin - the left hand is actually  messing me up. Not sure of a workaround.

★ 30DtD Tambourin. Recorded. Needed to do it in different chunks - both assignments on each page, not 1st assignment on all pages, then 2nd.
★ 30DtD Prelude 4. This needs more work.

Played Prelude Intime IV.

30 DtD Tambourin. Detail work.
30 Dtd Prelude 4. Wrote ideal for piece. Ran out of steam 2/3rds through detail work.

I forgot to practice today. I guess my brain decided all the research this morning was practice. And as soon as I went outside for a walk, I started yawning like Pez dispenser. I guess I will be practicing tomorrow, if I remember, and spending the rest of the evening trying not to fall asleep.

More research on Srebotnjak:
Yugoslavia / Die neue Musik in Jugoslawien by Dragotin Cvetko from  The World of Music, Vol. 4, No. 3 (JUNE 1962), pp. 52-53: Srebotnjak used "pointillist technique"? "Serial pointillist technique"?

Music in Slovenia by Niall O'Loughlin from The Musical Times, Vol. 134, No. 1801 (Mar., 1993), pp. 130-133: He had come to London to study with Peter Racine Fricker in 1959-60. Preludes was written in 60. He also used "12 note technique". (Except in Harp Concerto where he used 8-note to facilitate pedaling.)


Contemporary Trends in Yugoslav Music by Zija Kučukalić from International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Dec., 1971), pp. 271-273: "the Slovenian folk music tradition is attached to the folk music of the Alps region and that is one of musical communication and closeness with other nations."

Music in Slovenia. In the First of Two Articles, Niall O'Loughlin Introduces the Rich Musical Heritage of One of Europe's Most Newly Independent Countries by Niall O'Loughlin from The Musical Times, Vol. 134, No. 1800 (Feb., 1993), pp. 74-77[Journal]: "Hindemith served as the model for many other younger composers in the 1950s,"

Music in Yugoslavia by Everett Helm from The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 51, No. 1, Special Fiftieth Anniversary Issue: Contemporary Music in Europe: A Comprehensive Survey (Jan., 1965), pp. 215-224: Srebotnjak's early works were Expressionist.

Oxford Music Online
Among composers of his generation, Srebotnjak had the most distinctively expressionist style, despite the diversity of his techniques, which ranged from 12-note composition (Invenzione variata) and serialism (Serenata, Monologi, Šest skladb, Antifona) to aleatory works and graphic scores. He often integrated folklore elements (Slovene and Macedonian) into his works and used expanded variations of the themes of other composers (Kogoj, Osterc, Tartini, Škerjanc).

I sat down at my harp and immediately needed a nap.

★ 30DtD Prelude 4. Research - From two sources: In 1944, the Society of Slovene Composers was founded and seemed to be instrumental (HA!) in promoting Slovene composers to the greater music world. Alozj Srebotnjak is considered one of the most respected and renowned Slovene composers because of his prolificness.  In the early 60s, music in Slovenia took a huge leap forward due to citizens being allowed to travel and composers studying in other countries. Avant-garde was the style of choice for that music scene and "Over the next two decades, it thrived with a large body of high quality, adventurous music that in quantity was far more than might have been expected from such a small group of composers." Niall O’Loughlin  Srebotnjak didn't embrace the new postmodern style of the next generation of composers as much as his contemporaries, but continued as he had, incorporating ideas from folk music.  Classical compositions with nods to folk music were prevalent right after WWII.  Interesting!

☆ 30DtD Tambourin. Couldn't quite get the E pedal change. Need to practice it slowly - change on beat 2 before single note, and change back ON the chord. Only got through page 1.

★ Just exercised each finger

★ 30 DtD Tambourin. It was "play anything else" day so I played the first Prelude Intimes.
★ 30 DtD Prelude 4. Hands together whatever tempo and Hands separate at 3/4 speed - 54 and 42.

30 DtD Prelude 4.
30 DtD Tambourin. Doing research on this piece. I found out that a Tambourin is a Provençal dance, and that it imitates a drum in the left hand/bass clef and possible a flute in the right. There is a combination of tambour and galoubet or flaviol, called pipe and tabor in many other cultures, that are played at the same time by one person - the flute only having 3 holes. This piece might need a lighter touch than the f  that's marked in the music I have.

Here's Patrick Rougeot talking about the combo en français!

★ Conditioning exercises
★ 30DtD Tambourin
★ 30DtD Prelude 4. This is coming back to me, but not great yet.
It was an easy day today - only took about an hour to do everything.

★ 30DtD Tambourin. Got a blister.
★ 30 DtD Prelude 4

I'm back to working on album material after working on a couple other projects - editing a harp part and doing... whatever the music version of ADR is.

30 Days to Done page by page on Tambourin. It's going surprisingly well, although I haven't listened to a recording of myself, so that may be inaccurate.

Started 30 Days to Done on Prelude 4 and ran out of steam. It also sounded horrible, like I'd never seen the music before.

Probably not a great idea to wash and polish car and have a marathon practice sesh all in one day. I'm starting to not be able to move my fingers.

Took it "easy" today to rest my poor hands.
Goals:
☆ Play through Pachelbel.
☆ Play through Wander. My work on this paid off.
Only giving myself partial stars for both of these because I didn't just play through them, I had to stop and fix things. And I played through them several times, therefore NOT GIVING MY HANDS A REST. Was actually able to mostly keep up with recordings of both of these.

Goal:
★ Work on Roslin and Adama. It's fine! It didn't need any work.
★ I instead, played through everything, and ended up doing detail work on Satie and O'Halloran. I played for two hours, and my hands needed to be plunged into a sink of cold water afterward. Ow.

Goals:
★★★ Get Wander in my fingers. Practiced for 2 hours. My hand muscles huuurt. I did a really good job, though.
Maybe work on Roslin and Adama? Later!

Played along with Bear McCreary to see where work was needed. Did some detail work, then elbows started hurting, so I knocked off early. Need to relax!

★ Worked hard on Wander My Friends and put in new fingerings that will hopefully be easier. And got rid of some notes. :)

Practice performance notes:
My speed work on Satie paid off, but I still need CONSTANT VIGILANCE!
I cannot fake my way through Wander. I need to learn this inside and out.
If nothing else, practice even tone. Sheesh.
Move harp to different spots to practice?

Take strobe tuner?

Dress rehearsals are important because you need to know if your zipper unzips itself while you're playing (it does).

Do not try to eat away your feelings of nervousness. 

need to work on Satie at a faster speed.

I haven't been posting because my goals are pretty much the same for every day: play things and work on trouble spots.
Goals for later this week:
read 30 DtD
record myself and time things.

Goal:
★ Learn Wander and Scotch.
★ Run through mediums
☆ Run through easies
☆ Get dress info - maybe need two, one for hot one for cold?

Goals:
★ Time Satie. About 20-25 min.
☆ Scan music.
★ Print out calendar
Practice schedule.

Feeling bleh today. Going to hang out with friends.

Goals:
★ Run through Satie. Also played Pachelbel and Opuses.
☆ Start memorizing music
Map out practice days of alternating 30DtD. Can probably start with 3rd week with everything. Record everything asap. Also plan listening time.
☆ Scan music

Goals:

Time things? No. Not ready for that yet.

★ Went through things and marked pedals, made notes on easier alternatives. My fingers are sore. I'm going to have to build up my stamina!
Look through 30DtD and see if I can start in the middle with some pieces.

★ Email
Find other sheet music.

Goals:
Reply to email
★ Order BSG music
★ Run through Pachelbel's Canon
Plan out Roslin and Adama and Wander My Friends
★ Run through Scottish music
★ Run through Satie
Find Tir Na Nog sheet music? Doesn't seem to exist except for full scores.
☆ test other sheet music: Evanescence, Elder Scrolls, Rebecca Sugar

Goals:
★ Conditioning Exercises
★★ Goldfish. I don't know if I'm just better at memorizing in general, or this is really easy to memorize. Things seem to be clicking into place much more easily.
☆ 30DtD Tambourin. Got halfway done on the first half of today. Think I gave myself a blister, or stopped right before I got one. Need to stop this and switch over to wedding music.
Automne.
Need to do quick repertoire work on wedding music. Print it out again?

Goals:
★ Mark calendar
★ Try on dresses
Order pattern?
★ Conditioning exercises
★ Goldfish
★ Automne
☆ 30DtD Tambourin
Set Saturdays as play days?

Goals:
At least look at a calendar.
★ Listen to prog rock
★ Conditioning exercises. These are getting easier.
★ Goldfish. I've got most of this memorized. I think maybe I should try to build up my repertoire of easy songs.
Look at other Tiny Tales.
★ Do detail work on Windy Nights. It might be easier than Looking Glass River.
★ Pick next piece for 30DtD. Ugh. Tambourin is the winner.
Start 30DtD.
One of two remaining Automne sections.
Set up repertoire refresher schedule.
Do last repertoire activity.
Order Mortari's music?

Did nothing yesterday!

Played through Windy Nights by Rudolf Forst. Also entering it into Finale.

Goals:
★ Write and send 2 wedding summary/contract
Reply to recording email
★ Put clips online
★ Conditioning Exercises
★ Goldfish - played at 50 need to listen to recording. It's not bad!
☆ 30DtD LGR - Did 2nd to last day. I still seriously mess this up.
☆ Listen to LGR recording - didn't concentrate on whether there were consistent errors.
☆ 30Dtd LGR - last day. It is just a mess. Summary of 30DtD process: It's really hard to know that after all the work I put in it still sounds like crap. Working on the dynamic details was helpful - it helped get me over that hump in my normal learning process. This might have worked better doing one piece at a time.
★ Automne - finished a section and got the 1st large section to the point where I can keep playing if I mess up.
Pick days for practice perf
Read through/research Prog book

Over the past few days:
★ Did Conditioning Exercises
★ 30 DtD LGR - figured out I'm still too thumk-y in the first part. played around with making that go away. Need to record and mark spots again.
★ Automne - got more sections done. Almost done with it!
★ Booked a wedding

Yesterday was a long day and I skipped any practicing.

Goal:
Figure out how much work I'd have to do to have another practice performance, then schedule it.

Still having weird memory problems today. We'll see how this goes.
Goals:
★ Scales are done!!!
★ Finger mechanics - break out Conditioning Exercises?
★ Work on memorizing Goldfish? Need to set up a practice chart like 30DtD
★ 30DtD LGR (final week!) - record, listen and mark. That was a lot of work. First take was awful. In general the 1st section needs to be smoother like the 3rd section. It sounds thumpy. The waveforms are also smoother in the 3rd section than the 1st. In the middle, the right hand needs to be brought out more. Also, really emphasis dynamics. There are a lot of gasps that need to be smoothed out by more confidence.
30DtD Danza? Not sure I want to continue with this.
★ Automne - got a few more sections sort of memorized
☆ Look through wedding music
Set up another practice performance
1. Set list
2. Practice set list - memorized

Rest day! Sort of!
★ Wort music. Or sort it. Yeah. Made lists. Need to enter them into spreadsheets. Made mini set lists. Played a couple and it was about an hour. And my playing was complete crap. Very very off day.
Do I want to do anything else? Not really.

Goals:
★ Listen to Marcel Tabuteau's Lessons. Listened partway through 3B. I'm having a hard time hearing the differences. I also think voice lessons may help my playing.
Sort music.
Read Sound in Motion
★ Scales
★ Finger mechanics
★ 30DtD LGR. I made notes in my head and now have forgotten them.
30DtD Danza
Another section of Automne

Goal:
★ Read more Sound in Motion
Listen to a couple Marcel Tabuteau's Lessons

Goals:
★ Scales. Yep.
★ Finger mechanics. Yep.
★ 30DtD Danza. Worked on small sections. Section that still needs work: the 4-bar 8th notes. There are some jumps that will take some more work. Also, it's hard not to play this loud.
30DtD LGR. Holy crap my fingers still hurt. I better be building excellent calluses.

Goals:
Get as much done before going out to see Suuns!
Scales. Emphasized different beats - very difficult. Probably should try this at different speeds before the week is up.
Finger mechanics. Yes.
30DtD LGR. Worked on small sections, with dynamics, slowly, and I think it was a big help. Didn't play through with hands apart, because 1) Suuns, and 2) I don't see the benefit since this is a lot of switching between hands, and 3) my fingers were killing me at this point.
30DtD Danza. See above re: fingers killing me. And going out.

Goals:
★ Go through music. I made a spreadsheet. I may add or take away things.
★ Scales week 3. It's hard emphasizing off beats.
★ finger Mechanic. I think my fingers are gradually getting more flexible and independent.
★ 30DtD LGR. This seems to be surprisingly coming together. I need to listen to my recording and mark spots.
☆ 30DtD Danza. I'm not sure what dynamics I want. And I still need to figure out exactly what I'm doing with the left hand.
★ Automne. The parts I'm comfortable with sound great. Got another section marked off.

★ Start scales week 3
★ Finger mechanics
Finish up week 1 of 30DtD with Danza and LGR and start week 2. Even though there was a rest day built in, I needed more than one, apparently.
  ★ LGR - I re-read the intro for Solos for the Harp Player, and learned (again?) that LGR was "suggested" by the Robert Louis Stevenson poem. I'm interpreting the loud part in the middle as the disruption of the water, but maybe something more profoundly darker and terrifying. Worked on smaller sections with dynamics.
  ★ Danza - Found the wiki article about Ernesto Halffter as well as a little info about the ballet (Sonatina, 1928) Danza is from. I can't find any info about Danza de la Pastora itself.  I'm going to try to make it as light as possible. Tried working on small sections, and wasn't really able to pay attention. Went back to this and worked a little harder. It's really repetitive and I managed to get some patterns in my hands.
★ Try to get to one section of Automne. Got two sections done.
★ Decide what to do with Grey Donkeys. I think I just need to set this aside for a while.
Sort through music. May need to make a list, since most everything is in one book.

I slept for 12 hours.

Goals:
★ Scales week 2. Bumped metronome up 4 clicks. Left hand had a little problem in the 6ths at the end turn around into 8ths.
★ Finger mechanics. Stretching still feels good.
☆ 30DtD LGR. Worked on one measure. I don't know why it's so difficult. I'd like to go more slowly to work on dynamics, but also want to really try to follow the schedule. Didn't get to do research in the morning, asked a ref question at work. The just isn't a lot of readily available information on Forst.
☆ 30DtD Danza. Only got to play it slowly with hands together, not separate.
Automne. I've already forgotten this. Geez.
Organize music - maybe if I hadn't started practicing an hour late, I could have gotten to this.
☆ Tried some Bear McCreary BSG music. It didn't work too well.

Ugh, just skipped today completely.

Well, did watch the next vid in the repertoire series.

And I was startled by my 3rd octave E breaking. That's harp-related.

Wiped today.

Goals:
★ Phone call
★ Scales week 2. Bumped tempo to 50. Did ok.
★ Finger mechanics. Stretchy stretchy.
☆ 30DtD LGR. Half-heartedly chained 2 beats.
_______________________________________
This was about 15 minutes. Urgh...

30DtD Danza
Grey Donkeys
Automne

Goals:
★ Scales week 2. I was having a lot of problems with the different rhythms, but then my counting and playing clicked and I kind of got it. I was able to play through the whole thing. I did sections CDE yesterday and AB today.
★ Finger mechanics. Did a couple repeats and stretched.
★ 30DtD LGR. Did this one first and it seems to be coming together. It's difficult not to do detail work, but kind of a relief at the same time.
★ 30DtD Danza. This was easier today. I played hands separately at 3/4 speed, which I had judged to be ♪=176, so 132, and was surprised by how well I did.
This all took about an hour. Not sure what I was doing the past couple days that it took 3.

Goals:
★ Speed up scales. Um... these need work.
★ Finger mechanics. I've forgotten over the years how good it feels to stretch my fingers like this. I need to do this ALL THE TIME.
★ 30DtD Danza. I think I got all the arrangements done as far as replacing the alternating 10ths. Difficult on harp, how do they even play this on the piano.
☆ 30DtD LGR. This is a really hard freakin' piece. Worked hard on two small sections and ran out of energy. Need to do this one first tomorrow!
☆ Section of Automne. Sort of got one?
_______________________________________________
This was another 3 hours! There is not enough time to do what I want. Also, my stamina was shot.

Section of Grey Donkeys. Didn't even get to this.

★ Start scales week 2. I was a little disappointed by how slowly I'm playing, however I have all week to speed up. My right thumb still gets my bicep in on the action.
★ Finger mechanics
☆ Day 3 of 30DtD with LGR. I'm not sure this is the best way of reviving this. I am getting a little more familiar with it again. It's just really hard to play this one hands apart. Although maybe it'd be a really good counting exercise. Also trying numbering my dynamics. I also have problems playing separate dynamics in each hand.
★ Day 2 of 30DtD with Danza. I did the first and last sections. Thank goodness for music that repeats.
★ Work on memorizing Automne with dynamics. I went through my chart and figured out what I need to work on. Dynamics were suspiciously easy to play around with.
☆ Work on one section of Grey Donkeys. At this point I had been practicing for almost 3 hours. And I worked on three chords instead of the six measures in that section.

All this with a headache, too.

Goals:
★ Finish scales week 1
★ Finger mechanics
☆ 30 DtD on LGR - ran out of time
★ 30 DtD on Danza
Ran out of time (1 hr or practicing)                      
Automne section
Grey Donkeys section

Goals:
★ Scale mechanics
★ Finger Independence
★ 1st 30DtD exercise with LGR - not sure how much "practice" with hands apart I did. It's hard not to work on details.
★ Pick something else I don't know at all for 30DtD? or use it for Automne or Grey Donkeys? I will be working on Danza La Pastora by Hafftler. It's got a lot of repetition and I really like it.
★ Do repertoire sorting later. I sorted the "love" pile into "like" and "love" and realized I don't really ever play anymore; I practice. I also now have music all over my floor. Week 1 done.

Labeled sections of LGR per 30 Days to Done

Goals:
Weekly phone call
Scale Mechanics
Week 1 of Repertoire

Achieved:
★ Call done
★ Still going through music, may need to sort into "like" and "love" piles
★ Scales - this time rt thumb was weak again. 3rd fingers on both hands hit nail.?

Still too hot to really play.

Goals:
Eat all the strawberries. Done.
Oh right, harp stuff.
Scale mechanics week 1 (thru Thurs)
I smacked my left elbow pretty dang hard at work, so I'm just doing scales today. And it's really hot.
Read more of Sound in Motion as that doesn't require too much motion.
Plan re-recording based on previous times recorded* to learn pieces.
Look for Bear McCreary sheet music.

Achieved:

★ Scale mechanics with varying rhythms. Right thumb is fine today. Lt hand, not so much, but not surprising.
☆ The previous times I recorded were not helpful because I didn't actually put dates on them. I may try "30 days to done" (ack! which seems to be gone), OH! or the brand new "Music Repertoire Builder Challenge"!!! Or look through the Kaleidoscope practice at the sample charts.
☆ Maybe read Sound in Motion later tonight.
★ Printed out sample sheet. Looks like just BSG book exists. Ordered from Amazon in a heat-induced delirium, canceled order the next day, ordered through ILL. If it works for the harp, then I will order it.

* or noted, both bad puns, but accurate.

Today's goals:
Play one measure of LGR with dynamics*
Do scales exercise
Plot out memorization for Automne
Pick section of Grey Donkeys to work on and work on it - from practice chart

*Work on scale dynamics before getting disappointed trying to do this on LGR?

Achieved
★ Scale mechanics - right thumb is weak
☆ Worked on section of Grey Donkeys, and wore myself out, so it was nice to have the next activity to do. Try not to do too much too soon.
★ Made a practice chart for Automne, divided it up, and put dates on it. I hope I can beat those dates, since I've already done a ton of work on it.
☆ Played a few notes of LGR measure. It's hard to hear with a fan going, and today, I am not turning the fan off.

Thinking about setting up scheduled posts for daily goals and filling in the Achieved section after practicing.

★ Not sure gold stars are helping. ★☺

I finished editing what I could for my album. I now know exactly what I need to work on. Or I should say, which pieces I need to work on. There are several "what to work on"s that could be applied to each piece.

I checked out "Sound In Motion" by David McGill. It explains Tabuteau's numerical method for creating "greater musical expression". Because, dayum, my playing is pretty boring.

I tried to apply the dynamic number system to one of the pieces and realized how little control I have over my fingers - I can neither play at the volume I expect, or play the same volume with the same finger consistently.

My next goal is to apply this method... methodically to Looking Glass River.

Still working on memorizing Automne.

Still working on being able to play Grey Donkeys at all.

Also, doing the scales Monthly Mastery Theme over at myharpmastery.com. Hopefully that will help with control over my fingers, or at least point me in a good direction to achieve that.

Grey Donkeys: need to chain 120bpm eight notes.

Automne: need to re-memorize 2nd section slip-ups. Need to make a practice chart for 3rd section memorization?

Sidelined by a cold. One more phrase of Grey Donkeys learned, I think. Working on the gliss part of Automne. Need to break that down into phrases and memorize.

Prelude 2 edited.

Automne is almost all memorized, I still need to clean up the glissss ie get them more precise.

Grey Donkeys is much more difficult and much more of a workout than I remember. It is going faster than I estimated.

Another phrase done.

Out of energy today. Would rather sew. Tried to get one more phrase in Grey Donkeys learned but couldn't focus. But I'm a month ahead of schedule, so yay.

Part of Automne is memorized to the point I can play with it, not just play it. This is the good stuff.

Need to make a chart for Grey Donkeys.

I have the 1st section of Automne memorized with the exception of one measure, most of the 2nd section and most of the 3rd section.

I have most of Grey Donkeys memorized, but at a very slow speed.

I would like to look into what else might be easily memorized. (Rigaudon is almost there.)

Had fun yesterday trying to work Grey Donkeys back to performance level.  I was surprised and pleased at how easy it was to get it up to speed after a few minutes of intensive work (chaining). I hadn't been able to play it that fast before.

Tried to remember to concentrate on tone while working on arpeggios, but got more interested in playing fast. Was sort of successful, could definitely see improvement from last week.

Played Bells In Snow, (more like sight-read it) because I want snow. Not that I think I can make it snow by playing the harp.  Worked a little more on Prelude Intimes and Automne, both are coming along, and way more easy than what I've been working on for my album.

Bit the bullet and started working on Chaconne again, which is something that needs to be re-recorded.

Octaves with something I can't remember the name of - "Stilts" something? It's in Tiny Tales for Beginning Harpists. Or Beginners. Or something along those lines. I can't be bothered to get up and verify any of these names.

Got one more line of Automne under my belt. Played almost all of Prelude Intimes.

Tried to work on the first page of Rigaudon. I just do not know how to play that fast and loud without my fingers flying off the strings. Or wobbling.

Chords (Communion)
Automne middle section up to ♪=92.
Worked on Rigaudon since that's a piece I need to re-record.

Fiddlehed

Auld Lang Syne

Double notes (Idyllic Poem): Played at ♪ = 40 and it was a struggle!

Went over 2nd part of Automne, need to relearn it. Played almost all of Prelude Intimes. Flagged on very last page.

Got two more lines crossed off Prelude 4.

Played Prelude 2 and Arabesque 1 just because I can now.

Fiddlehed

D scale and variations and part of Intervals Single String.

Trills: Tambourin and (Inquietude)

Old tune review: Automne

Got more measures of Prelude 4 knocked out, and moved on to lines. All lines of 1st and 3rd page done. Second page needs measure and line work.

Will the Circle Be Unbroken
How to Warm Up

Poetical arpeggios and Prelude Intimes. Tried jump to quiet chords in Prelude 2.

Fiddle: Frere Jacques, Ode to Joy, Kerry Polka, Kerfunken Jig.

Bochsa octaves.

Worked on last 2 Prelude Intimes.

Knocked out more measures of Prelude 4.

Played many of the Solos for Harp Player.

Too tired to really do too much. A little bit of double notes, a little bit of review of old pieces.

Fiddle Friday

Did Introduction To Bowing and Introduction To Fingering Lesson 1. Introduction to Fingering Lesson 2 seems to be missing. Played Mary Had A Little Lamb in the key of D major.

RH trills with Tambourin and LH with Poetic Studies.

Went through the rest of Medieval to Modern. Yikes.

knocked out several more measures on Prelude 4.

Using the new practice session structure yesterday I worked on scales from Poetical Studies, ran through Preludes Intimes, and worked on Srebotnjak's Prelude 4.

Notes on the session: I want more speed out of my scales, but can't do that until I've warmed up? It takes a while and takes too much time out of my limited practice time? Will I loosen up over time to the point where I can sit down and bang out some scales quickly? I need to learn the last 2 Prelude Intimes.

Today, I worked on arpeggios from Poetical Studies. I ran through Solfegietto and the first few pieces in Medieval to Modern. Ran out of time.

Notes: My hands feel great.

Sos. Or, "Wow" - with my fingers on the correct keys (although SOS could be appropriate) - I didn't write here that I finished the first draft of my album, ie I got Giga recorded.

However, it's crap, and I'm going to have to re-record it. Editing is underway, which is how I know Giga is crap. Some other things are crap, too, but that may be ok because my microphone was broken during that session.

After getting my album "done", I slipped on practicing (hence the "SOS").  I found a couple resources that helped get me inspired to practice again: http://harpmastery.com/ which is a website run by Anne Sullivan who blogs helpfully and frequently about being better at the harp, and http://fiddlehed.com/ which is a website created by Jason the Fiddlehed who teaches fiddle through multitudinous youtube videos where you can find lesson plans and strategies as well as an extremely helpful daily lesson outline.  Both are extremely encouraging teachers.

Today, I'm running a little behind in my schedule, so I only got to warm up and work a little on Prelude 4.  I'm going to try going over pieces I already know in future sessions, as recommended on fiddlehed as well as an article I read about Salzedo that said he went though an entire recital repertoire once a week.

Worked on Giga mistakes. Last page done.

I think I may have overcome the mental hurdle I had regarding dynamics in Giga. I really buckled down yesterday and did some work one phrase at a time.  Almost note by note.  Which is what I did today, but my brain could only take 1/2 hour of that before it said "no more".  I need to do some cementing, possibly, after test recording tomorrow - with the right disc - of the dynamics in Giga, as well as the left hand in Berceuse. As well as metronome work with Prelude 2.

Recording was a wash today.  Need to work on Giga dynamics in tiny phrases slowly.

Prelude 2 - pause 2 sec, not 3. go over middle section - remember it's a melody.
Giga- really, really exaggerate phrases and remember it's a dance
Berceuse - left hand needs to be quieter but phrased, beginning in general needs to be quieter, pedal change at beginning A♭.
Recording these tomorrow, fingers crossed all goes well.

Picked random measures and worked on them. 3 in LGR. Then played different pieces to for fun but then to see what I had memorized.  I have a lot memorized, except for various lines in various pieces. So I don't have any one thing totally memorized.

Need to listen to the recordings I made because I made voice notes.

Giga is still boring.

Made practice charts for Chaconne and Prelude 4. And something else. It's hard to think with a headache.

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.

Tried to work more on Giga, but I'm burnt out on it.

Results of exaggerating:
- Listen to original Berceuse, more strictly in time and sounds ok.
- Don't pause between measures in Berceuse, make sure glisses dissolve into notes properly.
- Sped up Giga in audacity, don't like the over exaggeration, but some things sound good. Maybe incorporate regular phrasing instead of exaggerated.
- Prelude 2 sounds good, just need to record 3x to find errors and FIX ERRORS.

After all the technical work, Giga now sounds boring.

Options for making it more interesting:
+ Really, really exaggerate the phrasing. Like, REALLY. And record it and see if anything sounds good. (searching duckduckgo brought up a lot of "How to be interesting" articles. Pursue later. Right now, FOCUS.) (Practice these things in small chunks/phrases.)
+ Painting the scene chapter
+ Play along with the recording I really like

Add more as I think of things.

I also need to go back to exaggerating Berceuse. Need to do that and record.

And I need to do that for Prelude 2.

All 'x's erased in Giga.  Record all tomorrow to see where additional 'x's need to be added.

Erased the 'x's off the 1st and almost all the 2nd page. I'm a little sick of Giga.

Berceuse and Prelude 2 are keeping, I think.

Yesterday, I erased more of the 'x's I marked in Giga. I make different mistakes every time, though.

Recorded Giga 3, need to listen and mark copies.

Need to record Giga with changes.

Giga, Berceuse, and Prelude 2 are all very close to being ready to record.

Since I just canNOT play the first ending in Giga, I need to treat each section as a ... section and rit. at the ends, not necessarily leaving a gap, but just making a noticeable ends like I did in Rigaudon. Take a breath.

Still need to get a lot of buzzing out of Giga.

Did not want to practice today. Worked on a little bit of buzzing and missed notes in Giga and meas 24 of Flagello's Sonata.