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.

How to practice when you get back from vacation

This is a transcript of a phone call with Anne Sullivan. She has an abbreviated version on her blog, too.

Your first week back, don't play louder than mf. Practice as much as feels good, not burdensome.

Day 1: Play slowly. Use a beginner technique: all fingers on strings, place and hold. Don't practice.

Day 2: Refreshers again. Play quietly. Play your repertoire.

Day 3: Focus on speed, etudes, and another repertoire piece.

Day 4: Play faster, you are almost ready to start working again.

Day 5: Focus on almost everything.



This is day 2 for me, and I played through all of my repertoire, mostly quietly and mostly slowly.

Played very gently (for me) to get back into playing. Rt wrist DeQuervain's is hurting. Left tennis elbow hurting.

Would like to analyze effectiveness of the 30 Days to Done courses I've used this year.

★ 30 DtD Chaconne. Recorded it again?  Need to go back and record flavor variations.

★ 30 DtD. Giga.  Was able to play with Judy Loman's recording. Recorded.

Recorded Tambourin and Prelude 4.

Need to live with these recordings for a week.

30 DtD Chaconne. Recorded. Will listen tomorrow, ulp. Made so many mistakes as soon as i turned the recorder on.

30 DtD Giga. Did 1st part on 1st part.

Played like crap today. Still need to finish Giga. Maybe I need to slow both down.

SNOW DAY!

30 DtD Chaconne. Exhausting work. Couldn't keep my fingers on the strings.

30 DtD Giga. Skipped 1/2 the task because I didn't think I needed it.

Ran through Tambourin and Prelude 4. And 5!

And now, possibly, a nap. 

I'm behind! I really hope we have a snow day tomorrow.

30 DtD Giga. And now I can't play it fast. I think it will be ok, though. Still a lot of detail work needed.

30 DtD Chaconne. Got the last page done. Need to finish other 5.

30 DtD Chaconne

30 DtD Giga. Had a thought playing lower on the strings might help the left hand in the fiddly bits. We'll see. And I can play it with the original recording that I thought was ridiculously fast.

Worked on Bells in the Snow again. I think the multiple harmonics touch off my tennis elbow.

Still not motivated to practice, so played around with Mortari's Gagliarda and Tournier's Cloches sous la Neige.

You say potato, I say portato

Portato  - basically the opposite of ritardo. What I do with the falling notes in Zarabanda.

So not motivated to play today. Disappointing repertoire day.

Urg. Struck down with cold/allergies/general malaise.