Folk Song 2 - Started speeding up and adding dynamics. I think that may be too many things at once for my poor brain. Think I should maybe only go up to 80 instead of 100. But then it's good to play fast to see where the weak points are. ???

After 2 lines at full volume (there are interesting dynamics in these Folk Songs - left hand has almost a carillon feel to it) my thumbs were almost toast, so I just played through some other pieces in the rest of the book.

Spent all day and a good part of yesterday working on de-clipping Berceuse recording. There is still some clipping I absolutely can't get rid of. But whatever. It is now up. Oh, be careful on the volume because of the clipping.

I'm tired. Hooray.

Thanks again to dad for hosting. :)

Berceuse - actual link to music.

It's on this page.

Berceuse - almost ready for recording - just a slight dynamics issue in a couple measures. I would have recorded today, but: 1) unusual headache, and 2) weird band practicing across the street is SO LOUD, it sounds like the washer unbalanced in the next room.Seriously need a quiet space.

LGR - 1st page seems to be the holdup, otherwise it's fine. Can't record it if I can't start it. Oh, and other than the chaining needed on very last line, but as I just proved to myself, it's totally doable. Just didn't do it today (see above).


Folk song - all lines learned, 1st page played 3x times no mistakes.

Almost all of Folk Song 2 learned. At ♪=50, it is so slow I can't even speed it up in Audacity and get anything listenable. It's got some crazy dynamics, too, and I'm looking forward to that.

Berceuse - More pressure testing. It amazing to me how new and unexpected mistakes pop up out of nowhere on things that had been smooth as glass before.

LGR - at this point my pedals were flying up like crazy so I called it quits.

Folk song - one more line

Berceuse - pg 3 5x no mistakes. started pg 4, too tired.

LGR - did chaining in right hand for last two lines, need to do left.

Wrote a song in the past 3 days, forgot I would also need time to record it.

Folk song - one more line

Berceuse - smoothed over some trouble spots, but didn't get through all 5x on page 3.

Berceuse - can definitely tell I've done recording prep on only pg 1 & 2.  Need to do that with pg 3 & 4. Like I wrote down on my list!

LGR - continues to slide backward. ???

Folk song 2 - one hour to learn another measure. Granted, that measure had a chord that spanned 1.5 octaves and I've always had problems with those.

Started to get comfortable playing LGR at 100 again.

I think Berceuse is ready for recording.

First page of Folk song 2 learned. Realized I tend to be sloppy during the slow part of learning assuming I'll fix it later so I'm trying to take care learning it, lnowing what that will save me later. Basically, trying to pay attention to detail NOW.

Wrote a little bit of music. Not sure where it's going and don't know if I want to plan it or let it happen.

Analyzed Chameleons and learned I lost a lot of what I learned in music theory. And can't tell what key Monkeyland is in. Is it F# major or D# minor?

Need to go back to step 3 for LGR.

Set up sessions for Chinese Folk song 2.

Listened to Berceuse and cleaned up the left hand (sloppy!) and switched to less squeaky shoes and now need to polish up pedal changes - again.  Then go through and play all 5x without mistakes. 

Getting more comfortable playing it.  I guess I really do better when I take breaks between practice sessions.  Which means I could probably be learning 2 or 3 things at a time.

LGR - Apparently I need to relearn this. Everything is gone from my recuperation.

Berceuse - added clarification to "prep for recording": made test recording, now need to take notes on that, turn off heaters before recording, and work on improvements.

My thumbs are finally feeling better.

I realized I don't need to necessarily practice the cells I designed in order.

Somehow flared up my De Quervain's right before practicing.

Berceuse - still recording times to achieve goals. I have a wonky idea of how long things take, and what I can do in said times.  Still trying to play pages 1 & 2 x5 with no mistakes. Got page 1 done in the midst of that, in one hour.

LGR -page 1 x5 with no mistakes: I had to break it up into measures and play those x5 with no mistakes at varying tempos, then played page 1 faster than tempo, then at speed. Took one hour. And then I discovered I'd been reading 2 notes wrong. I think those are going to be tricky to fix since they are firmly cemented in my hands.

Short practice - too tired and fingers sore, but still managed to get everything done for today.

Started transcribing Street of Crocodiles by Leszek Jankowski.

Checking more things off my list. It's nice to know I'm accomplishing things and don't need to keep track of what I have to do next. And rotating what I learn seems to be beneficial for my hands as well as brain.

I've transcribed all the Chameleons stuff I wanted. I do not understand the key changes at all. I think if I played guitar it would make more sense.

Figured out how to play last line of LGR faster, but it makes my hand cramp after working on speeding it up for 20 minutes.
Continuing to check off cells from practice chart.

I did overuse my fingers yesterday, but it's ok because I had other things to work on today based on my schedule, and got them done.  I'm surprised with the discrepancy between what I thought I could do when scheduling and what I can actually do.  I'm going to start timing myself to see how long it takes me to accomplish the cells, because I'm getting everything done in about an hour, and when my fingers are working, I can do about 3 hours of practice.

I actually started View from a Hill yesterday, not Nathan's ... whatever.  It's another beautiful, yet easy, one.

Wow, planning out my practice sessions is so much more efficient. I could almost have done more today, were it not for both LGR and Berceuse being really hard on my left 2.   I will be curious to see how much time planning out my next piece saves me. Or if I can learn more than 2 pieces at a time.

Transcribed On the Beach and started Nathan's Phase. Ahead of schedule, thank you very much.

Marathon transcribing of songs to get back on schedule. I finished Monkeyland, started and finished Singing Rule Brittania, and started On the Beach. Monkeyland was such a difficult song for me to figure out. I think because I deviated from my usual method and tried to get help with guitar tabs. They were not helpful at all.  I'm also learning that the songs I like the best are, disappointingly, the simplest. I egotistically thought I had sophisticated taste. Apparently not. However, I liked the more complicated songs more after I transcribed them.

I went through my music and planned out the practice sessions I need to do before the end of the month. If all goes according to schedule, I'll be ready to record at the end of the month. So far, knock on wood, my calluses are getting more robust. Hopefully they won't peel off.

I managed to get all the cells I had scheduled for my session today done in the hour I had left for BOTH pieces. It's mostly going to be work on the dynamics and getting up to speed.

Yeah, need to work on dynamics. Will outline that tomorrow.

LGR needs to be slowed down. It wasn't ready to be sped up to 100.