If I play Chaconne slowly, I think I'll be able to record this week after I work out more problem spots that showed up in this round of test recordings.  My scales sound incredibly even on the recording and incredibly uneven in my ear when playing.  Weird.

Tomorrow need to sit down and listen to the three take and mark another copy of the music, work through them, then pressure test.

Another good practice session, I think. 

Chaconne - another area chained. Need to see tomorrow if it held, and record again tomorrow to see where I am for recording for real next week.  My tendons are starting to hurt faintly and I realized while playing this it's because of the harmonics.  Need to find some sort of exercise to prevent tendons from hurting when my thumbs twist, or prevent my thumbs from twisting altogether.

Arabesque 2 - Drilling trills slow to fast seems to finally have paid off.  Now just need to speed up placing and I think I'll have this. 

Really good practice today - was able to concentrate on chaining needed part of Chaconne and have success. Need to chain more tomorrow - section marked.  Stopped early because my fingers are STILL tender and I want to sew.  My fingers appear to be getting tougher, but not quickly.

Also started the process of getting permission to record copyrighted pieces for an album.  First step appears to be getting a mechanical license.  Actually, first step is finding out who owns the copyright, or where pieces are registered. It's confusing.

Chaconne - passage marked for chaining.

Chaconne - worked on buzzes.

Arabesque - one more measure sped up. PLaying at speed is hit or miss.

How to get my hands to do the same thing every time.

Tomorrow work on blue - buzzes.

In prep for recording again, going through Chaconne and concentrating on a different color for each work session. Green for tempo.Need to work on scales.

Ok, so maybe I have blisters on all my fingers.

I think I gave myself 3 blisters today. One for sure because it's visible, and possibly two more that are hidden deep under the skin.

Yesterday, I made a practice schedule out through the end of September 2014. Then I read that your learning time either expands or contracts to fill the time you've allotted yourself to learn  said thing. Based on that, I'm going to revise the schedule as I go along to try to push myself to get things done more quickly.

However, like today, when pushing myself I quickly see what my limits are. And they are short. Very, very short.

I need to work on trills with rt hand 1&2 exercises for Chaconne.

Chaconne - exercises have helped, still need to do them over and over for... another week?

Arabesque - exercises have helped, still need to do them over and over. Got to check off two more measures.

ImpCap - more lines learned

Arabesque - still need to work on second trill

Chaconne - Almost. Done.  I still need to convince myself I already know line 1 on 3rd page and then learn next line and I'm done except for polishing.

I've been listening to Zarabanda and I don't like the way it came out. :(

Chaconne - chained again.

So, I wasn't going to play for very long today, because of blisters, but I completely lost track of time and 1.5 hours later had another blister.

ImpCap - pg 8 line 1 needs going over again.

Arabesque 2 - need single work on 2nd 16th notes 2nd measure

Chaconne - laughable

Arabesque 2 - The 16th note exercises are working. So well that I have a blister on my thumb. I also have one on my 3rd finger of same hand, but don't know what that's from.

Chaconne - One more stubborn measure.  Chaining helped a little bit, need to do it again.

ImpCap - more random lines.  Seems to be going quickly, but I set myself low goals.

Arabesque - Played through as fast as I could. Gaps between each eighth note pair needs to go away.

ImpCap- One more line

Chaconne - one phrase worked a little faster. Need to go over it again.

One more line in ImpCap.

Chaconne - Fast chords seem to have had time to sink in. And if I concentrate.

Back from vacation

I'm so happy to be playing again. So happy that I played for 2 hours straight and noticed a lot of muscles are kept up when playing constantly.  My tensor fasciae latae, for example is used quite a bit when pedaling. My shoulder is also fatigued. And the muscles I built up in my thumb to play Arabesque 2 are atrophied.

Chaconne - I need to skip over the problem measures and go for the remaining 3 or 4. Then go back to the hard ones.

Arabesque 2 - I fudged and checked a measure off just so I'd have something to check off. It's getting disheartening.

ImpCap - Just taking it easy. 1st 2 pages checked off.

New string in place, played until my hands got shaky.  Tendon still hurts, even after resting on vacation. Got 2nd page of ImpCap to 80.

It's really difficult to practice with a(nother) broken string.  This time it was the 2nd octave A. One of the ones I don't have, of course.  Every time I sell an album, a string breaks. Coincidence? I think not.

A little chaining done and marked on Chaconne and it worked brilliantly. Wish I had time/energy to do whole piece.