New recording space is much more promising.  Recordings sound so much better, despite me still playing like crap. Will practice more this week and play with recordings in audacity in prep for recording next week, as well.  I think I'll try Berceuse and have Chaconne as backup.

Nervously testing out a potential recording space tomorrow. Still have tender fingers from latest bout of not-playing.

Played Zarabanda a few different ways to see if it made more sense. It was fun and did make a difference, but I'd need to record it to hear it. And I'm so leery of recording right now.

Got another piece of equipment for field recording, namely latex foam to wrap around the mic holder to minimize the noise of my creaky finger joints. For a buck fifty, too.

Played with FL10 and followed a tutorial that went way too fast for me, but I was actually able to make the same sounds.

Today was the first session of field recording/writing/playing with Audacity that I set up for myself.  Here's how it went:
- Turned on recorder yesterday to find batteries dead.
- Tried to record around the house with power plug.
- Spent 1 hour of part of hour set aside for both field recording and writing going to store for batteries.
- Sat down to write and spent most of time organizing all the little bits of paper I've written stuff on into one space.
- Downloaded sounds off my microphone.

My hand was doing much better until I started knitting. :/

I did practice, can't remember what I did. Oh, right. Tried to record Chaconne again.  Was disappointed again. Need to find someplace free and quiet.

Tried to record again today and was successful in not having background laundry/construction noise, but my fingers hurt so much I couldn't do very much. And whatever I did to my tendon by sleeping on it however is still hurting. Very disappointed.

However, was wondering about recording on four tracks with microphone and turning up back mics to get more room sound.

Didn't get to record today because massive amounts of road construction going on right outside my building. However, that gave me time to figure out maybe why I haven't been able to play one particular part of Chaconne is because I needed to change the fingering.  It works better now, but now I have to get it in muscle memory.

Tried to record today, but a combination of cold weather, someone running water the entire time, and me not setting up the microphone properly conspired against me.  Maybe tomorrow.

Also got suggestion from friend to try local community college for rentable recording spaces. Or free.

Chaconne - played through a few times and marked dynamics. Some trouble spots disappeared on their own.  Need to, tomorrow, do dress rehearsal.

Arabesque - tried to cement what I recently learned.

Imp Cap - one more line.

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. :(