I didn't feel good about my practice this week. There were four days where I could play through everything I am working on. It took a little over half an hour to cover it all. Looking back I feel as though, while I did practice everything, I didn't give each item enough attention in each session for the sake of trying to make sure nothing was missed. Perhaps I need a schedule so I can give each item enough time even if it isn't every day.
Sirisha and I were in a bigger room today and it was pretty cool. There was no mucking about. We started with Paploma - our Greek duet. Sirisha told me that she thought Greek singing and Indian singing were quite similar. She has seen a youtube clip of the song. Her brother was listening from another room and could not see it but he made a similar comment. My lack of preparedness showed here. All too often I would miss my place and had a terrible time trying to find it again. Hopefully this is one thing playing a duet will teach me - don't worry if you lose your place, catch up as soon as you can.
After this there was time for sight reading. I'm pretty good at it and I really enjoy it. I want to work my way up to the point where I can pick up a piece of music and make a good go of playing it straight away. Obviously not all music is that simple (I am sure Paganini's caprices will still be hard to learn and harder to master) but some other music should be okay.
I finished the three bowing methods for my two-octave G Major scale. Then it was music theory and learning about minor scales. Specifically, G minor melodic.Finally. A minor scale. Now I can make any song depressing by playing in this scale. Have you heard Mary Had A Little Lamb in this scale? It sounds like she is taking the lamb to the abattoir.
My exercise for this week, while better, still needs work. Laura suggested for this piece, and probably for Paploma and others, I should keep my first finger down to use as an anchor point for second, third and fourth finger. I found that I don't need to put down all of the lower fingers when I play a higher finger. In fact, it is often easier to stretch the third and fourth finger when the other fingers are not down.
Rather than play any of my works in progress and knowing that many of them are close to being finished, and the fact I have no lesson next week, Laura asked me to choose a new piece. I had to choose between a Telemann piece (Sieben Mal Sieben Und Ein Menuet) and a Polish song about injections. Check out the clip and admire the gorgeous dark colour of this young lady's violin. I settled for the Telemann piece. Both songs were rather pretty but I felt I was lacking classical pieces. I would like to come back and learn the other song - Ajajaj!!! Nie Lubię Zastrzyków.
And that was it for me. As I said, no lesson next week. I am on leave from work and spending time at home with the family. It is also my son's 14th birthday on the Tuesday and we are having a gathering at home. In any case, I have much to go on with for the time I actually get to play violin between now and the next lesson.
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