Date: 03 May 2009

Practice Time: 1 hour

Material Practiced:

Scales: B-Major: 2-Octave Scale & Contrary Motion

Time Spent: 30 Minutes

Hanon: Review of Exercises 2&3

Time Spent: 15 Minutes

Pieces: Bach – Polonaise & Minuet

Time Spent: 15 Minutes

Comments: Hello everybody, today I practiced after taking yesterday off. I started with a cold opening of the Bach Polonaise. Everything went fine until I reached the last phrase, until I made a flub. I corrected it and it took me about 3 tries to play the piece through without any mistakes. I then went on to the scales and did the same routine as last time, except I was able to play the octave motion a little faster, and I mastered the contrary motion at 60 BPM, so next time I’ll try it at 80 BPM. I don’t really agree with Chang’s claim that the B-major scale is easier to play than the C-major scale – personally, I think while the B-major is a lot easier to play than it seems on paper, the black keys are still more slippery than the white ones so it’s harder to be accurate. After finishing up the scales I played about 15 minutes of Hanon, and then took a five minute break. Afterwards, I did some more repetitions of the Polonaise to reinforce my memory, and then I started to review the 2nd Minuet. I played slowly and made a lot of mistakes at first, but after a try or two I was able to play the first half of the piece at a reasonable tempo without mistakes, though I thought my articulation could use some work. Next time I’ll start on the second half of the piece to finish my review.

As for my hands, they’re ok, but my right index finger felt a bit weak today. It’s not nearly as bad as that weird feeling I felt back in the winter, but as a precation I don’t want to push it. So I may or may not play tomorrow, I’ll decide in the afternoon after watching the condition of that finger.