Slogan: Challenge Myself, Enjoy the Moment

Hye Friends,
I was doing pretty well with my daily practice, now that I am doing more things and have to schedule time spent in a couple of areas for other people, I am trying to figure out which is the best time of day for me to do the sorts of things I work at and when I have the best energy for an activity.

I started practicing all the pieces for the month, the best time was during the early afternoon. Then I went to a friend's and she had said to bring the music I am working on, so ~ yup, you guessed it, left the book there, sigh. So now I practice the first few bars of what I have memorized till I go back over next week for another session and try to remember to bring it back with me. The thing about having a schedule is that I don't really have time to get off it and improvise. I need it easy, available and ready to go.

Do I sound whiney? I'm tired and it feels like I deserve better. O Poor Me!!!!!!!!

Cheers, Meg

Slogan: Challenge Myself, Enjoy the Moment

Hye folks,
I have been working on things and not getting back to the blog for any uupdates. Part of the problem is that I am trying to stay away from being online so much. I see it as an addiction that distracts me from doing any actual work. It also seems that when I don't have the TV on in the morning, I am not as inclined to be around the computer either.

Anyway, this is supposed to be about the harp not other parts of my life.

I went thru the monthly lists of music I've created for the blog and come up with 18 individual pieces, not including Christmas, that I have chosen over the year and few of them are at the point of being as good as I would like them. Could I sit down and play each evenly, play the music not the notes? NO. Could I play all without music? NO. Do I have two handed playing under control? NO. Those are pretty big questions that I don't believe I have a good handle on. So, this month I want to try going thru the songs at least once to see how accomplished I am in each. If I have some that I feel confident in and don't need to continue working every day then I'll put them aside and practice the ones that need more work.

Doing scales for a warm-up is a good workout. That would give me a place to sart, working in glissandos, triads, cross-overs, etc. Next, do each piece in easy/hard combinations once thru to check on my skill in them. I'll have to work in this manner for a day or two and try to discover what needs the most work on to improve so that I have a good selection that I can play at the same skill level.

Gotta go now and find all the music I need for the month in progress.

Cheers, Meg

Slogan: Challenge Myself, Enjoy the Moment

Hye folks,
Well, again I have not done a summary for the end of the month. This one sort of snuck up on me and I only realized it this morning when they were talking about it being July 1st, a holiday here in Canada. They used to call it Dominion Day, but there have been changes and I don't know what it is right now . . . sigh.

Last month I practiced the work that Alyson had given us at the May lesson. Then I lost track of time and ended up not going. I was getting the two hands fairly well - for me that is. I was still practicing the Christ Child's Lullabye for the two hand experience. Worked on most of the small pieces and pulled out Greensleeves, that I used to play so lovely. At the moment it feels like I have too much music going on and I'm trying to go in too many directions. In some way I don't even know what that means; its all the small pieces that I have been working on, no different styles, maybe I just don't have a good way to practice them. One I work on daily and too much, another I keep putting off till I plan to sit down and have lots of time, others I run thru a few times checking on the fingering, but not really giving it the time and attention it needs. Seems like sloppy work.

I won't make a list of music today, I am going to go sit with the music books and look over the lists I've made over the past year, check also on the goal that I set and where I am with it. We're getting close to the end of the year and I don't want to forget that I had a goal in mind originally. I'm hoping that I am accomplishing something, but with no regular check going on its hard to tell what I am doing. If I choose to continue with it for another year, I am going to have to change a few things, one of them being to check the beginning, the previous month, keep a better set of small goals that will create a completed project. Maybe I'll have to set a special thing in place, like a recital for Noreen or someone like that.

One thing I want to do is get a friend who plays also, to show me how I can get more out of the levers I have. Not knowing that much about the theory of music, I don't have a handle on that part of things.

Okay, I'll be back later or tomorrow with the new list of music for the month and any info I discover in my travels thru the previous months.

Cheers, Meg