Piece 9
Nothing dramatic late on Sunday: just practising with the metronome and a pot of something hot. I slowed everything down, which took twenty minutes. Somewhere around 8 scales it started to make sense.
November notes on the practice log
I'm still not sure whether it was the left hand or the weather. In hindsight, the real trouble was a week without practice. Last autumn I would have given up on the score at this point. The notebook says 111 bpm, which is about what I expected.
It took most of the afternoon, which is longer than I'd planned for the piano. I'm learning that learning a new piece rewards patience more than effort. Doing it at a friend’s house made a real difference. It was mild outside, which never helps with practising scales.
What Elodie said about the pedal
The result was steady hands, or close enough. I'll admit I played for friends without checking anything first. I should have known better than to rush memorising a page. Some of a calm performance is luck, and I'm fine with that.
Olive's part in the practice room
My mother, who played every evening would probably have said the same thing about the chord. So I tuned the piano and waited.
I've changed my mind about the scale at least a dozen times this autumn. What worked for a piece I can play, roughly in order:
- Practised scales every day; 77 minutes, noted.
- Then I learned a whole page, around 2 pages.
- Played a piece from start to finish on Monday, with Olive.
- Slowed everything down, which took two evenings on Saturday.
- Played for friends (19 bars).
Compared with last time, it was a clean run-through. I'll leave the piece there for this week.