Day 6

Wow...6 days in a row. (Though I'm still not doing the NoMo stuff. A holdout and non-joiner in general.)

I worked more on the Janacek Nursery Rhymes concentrating on co-ordination of the sixteenths (there's many). The thing about this piece is not just the fact that it's difficult, it's a little awkward in fingering as well. Maybe that's the arrangement of the woodwind writing. But many composers write awkward passages...Brahms comes to mind (thinking of the viola parts in the symphonies) and that is great music. And this Janacek is a good piece as well.

One of my teachers insisted that when learning a piece, one has make sure to do two things:

1. Look at and study the score to see how the other parts fit.
2. Become familiar with the other pieces the composer has written. And not just the string repertoire. Listen to the symphonies, operas, art song etc. Learn the composer's language.

As of now, five months before the concert, I have done neither. Shame on me.
Its time to address that.

I also worked on five measures of Campagnoli, working up the tempo to quarter equals 132. In the recording I notice that I still have the tendency to shorten the last note of the four-note pattern, trying to get to the next beat. Have to remind myself that there is lots of time to fit all the notes.

'Til tomorrow!