Pig Sty Avenue

Here's a new practice regime I've started today: Lilliburlero (x2) - 2-3 mins Mozart Minuet in G (x2) - 2-3 mins Learning Sailor's Song - 20-30 mins All Grade 1 scales and broken chords, x2 - 20 mins (?) PianoNotes game, using keys from Grade 1 scales. (optional) - 10 mins Learning another piece outside Grade 1, eg Waters of Tyne (optional) - no set time Theory book (at keyboard) (optional) - no set time 1-4 plus one from 5-7 are must-do every day, with more at the weekends or if I'm feeling keen in the week.  The reasoning is that I've decided to go with the ABRSM grades to give me structure, so I should therefore use that structure in practice.  Eventually, probably a month or so from now, Sailor's Song  will join the repertoire, to be followed by Chattanooga Choo Choo . And I'll start each practice playing the whole lot through, x2, plus anything else I manage to learn.  This should keep me going until I get the proper keyboard and som...

Sent this week with fairly short practices, usually half an hour a day. I play through Lilliburlero  and the Minuet several times each.  And then some scales and broken chords, mostly C major.  And then  The Sailor's Song.  Sometimes I'll play on PianoNotes. But it feels like I've reached a lull.  Sometimes it's a bit of a chore.  And it's demotivating that after all this time and God only knows how many play throughs, I still can't really play Lilliburlero or the Minuet.  I know all the notes, but there are still hesitations, they don't exactly flow. I think the bottom line is I need a teacher and a proper keyboard to practice on. I can't see anything on line for lessons locally, so I need to think about that one.  And I really need to get out of the hotel and get a flat before I get a proper keyboard.  Which is a whole other story.  Meanwhile, I'll plod on with the midi keyboard and learn everything I need to for Grad...

Temporarily taken aback last night to think I'd lost Lilliburlero got me thinking.  I've been too long stuck in the Minuet and G major.  So this morning I played my meagre repertoire through, several times. I went back to C major scales and broken chords as well as G major.  And then I got started on Swinstead's Sailor's Song , a jolly wee tune , and worked on the first three bars, RH, LH, and then both. So, the plan is to learn the Swinstead, and then Chattanooga Choo Choo , all the while not neglecting Mozart and Lilliburlero , and also practising all manner of scales and broken chords.  I'll need to work out how much time to spend on everything.  I also want to study musical theory, and I've got an ebook for that.  Part of my reasoning for changing focus from one piece and its key, to several pieces and keys, is the realization, (again, courtesy of my old mate Lilliburlero ) that it's impossible for me to get any piece ...

A lot of practice today.  Spent some time this morning with the Minuet, playing it through ten times. And then this evening I sat down at the keyboard and had another ten, but was feeling somewhat minueted-out.  So I thought I'd play Lilliburlero for old times' sake, and... I'd forgotten it. I had to dig out the music, and spend I don't know how long getting it back.  But it did come back.  Memories of the summer in Bedford and the Bluthner where I learned it, and the midi keyboard felt very clumsy by comparison.  Having got Lilliburlero back into the process memory, I went back to the Minuet for a couple of play throughs.  I know my process memory is capable of holding the two tunes, but I realised you need to keep playing the repertoire, even if it does only consist of one and a half tunes, as mine does.  It's difficult to be objective, but the Minuet playing seemed better, perhaps as a result of shuggling the neurons with Lilliburlero?  Anywa...

Because I'm still a very slow reader, I can't really play anything properly until I've got it memorized. I got there this morning with the Minuet.  Which means I can stop worrying about which keys come next, and start listening to it, and getting it to sound right.  It's also much more enjoyable to practice once I get past the decoding stage.  This morning I played it right through twenty times, and was surprised to look at the time and find that I'd been practising for nearly two hours. And I have plenty of time.  It's the Haj eid just now.  Nothing much to do in Saudi at the best of times, but even less during a holiday, so there's plenty of time to practice.  I'm keeping note of exactly how long I practice, and how many times I play the piece, and how long I spend on the note reading games, too.  I'm doing this because I expect learning times to get shorter as I move on to the Grade 1 B and C pieces, and I want to have some data to indicate that...

During a day of orientation seminars, of varying quality, I put together a schedule for practice for the coming week on my iPad calendar.  I've divvied up the Minuet into four parts, and set out to devote my daily hour of practice to just one section, that's four or five bars.  That's working through them 2H, playing quite slowly for the most part, and memorizing them, too.  I should finish that procedure later today with the last part.  And then I've got several days off work coming up next week, with nothing else much to do, so I'll then go on to playing right through, 2H, as I did with Lilliburlero on the Bluthner, Play It Again, and Again, and Again...  With no work to do and time to kill, I won't be limited to an hour a day, so I could get it in the locker by the end of next week.  It'll need a bit of work on a real piano to get it just so, but I'll have done the donkey work.  I've also started to make a note in the calendar after pr...