Mozart Minuet in G, memorized

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 sort of progress, which will help with motivation if I ever falter in that regard. 

Three more days of holiday, mostly just stuck in the hotel room, so I'm hoping the Minuet is musical by the end of the week, if still somewhat imperfect.  And I really need to get onto a proper piano to polish it off.  Which I'm looking forward to: I'd look on a real piano, any piano, like a long lost comrade now.  Though it's all cool, the midi keyboard has probably been helpful in strengthening the fingers, the action is so much heavier than the real thing. It felt like very hard work a few weeks ago, but it feels almost normal, now.

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