Nearly the end of my week off :(

As I come to the end of my week off I realise that I haven't achieved as much as I would have liked to. I have also realised that it doesn't really matter. There are some things that are more important, like spending time with family and friends- the people you care about. I'm also trying to improve myself in other non-musical ways and that requires time and concious effort too.

I have done some practice though... and a ton of listening.

Back to the Piano:

Today I played the first 16 bars of the Bach at six tempos - 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50 bpm

Then I ran the Mintzer Etude at five tempos from 42 - 50

A Major and E Major Scales at crotchet = 50

A New Challenge

I saw a very good gig on Monday night - a local band playing all original compositions. There was some very nice playing and strong tunes... enough to kick my ass and make me want to go away and do some work.

I also bought the Grade 3 piano books yesterday. I spent a little time last night and an hour this morning working through the first sixteen bars of the first piece- Menuet in G from the Anna Magdalena Bach piano book.

I also spent some time playing through the Mintzer Etude - it is still difficult but sounds good.

Quick update

I've been away for a few days so practice time has been limited. I spent about an hour on Friday morning before I set off running through my current four pieces. I did the same thing last night when I got back. I worked in a less structured way than usual - more playing through the material than practising it. This morning I spent about an hour on Wonderful Tonight. This seems to be coming together quicker than the other two Grade 2 pieces. Maybe this means I'm getting better?!

Whilst I was away I bought an excellent biography of Wayne Shorter - Footprints by Michelle Mercer. I've nearly finished it already. Its definitely one of the better musician biographies that I've read (and I've read a whole bunch of them!)

I'm still listening to a lot of the first Brecker CD and it is fast becoming a favourite.

I've also been reading and toying with some of the sections in John Novello's Contemporary Keyboard Player. The improvisation chapters are based mainly on exercises Novello worked on with the enigmatic Charlie Banacos. I'm not expecting to become the next Bill Evans any time soon but its always fascinating to learn more about different approaches to improvisation.