Day 26 continued - Swallows

Friday is a light working day so two sessions were managed this evening. The first, half an hour, was for Becky, assistant conductor and chamber music guru with Palace Band. She is currently dividing her time between Glasgow and London as a performer and teacher and does not recommend the overnight 'sleeper' bus between the two cities. Becky is a wonderful clarinettist and a fine musician and I am honoured to have done a practise session in her name. I'm just glad she didn't hear it! After a warm-up I looked through Harpe d’Or and concentrated on the 'Placing the Fingers' section. All four fingers were used and I played exercises and pieces trying to keep my fingers on the right string. Occasionally a rogue finger rests on a string as I attempt to pluck it with another so I end up with a dull thud. I then moved onto 'Arpeggios with three fingers' and played some little pieces called Swallows I, Swallows II and Swallows III. More the image of a chicken flying than swallows swooping when I play but my birds will take flight one day.

Another 20 minutes was for Ursula, one of many Ursualas who have graced the flute section of the band. Ursula reminded me that after 1 comes 2, then 3 and so on. I thought at first she meant after grade 1 comes grade 2 and so on but perhaps she was reminding me of the beats in a bar. She has seen my conducting after all… I played a couple of tunes from earlier and played scales and exam pieces with the metronome. Scales and Rondo are up to 80 and Azaleas is up to 67 beats per minute. I was making silly mistakes by the end though as I was starting to get tired. Off to the bar!