Day 25 - Taking it easy

It has been interesting hearing the reports from other grade-1-a-bees. There is now another harpist taking on the grade 1 challenge. Robyn is a violist and had her harp lesson a few days after us as she couldn't make the original lesson day. I have not yet met her but I do know her Azaleas is going well while her Rondo has caused a few problems. I know that the levers have caused a problem for one or two and one of our team had a small mis-hap when tuning her harp. She tuned it to E flat but then realised the levers were all up instead of down (or down instead of up? Y'see that’s the problem!) and ended up tuning it to E. She says she retuned but that the harp has not quite recovered! Among other participants, Anne, who is learning percussion, has been attempting stuff beyond the grade 1 level and has had a go at drum rolls. She is also planning the Wrecks-cital on 15 February and is currently putting together a programme of performers. I have put myself forward as I would like some performance practise before the exam day. You tend not to know the pieces until after you have played them three or four times. Any potential mistakes are likely to come out when you are under pressure so some informal performances in front of people are extremely useful in identifying problem areas.

I managed half an hour today and this was dedicated to Dave, a clarinettist and long standing member of the back row of the Palace Band. Dave's session was enjoyable as I played through lots of pieces and just noted what I would like to work on in the second half of the challenge. I made a list: the buzzing of strings as my finger nails hit them, evenness of tone in longer phrases, balance of left and right hands (sometimes bass is louder than the tune), rhythmic accuracy, more flexibility and independence of finger 4, balance of chords. I think that's it. Anyway after dealing with similar issues all day at school I didn't want to think too hard about it so just played for fun. The hard work can start again next week.