Day 5 - Introducing finger 4

After my initial flurry of sponsorship things had gone quiet on the fundraising front so this afternoon's practise was just for myself. I didn't do anything new, just played through some of the exercises and little studies. I played through Sound the Trumpets and had a think about what to do with the dynamics. There are none printed, as is the case with many grade 1 pieces, but I encourage my woodwind pupils to put their own in as it makes it much more interesting to listen to and to play. With this piece the clue is in the title so most of it can be strong and fanfare-like. Apart from the third line of course (the tricky quaver bit) which can sound like an explosion in a harp factory when I don't quite get it right. I can bring it down a little here then build up for the last line which can be the loudest. Azaleas got some more attention and I am gradually learning this from memory, which was my trick when learning the piano as I couldn't read the notes and look at my fingers at the same time. This was despite my piano teacher's best efforts to get me to look at the music.

A little concerned that the donation total was at a standstill I sent off a few more emails letting people know of my ambitious activities. This at least has been a great motivator to make me get in touch with people I’ve not seen or spoken to for a while. In the meantime the total had increased again and I was able to dedicate this evening's 25 minutes to Charlotte, a fellow clarinettist and woodwind teacher. Charlotte reminded me to do my scales and arpeggios so reluctantly I started these using finger 4 (ring finger) as both scale and arpeggio patterns need this weakest of digits. I did C major and went up and down several times just getting used to it and trying to remember the things Elaine would most likely have reminded me if she'd been watching. it wasn't too bad but I'll do some more exercises on that next time. I've started using the metronome as this gives a good measure of progress. By moving up a notch a day you hardly notice the difference as you build up speed. My scale is currently crotchet = 50 which means I can do just under one note per second. I have 50 days left so by moving up one beat per minute pm a day I could reach 100 by the exam date! Hopefully it will be a bit quicker than that but at least that gives some sort of aim.