Practice was GOOD!

I missed two days of practice due to sore fingers (one had a hang nail; and the other, got a back cat claw right through the knuckle - ouch!) Last night was the first night both fingers were well enough to practice.

I was surprized at how well I am playing through my pieces. My teacher told me to pick some pieces from Book 2 and concentrate on performing them well (for this summer). I am still working on Gavotte (Book 3), and the chamber pieces from Strictly Stings Book 2 (about 2-4 selections where I play the bass/cello part for violin and piano). For my "performance" pieces, I am concentrating on Schuman's "The Two Grenadiers" and Schubert's "Berceuse" (pictured left). Both are slow pieces, which will allow me the time to play them with more concentration. I do better with the slow ballads, though I do love the runs through many of the selections in Book 3.

My goal is to be able to play Book 1-3 really well, as well as possible. My teacher is wanting me to slow down, and while I understand that, there is part of me that loves the challenge of new pieces. I just am not the kind of student who can play the same piece over and over and over again. I like to play it for a while, then move on. Oh well!

Yesterday was another really good practice day, and my next lesson (Thurs) and chamber day (Wed) will be this week. I would really like to "impress" my teacher, and show her how hard I have been working these past two weeks (she was on vacation last week -- so I got extra time off).