December 9, 2019--Practice Blog

No picture today. On the whole, it has been a good and eventful day. It began really early with a final exam at 8 am. Meant I had to be at my office by 7:45 am to print out the exams. I then made 1.5 gallons of coffee and gave the first of three exams for this week. Could have gone better. 15 weeks in, the students are ready to be done--and it was 8 in the morning. I then graded papers until noon, when I drove across town to accompany a high school choir. When I got there, I found out the schedule had changed and I wasn't needed. So, I went and grabbed lunch before returning to my office to finish grading papers and teaching a piano lesson. I then went and practiced organ for an hour and a half before coming home to practice piano for half an hour before dinner. After dinner, I had one more rehearsal. And that brings me to now.

On the piano, I worked on accompaniments for a concert this Thursday for a local high school. The music isn't all that hard, but there is a lot of it (about 60 pages altogether). It takes time to get through it all in one sitting.

On the organ, I worked on a variety of things. In dulci jubilo (BWV 729) just to firm up the section near the end starting with the triplet section. I can play it, but it doesn't feel fluent yet. I also worked on BWV 536. Both Prelude and Fugue. The Prelude I was trying to get it sped up. The goal is around 96 to the quarternote. Right now it is at 82 to the quarternote. The notes of the fugue still seem to be eluding me at times. The second pedal entrance was the issue today. Worked on stopping every measure and reorienting myself and then moving forward. I then worked on Wayne Wold's Wachet Auf Suite. For the most part the notes are all there and at speed except for the last movement. I'm not sure if I was just getting tired or if I had let it slip a bit too much. Will return to it tomorrow. I finished with playing through David Wilcock's Postlude on Mendelssohn twice. Once under speed, which felt good and comfortable, and the second time about at speed, which felt wooden and inflexible. Another thing to return to tomorrow.