Practice Notes

This is really cool! I established a new Google Calendar, and I'll use it strictly for creating a public practice log. Since I often ask my students how much they practice and how to practice, I want to give some insight into my own practice process.

I'll try to keep it high level and save the minutiae for myself. Plus, if I have a project or piece I don't want to reveal, I might create some type of code word. After all, mystery is sometimes a good thing!

approx. 2 hours

Downloaded lead sheets and listened to professional recordings of the three pieces we'd practice on Sunday for Wednesday's service.

30 minutes

I read through some of the first three pieces in the suite before deciding to work up the Tango for a Music Monday recording.

1.5 hours

Recorded two Music Monday episodes:

• Tango from España - Albeniz
• WTC Book 1 P&F #13 in F# Major - JS Bach

1 hour

I decided I'd like brush up the Bach WTC Book 1 that I learned in 2018-2019 to record and present it in December 2021 via an online Advent calendar. I would present one P&F each day and then something different for Christmas day, all pre-recorded throughout the year.

To get this started, I wanted to practically see how much work this might take, and also get one recording in the can. I chose the F# major because of its bright mood - good for the New Year - and its average difficulty. I think the project is doable, but I'm not fully committing to it just yet.

2.5 hours

My second P&F to record will be this one. I practiced hands separately, then together, on the prelude. I also did some minor fingering changes.

I didn't get very far in the fugue, besides reading it through. Since it's a 4-part fugue, my estimate is around 1.5 to 2 hours to get it back in shape to record.

30 minutes

I tried to edit the recordings I made on Sunday night for two separate Music Monday posts. However, I found that the Windows software I purchased doesn't recognize the MOV/QuickTime file format used by my Zoom Q2n-4k Video Recorder. So frustrating!

I have another solution, but it requires using my MacBook, which I didn't want to take 5-10 minutes to set up. Instead, I wasted about an hour, though I was able to multi-task.

1 hour

I set up my MacBook to do the video editing, which was really quick, but then transferring the files via Dropbox failed for some reason, even though both computers were connected via LAN cables.

I solved the Dropbox issue by just terminating all of the Dropbox processes on my computer and then relaunching; I could have rebooted and that would have done the same thing. Again, I was able to multi-task, but it was still annoying!

1 hour

Downloaded lead sheets and listened to professional recordings of the three pieces we already practiced on Sunday for tonight's service.

20 minutes

Downloaded lead sheets and listened to professional recordings of the three pieces we will rehearse tomorrow for Wednesday's CCM service.

20 minutes