Pretty good practice today, but we started after dinner, and it might have showed in M’s concentration. We did:
- Note reading (see-say note page @ 42 bpm)
- Note reading/rhythyms (50-measure hurdles with fruit rhythms)
- G scales (normal)
- May Song, focusing on right-hand technique, then doing radio on/radio off
- The Fuhrman Tanz
- The A2 section of With Steady Hands
I decided to start with the note reading off of the guitar, since M finds this fun, and she was nearly flawless: she missed a single note on the see-say note page and only one or two rhythms (and they were hard ones). I have mixed feelings about working off of the instrument, but at least it gives us a positive starting point.
As for her playing, her physical technique is still pretty good (she’s playing with vigor and steadiness in the right hand), but her mental technique is a mess. The first time through May Song, she played it like a salad — instead of returning to the beginning at the repeat, she went to the middle, which she then played three times. She also cut the ending off too soon. And then, when I asked her how it went, she said she played all the right notes!
To deal with this problem, which is a concentration lapse, we did some radio on/radio off, first with her playing and then (for fun) with me playing and her directing. She did fine.
But she then blew the structure of the Fuhrman Tanz the first time through. A third time through, she did a great job, including playing with nice dynamics. Finally, she did a nice job on the A1/A2 sections of With Steady Hands. Given that we haven’t played it in a week, she did surprisingly well.
I remembered to stop on a pretty positive note. As her inter-song activity, I read to her from a Red Riding Hood picture book. And she told this joke:
Once upon a — I’m telling time!