I took lousy notes, but here’s what I mostly recall about today’s practice:
- We did half before dinner and half afterwards. This worked pretty well. We stuck with tossing coins.
- We started with lots of note reading. She continues to enjoy it and excel at it.
- We worked on Song of the Wind, and M kept making the same mistake in one section. I coached her to identify the mistake, and then we played the problem section together over and over.
- I discussed the concept of targeted practicing: figuring out what particular area of your playing needs work, then focusing on that when practicing.
- We worked a little on With Steady Hands (perhaps just on the B1/B2 sections?). Though we haven’t practiced it much, she’s doing well with it.
- We probably worked on some other song or exercise, but I’ll be darned if I can recall what. I’m sure we talked about playing musically, since that’s one of our assignments this week from her studio teacher. (Perhaps I asked M to play the Furhman Tanz with attention to musical details? Who knows?)
This recap is embarassingly vague. I usually ask M what she thought of her playing when she finishes a song, and I always make her give me specifics, since “good” or “not so good” isn’t informative enough. And here I am, very short on specifics.