Today we practiced after dinner. We did:
- Song of the Wind with the metronome. Yesterday’s repetitions paid off — M played all the right notes. Areas to improve:
- The second repetition often was weaker than the first. I pointed out that this is a pattern we see in several songs.
- The rightness of M’s right-hand fingering was variable. She had a hard time remembering to start on her “m” finger, but she gave a good effort.
- M’s left-hand fingering got sloppy as she got faster, but she was rock-solid with the metronome, even up to 100 bpm.
- Conducting. M got off of her pattern a lot at first (i.e., she was going sideways on the downbeat, not down), but this improved.
- Perpetual Motion with A-M fingering. This was remarkably good — M played with authority, and paid good attention to what she was doing. The novelty must have helped. She did, however, have problems keeping track of her place in the song’s structure.
- Perpetual Motion on the G string. This was also remarkably good, though M again had problems knowing where she was in the song’s structure.
As our activity, M pitched coins again. She picked out some plastic bugs before the lesson to earn as bonuses when she got a coin in the glass.
Overall, a pretty good lesson, particularly given the lateness of the hour.