Friday, May 27, 2011

Day 123: Coming Back Soon

As promised, the clock is still ticking even though I have not been practicing for the past three weeks or so.  I am still in a funk from being unemployed for so long and so other factors, but I think I am at a point now where I can force myself to get back into practicing every day.  I absolutely have not touched the keyboard during this time.  I tried playing a couple of days ago and noticed a bit of degradation in some of my re-learned pieces.  This is something I will address after finishing Maple Leaf Rag and Clair de lune. So, stay tuned because I am getting back into the saddle in the next couple of days.  I think this will help me get out of the funk I am in (coupled with some other upward trending events in my life).  Thank you for sticking with me!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Day 106: In A Funk

Perhaps not being able to practice the better part of the week has pushed me over the edge, but I'm officially now in a full on funk.  I have been unemployed for many months and am going through one of my short phases of hopelessness.  Stick with me.  I'll come out of it soon.  I am not going to stop the clock on my project.  It will continue to roll.  I'm just working on motivating myself to do many things at the moment besides this project.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Day 99: Finger Injury!

I wasn't being careful yesterday while slicing up a cucumber on a mandolin and sliced off the very tip of my middle finger.  Not an injury that warrants going to the ER or anything like that, but I sure am missing a hunk out of the tip of my right middle finger.  It is uncomfortable and awkward to try to practice right now, so I am going to practice in smaller chunks throughout the day.  If it feels like it isn't getting better, I may have to take a break from practicing until it heals.  This makes me very sad and frustrated because I am working on my most favorite piece right now (Clair de lune, if you just tuned in).  Please say a prayer for quick healing.  I'm chomping at the bit to get into intense practice on Clair de lune.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Day 97: Off The Wagon, But Back On Again!

Yesterday just didn't allow me to get practice in after I woke up late. That's OK, because I'm back on the wagon again today and devoting a full hour to practice, albeit broken up in two thirty minute segments since I had to tend to something else after about 30 minutes this morning.  The first 26 measures of Clair de lune are together fairly well.  I will spend a little more time on those measures this afternoon before moving on to the next set of measures tomorrow.


I did focus on those elusive final measures of Maple Leaf Rag this morning and can say with confidence that Maple Leaf Rag is going to be complete this week, once I can play those measures at tempo!  I have a road trip to make this week and some job hunting related stuff to get out of the way, so I may not get to make a completion video for that until next week.