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catsittingstillI spent the morning working on the sheet music songbook for the album.
Then I got into practicing. These days I'm doing half an hour of pure mandolin practice to start. Six pieces (I have about fifteen that I'm working on and I take turns with them) done for five minutes each, by the timer on my iPod. I start out slow and try to place each finger perfectly--including not letting them wave wildly around above the fingerboard when they're not actually in use. Then I speed up until the timer goes off, trying to keep from tensing up, particularly my right shoulder which for some reason thinks I could play better if I were tense as a wire. When the timer beeps, I change to a new piece.
Then I run through my concert set for Confluence, which is about half an hour worth.
Then I work on a new piece or two--currently "Enlightenment's Child" which grew a mandolin counterpoint a couple of weeks ago and "Normal" which is the new one I wrote. "Drying Line" rotates through that position too, and I keep meaning to do something more with "Hydrogen Burns."
Then I listen to some songs I'm going to help someone with in another concert and try to do them.
I have to take breaks in between. About half an hour of singing is what I can handle right now: I got kind of out of shape during the run-up to gettting the album off to Oasis, when the pure mando practice was pretty much all I was doing.
My fingertips are starting to feel a bit like little hooves. But I think my playing is getting better. Now if I can just keep it up while I have family over.
Then I got into practicing. These days I'm doing half an hour of pure mandolin practice to start. Six pieces (I have about fifteen that I'm working on and I take turns with them) done for five minutes each, by the timer on my iPod. I start out slow and try to place each finger perfectly--including not letting them wave wildly around above the fingerboard when they're not actually in use. Then I speed up until the timer goes off, trying to keep from tensing up, particularly my right shoulder which for some reason thinks I could play better if I were tense as a wire. When the timer beeps, I change to a new piece.
Then I run through my concert set for Confluence, which is about half an hour worth.
Then I work on a new piece or two--currently "Enlightenment's Child" which grew a mandolin counterpoint a couple of weeks ago and "Normal" which is the new one I wrote. "Drying Line" rotates through that position too, and I keep meaning to do something more with "Hydrogen Burns."
Then I listen to some songs I'm going to help someone with in another concert and try to do them.
I have to take breaks in between. About half an hour of singing is what I can handle right now: I got kind of out of shape during the run-up to gettting the album off to Oasis, when the pure mando practice was pretty much all I was doing.
My fingertips are starting to feel a bit like little hooves. But I think my playing is getting better. Now if I can just keep it up while I have family over.
Yay!
Date: 2012-07-07 08:11 am (UTC)Re: Yay!
Date: 2012-07-08 02:07 am (UTC)Re: Yay!
Date: 2012-07-08 03:27 am (UTC)That reminds me, some friends and I are developing a shared world project, The Silk Road Allies, in which China and Italy are partners. Once we get some basic parameters set, we'll see about inviting other people. Since the mandolin is among Italy's instruments, you might be a good fit if you're interested.