Keeping My Focus-and Keeping it Fun

February 13, 2008 at 4:58 AM

Today I had a successful practice. I completed the same piece of music three times. I counted 3 different errors but my goal was to complete the piece all the way through keeping consistent timing. (If you are not a beginning student this may be boring for you)
I thought that once I attained a nice tone i would be in Heaven--Not so-rhythm is more important because a note played at the wrong time is a wrong note--I have heard that lecture one million times from every music teacher i have ever had--so my focus for this practice was to keep the beat going and to go as slow as I can to get all the notes in.
My "magic box' is my Tascam music and voice trainer that slows down the music CD without changing the pitch.
For fun I have been teaching myself "Apres Un Reve" by Gabriel Faure.
Josh Bell plays it on his CD "Voice of the Violin" and Barbra Streisand sings it on her "Classical Barbra" CD. I found sheet music in the same key as the Josh Bell cut. Great fun to play along with J.B.! Like catching the trophy catfish!

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