Practice, more practice

Yet another day that I have taken leave from work. Taking leave from work on a weekday helps me to catch up on practising.

Here's what I have done today:
1) Listening to the recording of Weinberger's Schwanda the Bagpiper, Fugue
2) Played all arpeggios in the Grade 6 - 8 syllabus
3) Played all Dominant Sevenths in the Grade 6 - 8 syllabus
4) Played all Diminished Sevenths in the Grade 6- 8 syllabus
5) Played some sight-reading pieces
6) Practised Marcello's Sonata in g minor

I need more work with playing the dimished Sevenths scales. I think my inner ears are still not aware intuitively how a dimished seventh scale should sound. The fingerings get challenging too.

I would need to put in more time to prepare for the aural test. I am trying to figure out how to help myself learn to sight-sing a piece of work that is in minor key. Today, I picked up and browsed Essential Ear Training for Today's Musician by Steve Prosser. It points me to the chromatic solfege syllables:

Do Di Re Ri Mi Fa Fi Sol Si La Li Ti Do Ti Te La Le Sol Se Fa Mi Me Re Ra Do

How do I apply this?

I think I would rather learn these to prepare for the sight-singing component:

The major scale: Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do
The harmonic minor scale: Do Re Mé Fa Sol Le Ti Do
The ascending melodic minor scale: Do Re Mé Fa Sol La Ti Do
The descending melodic minor scale: Do Te Le Sol Fa Mé Re Do