Week 17 of year 2007 on the double bass

22 Apr 2007, Sun: Practised the Rondo movement from Keyper's Romance and Rondo. As requested by my tutor, I practised it at a slower tempo and made sure that I was keeping time well enough.

It now seems boring just to play for myself. I hope I could step up on my practice so that my rendition of the various pieces would be good enough to play for friends and supporters.

23 Apr 2007, Mon: I did some sight-reading of various parts from two sets of double bass duets. I was trying to have an idea which duet would sound nice.

Afterwhich, I took some time to practise some sections from Berkeley's Introduction and Allegro.

26 Apr 2007, Thu: Double bass lesson day! My tutor, MJ, reminded me that when I play on the double bass, I should not be focused on playing the notes, I should make music by playing the phrases.

We went through some sight-reading exercises today. My goodness, I need to brush up on sight-reading. Either MJ has chosen too difficult sight-reading exercises for me, or I am still needing more work on sight-reading. I can't help but feel worried for the sight-reading component of the upcoming exams.

I also worked on the Rondo movement of Keyper's Romance and Rondo for the rest of the lesson. I was learning to make a clearer and nicer tone on the double bass. MJ also wanted me to play the notes in the groups of semiquavers in even tone.

I love the sound that MJ has made when he plays on the double bass, and I wish I could soon play that kind of sound. I figured that to do that, having enough good practices is the answer. I want more time to practise. Sometimes I feel like giving up several things so that I can have more time to practise.

27 Apr 2007, Fri: I was in the mood to play the double bass. My fingers were itching to play on it.

For the night, I worked close to an hour on the double bass practising the entire Keyper's Romance and Rondo. The tone of my playing sounds slightly better than it used to be, yet I would like it fuller, rounder and clearer. More work to be done. Practise, practise, and practise. Loving the practice.

28 Apr 2007, Sat: No practice on this day. I did some research to gather information to write the programme notes for the DipABRSM. For now, I just feel like sleeping early, so I shalln't practise today.

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Not as productive a week as I would like. Then again, I can hear that the tone of my playing has improved. I have also achieved the set target for this week.