Week 26 of year 2007 on the double bass

24 Jun 2007, Sun: I decided to work on sight-reading today. I started out with playing the G major scale. I felt there was a tinge of anxiety in me as music exams is approaching.

Afterwhich, I sight-read Mixolydian from Milton Weinstein's Contemporary Modal Solos. It is quite an interesting piece of work and it is not too difficult to play.

Then I went on to work on Capuzzi's Concerto. The edition that I sight-read was not in the usual D major that I had played on from the Yorke edition. I was sight-reading the edition that was edited by David Walter, and the 1st movement is in the key of F major. The F major version sounded clearer and brighter than the D major version, and I love it despite it being more challenging.

27 Jun 2007, Wed: I practised on the double bass in the afternoon, working on Faure's Sicilienne and I read Haydn's Symphony No. 99.

In the late afternoon, I had lesson with Mr GM before the orchestra rehearsal start. It was an enlightening lesson, and Mr GM has been very fantastic in drawing me to play Faure's Sicilienne in a way that would be musically sound.

During the orchestra's rehearsal, I got to play Haydn's Symphony No. 99, and the 3rd and 4th movements from Mahler's Symphony No. 1. I quite like Hadyn's music.

I've probably spent at least 4 hours practising on the double bass on this very day.

28 Jun 2007, Thu: I was feeling drained and in pain, but I decided to play the double bass to seek some comfort for my soul. I spent about 20 - 30 minutes practising Rachmaninov's Vocalise. This is a lovely piece of music with quite a number of notes in the higher register. I had surprised myself that I was able to play the entire work by the end of the short practice session.

To listen to how Rachmaninov's Vocalise sounds like, you can check out this video recording of Gary Karr performing Vocalise.

30 Jun 2007, Sat: I started practising the first half of Rachmaninov's Vocalise, focusing on getting the rhythms right.

Afterwhich, I spent time practising Berkeley's Introduction and Allegro. Next week, I will be meeting my friend who has so kindly agreed to accompany me on the piano to practise together for our first time. I am looking forward to the practice.

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Another week of reaching my target of practising at least four days per week, 15 minutes each day.