Week 38 of year 2007 on the double bass

16 Sep 2007, Sun: Did some reading of Capuzzi's Concerto in D. Earlier in the day, I worked on playing Faure's Sicilienne and Marcello's Sonata in G major. I also attempted some passages from Keyper's Romance and Rondo

17 Sep 2007, Mon: I took leave from work to prepare myself mentally for the upcoming music performance exams. The goal of the day was to play all the works in my programme at a relatively slower tempo. I also took some time to study the piano parts of Berkeley's Introduction and Allegro so as to better appreciate how the double bass would fit in with the piano. Some time was spent practising double bass studies and doing some sight-reading. For now, I keep my fingers crossed.

18 Sep 2007, Tue: I practised in the early morning to warm up. In the late morning, I had my exams and I perform an half-an-hour recital. I did my best for the day, but my rendition for the recital was not my best rendition. I was not near my peak for the performance. Strangely, I am still trying to come to terms with the moments of self-doubts that would set in after the exams.

19 Sep 2007, Wed: It's orchestra rehearsal day. My favourite time of the day was when I attended the double bass sectional. Sectionals with Mr G are always enriching. We worked on the 3rd and 4th movements of Mahler's Symphony No. 1. I felt pleased that I could almost play a particular difficult passage from memory.

For the orchestra rehearsal, we worked on the 4th movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 and one of the movements from Stravinsky's Firebird.

During the break, I attempted to play the first movement of Eccles' Sonata in g minor and it proved to be a challenging attempt.

**
No practising was done after Wednesday. I needed a break, at least my fingers needed a short break. Anyway, I have managed to practise on four of the days of this week.