Week 29 of year 2008 on the double bass

13 Jul 2008, Sun: I practised the first 19 bars from Dragonetti's Concerto in A so that I could play these bars at tempo that is closer to the original tempo.

Afterwhich, I attempt to practise a couple of bars from Osborne's Gargoyles. I realised that I prefer playing works that are melodic and tonal rather than rhythmic in nature. I was simply struggling to play those few bars during my practice, but I was slightly better at the practice than a few days ago.

Dittersdorf's Second Double Bass Concerto remains to be a favourite for me. I practised the second movement to refine my playing.

14 Jul 2008, Mon: I felt awfully tired after work, but needed some playing so to rid the stress and toxic-feeling out of my system. I focused on practising selected parts from Rossini's The Thieving Magpie Overture. The parts required some working-out technically, yet they were comparatively more straight-forward than the concertos by Dragonetti and Dittersdorf since most of these parts are written in sequences. I am glad that I did, at least I felt a little better after the practice.

16 Jul 2008, Wed: Double bass lesson was brought forward to a Wednesday. I played the first couple of bars from Dragonetti's Concerto in A. My tutor realising that I needed more practice suggested that I play it during lesson on another day.

I also asked to work on Osborne's Gargoyles. While it was considered a difficult work for myself, I nevertheless decided to take up the challenge to work on it. My tutor guided me to work through a couple of bars. I played badly yet I have learnt a lot. I learnt how to better approach Osborne's Gargoyles.

The last work that I worked on was the second movement from Dittersdorf's Second Double Bass Concerto. My tutor gave me pointers on how to approach a few particular bars whereby I have to keep crossing between the "D" and the "G" strings.

17 Jul 2008, Thu: I practised Dragonetti's Concerto in A major. Finally, I have went past the first 19 bars. The fingerings that my tutor had suggested has helped.

19 Jul 2008, Sat: I practised Dragonetti's Concerto in A major. It sounded a little bit better than when I first started out practising it.