2 Nov 2008, Sun: I practised the second movement of Dittersdorf's Second Double Bass Concerto with the metronome. Afterwhich, I practised selected passages from the first movement of Dragonetti's Concerto in A major. The practice session got me feeling a positive sense of euphoria. My face was glowing in healthy-pink colour after I decided to call it a day. I love practising on the double bass on such occasion. It gives me a lovely 'high' feeling.
3 Nov 2008, Mon: I practised Pachelbel's Canon in D arranged by David Heyes. The intonation is improving with good practice. I also tried to play the first section of Faure's Sicilienne from memory. I managed it. Future practice would require me to practise the middle section and master it.
I also practised the first movement of Autumn from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons to get the fingers to remember where they should be for this movement. I cannot explain why, my ears like the structure of this movement. It somehow worked out well. The bassline is also interesting.
Kennedy play´s Vivaldi´s Autumn, first movement. (View Source)
6 Nov 2008, Thu: It's double bass lesson day! My tutor specially got me a few scores to sight-read. Many thanks to my thoughtful tutor. He even allowed me to use his bow so that I could feel the difference in balance between a bow made by a master
and an average bow.
I sight-read Faure's Apres Un Reve (After A Dream(). My tutor was of the opinion that it would be a more secured piece to play for the exams compared to Faure's Sicilienne. First is that it's easier to achieve better intonation in Apres Un Reve. That would free me to work on expression. My tutor gave me a demonstration of his rendition of Apres Un Reve and I was moved by the deep singing voice of the double bass. He gave an expressive rendition. I hope to get to his level of playing soon.
After which, I played the first and second movement of Marcello's Sonata in G major as much from memory as I could. I was pretty impressed by my tutor's strong auditory memory. He could remember the entire work by ear, and he was able to hear that I have made a mistake without referring to the scores!
After lesson, I couldn't help but sing aloud. Music brings depth to life!
7 Nov 2008, Fri: At about 11.20 p.m., I started practising the first section of Faure's Apres Un Reve with the metronome. At that hour of the night, I decided it was necessary to put on the practising mute. The goal was to work towards securing the rhythm. Faure's Apres Un Reve sounds very lovely when played in the dark hours of the night.
8 Nov 2008, Sat: I continued my practice of Faure's Apres Un Reve with the metronome. Other than working on securing the rhythm, I strived to achieve play lyrically on the double bass. It shall sing! The vibrations from the double bass are extremely therapeutic. They allowed me to release the inner cries that I have within me.
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I just reached home from a concert in which Guennadi Mouzyka performed an inspiring rendition of Bottesini's Gran Duo Concertante on the double bass! I simply love it and was all ears throughout the performance of this work!
9 Nov 2008 is the wedding day of one of my younger brothers. Our family will be hosting two of our relatives at our place for most of next week. I hope that I would still have the chance to keep up to my goal of practising at least four days per week.
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