Sunday, January 06, 2008

Week 1 of Year 2008

Though the year of 2008 does not start technically from 30 Dec 2007, I shall start yet another year of 'holding myself accountable' posts to help me keep track whether I have been able to practise on the double bass on a consistent basis.

30 Dec 2007, Sun: Orchestra rehearsal in the afternoon. We rehearsed the third and fourth movements of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. A challenging symphony indeed for the double bass section. I managed to improve my rendition of it, thanks to some practising last week. After the rehearsal, XM and I practised playing a few double bass duets. Most of the duets sound rather cheerful. Frankly speaking, I was not in the mood to play happy tunes.

31 Dec 2007, Mon: Playing the double bass seems to have an effect of stimulating my brain cells. I practised selected passages from the third movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony before moving on to practising the first and second movements of Eccles' Sonata in g minor.

1 Jan 2008, Tue & 2 Jan 2008, Wed??: I remember that I had practised on the double bass on 1 Jan 2008 but I can't remember what I had practised! I think I had practised for a short while on 2 Jan 2008 too, but probably the flu virus had got my memory to lapse? Or had I not practised?

3 Jan 2007, Thu: Double bass lesson day. My tutor got me to play sight-reading of Bottesini's Gavota, and I was struggling terribly to manage it. I need to work a lot on sight-reading. Anyway, the rest of the time was spent working out on the first, second movement of Eccles' Sonata in g minor. My tutor also helped guided me with the fingerings for the fourth movement of Eccles' Sonata in g minor.

4 Jan 2008, Fri: Orchestra rehearsal which oddly fell on a Friday. The second, third and fourth movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony was rehearsed. I aim to work on memorising some of the key parts for the double bass. Doing so would help improve my overall rendition and dexterity in performing this work.

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