Week 44 of year 2007 on the double bass

28 Oct 2007, Sun: I wasn't feeling quite well so I did not go out for extended walks as initially planned. Nevertheless, a day feels more fulfilled when I practise on the double bass. I continued to work on the first movement of Dittersdorf's Concerto in E major. My rendition of it is taking shape.

29 Oct 2007, Mon: It has been a while since I have played studies. As such, I started my practice for the evening with a study from Bottesini's Method for Double Bass, part One. Bottesini's studies may seem easy at first glance, but they are pretty challenging to play with good intonation and good rhythm. More work would be needed.

Afterwhich, I played a bit of the first movement of Eccles' Sonata in g minor from memory. Subsequently, I worked on the first movement of Dittersdorf's Concerto in E major. More work on the concerto to get a clearer articulation.

31 Oct 2007, Wed: I started out the practice session playing a couple of bars from Bottesini's Passione Amorosa. I realised much of the parts were in treble clef, and I do need to practise and gain greater mastery of the higher registers.

A short practice session that ended with me playing the first movement of Eccles' Sonata in g minor from memory, and selected bars from the first movement of Dittersdorf's Concerto in E major.

1 Nov 2007, Thu: It was double bass lesson day. I worked on the first movement of Dittersdorf's Concerto in E major. My tutor, MJ, told me that he would give me a nicer version of cadenza for this movement.

2 Nov 2007, Fri: In my attempt to release the pent-up feelings of frustrations and vulnerability in me, I spent quite a bit of time in the evening playing the first few bars of Rachmaninov's Vocalise, the first movement of Eccles' Sonata in g minor and the first few bars of Dittersdorf's Concerto in E major. That helps me feel a little better.

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I have been able to practise at least four of the days per week, for at least 15 minutes each time. Yet it did not seem enough.

What are ways to practice so that I could improve my sense of rhythm?