View of last night’s sunset from my bedroom window. Please excuse our washing line!
It was raining at 6:30 this morning, and I almost didn’t go for my run, preferring to turn my alarm off and go back to bed! Then half an hour later the sun came out and I managed a quick 2.5 miles before the weekly Tesco trip. I’m still fascinated by the sky here after rain and storms, particularly at sunrise and sunset. The clouds, rendered turbulent and brooding, seem to twist the light and fling it across the sky in dazzling colours and brushstrokes.
Moyse and scales are getting gradually faster. The Moyse exercises were at crotchet = 118 today, but felt relatively comfortable, so will be pushed up to 120 tomorrow. As for scales, I’m now at:
Majors = 104
Melodic minors = 88
Major and minor arpeggios = 104
Dominant and diminished 7ths = 92
Augmented and diminished arpeggios = 88 (still feeling a bit shaky though)
Whole tone scales and chromatic = 104
I can certainly feel my fingers after my three hours of exercises and scales in the mornings. Hopefully that means everything is getting stronger and quicker, but I am making sure not to cause any pain with what I’m doing.
The repertoire for this week is Sonate en Concert for flute, cello and piano by Jean-Michel Damase. To be honest, I think it’s a little bit twee, and it’s certainly not the sort of repertoire I’d choose to play myself. Not that it’s easy, some of the trills and grace notes in the allegro sections are a killer. However, I have also borrowed out the Berio Sequenza, ideally to have a read through, but I’m not sure I’ll find the time.
Modelling my lovely new scarf.
Despite the onset of a rather ferocious thunderstorm this evening, two things made me feel warm and snuggly in a wintry sort of way. First off, my St Mary’s College scarf arrived in the post. It’s lovely and woolly, and a nice reminder of all the friendships I made at the college (and how much I miss them). Then for dinner I made a hearty sound using up some of the superfluity of potatoes, cabbage and carrots that we have. Bring on winter!