I decided pretty early on today that I was going to have a break from actually playing the flute. Part of me was pushed on by yesterday’s positive feedback, but another (slightly bigger) part realised that I needed a little respite.

Despite that, or maybe because of it, I ended up getting an awful lot done. I went for a morning before our Tesco trip this morning, and really enjoyed being out early again despite the cold. For the rest of the day, I wrote a focused to-do list (I have a longer one on my iPad, but it can be a bit overwhelming) and worked by way through it with plenty of cups of tea. Along with flute-related jobs, it included things like vacuuming and applying for some jobs, which I’ve been putting off for a few days now. Most of them are done, though I’ve still got some emails to reply to.

I did spend time on the Copland Duo in preparation for Friday’s class, just not with the flute. I listened to some recordings, but then spent about an hour and a half with the piano score conducting and singing through sections. As I’ve said before, the notes aren’t particularly hard, but the challenge in fitting it together with piano is the changes of tempo and meter. I need to know the piano score inside-out, and that was today’s goal. There are still some corners that I need to return to, but overall I’m much more confident with it now. With all the scramble to prepare studies, excerpts and pieces for class each week, it is this sort of clear, focused practice that I think I’m not doing enough of at the moment.