Tag Archives: running

Day 22 – October 22nd – Flapjack!

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Flapjack with glacé ginger!

Flapjack with glacé ginger!

It would appear that the worst of the Hurricane winds are past, and I managed to go for a nice but rather cold run this morning. At 7am it was 7 degrees and still rather dark – I’m looking forward to the clocks changing this weekend so as to keep my schedule going for a little bit longer at least! When it did happen, the sunrise was beautiful: long swathes of pink and orange woven through light blue, all hazy and a little surreal. Still not quite cold enough for frost, but I’m sure it will come.

I noticed a distinct improvement in playing the Reichert exercises from memory today. Still not perfect, but I getting somewhere. I got all the way round the circle of 5ths playing a Taffanel and Gaubert-style one-octave scale, followed by a short version of the Reichert No. 2 (first bar and a half). Then I managed to play through quite a few keys in both Reichert Nos. 2 and 4 without peeking at the music.

Following on from my scales yesterday, I now have a list of tempos that everything sounds good at, so that I can gradually push them faster. For each set, I’m starting from B and working up by semitones (rather than round the circle of 5ths), the range is low B to top D, and I’m using the long fingering for Bb.

– Majors followed by broken chord: crotchet = 96

– Minors (melodic and harmonic) followed by broken chord: crotchet = 76

In practice, the harmonics can go quite a bit quicker, but I’m really focusing on trying to get the melodics at a better speed!

– Arpeggios: crotchet = 96

– Dominant and diminished 7ths: crotchet = 84

– Augmented and diminished arpeggios: crotchet = 84

– Whole tone scales: crotchet = 88

That’s all Trevor has asked for so far, though I’m sure that scales in thirds, fourths and fifths are next round the corner.

We’re all heading over to Trevor and Dot’s for a fish-themed dinner tonight. Though we are under strict instructions not to bring anything, I thought it would be nice to say thank you in some way, and so made some flapjack that I’ll take for class morning tea tomorrow. I used this recipe with glacé ginger to give it a little bit of spice. All went well, though I should probably have left them to cool a little longer in the baking tray before trying to lift them out, as a couple of corners crumbled. They still taste good though!

Day 17 – October 17th – Practise, listen, read, practise

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Today was a practice day, and I managed to get a lot done. After a few weeks here, I’m getting better at pacing myself through the day so that I don’t arrive at 3pm a total train wreck after trying to cram everything in too early. At the moment, an idea practice day seems to be:

– Wake up 6:45am

– Out the door for a run at 7am, running for half an hour (I think that’s about 3 miles). I’m still in love with the sky here, it is vast and stunning no matter what the weather or time of day. The mornings always offer me something beautiful, be it a hazy sunrise, sparkling colours or heavy fog.

– After breakfast and a shower, start practise, alternating an hour’s playing with 15 min rest for a cup of tea. This is definitely my best time of the day, and I relish getting through all the various scales and exercises. I feel great if I can get three hours done before lunch!

Playing with the Quena

Playing with the Quena this evening

– In the afternoon, two or three additional hours of practice, but with longer rest breaks of at least 30 min, but often nearer an hour. This is when I’m doing my various listening and reading projects, as well as having some down-time.

– Our walk with Trevor at 7:42pm (yes, he’s that precise!) is a good way to end the day, especially if it’s not too cold. We walk and talk, sometimes about the flute, sometimes about other things.

This evening I was Trevor’s walking partner, and we talked about a range of things; ethnic flutes, his time in Singapore, his childhood during the War. I borrowed a Quena – a type of Andean flute – for the weekend, and I shared my thoughts on playing that with him. It’s a lovely instrument and I’ve enjoyed having a play, but am finding the airiness in the second octave rather frustrating. Trevor’s advice was to “blow harder”.

And finally, because I’m trying to become a well-organised musician with a ‘sustainable artistic practice’ (according to my ArtStart application), I decided it was time to do battle with my tax return. It’s now done, but I would have taken an extra hour of scales any day!