Practice Makes Perfekt

This Week's Recital

2009-10-24T10:28:00.002-04:00

It's a Go...

2009-10-06T20:35:00.003-04:00

Had a slow run through with the Clarinet tonight on the first movement of the Beethoven Trio. Chamber Music Teacher gave it a green light so we will be working on it for the December recital. I had practiced the first minute (up to the F chord) at half speed using "Audacity". The F chord is a real challenge. Almost as bad as when I first learned it on the guitar.

The Guitar trio is sounding pretty good. I forgot my camera this evening or I would have recorded our "dry run". Recital is October 20th and 23rd so we have another week to tweak the dynamics, etc.

Other exciting green lights this week:

Booked 10 day trip to Costa Rica to visit a friend for Winter recess.

Booked 33 day trip to China for intensive Mandarin for June 2010.

Something to Look Forward to - Maybe?

2009-09-29T20:44:00.002-04:00

Chamber music class teacher just assigned me the cello part tonight.

Hopefully, I'll get to play this for the December recital.

Guitar Trio is coming along fine. We will perform it October 20th.

George Harrison and Leonhard von Call

2009-09-13T00:45:00.002-04:00

Thanks to a Facebook friend I've learned about George Harrison via YouTube.

Also, YouTube has a group playing the Leonhard von Call Guitar Trio in C Major which I will probably be doing for chamber music class.

Chinese, Chamber, Classroom Courses

2009-08-29T22:10:00.005-04:00

As August comes to a close and I finish my TESOL certification, more distractions rear their ugly heads. One is the start of the fall school semester. Courses in Classroom Management, Mandarin Chinese, and Chamber Music begin. Substitute Teaching begins. Chamber Music class has guitars this term so it looks like I'll be doing double duty. I do seem to thrive on a little stress. The trick is knowing what's "a little". Found a neat site "Skrittle.com" for practicing Chinese characters. Still hoping to learn 800 by next summer.

Grammar Police

2009-08-04T09:21:00.005-04:00

Part of the fun in taking the TESOL course is relearning English grammar. Yesterday I became reacquainted with the Gerund (verb + ing = noun) and the difference between possessive adjectives and pronouns. This pen is his (possessive pronoun) This is his pen (possessive adjective). Today is examining tenses (thus named because thinking about them makes one tense).

The Present Perfect Tense. Here is a brief review of the form and function of the present perfect tense.

When the time period has not finished: I have seen three movies this week. (This week has not finished yet.)
When the time is not mentioned: Gerry has failed his exam again.
When the time is recent: Ikuko has just arrived in Victoria.
Often used with for and since. Greg has lived here for 20 years. Greg has lived here since 1978.
Formed like this: "have" plus "past participle"

Status Report

2009-07-28T11:41:00.002-04:00

Passed the FTCE Professional Ed Test yesterday. Signed up for TESOL training and then will take ESOL test. This is about 100 hours of study so should keep me busy for the month of August.

Chinese continues to march. Met a young fellow who just came back studying Chinese for4 months in China's Nanjing University. His spoken Chinese is pretty good. Hopefully, he'll do some studies with me. New computer tools for writing in pinyin, chinese characters and looking up meanings are helping to speed me along at a faster clip.

Off to Key West this weekend with my sister-in-law who is in town. Going to camp at Bahia Honda State Park. Should be interesting but probably not too comfortable with the heat and mosquitoes.

Quack Quack

2009-07-19T13:26:00.003-04:00

This week's Drawspace Challenge had ducks. Felt it fit with the birds theme.

Done Done

2009-07-18T01:37:00.013-04:00

Finished the last card tonight.
Here's the rest of the mythological line-up.

Past and Future

2009-07-16T13:07:00.004-04:00

So far so good. Two more FTCE tests finished. Signed up for one more while the going rate is $50. After August, the cost will increase by $25.

Local community orchestra is having a "strings only" summer reading session on Wednesday nights. Signed up for it although they want me to bring the viola. Strange as there are usually plenty of violists. Played last night and was completely worn out afterwards. Not used to holding a viola for 3 hours anymore. Only 2 cellists showed up although they tell me that five said they were coming.

Chinese classes are going well. Thinking about going again to China for the summer of 2010. Perhaps take an intensive immersion course there for $1,300. Price seems reasonable to me for 20 hours a week for four weeks plus room and board. I think I have enough frequent flyer points to get me there.

I think I am grounded for the rest of the summer. I can't justify going anywhere, my friends/family are very busy as well. Besides I have too many projects to do at home.

Enjoy playing the games on FB but have to limit myself to 30 minutes plus self-imposed rules. I'm not allowed to play unless I accomplish 4 things on my daily to do list. Feeling like a kid again. No playing unless you do your homework.

Half Done

2009-07-16T12:58:00.011-04:00

I decided on a subtopic of "Mythological Birds" for my ATC. Nine cards done. Another eight to do by the end of the month.

Two Weeks Later

2009-07-05T09:40:00.003-04:00

It's been two weeks since my last post and I've yet to really study for the ESE test. I've managed to find plenty of things to fill my days with anything other than cello practice as well. Did finish some old projects -- things that have been on my to do list for over a year. Entertained out of town guests and friends. Cooked treats for hubby. Caught up on TV eps that we follow. Played games in real life and FB. Made 80+ flash cards of new Chinese words/phrases to learn. Memorized a Chinese folk song and a poem by Ai Qing. Signed up for the July ATC whose theme is "Birds" at Drawspace.

Guess I must be mostly "externally motivated" on the cello. Without a pressing cello project, other things become more important. Still it sure would be nice to finish Suzuki Book I this summer. On the other hand, Book I is certainly not inspiring me to practice. I need to do some "negotiations" with myself to see if I can get moving again. I used to have a rule in place that I couldn't play on FB if I hadn't practiced the cello that day -- I may have to resort to that again!

Back to Normal?

2009-06-20T18:16:00.006-04:00

The past week has been just getting organized after my 3 week trip in Europe. First, there's the photos and travelogue to post. My friends and family have been vicariously enjoying my adventures since 2002. It's a lot of work but nice to have the logs later. I probably wouldn't do them just for myself. Yesterday, I finished all the homework my chinese teacher assigned while I was out of town.

Today, I visited SMA and reacquainted myself to the cello after a two month hiatus. R ran off the checklist and all systems are go for continued practice.

I had signed up for a class to cover ESE for FTCE and registered for the test July 13th. However, a phone call today states that the class has been cancelled. Oh well, guess I'm going to have to do self-study. SOP for me.

Back in Miami

2009-06-12T23:24:00.001-04:00

I've returned from Europe. Not quite ready to practice anything at the moment. Maybe I'll get back on track next week.

Travelogue from latest trip May 18 - June 10, 2009 Feel free to skip the narrative and just look at the photos. I am hoping to do a specialized guide for Sofia and Smolyan sometime in the near future.

A Post from Sofia

2009-05-22T15:23:00.003-04:00

Went to my friend's daughter's school program today in Sofia. The kids performed a nice bulgarian folk dance along with poetry readings, patriotic songs, choreographed pop tunes, kung fu exhibition, american idol style solos, and a rock band.

Vocal Mimicry and Rhythm.

2009-05-13T22:24:00.002-04:00

I've been trying to teach rhythm to a student. What finally seemed to work was having the student sing the tune with words before attempting to play. I was telling my husband about my success when he showed me an article about Snowball. Seems that vocal mimicry and rhythm are neurally connected. Now if I can somehow apply this to my cello playing :)

Chinese Overdose

2009-05-05T23:45:00.005-04:00

Finished up the refresher Chinese course at the local community college this week. Unfortunately, as a farewell gift, the professor gave me 1,375 basic chinese character flash cards. I pulled out about 300 characters that I recognize and will work on trying to be able to write them before worrying about the other 1075 characters! Another friend took the time to translate my entire blog's "About Me" section into Chinese so now I'll have to copy and learn all the new words to that as well.

关于我
一九五九年圣诞节前夕，我在韩国汉城被家人遗弃，送进一所孤儿院。当时我才是一个刚断了奶还包著尿布的婴儿。所以哪天是我的生日只可猜测了。后来我像邮件一样给寄到美国，被一个多元化的家庭收养；自小就在匈牙利、爱尔兰、犹太人和天主教的影响下成长。我父亲从事热带鱼生意，他往往会消失在秘鲁、哥伦比亚和亚马逊等充满异国情调的偏远地方。我是跟猴子、野猫和其它珍贵宠物，还有传统的狗、猫、仓鼠和鹦鹉一起养大的。虽然我在北卡罗莱纳、维吉尼亚、马里兰州和华盛顿特区住了很久，但大部分时间是住在佛罗里达州的南部。我还没有去过澳大利亚、新西兰、南太平洋或印度，可是我会讲一些西班牙文、汉语、法文以及保加利亚文。由于我计划在今年秋天前往南美的秘鲁旅行，目前正加紧学好西班牙文。我跟我的丈夫厄尔住在迈阿密市中心仅有一个睡房的杂屋里。我的丈夫是一位家庭律师，他几乎从我出生以来就爱玩小提琴。我们家里还有八个鱼缸，两个degus（？）, 两只鹦鹉和一只可爱的小鸟。

The Happy Farmer, Not!

2009-04-25T22:27:00.003-04:00

Back to see R after several months away. Chamber music class had kept me pretty busy working on stupendously hard stuff like Schumann. I still hadn't memorized "The Happy Farmer" in Suzuki Cello Book I.

R reduced me to working on only two measures of the piece. Since I don't have chamber music class until September he thought it would be a good time to work on my technique.

Another Project Completed

2009-04-22T18:03:00.007-04:00

Hubby had volunteered me to do an award for the Bulgarian Stamp Show next month. I finally completed it today. Hubby (the critic) was wowed.

A Chart Decline

2009-04-19T11:12:00.004-04:00

Boring cello stats:

Cello practice weeks 53-60 (35 days)

Total of 24.5 hours. Avg 3/4 hr per day.

Bow, left hand, thumb, trill, vibrato exercises every day

Suzuki pieces 4x

Chamber music pieces 32x

Romantic pieces 1x

A drop from the last stat report in February where I was averaging 1.5 hours a day. Tax Season took its toll. I also switched to a two week planner exercise page which seemed to lose the visual incentives I had when I was using a monthly. I'll switch back. Maybe I can get some good practice in before I run away to Europe May 17th.

A Couple of Musicals

2009-04-18T19:38:00.002-04:00

This month I had the opportunity to see two musicals. One was "I love you, you're perfect, now change" done by the local community college which was cute and well-done. Even hubby liked it.

The second was courtesy of a friend who had a ticket she couldn't use. So today, I traveled the 20+ miles, navigated the closed interstates and dodged through huge crowds to see "Jersey Boys". I had no idea what the musical would be about -- I like to come in "cold" on these things. Okay, I'm told it's about a guy named "Frankie Valli" and the "Four Seasons". I scan through the playbill looking for a song I'd recognize. Sherri sounds familiar. Anyway, lights come on and its blasting "rap-style" music. HUH? Then the story begins, I can now unplug my ears and by the time the climatic "Can't take my eyes off of you" is sung I'm sucked in. Actually, I do recognize that song from those sappy tunes I listened to as a kid. The book was fun for someone who wasn't part of that generation; I understand for the rest of the audience it was like travelling back in time.

Encore?

2009-04-13T20:29:00.002-04:00

Just got an email from my chamber music teacher wanting to know if the pianist and I could play the Breval again tomorrow. OH DEAR! I haven't practiced all week.

Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing Again

2009-04-10T23:55:00.008-04:00

I thought I had completed all my ATC (art trading cards) for the Drawspace Music/Musical Instruments. Then someone noticed I sent them an extra card.

Huh? My word doc decided to erase one recipient and double up on another. Neither I nor my husband who mailed the envelopes noticed the dupe. Happily, I saved the doc so I was able to sleuth who was left out. So created yet another card tonight which I'll mail out next week. Here's all fifteen cards in digital format.

Changing My Mind.

2009-04-09T00:49:00.003-04:00

Okay, I re-watched the vid of the Schumann and decided that I'd post it anyway for your amusement or cringing (you have been warned).

Afterall, this blog is all about not being perfekt! More practice!!!

Trying Too Hard

2009-04-08T23:10:00.003-04:00

My 4th pastel work. I think I was trying too hard.