Technical+Advancement

__2/8/11__ Dozen A Day book 1 groups 1, 2, and 3 Sight-reading: Down in the Valley, Bridal Chorus, Guantanamera, Theme from the Overture (Raymond), Light and Blue

__2/10/11__ Dozen A Day book 1 review of one exercise from group 3, all of groups 4 and 5 Sight-reading: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Morning Has Broken, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Theme from Solace, La Bamba, La Raspa, For He's A Jolly Good Fellow, Mexican Hat Dance

__2/11/11__ Dozen A Day book 1 group 5, Dozen A Day book 2 group 1 Sight-reading: Tarantella, Festive Dance, Scherzo, Introduction and Dance, The Streets of Laredo

__2/28/11__ Dozen a Day book 3 group 1 Sight-reading: Plaisir D'Amour, The House of the Rising Sun, Sakura, Waves of the Danube

__3/3/11__ Dozen a Day book 3 group 1 review, group 2 Sight-reading: Rock-A My Soul, Calypso Carnival, You're in My Heart, Divertimento in D, Brahms's Lullaby, Lonesome Road, Village Dance, Circus March, The Hokey-Pokey Dozen a Day is going well; the exercises are challenging but achievable. My biggest issue is fingerings - sometimes they get tied up if I don't follow what's written. Flexibility and strength in my 4th finger, especially on my left hand, seems to be the worst. The songs go pretty quickly, and are fun to learn.

__3/9/11__ Dozen a Day book 2 groups 2 and 3 I had brought the book 2 home for break and kept forgetting to bring it back, so I was using the higher books in the meantime; it was nice to go back and work on some more basic skills again; I really like playing the Dozen a Day exercises because the don't really feel like exercises, they feel like little melodies. I remember having played the ones where I had to keep two fingers down silently while playing the other fingers... the one where I have to hold down 3 & 4 in the RH and 3 & 2 in the LH is harder than the one where I hold down 2 & 4 in both. Sight-reading: Night song (which I really liked - it's really pretty), Hava Nagila, and the Space Shuttle Blues (which I also have fond memories of from back in the day).

__3/10/11__ Dozen a day book 2 group 4 Improv with Christian - it was AWESOME!!

__3/16/11__ Dozen a day book 2 group 4 review, group 5 #1-3 (ran out of time)

__3/21/11__ Dozen a day book 2 group 5 Sight-reading: Olympic Procession, Aloha Oe, Black Forest Polka, Pomp and Circumstance No. 1

__3/30/11__ Dozen A Day book 3 group 1 #1-8 I love these exercises - they are so much fun!

__4/8/11__ Dozen A Day book 3 group 2 I feel like my sight-reading is becoming less prominent in my practice session now that I'm working on my repertoire, but I suppose there's an element of sight-reading in learning the piece as well. I should probably try to work some sight-reading back in, but probably not as much as I was doing before I started working on the Reverie.

__4/19/11__ Dozen A Day book 3 group 2... again. There were a couple of exercises that were really hard, but it helps to have the metronome because then I can be sure I'm keeping it steady, start slow, then work up the tempo some more.

__4/21/11__ D#m, C#M, A#m Dozen A Day book 3 group 3 #1-7

__4/25/11__ __[|Piano Technique Part 1]__ __[|Piano Technique Part 2]__

__4/27/11__ FM, Dm Dozen A Day book 3 group 3 #8-12

__4/28/11__ BbM, Gm Dozen A Day book 3 group 4, all Sight-reading: Etude Op. 10 No. 3, Swinging Sevenths, The Polovetsian Dances [|Sight-Reading Video #1]

__5/19/11__ Dozen a Day book 3 group 3

__5/24/11__ Dozen a Day book 3 group 4 #1-7

__5/25/11__ Dozen a Day book 3 group 4 #8-12, all of group 5. Finished the book!