Interval Review:

Reviewed yesterday’s intervals - hadn't done reviews in a couple of days, so it took a while. As I was playing an octave interval, I spontaneously started to pay Sonnie Rollins' St. Thomas. I couldn't stop. There's a jump here that's hard but sounds really cool. I'll try to get it up to tempo. I actually played the whole melody while fooling around, but too camera-shy still.

Sight Reading:
Level 3 4/4 @ 75 bpm. Instead of increasing the tempo, I decided to challenge myself and look ahead further than before.

This has given me unique insight. I'm kind of starting to get a feel for the stages of getting good at sight-reading. First off, there are two main components - the notes and the rhythm. Very often, it's the rhythm that messes people up (although the notes do, too. Studying key signatures helps with note identification, etc). Though reading ahead is integral to sight-reading, before getting comfortable with reading ahead, one must be comfortable playing the measure in question. After this stage, there's more opportunity to look ahead.
Just now, I think I actually experienced what happens when I read the rhythms ahead. My brain processes these rhythms and kind of remembers them, so that when I actually get to the next measure, it becomes easier to play. TRULY AMAZING!

Reading Studies For Guitar pg. 8-9 @ 65 bpm - a real struggle. I've forgotten these key signatures (Eb and Ab major), and turns out this really makes a difference.

Andante Opus 95 by Matteo Carcassi (pg. 58 of Delcamp Volume II)
Rhythm is all out of wack on this recording. On the other hand, I like how I look from the side. The breath @ 0:39 highlights my shallow breathing in other parts of the tune - I'm too busy trying to look ahead and keep up.




Fretboard Review:
87 correct, 1 incorrect (98%) @ in 2 minutes.
I will increase the frets being tested to the 7th tomorrow.


Warm-up/Technique:

Finger-stretching exercise - 1st position.

String Walking exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 37) wow! I didn't play for two days and I can only play at 100 bpm (not 113)
String Walking exercise with m, l with eight notes @ 85 bpm free (down from 91)
Rest stroke very difficult even @ 75. Tried filing nails a bit, but it made it even worse
String-Jumping 1st string to 5th string, 2nd string to 6th string @ 88 bpm

Right-Hand Velocity (pg. 63) with sixteenth notes @ 110 bpm rest & free.
l, m @97 bpm rest & free (slower than the 97 bpm I've been playing)
i, l @ 88 bpm

Synchronization Exercise (Pumping Nylon pg. 65) with i,m sixteenth notes 95 bpm.

l, m @ 83 bpm

Putting it all together p. 67 Exercise - @ 80 with i, m.
@ 75 bpm l, m rest stroke

Scale Rhythmic Variation p. 68 @ 97 bpm i, m
@ 75 bpm l, m

Played etude @ 70 bpm with i, m.

Percussive Exercise
Played Nothin on You rhythm @ 90. Realized that there’s still something off. Decreased tempo to 70 and practiced slowly.




Repertoire:

Just the Way You Are (Bruno Mars cover)
Practiced @ 71 bpm.





Pica-Pica
Played freely with muffled metronome @ 40 bpm (downbeat only) and recorded with Zoom H-2. Analazed - so many problems with this piece, it seems overwhelming.

Converted into a Transcribe file and notated the measures. Incidentally Transcribe has a master volume button that makes the music really loud. In this case it was useful because the muffled metronome was barely audible as is. After notating the measures and beats, I slowed down the recording, turned the volume up and then started notating where the metronome downbeat fell. Measure 6 is the first measure in which the metronome clicks about 1/5th of the beat into the measure. By measure 14, my playing is half a beat ahead of the the metronome.

I don't know how to address this problem, but I'll try reading Klickstein, and also asking for advice on the Classical Guitar forum. Perhaps this is a lesson-in-disguise : maybe there's some kind of rhythm fundamental that I've been neglecting.

Estrellita
Recorded. Realized after all these months that I need to play the low F# in measure 3 of Part C with the pinky in order to be able to cleanly play the min. 3 double stops in the next measure. Rhythm isn't so consistent here either.

Samba Caribe
Part A measure 13-14 @ 64 bpm. Recorded. The recording sounds great!

Na Gafieira Do Vidigal
Played beginning to part A @ 70 bpm up to part C.

Triad Study:
Added G# minor in 1st inversion.