Since I spent so much in studio, in performance and working with project collaborators these last few days, I didn’t get any concentrated practice time. So, today I need to start slow.
Warmup
Basic stick control exercises – standing, focused on breathing and fluidity in lower body; finger control and wrist strokes. Sight-read a few Delecluse etudes.
Rip Tide – using Abe mallets today (and ear plugs)
Technique – 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, octaves (all with alternating sticking up and down entire instrument, then with double stops, no metronome, but changing tempo often); improvising double stop with differing chromatic patterns in each hand within range of piece.
Worked on pages 6-10 – one hand playing static 8ths on one note, then with static two note patterns, while other hand is read as written at 1/4 note = 100-120bpm. Playing the static two-note pattern in RH while reading LH was much more difficult than the other way around… had to go much slower to accomplish the mental coordination. Worked hands together at 1/4 note = 90bpm. Some problem measures still causing stumbles, but overall physical and mental tension is absent… as Michael Gatonska put it this weekend, the piece is starting to feel ‘mechanical-zen-like’ – my hands and my brain are no longer working so hard, or fighting each other. Now, it’s really time to work the tempo, and add the cymbals and kick drum to the mix.
Read through all at 1/4 note = 80bpm.
Orchestra music – worked through mallet parts (stickings, building tempo, etc.) for several pieces for orchestra gig later this week
Surface Drifts (quick practice, just to get 4-mallets in hands today)
4-mallet technique – DV, SA, SI at all intervals m2-octave; 1324 and 1243 permutations
Worked page 5 hands separate and together; worked page 6-end with various rolls types.
