With a note from Martin (AT teacher) in mind, I did a 15-minute session of laying on the floor, knees up, continually canvassing my attention from head to toe.
Surface Drifts/4-mallets
Started with one-note, two-note, three-note, etc., similar to yesterday. Worked with various intervals and mallet combinations (2, 3, 4) with feet set at center of instrument…. I was working on maintaining good balance, and free postures while extending to the high and low ranges of the instrument. I feel this was a good activity, and I seemed to be able to catch myself before I tensed. I was keenly aware that the tone/balance of the notes DID NOT change when I shifted from a more comfortable position to an awkward position. (During this exercise, I also thought now that I have built up strength from weight training, I can get back to doing yoga again, but with a focus on balance rather than strength and flexibility.)
Mm. 40-end – focus on choreography and MEMORIZATION! First, I worked on mm. 40-92: I read through a few times looking at the music, then walked away and tried to visualize the sheet music, then I left the music up for reference, but focused my attention on the visual pictures/patterns of my mallets hitting the correct notes (I did this 3-4 times), then I flipped the music to mm. 93-end, and played through mm. 40-92 (1x) without the music, no lapses, and continued reading through the end of the piece. Then, I walked away, washed dishes, visualized mm. 40-92, and returned to do the same section without music and continue reading 93-end. Accuracy = very good… I think I forgot to play the phrase at mm. 45-46. Still need a few runs of 93-end before taking the music away, otherwise, all notes and dynamics were in! I will check back on this later today.
Mm. 1-39 – read thru 1x. And, my brain is exhausted.
I will start here in next session, and continue checking memorization of mm. 40-92.
