Rip Tide (first session)
Because it is still set up from yesterday’s practice, I did a few reps of the warmup exercise, with BD and the addition of an adjustable timpani stool I brought home from campus yesterday – at 130bpm, 140bpm, SPAZbpm-no metronome (approx 180bpm), 150bpm (2x), and 155bpm. Obviously, sitting on the adjustable timpani stool makes this much easier to play the BD (faster) without fatiguing…I’ll work the hands while seated at this level this week. Regarding tempo… 155-175bpm seems to be the middle range between controlled stroke and a spazzy leg stroke. I can stay with the metronome (spazzing) at 180bpm, and at 150bpm in a controlled stroke, so I need to work bottom up and top down in order to get the middle tempos in control.
Played through 1x with hands only (while seated). This is not too uncomfortable, though I am struggling a bit feeling that the marimba is too high (even at it’s lowest setting), and if I raise the seat, my leg will be extended too far for the BD reach to be comfortable.
Below is a pic of my current set up… the only thing left to change is to mount the thunder sheet from the BD tom mount and boom it so that it sets directly over the marimba. When seated, I don’t have as much rotating range of motion, so I end up having to squeeze my right arm back too much to reach it in a good spot. In order to mount from the BD, though, I have to switch BDs… but, I am not ready to do that yet.
Surface Drifts (second session)
AT floor work
Warmup – DV (1-, 2-, 3-, 4-note build); DV P5 extending outward; SI 1/3, 2/3, 2/4, 1/4 combinations. I can feel a bit of inflammation in my right wrist (probably due to weekend painting and yard work), so I am going to keep this session short with a lot of breaks, and not play too hard.
Assessment of status:
Mm. 1-39 – played thru 1x slowly; mm. 1-21 = well memorized; mm. 22-31 partially memorized, needs work; mm. 32-39 not memorized at all
Mm. 40 – end – played thru 1x slowly; mostly in hands, very well-balanced, and at performance tempo; was reading music, though it is clearly lingering in memory… need to pull it forward, so I can start working on seeing this section as a whole.
Surface Drifts (third session)
Played thru 40-end 1x slowly (looking at music)
Worked on memory backwards from end – pretty good… was able to work back all the way to m. 40 from memory, and speed counting/playing through everything to make sure brain could remember quickly. I did find that I have been playing one beat rhythmically incorrect in m. 49.
START TOMORROW WITH A MEMORY CHECK OF MM. 40-end
