March 27--Daily practice blog in the time of the virus

I keep thinking that my days will be lighter due to the virus, but I find I am doing even more work! Grrr....

I am kind of sticking to my daily schedule with some adjustments. Times have kind of changed, but the outline is still there. The day began with breakfast of a smoothy and coffee. After a shower and shave, I went to my office to scan some scores for a student. Got home by 9:45 and worked on my History class until the meeting at 11. Afterwards, I practiced piano until 2:30 and recorded the above video. At 2:30, we had a Zoom meeting with the choir. Just checking in with everyone--it was good to see some faces. I then uploaded it to Youtube. I continued to practice piano while it uploaded. I did make a quick run across town to practice organ for Sunday, after which I came home and finished putting together a portion of a lecture. It felt good to read a student reviewing the class--she felt that the structure of the class was exactly what she needed!

On a side note, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who owns an organ building business. I want to build a Hauptwerk organ. I have the laptop, and two 49 key midi keyboards, but I do not have a pedal board. He said he could get one to me free of charge! So, I may have a Hauptwerk organ at home in the near future--even sooner if I choose to just work on manual stuff. Huzzah!

On the piano, I practiced the piano accompaniment for Sunday's service, and then spent time bringing back three of the four Ballades of Brahms. The first, again, is posted above. The third movement is going to need the most work for speed, and the fourth will need work to layer things appropriately. This is my plan for the month. Along with a Liszt and Chopin Etude.

On the organ, I spent all of the day working on BWV 624--trying to speed it up. Got it to about eighth note=75. I think it needs a little more heat on it, from recordings I've heard. The plan is to record it tomorrow for the Secrets of Organ playing contest.