The concert on Saturday went well I think. The venue was lovely, my reed worked and we had a good turn out. One of my friend's came to see me and she really enjoyed it, which was lovely. I quite enjoyed it in the end but I didn't really engage with the pieces in the same way I had at other concerts and it did feel as if we hadn't really had enough weeks to practice. Some of the pieces still felt slightly unfamiliar, which was rather disconcerting. I think - aside from the Elgar - my favourite bits were the second movement of the Arnold Suite and the Britten dances. We have two more rehearsals before summer break, though I can only make the first one. I am looking forward to seeing what we do.
On Sunday I felt a bit overplayed so I didn't do a proper practice session. But I did have a look at Gershwin's American in Paris which I am playing in an Orchestral playday in June. I have been looking at bits of it but I had a go playing it with a You Tube recording for the first time. It really is very difficult. It actually made me feel rather stressed about the whole event because I know that there are bits that are just beyond me. I think I need to make this a priority for practice over the next few weeks. But one of the biggest problems is the speed of articulation required - which I have been working on but is not a quick fix.
I also picked up my reed making again. I had a go at sharpening my reed knives - reasonably successfully I think. I began scraping the three reeds I tied on a couple of weeks ago and very soon had 3 cracked reeds. I'm not sure if it was a problem with tying on, not soaking enough before trying to scrape or just a bad batch of cane. I probably need to do the initial scrape immediately after tying on though when I know that the cane is well and truly soaked through. I will do some more tying on later this week.
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