12 days until my 100% memorized goal...

Progress on Tuesday 7/5:
Beethoven 8.66/11 pages
Chopin #4 1.66/3 pages
Ravel Waltz #3 1.6/3 pages
Ginastera mvt 1 5.17/7

Progress Today, 7/6:

Beethoven: 9/11 pages or 82%
Ginastera mvt 1: 5.66/7 pages or 81%
Chopin #1: 0.8/1.6 or 50%
Chopin #4: 3/4 pages or 75%
Ravel Waltz #3: 100% MEMORIZED!!!

Today I think I practiced around 7 hours. That's on the long side for me, and I was tired, but pushed through and managed to practice every composer! Ludwig, I didn't forget you today.

Anyway, exciting update - I finally got my package with my Polish National edition of the Chopin Mazurkas and the Durand edition of the Ravel Waltzes! The Ekier (Polish) edition has already proved helpful, as the print is large (yay!) and there are performance notes for all the pieces. I guess I had forgotten that most ornaments and grace notes are to be played on the beat in Chopin. After comparing the Durand and Alfred editions of the Ravel Waltzes, I have to say, the Alfred edition really is basically exactly like the Durand, in terms of notes and articulation. However, the Durand does not have any pedal markings or finger numbers, so the page is much clearer, which can make the music a little less overwhelming.

I don't know why, but I have a mental block against these Ravel Waltzes. I am finding them so hard to memorize, but I just keep telling myself they aren't hard. haha. I freaked out today when I realized I have 16 pages of Ravel left to memorize, and only 12 days left until my memory goal, which means I'd need to memorize more than 1 page a day. I am going to try my hardest to do it. I think Ravel is going to be my main memory focus for the next week.

Luckily Chopin is pretty easy to memorize (most of them, #1 is a bit tricky) so I guess that balances out the Ravel.

Also, I've been too lazy to paint my nails this week. But I swear, I'll do it soon, because I know we need a new photo here!

Day 6 - Still going strong!

Today was day 6 of my first week of practicing for this recital, and I think all in all it's going fairly well. I find that around 5-6pm it gets to be the beginning of the end for me each day, so I'm really trying to get as much done before then as possible. Today I started around 9:30am, after the technician came to deliver a DVR!!! Finally, I'm joining the 21st century :)

Some notes:

1. Practicing makes my back hurt. Like, a lot. I take breaks and stretch but it still hurts.
2. The first Ravel waltz is not that easy to memorize. I'm a little annoyed that I still haven't even finished one Ravel waltz yet, although to be fair I really have been focusing on the Liszt and Ginastera.
3. For some reason I was scared to start the 1st mvt of Ginastera, but I started it today, and so far it's not so bad. I'm kind of finding that's my reaction to most of the stuff of which I'm scared.
   
4. Speaking of scary, there was a small snake on my back patio today. The handyman kindly took it far, far away.
5. Yes, I have a handyman.
   
6. Those chromatic major thirds at the end of the 2nd mvt of Ginastera are nasty. I have tried several fingerings, and I think I've found the one I like, but I will be doing some research into other chromatic third passages to see if I can come up with anything else.
   

Memory progress as of today, June 23, 2011:

Liszt: 6/9 pages or 67%
Beethoven: 5/11 pages or 45%
Ginastera Mvt 1: 0.6/7 pages or 9%
Ginastera Mvt 2: 5.3/7 pages or 88%
Ginastera Mvt 4: 7/7 pages or 100%!!!
Ravel Waltz No.1 (Adelaide): 2.5/3.5 pages or 71%

Um, if you've noticed that the Chopin isn't here, that's because it should be coming in the mail any day now... It's taking its sweet time, but I'm excited because I decided to splurge and get the new Polish National Edition. I had 20% off with Burt & Co music which helped me make that decision. It's also coming with the Durand edition of the Ravel. I originally purchased the Alfred Masterwork edition of the Ravel (don't judge me!) which is actually cool because it has a ton of background info about the piece, historical context, formal analysis, various recordings, use of the sostenuto pedal, performance suggestions, programming suggestions, and an article by Walter Gieseking called "How Does One Perform Ravel's Piano Music?" Um, to be perfectly honest, I haven't read any of this stuff, except the notes about editorial fingerings. So that is what I plan to do tonight. But getting back to the Durand - I decided to order that just because I think there are a lot of marks in this score that are not original.