So January really has started with a bang! Tomorrow I'm due to play my first service at Ullet Road which I'm very excited about! If I remember, I'll try to record some of my playing...
With this new month comes new music, and also some old hits which I'm enjoying coming back to. Alongside this, at MTM, I've started a practice competition for my students, with prizes for the following:
The most days practised
The highest average practice time
The most amount of practice
The prize requests have been very enthusiastic, from Roblox gift cards (I'm apparently too old to fully know what that entails, so I'll just go retire now I guess), to a teatowel with musical puns on it - I've got some shopping to do!
But this got me thinking about what example I'm setting at the moment with my practice! So, unofficially, I'm also competing (no prizes for me apart from being a better player), keeping track of my practice alongside my students. This is how I'm getting on this week:
I also keep track of my focus levels in my practice sessions, and other metrics - having ADHD and trying to being a productive musician is a challenge on the good days, so it gives me some extra context to see if there's anything else I need to put in place or support myself with my practice!
Here's what I'm practicing, starting with the mighty organ:
And then some piano:
But alongside the playing, I've been bopping along to some absolute tunes this month. Here's my top three:
Symphonic Fantasies (Live from Tokyo): Fantasy I (Kingdom Hearts)
This gets me every time! So powerful, beautiful, and oddly wistful. It makes me want to immediately lock myself in the studio for a month and just write music but, ugh! The melodic lines and the energetic, rhythm string unisons, cheeky woodwind interjections and washes of brass colour just satisfies every musical itch. Well worth a listen (or 10).
No 1 from Two Slow Airs (Herbert Howells)
Howell's organ music is great for a very wide range of players, but there's something so pastorale about this; makes for a great concert piece and also a great voluntary as it goes through so many colours and the dramatic climax in the centre almost feels like it comes out of nowhere before dissapearing again.
Reverie - Kapustin (from Eight Concert Études)
These etudes get fiendishly difficult, but Kapustin's music (and Hamelin's playing) seem to float along with minimal resistance. The twinkly upper registers of this movement and breathless runs are quite magical and mysterious.
What was your favourite piece from today's musings?
Myles
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