Saturday, January 31, 2009

work work work

I made it very nearly through all the Shostakovich with headphones on. Just didn't quite get through the very end of the 4th movement. That is where I need most of my work. I have circled 4 parts in the 4th movement that I need to work on.

So, tomorrow in my morning practice, I want to work on these parts first, without the headphones, so I feel less rushed. And then, in my afternoon/evening practice, I'll work again with the headphones.

I practiced for more than an hour tonight and working with the headphones on is quite draining. Good work, though, good work.

Dixieland!

We played Dixieland music at Big Blue this morning and that was the most fun, not to mention quite the good embouchure workout. So my morning practice was swinging on Dixieland jazz, and my evening practice will be a good warmup and Shostie Shostie Shostie.

I am telling all my friends about this concert because I am so thrilled about this music. I do believe this might be my favorite music I have ever played. There is just something about the way that man put notes together. I don't know how he did it, but the result knocks my socks off every time I play it.

Oh, and by the way, I passed my 3-year anniversary on the trombone while I was flying around Alaska, on January 28.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Only a warmup

All I worked on tonight was a nice long warmup. I worked with Michael Davis' 15 minute warmup but probably spent about a half hour on it, mmm, at least 30 minutes. I hit 9:00 so stopped practicing, but the short time was OK as I am just plain tired. When I get another good night's sleep tonight, I'll be Ms. Perky Trombonist again. :)

Goal for the weekend: Practice twice a day. Play all tricky licks in the Shostakovich each day. Actually, play everything in the Shostakovich each day and practice the tricky licks repeatedly each day. Play with the CD. Play loud. Strong. My poor neighbors.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

the longest day

For the last two days of travel, I just buzzed the mouthpiece. Tonight, we rehearsed and I did not play as well as I would have liked, but OK, considering. I got three hours of sleep last night as my homeward bound flight ended up in Sitka; I worked from 10 until 6 - hard - so was a little used up by rehearsal time.

I will practice with the CDs and I think we may have a sectional. I'm eager to work hard on the material until Tuesday's rehearsal. I am eager to see my progress.

Because I was in Fairbanks Tuesday night (30 degrees below zero!), I missed Tuesday's rehearsal, so tonight was my first one on this material with Kyle conducting. It was just grand.

Monday, January 26, 2009

My matrix

This is the matrix I made, with the pieces I am working on on the y axis, and time on the x axis. I love the pattern the little x's make, sprinkled about on the page. Ooh, if you click on the picture, you can see in detail what I've been doing!

130th day

I guess I'm past a third of a year of practicing every day. Today is a gift practice day, too. I should have been in the air on my way to Anchorage now, but the flight is delayed and I will be leaving much later than I'd expected. Sad to get to Anchorage so late, but it gave me this nice spacious time for a long evening practice that I had not expected.

My focused twice-daily practice over the weekend has paid off. Everything I worked on tonight came more easily. I worked on Beeler exercises, the duets, the 4th movement of the Shostakovich, and both student symphony pieces - everything in the Sinfonietta and backwards practice on the Beethoven, from 440 to the end.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

2x/day - it works

Shosty 1, 2, and 4 . Exercises. G is going nicely. It's been a good weekend for practice.

Change

One thing that has changed for me with practice, is that I have gained confidence that if I work on a difficult passage, day after day, I truly will improve in my ability to play it. I actually have the ability to play it well. I think the lesson is that practice actually does work.

Now of course this is not earth-shattering news. But in the past couple of years, it seems that I have always been tackling things that are so much bigger than me that I am gasping (literally) to keep up. Now I feel settled into a more stable routine, and I feel that my practice is daily making improvements in my ability to play the music I am setting myself to.

Speaking of which, I must start working methodically on the Student Symphony Beethoven piece. I'm doubling on the first bassoon part and while it is playable, it will take some work. We played it last Monday much more slowly than we will perform it, and at that speed, I surprised myself in how much I was able to play. At twice the speed - that is another question entirely.

I just worked on the 1st movement of the Shostie, and on three of my exercises from the Beeler book, which are coming along nicely. I am striving to play as cleanly as possible. I warmed up very slowly, and worked on my the high exercise Jack had given me - it came very nicely, very nicely.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Ow

My left hand hurts! You know, much of the weight of a trombone pretty much rests on one finger - also on the heel of the left hand, but that finger on the brace is carrying a lot of weight.

I got a brace today, that I'd ordered with last week's paycheck, a "Bullet Brace." For it to work with my instrument, however, the brace's clamp will have to be taken down, and I'll need to see if Bill Paulick can do that or if I have to order a different brace. This is made by the Edwards Company and many people swear by it. Properly installed, you carry the weight in the crook between your thumb and fingers rather than on that finger. I am so looking forward to it.

I had a great practice session tonight, and actually my hand didn't start hurting until after I stopped. :) I did a different warmup than usual, Michael Davis' 15-minute warm-up routine (it took me more like 25), with lots of lip slurs. Then I worked more on the 4th movement, on the 2nd movement, and touched on the 1st movement, the part in 8. I worked a couple of my exercises and called it a day.

Tomorrow I want to try a short practice early again with the long practice the second one in the day. I like that. I'll start with the 1st movement.

2 practices

I warmed up and started working on the 4th movement. Kind of wore myself out on the beginning there, the very cool little passage that for some reason I keep messing up. I slowed it down and played it slowly and that helped. Then I was feeling just a little frustrated, so I said, 2 practices today! Let me just play some low stuff to cool down, and be done for now.

Friday, January 23, 2009

talk about bustin' some chops

Whew. Workout. I came away from that lesson yesterday nothing if not motivated. I worked very hard tonight on the fourth movement, on the Hohne duet, on the Beeler Allegreto exercise. I also worked quite a lot on my high notes and my troublesome G. I just feel that something has to give with that G. It's in a lot that I am playing, so I worked on those passages quite a lot, as well as with the passage I worked on for the G with Jack yesterday.

I added a little "Theme from L' Arlesienne Suite" by Bizet just to give a tad more spice to my routine.

Now I have the trombonist's face, with the 0 red circle around my mouth. Tingley chops.

True to my promise

Lunch practice - the exercise, and the chromatic run in the 4th movement of the Shostakovich. Jack gave me some tips for working that yesterday, that helped a lot. I think it will be just fine.

Back to work.
Man, it is cold in here.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

tonguing, clean legato, 2 practices a day

I just came from a lesson. This one was different and quite interesting. I did not play very well, kind of a combination I think, of:
  • Have not worked as much on my lesson material, due to focusing on symphony material;
  • Have not had a good long practice since Monday - two days since then of light practice;
  • My mouth was dry - ha, it really was, and I should have asked for a drink of water;
  • It has been a long time since I've had a lesson and as Jack says, that meant he couldn't correct my bad habits than snuck in.
  • And I just was not playing that well.
What was so different, though, was that I just took it in stride. I totally botched several things we were playing as duets and I just stuck with it, picked up where I could, stayed with the music and didn't lose my place. That's a big difference than even just a few months ago.

I didn't get frustrated, didn't feel bad about myself, left light-hearted. Sometimes you just don't play too well and you always want to, particularly for your teacher, but sometimes you just don't. And that is it, and getting frustrated or down on myself helps not one whit.

Jack of course was completely cool about it. My remembrances, though, from this lesson, are: Clean tonguing, clean legato, and do my best to return to two practices a day. I would say my biggest problem continues to be not tonguing cleanly. Oh, and we did an exercise with my troublesome G: D - E - F - G - A - G - F - E - D, clean attack on each note, playing the G with a sharp second, dropping the slide for the A, precise.

So, let me set my goal for tomorrow. I'll practice at lunch tomorrow. I'll do my warm up and I'll work on the first Beeler exercise on my list, at lunch. My goal with this one is to play the tricky parts quickly enough that I can keep it in 2 and not wander into 4 with it. Ha! I just booked an hour and a half on my work calendar for lunch (I've already worked extra this week), so if I have more time, I will work on the 4th movement of the Shostakovich at lunchtime, too.

Lessons are motivating forces.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

another late practice

Ouch. Symphony board meeting tonight, so by the time I finished dinner it was 8:30 ...

I worked on exercises as I have a lesson tomorrow - I wish I was more prepared!

Stopped at 9:01. Oh, that I could just practice at any time. Someday, someday.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

inaugural practice

Up at 4:30 this morning so I could go down to Centennial Hall for the inaugural celebration.

Then I had to work late to get a mid-year report together.

So I did not begin practice until 8:30 (after a tasty but sleepy chicken soup), and I just worked on little allegreto exercise, really slowly. Methodically. It was just perfect for a little practice. And now I'm very tired.

Monday, January 19, 2009

love weekend practices

3-day weekends. What heaven.

Sometimes I get so charging off into the world that I still end up squeezing in my practice at the end of the day, but when I do manage to get a practice in early in the day on the weekend, it can be so fruitful because I have all the time in the world. I'm not worn out from my day; this might even be the first thing that I've actually worked on yet in the day.

;) I just had such a practice. And I'll get double today as I have student symphony rehearsal (first one) tonight!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

and again

My goal was to work on the Shostie and then spend a good amount of time on some of my exercises ... I played for about an hour and found myself getting frustrated on the exercises, trying to play them too fast. So I stopped.

On the Shostakovich, however, on that long chromatic scale, it was absolutely the coolest. I listened on the CD and I have been playing it way too fast, way too fast. It went just fine, and I played it over and over and over. My poor neighbors, I have been doing this a lot lately, putting myself in my very own practice loop, playing a passage again and again, and again. In fact, I did that on my Beeler Allegreto exercise today, too, and it was quite productive.

One reason that I may have been getting frustrated was most likely that I was getting tired - I was starting to mess up notes that were just plain silly to mess up. Also, one down side of putting myself into a practice loop like that, especially with fast passages, is that I feel like it increases my blood pressure! I get tense!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Day 121

I worked on the tricky parts of the Shostakovich this evening, for almost an hour until I ran out of time. There's this chromatic scale in the fourth movement that I am having a tricky time transitioning into. I worked on it but I want to work on it with Jack in my lesson. I just get intimidated by it when it starts and I need to do it enough times to break through my intimidation.

Maybe what I need to do tomorrow is work this transition slowly, with the metronome. Yes, that will help.

I'm going to the James Cotton concert tonight and I want to practice more today, but I don't know if I'll get home in time.

121st straight day of practice today. Between today and tomorrow is 1/3 of a year of practicing every single day. Or at least buzzing the mouthpiece if I can't practice, and I'd bet that if I added those up from this blog you wouldn't fill two hands with those days.

Friday, January 16, 2009

buzz

I just buzzed my mouthpiece tonight, 'cause I didn't have a chance to play until after 11 pm. I feel that I'd be sure to make enemies of the upstairs and downstairs neighbors if I played after 11 pm; no use in that.

I went to Brenda Krauss' fundraiser tonight and it was beautiful to see how many people turned out. The big band played and I talked to Larry Stevens at Intermission and told him that my goal was to play with them in a year. He invited me to read the 4th trombone part while they played so I could get a feel for what it will be like to play the music.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Shostie Sectional

We worked in quite a focused fashion on the Shostakovich, in our sectional tonight. FUN, FUN, FUN. And, that goal setting I did a week ago? It was the punch that took me over the big hurdle. Sure, I have things that I need to work on, and I need to work on them every day, but I am so getting it. I am playing this stuff with power, it feels good, I think it sounds good, and it'll just get better.

So, one week later, I want to work on the tricky passages in the Shostakovich every day, every single day. Work on my regular exercises. Maybe start working on the Student Symphony pieces every other day.

There has been a qualitative change in my playing in the last couple of months - Jack noticed it in a lesson before Christmas, as well. I'm not sure what to attribute it to, as there are several possible factors: Playing every day without fail for the last 100+ days; the focused trombone lessons with Jack; the sight singing lessons with Rick; ... curiously, I wonder if a primary factor might have been playing in the solarium on the Taku the day before Thanksgiving on my way to Wrangell. The feedback was so incredible and it was like I could hear myself, hear when I was in tune vs. out of tune, in a way that I don't think I've experienced before. I feel like I started hearing myself that day and it has stuck.

Of course, I have miles and miles and miles to go before I sleep, but something has indeed changed in my playing.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

nap

I was so tired, even before I left work. I cooked a great veggie stir fry, filling the pan with chopped fresh green things from Rainbow Foods - and a little sausage too, of course.

My intent was to practice after dinner, but I instead laid down and actually napped. It was extraordinarily sweet.

Then I got up and had one bang-up practice. After a long warmup I worked all my tricky passages in the Shostakovich. Then on to some of the Beeler exercises. I thought I could make my life even more goal driven by creating a matrix of what I am working on and marking off when I work on it. I just love doing stuff like that.

Larry Walsh, Jack and I are going to play tomorrow at Jack's - both to work a bit on this material, and just to have some fun.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

WOW! What a good mood rehearsal gives

Playing in the rehearsal tonight was really fun. Jack Hodges is here now - he was gone for the first two rehearsals. My work with the CDs, and the sight singing lesson today with Rick paid off quite well. I still had spots that were rough, but I feel confident about playing this. I liked how powerful we sounded.

I love how happy I am after a good rehearsal.

Oops, Monday

I only practiced at lunch. But, I did practice at lunch. I worked on the 4th movement, playing the first part of it with the CD, and it went great.

Today, I have a sight singing lesson with Rick. I plan to bring my music and the rehearsal CD and work on some of the tricky transition places - particularly that tough spot in the first movement where we go back into 8/8 time, and I get lost.

I've also been working on singing some of my parts. When I woke up this morning, before I got up, I lay there humming one part over and over, to get the notes right in my mind. It is so true that I need to hear it first before I can play it right. It is fascinating stuff.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

4th movement

Good work on the 4th movement, working passages over and over again. I am glad I have finally gotten it into my thick skull that if I work on something day after day, I magically improve. Frustration is pointless and counter-productive. I need to allow myself to realize that I will be a little better at it tomorrow, and the day after, until something clicks and it comes smoothly. But, only if I work at it, and work at it consistently.

Frustration is Futile!

I did not play it with the CD because I only had 40 minutes for my warmup and practice, and there was just not time after I worked on all the tricky sections. That's OK. I feel that I am acquitting myself quite well in terms of the goals I set for Friday through Monday.

2nd movement on Saturday

I had better luck with the 2nd movement on Saturday, playing through it several times with the headphones - it's much easier to know where I am.

I worked more on the first movement, trying to understand what happens when the tempo changes - which of course will be different in rehearsal than the recording, and different with Todd conducting than with Kyle. It's literally exhausting paying so much attention to the music as it plays and reading it at the same time, tracking exactly where I am, trying to figure out where I come in - exhausting but exhilarating - this music is exhilarating, actually.

So I've been listening to the recordings a lot. The music is beginning to occupy my pores.

I have more to do today at the Shambhala Center, helping with the weekend program, but I'll be done there by mid-afternoon. My goal this afternoon is to work on the 4th movement. Working the tougher parts first. Then striving to play the whole movement with the recording.

Friday, January 9, 2009

THAT WAS A TRIP

Wow, I worked with the recording and some of it was really clear where I was, but in the 8/8 part I had such a hard time figuring out where I was. I worked at it so intently, headphones on, trombone in hand, grabbing up the control, backing up over and over on the CD, that it felt kind of freaky.

The intensity of the music at that (about 12 minutes in on the first movement) probably led to the weird feeling.

OK, I have to go back to work so I can relax. Wow.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Truth

I am reading a book online about some pretty lofty topics, and it started right off with Truth. The author advocates accurately looking at ourselves in those areas where we are fooling ourselves, where we say to ourselves at one moment that we'll do X, but if we shine the torch on ourselves, we have to admit that we might not get to X perfectly.

I am wildly paraphrasing. I want to try to give the gist without looking back at the book, because the impact on me now is from my memory of what I read. The point is that if we look at our own past history where we've said, "I will do X," look at it with clarity and honesty, we can see when we have not done the promised X. We can probably see why, if we probe just a little bit. If we probe a little further, we can probably see some corrective action that we could have taken. Now I am leaping light years beyond what I read in this online book, but what I realized tonight in rehearsal was that if I want to play this music well, I need to practice it differently than what I normally do.

If I want to play this Shostakovich well, I need to be honest with myself, shine that torch right in.
  1. It is January 8. The concerts are February 7 and 8. One month away.
  2. We have 7 rehearsals left before the concert. That's not very many. The next rehearsal is on Tuesday, January 13. That is 5 days from today. That is 4 practice days from today. After the January 13 rehearsal, we will have 6 rehearsals left. That's not very many, minus 1.
  3. I was pleased with my practice yesterday. I could play the music, and I worked on some difficult passages. I did OK in rehearsal today, but there were a lot of the passages where they went by me too fast to play, or in one place where Todd switches into conducting in 8, it took me half the time he was in 8 to realize that was what was going on, and by then I was so lost I couldn't come back in.
  4. I don't feel that I can afford to lose valuable rehearsal time getting lost. If I want to play this Shostakovich well.
  5. Where "I did OK in rehearsal today," I felt good about my sound, I felt that I could hear myself relative to others, I felt confident playing in the symphony. I could feel my place there. Where I didn't do OK, that is where I felt the need for real honesty with myself: How can I get there?
  6. I need to use each practice to move myself as fast as I can toward playing this music well. I need to use these practices in a smart manner.
My goals, then:
  1. Play with the CDs. I have Rostropovich's London Symphony Orchestra version of this music, and I picked up a rehearsal CD tonight. Play with the CDs in my practice. I obviously need to play apart from the CDs in order to work the tricky passages, but I need to work with the CDs so I don't waste valuable rehearsal time trying to figure out where I am.
  2. Make my goals right now for the four practice days I have before our next rehearsal.
  3. Friday: Because I am helping with a meditation program Friday evening, I need to come home and practice at lunch tomorrow. I just booked the time on my calendar for tomorrow. My goal in this practice will be to warm up, work on some of my trickier passages, and play at least the first movement with the CD, and endeavor to play the second movement as well, with the CD.
  4. Saturday: Because I am helping with a meditation program Saturday and going to a birthday party Saturday night, how am I going to spend any time practicing? Solution: When we do our planning Friday night for who does what on Saturday, I will do my utmost to get a couple of hours carved out for me to come home and practice. I can also make my snack for the birthday party at the same time! If by chance I just cannot pull this off, I may have to settle for just a warm-up snuck in somewhere.
  5. Sunday: Better! I will be helping with the meditation program, but not all day. I will get in one good solid practice. I will play the 4th movement with the CD.
  6. Monday: OK, I will schedule Monday, too. I have another meditation training on Monday evening (I really don't do all this meditation training too often, but this weekend was scheduled in advance), so I will come home and practice at lunch. At this point, I will just commit to practice and to working on this material, but won't say exactly how - let's let the weekend transpire first. Action: Sweet, I have booked this on my calendar, too.
OK, in honesty I saw tonight that I would still be stumbling by concert-time if I don't focus my practice. I think these steps are in the best direction I can think of right now. I'll reassess after Tuesday's practice.

This all sounds very serious and it is, but it's the right kind of serious. I want to grow musically. I have grown musically and I want to keep growing musically. Sometimes you just have to get serious.

the trombone

I like playing the trombone. I like taking care of my trombone. I enjoy the way that I treat it so carefully and guard the slide so tenderly. I like it that I have such a persnickety, painstaking, perfectly ordered, time-consuming way of cleaning the slide, and that I follow that method so thoroughly. I like the response the slide has after such a cleaning, so beautifully smooth, rewarding me.

I enjoy how careful I am with myself when playing. I brush my teeth now before playing, although I didn't always. I find that I am becoming more .... I hate to say it, but the word might be obsessive ... as I've been playing longer. Lately I have been playing early in the evening, eating dinner just as soon as I get home and then playing after that (with a quick toothbrushing inbetween!), and I like that timing, I like positioning my playing at the perfect time on the clock like that.

I play longer, too.

It really is a gorgeous instrument. It sounds nice, too.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

111 feels magical

Now, it is my 111th straight day of practice. I worked productively on the Shostakovich. I won't say "worked hard," because it wasn't hard. I played things over and over again, but it still wasn't hard. I have this one run that is going to be tricky to master, so I slowed it down and worked it over and over, and even that wasn't hard.

After working on the Shostakovich, I went back and worked on a couple of the Beeler exercises that I have been practicing lately. One came easily and the other didn't, and I just stayed on it, working on it.

I felt no frustration. Nada. Y pues nada. Like last night at rehearsal.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Perfect first rehearsal

Now, this is the third concert, I think, that I have played with the Juneau Symphony. It was a fundamentally different experience this first rehearsal. I was just plain relaxed. I was all over being on top of where I was in the music (and there are lots of rests, let me tell you), and no, I didn't play perfectly but I know I can play this decently if not well, and was happy with how I did.

We only played the first two movements and didn't even get to the powerhouse 4th movement at this first rehearsal. I left after the first hour as I don't play in the Mendelssohn or the Kodaly.

The best thing about tonight's rehearsal is how incredible this music is. There is something about this piece that just grabs me. Maybe it's that Shostakovich really knew how to write for brass. It's like, every note that I play is perfect relative to the piece and relative to every thing else I'm playing. And because there are a lot of rests, I got to listen a lot to the rest of the piece and it's amazing, remarkable what one man could come up with.

And maybe it also has something to do with me getting just a little bit better, having more confidence in the music that I am making.

Monday, January 5, 2009

All the way through

Our first rehearsal is tomorrow, for the Shostakovich. Actually, I really hope that is the only piece I play in, as I sure could not find music for anything else when I picked up my music.

I played all the way through the music tonight, and it was a great little practice. I feel good about reading alto clef, like how I'm sounding and am not too intimidated to charge right in and play it. I know a lot of it will zoom by me tomorrow, but it is the first rehearsal, and I am allowed, nay, almost expected to make mistakes.

Now my slide is getting a bath in the bathtub as it was feeling sticky and I want to baby it with TLC.

It is snowing again.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

when motivation is hard to find, pick up the horn

I picked up the horn and worked on my exercises.

Then came back to it later and picked it up again and worked on my alto clef playing.

I thought I was going to have to switch to the 3rd trombone part for Shostakovich, but got a reprieve now, things are cleared up, and I will be playing the 2nd part after all. It's all in alto clef, which is why I have been working on my alto clef reading.

First rehearsal on Tuesday!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

My social life is so getting in the way

Well, what can I say. The holiday social life somewhat interfered with my practice today. I only played a little bit on a scale etude at 9:30 tonight; don't know if the neighbor is home upstairs ... had a lovely, lovely evening with my company and morrocan stew and quinoa tabouleh ... the tabouleh was a bit moist so need to get rid of the water ... I know, I know, this is supposed to be a practice blog ... BIG SIGH

beep beep beep

This is really the post for last night, the 2nd. I was playing scale exercises at about 8:45 when Herb called to see about a ride to get groceries tomorrow, interrupting my practice. He doesn't have 4-wheel drive and his truck's not doing well with the snow. I'll see if I can use the joint custody truck tomorrow ... (today).

The little snowplow is tearing up the legislative parking lot - scrape scrape grrrr, beep beep beep ... so I gave up on sleep and made a cup of cocoa. It did not snow that much yesterday but I guess it drifted a lot. They do seem to have a proclivity for plowing that baby at 2:30 am.

The cocoa's good and it's making me sleepy.

Oh, for God's sake, they have two plows out there now.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

I caught her, my muse

Just like that, when I sat in place and took that horn into my hands, I caught her, my muse, and blew some beautiful sounds.

I also blew some not so beautiful sounds, but hey, that's part of the deal.

This Shostakovich is something else. It will be amazing to play. I only worked tonight on the first two movements, which is not a lot in terms of numbers of notes, but WOW, did he know how to put those notes together. I think it will just be an amazing piece to play. I am eager for the first rehearsal.

And I am reading alto clef so much more comfortably. This makes me very happy.

It is hard to sit down and practice, sometimes

Motivation gets tricky. Good, long day off today. Bright and cold and clear walk on the airport dike trail with Beth and dog - my lungs feel it now, from the cold. Paperwork, symphony business, late Christmas cards. Now - to motivate to practice.

Here's how you do it. Walk into the other room, turn off the little space heater ('cause I always get warm when I start playing), pick up the trombone, spray the slide, and start blowing some notes. That's it.

Auld Acquaintance

Last night, between parties, I picked up my beautiful t-bone and picked out Auld Lang Syne. I was pleased to see how easily it came, how beautiful it sounded. I played it again and again. I have progressed a long way in my playing in the past year.