Better than the first recording, but I blame the continued profusion of mistakes on lack of sleep and will try much harder on an earlier bedtime starting tonight. I feel like my brain is in slow motion 
Trying to relax right hand more and memorize some sections where I can't read the score and hit the correct notes at the same time. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be fully rested and can focus better!
I went to bed at a reasonable hour last night and while I haven't fully recovered from the last couple of weeks, I feel alive and competent again. Today I've been trying to devise ways of making sure I don't go to bed late, including setting a bedtime alarm and setting up my phone dock outside the bedroom (a friend's suggestion).
This video is less disastrous than the last few and I didn't feel very nervous with the camera watching me! I'm playing the entire first movement and the second half is noticeably better. However, I forgot how difficult the first half is (I had worked on it a lot over the past 9 months, which is why I put it away for a little while to focus on the other movements). Hopefully with a few more days of focused practice it'll be much better.
Part of me is panicking because I have less than three weeks left and still so much work to get it all to performance level (and the piece is so freaking long! Recordings are ~40 minutes). But part of me feels like I'll manage to pull it together.
It's a lot better after getting another night of adequate sleep! I still don't feel fully recovered but hopefully in a few days. Sleep makes all the difference in the world for my playing, which shouldn't be surprising.
I still got a little bit nervous at the recording and things that were great during my practice were suddenly not. But there was a surprise place that wasn't solid during practice and it just magically worked during the recording!
I'm playing this at a casual piano thing tonight. Tomorrow I'll do more work on the first movement before getting back to the rest of the piece. I think I practiced for about an hour today.
Last night's "performance" went ok. Not awful but also not great, pretty much as expected given that the first movement is not performance ready. Luckily the piano (a 1918 Steinway O) was in better regulation than I remembered from last time I was there. Turns out that my new tech has been the host's tech for a decade! The host plays well and she also seems to be pretty knowledgeable about piano maintenance. There were actually two vintage Steinway options in the room, and she has a Mason & Hamlin in storage.
Today I'm going to work more on the first movement and then I'm going to do the three alternate days according to the neuroscience schedule. In between I can work on the other movements. Luckily the second movement is short (thank you Brahms for small reprieves) and there's a fast section but it's not that difficult and is just a matter of learning the notes. My biggest struggle is playing the marked una corda with using a Bluetooth page turner. I may switch to doing facial gestures, maybe I should look into a 30-day trial today? It would be nice to have one fewer battery-operated gadget to worry about.
twocats My biggest struggle is playing the marked una corda with using a Bluetooth page turner. I may switch to doing facial gestures, maybe I should look into a 30-day trial today?
I'll start a 30 day trial tomorrow! The program final concert is on July 7th and that should give me exactly 30 days, but I have a suspicion that I'll love face gestures and immediately abandon the Bluetooth pedal. Luckily the iPad I'm using is a 3rd generation iPad Pro 12.9" which is the first model in the lineup that started supporting face gestures (I bought the iPad used and would bummed if I had to upgrade again to try this).
Also forScore Pro gives you more customer support? I couldn't figure out how to use the bookmarks like MobileSheets but ended up using flags but I can't label them. I'll look into it again but hopefully it means that they would actually respond to me.
18 days left feels like so little time, but also I have never focused this hard before (except maybe when I played the Schumann Piano Quintet in college; looking back I can't believe I got it to performance level in one semester) and I've literally been clearing up days on my schedule so that I can practice! I don't think I could have played this piece when I was working full time. I have also never changed my sleep schedule to improve my focus. I got an acceptable amount of sleep last night and it feels so great to actually see progress happening again! I have a friend who is a medical student who said that the practice you do when you're tired isn't fully lost, it just gets processed by your brain later. I am so relieved to hear that.
I practiced about 3 hours today and worked specifically on the stuff that was giving me trouble: I changed a bunch of fingerings and did slow practice and also playing chord transitions. Today I'm really feeling on track, at least for this movement, though I get kind-of embarrassed when stuff that was fine during practice suddenly isn't the minute I hit record, but that's ok, it's all part of the process. And every session gets a little bit easier and the music is feeling more intuitive under my fingers!
After today I'm going to do alternate days of working on the 1st movement to follow Dr. Gebrian's schedule, so tomorrow I'll probably do some work on the 2nd movement since that's the most neglected one at the moment.
I got a 30-day subscription for forScore Pro and tried face gestures for the first time today! I think the wink is the best option for me (I also like the mouth gesture but I triggered it by accident a couple of times), but I have to make sure the iPad is centered and that I'm looking at the screen when I wink. It solves the problem of playing una corda during a page turn and also I really like having fewer devices to worry about. Still getting used to it but I suspect I'll get the annual subscription after this.
I need to do a lot more slow and controlled practice on the soft chords and also more work on the later parts of the fast section to get them under my fingers and up to speed. But overall it feels like the 2nd movement will be ready on time. It's nice and short!!
I can only imagine the great Daniil Trifonov trying out the forScore Pro with facial gestures. "What? Why did it suddenly jump to page 25?!"
Today is a major practice day; my friend offered me a free symphony ticket for the matinée and I said I couldn't go. I think I will try to practice the 2nd, 1st, and 4th movements, and will probably do separate videos for them. I'm a bit annoyed at myself for having signed up for some yard work today (I have plants that have spread and I offered the extras to people who want to pick up today) but I guess I'll take a break in the afternoon and then get back to practice.
I love the burning flame of your passion. Or is it the burning flame of panic? Either way, I like what I see.
A lot of practice today! First I started off working on select parts of the 2nd movement (going to do 3 days in a row to follow Dr. Gebrian's schedule). I played the whole movement in the video since it's short. I'm back to doing mouth gestures because I don't have to look up to do that, but I had to decrease the sensitivity to get it not to do random page turns. For some reason winks still work on this setting and I'm finding myself doing a mix. Hoping I can get used to just doing the mouth gesture and abandon the winks.
Also with una corda the response of the piano feels different and stuff that's normally fine doesn't feel as controlled. This is very annoying.
And then I did lots of slow practice on the 1st movement. I think I've been so focused on the harder sections that I've neglected the easier ones and I really shouldn't be so sloppy. I am kind of a sloppy player; musicality has never been an issue for me but I am just not all that precise. It's not as embarrassing when I screw up on hard parts but when I keep missing notes on the easy sections? That's pretty bad. So I'm working on getting those parts to be second nature so that my fingers just know where to go and I'm not relying on semi-sight reading, which ends up being okay during practice but not when I'm "performing".
I plan to work on the 4th movement later today/tonight. I just did the yard work and am going to shower and take a break for a while. I thought I could practice all day but I'm too tired.
I practiced the 4th movement a little tonight but only because I want to work on it three days in a row and I can't practice this Wednesday. I'm really tired and it is not at the same place it was a few weeks ago. I did not bother to make a video but I'll do one tomorrow.
It's hard and I'm not playing it up to speed and I don't have confidence at all that it will be ready in two weeks. Hopefully tomorrow it'll be recovered from the recesses of my brain and will be better.
I haven't played much chamber music so I don't remember, is it very difficult to "cheat" your way through the piece? (Keep the salient melodies clean and improvise the other parts while staying in the accurate harmony)?
twocats
I see!
I'd think that with such short notice it'd be easier to start with an approximate but still viable version of the piece (as in playable with the other musicians already) and then refine it gradually. That's what I did whenever a pretty soprano would ask me to accompany her for an upcoming recital on short notice. But maybe with chamber music it's better to just jump in and try to learn all the notes properly from the get-go. I don't want to corrupt you! (Nevermind my horns and tail!)
Rubens I think accompaniment is different! In that case you're not an equal voice, you just have to support the other person and help them to shine.
But with chamber music it would be like you decided to rewrite Chopin and take out some notes because there are too many. I mean, if there's a spot that's always a disaster I might cheat , but I don't like doing it 
I am so exhausted and my husband said I need to take a mental break as well as a physical break. Maybe piano is not in the cards for me today.
If the 4th movement ends up being a bit of a disaster, it just means that I got in over my head and we won't choose to play it at the final concert. I'll be a little disappointed in myself but it'll be ok. Last summer it was pretty clear that I took it a lot more seriously than everyone else and people were teasing me for practicing all the time!
twocats
Don't despair! It seems to be a low stakes affair anyway!
Speaking of low stakes, I remember a teacher friend of mine who organized a year-end concert for her little students and wanted to play a rather challenging ragtime at that concert. As the concert day approached she felt too nervous about it, so we came up with a brilliant idea: play it together, as a four-hands piece! Preparing it was a breeze, and we played it, at breakneck speed! Instant success, the audience was impressed 
. I don't think you'll be able to do this with the Brahms though
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Rubens thank you! I'm too tired to despair I did put almost a year of work into it and the travel costs are a lot, so I do want to get the most possible out of the experience. Most of the participants don't live so far so it's not a big deal for them to attend.
My sister and I sight read when we meet up and we each take a hand. It sure makes it a lot easier! 
