Category: Ancient History

I’m scared to practice because I’m afraid I’ll get discouraged again, but if I don’t practice, then I will be creating more discouragement because I will not improve.  So I need to have courage and just try.

Today practice was discouraging.  I keep tackling stuff that’s too hard for me, maybe?  I should spend more time playing stuff that I can play and getting my muscles strong, maybe.  I am having a hard time with this one phrase of my new solo where I’m supposed to slur something that seem impossible to… Read More »

Yesterday I had wasn’t feeling well and didn’t practice.  Today I was feeling better, and I got finished practicing just now.  I had a good practice.  I played another recognizable tune that I got off the internet.  It was fun.  And I worked on a very simple solo.  I almost got it down, actually.  That’s… Read More »

Practice this morning was good again.  I played some Weissenborn that’s supposed to be legato but I’m playing it with the notes separated.  I just wanted some different music, but I don’t know if I’m ready for legato.  I’ll try tomorrow. I played someone nice’s free arrangement of a little Bach, a minuet.  Just the… Read More »

Practice this morning was good.  My left arm doesn’t hurt anymore.  I played four scales–F major, B flat major, C major, and G major.  And I played a little of a chromatic scale, starting low.  I’m moving through the first few pages of the Weissenborn.  I tinkered with some solos and didn’t get very far… Read More »

This morning I practiced again.  I don’t feel the sense of elation I felt yesterday, realizing how much I remembered.  I just feel the sense that I have a long road ahead of me.  It’s a good road, but lonely to trudge on my own.  Wish I had a teacher.  Wish I didn’t worry about… Read More »

This morning I practiced.  It was my first time in more than…16 years or something like that.  I’m amazed at what I remember.  I played some Weissenborn and my favorite scale.  I did remember that scale.  I puzzled over a fingering chart I found on the internet.  I need more scales to play because I… Read More »

When I was a kid, I learned to read music in third grade.  We played black plastic recorders at music, which I think was once a week.  It wasn’t in our regular classroom, and I remember how happy I felt to make the trek across school.  Maybe it was actually two or three times a… Read More »

Yesterday I picked up a bassoon for rent.  Today I need to find, in all the unopened boxes, my old sheet music and bassoon books as well as two old reeds. I also have a metal folding music stand somewhere. I played bassoon in jr high and high school as well as my first year… Read More »

Erik Lundgren the red barn passing through The red barn passing through my schoolbus window passes through a story. It’s a mission: nobody talks and they let me off. I scout the castle at the end of the lane. The dirt is bright, and I have rocks for the villains in the alfalfa.