Milde 20

Here's the Milde Study, Op 24 #20, the B arpeggios. I did this one a phrase at a time, so this is not a single take. I'm done with it though, so I think this is about the best I can do.

Milde scale studies

For studies, I'm working on the Milde scale etudes, Op. 24. I did them before, in 1984 and 1987, based on the dates in my Weissenborn, but I don't think I understood them then. I thought they were boring scale studies, didn't practice them much, and played one a week at my lessons until they were done. With M, I'm going through them at a much slower rate. After a year of study, I'm about half-way through, so about one a month. And I'm putting a lot of time into them, more than anything else I practice. I'm finding that they are quite beautiful, if you really dig into the harmonic changes and singing through the lines. Not easy, though.

Here's me playing #13, Eb scales, in a lesson back in August. I was pretty happy with it.

Milde Scale 13 by TFox17

Milde 3

Not a great week, but if I'm going to do this, I need to keep doing it. Here's Milde 3, after a week of occasional work.



And here's where it was a week ago.



One thing is different: this week I recorded on my iPod (Thumbtack mic into iPod Touch running Voice Memo app), instead of my fancy mic/interface/audio software. Listening to them both, I think the serious setup sounds better, but is a lot more work, and you can still hear every wrong note clearly with the iPod recording.

Milde 2

It's not good, but better than my recording a week ago:



And here's a competent rendition:

Milde 1 after practice

I was going to work on it for a week, then rerecord. Unfortunately, I didn't get to where I wanted, and the week is more than gone. Kinda like lessons used to be. Anyway, this is where it is:


Compare that to a week ago:


Whaddya think, any improvement?

Added: now, compare with a pro.