28 August 2011

Sunday Sight Reading

On Sundays, I like to go through my music book and find a good tune to practice and hone my sight reading skills.  I'll go for any kind of tune, as long as it's catchy.  Generally, these tunes do not become part of my permanent repertoire - they are one day stands.  Rarely do I even put them up on pipes.
 
For this Sunday's sight reading practice, I chose "Balkan Hills", a 2/4 march (#215 in Scots Guards Vol. I).  I like this tune a lot.  It has a great bounce and some interesting (and tricky) rhythms, not to mention the rodins from D down to low A.  I love it when piobaireachd movements make it into the light music.  I may work on getting this one polished up and getting it up on pipes.  Who knows - it may replace "Jim McBay's Welcome" as my 2/4 march of choice...

Anyway, here's the video:
Few things to note:
1.  The first D throw is muddy and needs to be better articulated.
2.  I missed the high A doubling in the 3rd bar of the second part BOTH TIMES!
3.  I missed the E doubling in the run on the 3rd bar of the second part BOTH TIMES!
4.  I missed the E doubling in the run on the 3rd bar of the third part BOTH TIMES!
5.  I added a high G doubling in the run on the 3rd bar of the third part the second time through instead of playing the high A gracenote.
6.  I muddied the grip on high A in the 3rd bar of the fourth part the second time through.
7.  I missed a few high A gracenotes throughout.

All in all, it's not bad.

1 comment:

  1. Cool blog! Sight-reading Sundays - great idea. Inspiration for the rest of us piping journey pilgrims. Jolly Jocko the Prozac piper page background - uh huh! Like it. So the tune is bouncy and the self critique amazing in its detail Looking forward to future installments.

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