I didn’t get much practice in the last few weeks with all of the other things going on but I was able to improve my rhythm over Big Arty’s Reel quite a bit.
In class we worked on some of the rough spots of the reel. Mostly the last measure and the transition to the beginning of the second line. Also, we discussed how the rhythm works with the pickup from the second line back to the first: basically stay on rhythm and treat the pickup as the fourth missing beat of that short last measure.
We also worked on a trill ornament which is a bit tricky since the original note should retain its full value so you need to steal some time from the measure before. Plus we practiced droning on the strings a bit.
Practice plan for this week: work through rough spots in first half of the reel, practice the rest of the reel, practice the trill ornament in time and work through the piece droning strings for four counts to practice finger position and tone throughout the bow lengths.
Fun week and fun class.