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Thursday, July 13

I worked in a short practice today. Had piano this afternoon.

The short practice involved the usual scales and arps, and a run-through of my pieces. It wasn't so much a practice as a review.

Piano was good. She said that the Bach sounded very musical. I asked what I should do next, practice-wise--continue drilling and memorizing HS, or start HT? She said that I "shouldn't hold off any longer" on playing HT, and to keep drilling HS if I want but to begin working HT on whatever I find to be the most difficult passage of the fugue. That's easy. I don't have the music in front of me, but in the Alfred edition, it's the bottom of page two.

I played the Liszt pretty well, if a bit timidly. I'm playing it with emotion and paying attention to all of the dynamics and all of that, but I'm still also trying to make sure I get the notes right in several sections. She had all kinds of nice things to say about the Liszt. The 9-against-4 is sounding much better (though it's not there yet), and she was really happy with how I played the last page. I really feel like I'm turning a corner with the Liszt. It's stopped seeming "hard." It's still challenging, but I feel like I've "got it." I have yet to learn Sections 1-5, but those will be easy, at least compared to the second half of the piece. (I never like to use the word "easy" for anything piano-related.)

No practice after piano today, as my sister is visiting.

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