Jingle Bells Rag: Arpeggio Section

Thanks to my new practice-tracking system, I put more time into Jingle Bells Rag last weekend than I otherwise would have. I'm glad I did, because the arpeggio section I focused on is a little tricky.

When I first watched/listened to Jonny May's video of this piece, I though, "Wow, that arpeggio section sounds really hard. I should practice it first."

When I started learning it, I thought, "Wow, this section isn't nearly as hard as it sounds."

But then I put the hands together, and, while it's not what I would call "hard," it definitely took some time to get it right. "Tricky" is the word I use for this kind of thing.

I still haven't mastered it yet. I can play it, but it's smooth only if I play it very slowly. This video isn't perfect, as I have a few pauses that I shouldn't have, but I wanted to post something on this piece.

Until this weekend, I was still in "dabbling mode" with Jingle Bells Rag. I was doing some sight-reading and working out a bit of fingering, but I wasn't working on it in earnest. That changed a few days ago, and I'm happy to say that I have the final "hard" section and am ready to move on to the other sections!

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Picking Up the Pieces

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