Progress (what I'm working on, current edition)

I am almost ready to record WTC I/18. The seemingly magical switch from halting, tedious effort to making music has happened once again, and I can play through both prelude and fugue from memory with at least a modicum of interpretive finesse.

I am also making progress on the Debussy First and Second Arabesques. The second is nearly memorized -- I'm just working on getting all the sections to flow together without stumbles. The first started at a more advanced place because I was so familiar with it, but any mysteries are being resolved. It has taken me about a month to get to this stage, compared with four months for the most recent Bach set. It seems most music that is not Bach is so much simpler and easier to grasp.

The impossible Scarlatti Toccata is feeling better.

When my right hand starts feeling overworked, but before anything hurts, I've been stopping and practicing some Berens exercises for the left hand. I really like these; they simple and definitely pedagogical (various scale and arpeggio patterns in various keys), but they are musical as well.

My second piano lesson is scheduled for this coming weekend. I'm looking forward to it and hope that it will provide further enlightenment.

We also have an orchestra concert on Sunday, so I've been getting reacquainted with my cello over the past couple of weeks. We've been getting along pretty well, so far.