I *did* play yesterday: very briefly. I'd been in the kitchen again, and then after that there was prosecco and malbec with dinner (the fan and I were celebrating), so I was tired, but I gave it a go, and I managed to get through the King of Laoise! I think that having decided to abandon the King for a while I lost the tune, so the day before I listened to it about three times, and the following day found myself humming it at work.
It's still not perfect - far from it - fluffed notes and poor timing - but I managed to play it over and over. I can't explain why, but as well as being very satisfying to listen to it's also satisfying to play - there are some combinations of finger movements that just feel very good indeed: the strike between the two Es for example, and the CEA that precedes it. While I was playing I noticed that the doubling on high A is improved, simple because somewhere along the line I've stopped tapping my thumb on the hole and now just stroke it down. When I noticed that I also noticed how very loose my fingers were on the chanter, and this seems to help with gracing, too.
On the other hand I am occasionally doing odd things. In the A part, third bar, when I play E my right hand has the middle fingers up as if to play C. I know it's wrong - I can feel the spare fingers sticking up when they should be lying flat, and I think that sometimes confuses me about which note comes next, or which note I am actually trying to play there. I don't seem to be able to shake the habit, and it only happens in this tune at that point.
Bellows still not great...air flow to the drones not even enough, often not strong enough.
Between endless rounds of the King I managed the Rowan Tree twice through, followed by the A part of the Rocks twice through, and then descended into chaos and couldn't recall a single note sequence for the B part. I did the same yesterday evening and today I can't even blame the demon drink. Still - closer than I was.
Concentration is still a problem. I played in the bedroom this afternoon and at different points lost the plot on what I was playing because I was distracted by an apparently mouldy patch behind the central heating pipes, a small ginger bear that sits by the bed, and a bird flying past the window. The recorder being out of batteries again I had it plugged into the laptop for power, and that, of course, makes me start thinking about my blog post, and blogs I read, and wondering what the news is or whether I have any emails. But I'm getting there - I really think I'm getting there.
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