Yesterday didn't go too badly. Actually, yesterday things went rather well. I found that I can play the first part of the Atholl Highlanders dotless, and that's speeding things up. I also spent a while trying That Tune dotless, and didn't do too badly. I mostly worked on these two, my tone was good, I was comfortable. For a while I had the third drone going, and that seemed OK.
Today - not so good again. Trying the same two tunes. Getting a decent speed on the Highlanders, but the faster I go the more notes I get wrong - or the more bars I play in the wrong order or leave out altogether. Also finding playing exhausting - feel I'm really fighting the pipes. It's not comfortable, My Fan points out that playing at speed is making me tense up - it's the effort of remembering tune and getting enough air through to keep things going.
One thing that does seem to work is having dots to hand, but a bit too far away to read from. This means I can just see the general shape of the tune and can think "aha - yes, the next bit goes up/down/is faster/slower" and that gives me a nudge without letting me slip back into full dot reading.
I'm back listening to Iain MacInnes. I love his playing, his arrangements (with harpsichord - a really inspired pairing). It's really inspiring, but I'm just falling so short of my own expectations. No recording today - I literally haven't been able to play a single tune right through without major errors.
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