This weekend we had done one of the most complicated duets so far.
On Saturday, we practised for more than an hour, took for more than 50 recordings (excluding the many times we did without record it) and still could’t get the tempo right. The song was still above 1 minute. Kept breaking my promise ‘this is the last time’ to her. I finally ended the practice after we got it to 57s although mistakes scattered everywhere.
We tried again on Sunday. Unlike the previous day where I had to deal with both playing and recording, this time we got the doctor to handle the camera.
We did the duet at the end of session on Saturday and did it at the beginning on Sunday. On Saturday, it was the first practice, so I had to put it after we did any other homeworks. While on Sunday, we just needed to refine some details here and there, although it was also far from easy.
Hard practice on Saturday really paid off. That day, we finally settled on the 20th take.
It reminded me of the lines from my current finished reading that explained our situation through a research done 30 years ago.
The research :
The finding :
We managed to go from 58s to 49s. Nine seconds made all the difference. Just by one day, deliberate practice improved everything from tempo, details, rhytm, and of course, confidence.
What separates good from great sometimes only a little bit of patience.
This song arguably is the most enjoyable and satisfying duets for this year and the past two years since we started doing duet for the first time.
Tingilayo-ABRSM star 2
A Penny for My Pensieve 