Again, we started the lesson by warming up with a few arpeggios. I've come to expect it. Then we jumped into "Il Est Né". I played the whole thing for Bill, and he pointed out that I was pausing between the first and second parts of the song, which I hadn't really realized. Well, I realized it, because I was placing my hands for the second part, but I hadn't thought it was so noticeable. So we worked on the transition there for a while.
Then, we played a duet of "Il Est Né"!!! Most of Sylvia Woods' books have an easy and a hard version of each song, and they can be played as a duet. So, I played the easy version which I'd been working on, and Bill accompanied me with the harder version on his pedal harp! It was so fun! I love playing duets! I'd never played with another harpist before, but my flute teacher and I used to do a lot of duets until she got severe TMJ and was forced to stop playing. It's very exciting to work with another person to make music.
Then Bill asked me if I'd like to start working on the harder version of "Il Est Né", but I asked if we could possible work on another Christmas song, so that I could have more than one piece to play for the Christmas program. We decided on "Away in a Manger". We worked out the right hand melody, then tried adding the accompaniment Sylvia Woods wrote out.
Bill and I didn't think that I'd be able to memorize both parts in time for the Christmas program, and my next lesson will be after it, so we decided that I should just memorize chords to play with my left hand, which will go along with the melody.
I'm so excited for the program! (but a little nervous too!)
