I plan to set aside at least fifteen minutes and up to 45 minutes a day, with one day off each week, toward the memorization and mastery of the first three exercises in the book Continuo Playing According to Handel: His figured bass exercises. . I will give special focus to one exercise for three weeks each, though there will be a good deal of overlap. I will need to concurrently prepare for one as I’m learning to transpose another, while reinforcing anything recently mastered.
My training sessions will likely change as I discover where the various pitfalls lay, but my initial plan is to follow the rough schedule outlined below.
Day 1 Sight read each exercise 5 times in written key
Create audio file of Exercise No. 1 in its written key beginning with root position
Day 2 Sight read each exercise twice in written key
Master first four chords of Ex.1 in written key beginning in root position.
Create spreadsheet to keep track of practice
Day 3 Sight read each exercise once in written key
Example Practice Session
- Sight-read all three exercises at a very slow tempo
- Focus on Ex. 1 for wks 1-3, Ex. 2 wks 4-6, Ex 3 wks 7-9
- Review
Paul Ruston 