On Saturday I pulled out my Clark Technical Studies book and began trying to work my way through each exercise that was in my playable range. To my surprise I did horribly on all exercises that had more than 3 sharps and flats in them. This is due to me not practicing all of my scales they way that I should. As a result I have put myself on scale punishment. I will work through my normal fundamentals as usual but no etudes or jazz exercises until I can play all my scales with some familiarity. I plan on grilling myself the next few weeks hard and often. One of my goals for 2003 was learning my scales so I can't sleep on this one.

I also noticed that I have a hard time reading music that has more than 2 ledger lines. I have terrible eye sight and I find that I read the notes incorrectly. Especially in some of the older books like Clark and Arbans where the notes are really close together. It may be time to get new contacts or look into Lasik surgery.