Here I am, risking a little bit of my pride to show you the practice process behind what will become a very good Mendelssohn excerpt at some point. I figure that part of the strength of this blog is a willingness to lift up the rock and show you the un-pretty stuff underneath. And while I know some of my esteemed colleagues don’t struggle with the issues I’m working on here, I know that many more absolutely do. I have waited outside studios for friends to finish and heard missed shifts, skittering bows, and similar pathologies to those I am wrestling with during this strangely difficult excerpt. It’s not about rehabbing after surgery, or getting used to Ray Hardy’s new setup. This is about drinking the punch I ask you all to swill in each and every post I label approach. As someone who wants to be the finest pedagogue possible, I can think of no better demonstration of that intent than to aggressively seek out my own weaknesses and kick them right in the teeth. Let’s look under the rock, shall we?