Helter Skelter just means confusion. Which is what I am feeling lately. I thought I was making progress on the piece I’m working on. Little by little I was working through the many sections, practicing the 1/16 note runs with different rhythms, backward and forward; playing the sweet parts slowly with as much vibrato as I can muster. Over the weekend I went back to the beginning and was playing when I got to 4 measures that I thought I had worked out (wrong!), only to discover I had no idea of what the correct notes were and how to play them. Mass confusion. How could it be that I had it down and then it was gone? Well, the obvious answer is that I never had it down to begin with and was just swooping through that section so I could move on to the next. I spent much of my lesson getting advice on this problem. Those four measures needed a lot more attention than I had given them and this week will bring focus on helping my left hand learn the drill. And make no mistake, it is merely a drill to practice and engrain the muscle memory of what to do. There’s no way my meager mind can REMEMBER all the intricacies of the fingering and changing hand positions of the ONLY 4 MEASURES that I’m playing. So the plan is slowly move from one note/hand position to the next, and repeat. and repeat. and repeat. Then move on to the next set of notes. In a week of repetition, I should have it. And if not, it may take another week. Progress, not perfection.