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Violin BlogsViolinist.com members may keep personal journals on the website. Violinist.com's editor selects the best entries for the column below. Links to all other recent blog posts may be found in the column on the right. Top BlogsHappy Fourth of July! By Pauline LernerJuly 4, 2009 00:47
Today (July 4) is Independence Day (and also my birthday). Independence Day is a major holiday for Americans. Laurie posted a blog about it, but her approach and mine differ. I've gathered a few items from Youtube which make me feel proud to be an American.
That is, happy Independence Day to V.com friends in the United States, and a simple happy July 4 for everyone the world 'round! I looked around YouTube for something that showed some American spirit, and naturally I chose a piece by a Belgian composer...;) Thank you to V.com member Krzysztof Ruciñski, who was 18 when he recorded this with pianist Chase Coleman, during the Recital launching Foundation to Assist Young Musicians in Las Vegas in December 2007. Enjoy, "Souvenir d' Amerique," Op. 17 by Henri Vieuxtemps, or, Variations on "Yankee Doodle."
Earlier this week, Philippe Quint confessed to being a Strad man, and that got me thinking: Strad or Guarneri del Gesù?
I continue refinishing with my shaped scrapers. Now we have this:
Apparently it is not possible for Philippe Quint to play the Violin Concerto by Erich Wolfgang Korngold enough. "If I could play it three times during the concert – I would!" Philippe said, laughing. "It's one of those works that gives you an incredible amount of positive energy." He spoke to me on the phone from New York in early June, about his new recording of the Korngold, about Dorothy DeLay's uncanny ways, and about the day the Strad he plays went flying away in a taxi – without him. "I instantly had something that's called 'love at first sight' with the Korngold concerto," Philippe said. "I heard Jascha Heifetz's recordings, and I think I heard Perlman's performance and I instantly knew, I literally ran right into the library and got the score and started learning it, right away."
In this round of playing the violin and viola, I've been paying more attention to memorization of pieces. When I was growing up I did almost none of that. My teachers didn't require it and I think that lack was part of a larger educational philosophy of the time that was anti-"rote" memorization and "regurgitation" for many subjects, not just music. I partially agree with this school of thought, in that I don't think memorization is the be-all and end-all of learning a piece. I don't think it should stop there. But, I am starting to think that it should *start* there. I played a viola recital in April, my first recital in more years than I want to think about, and my first public performance ever of a piece from memory, without music. It was a short piece, a little under 5 minutes long, Rebecca Clarke's "Passacaglia on an Old English Tune." Given what other people manage to memorize--whole concertos, entire symphonies, multiple instrumental parts of entire symphonies--this one little viola part seemed like it should have been a surmountable challenge. And, I perspired through it without memory glitches, sweaty hands and all. However, the fear of forgetting (if not actual forgetting) intensified the nerves that I normally feel anyway.
I just experienced an incredible week. I came here, to the gorgeous area of Santa Barbara, California, to attend and study at the prestigious Music Academy of the West. I had no idea what to expect, other than the fact that I am the youngest here. Many months ago, I met my teacher here, Zvi Zeitlin, at a seminar and he called in and got me past the minimum age (16) requirement for this camp so I could audition. I was actually quite intimidated because from what I had heard, this festival was made up mainly of college and graduate school students. However, after this first week, I can say that this is one of the most incredible and amazing experiences in my life.
Now I drill holes to carve the pegbox, take care with the depth of the hole:
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SearchStaff BlogsLaurie Niles The Weekend Vote Other BlogsSearching for Time Not grabbing me Branching Out Carving a scroll - step by step - part XI Zeroing in on just the right Student Violin and Viola... Last Legs of the Viol-a-thon With the tides... What we take for granted Regina Spektor Sheet Music The Bad and then the Extremely Good Taking Notes Whilst Practicing. Historical Violin Cases: Where are they now? Summer Break?!?!?! Carving a scroll - step by step - part VI Please comment on my playing... Introducing the Buribar My Repertoire Played (to date) my first song POPpers and Balloons Vacation's Ending Thinking and Puttering Blast from the past... those pieces you go back to and say, 'Gee, I should've enjoyed them more!' Tchaikovsky in the summer from the tip of my burning pinky finger
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