Andrew Paa on Violinist.com

10th Time's the Charm

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:05:23 GMT

With so much to do and so much going on (not to mention that I haven't had great internet access for a week), I've again neglected my blog!! & nbsp; & nbsp; So much has occurred since my last update that I could fill page upon page as I write. & nbsp; I & rsquo;ll try not to ramble too much though. & nbsp; Let & rsquo;s just travel back in time a little bit to July. & nbsp; After I played for all three candidates looking to be the violin teacher at USD, I realized that I would happy if any of the three was chosen to be my teacher. & nbsp; All three were very knowledgeable and genuinely seemed to like teaching. & nbsp; After the master classes, I eagerly awaited to see who my next violin teacher would be. & nbsp; As a week turned into three weeks, I began to get frustrated by the lack of a signal that a new violin teacher had been picked. & nbsp; However, as my patience was wearing thin, I received an e-mail stating that the hold-up was clearance from the government on the new teacher & rsquo;s visa. & nbsp; So, I would not know my new violin teachers & rsquo; name for another three weeks. & nbsp; A week ago, they were finally able to reveal the name of the teacher, on the first day of classes at my new Grad School. & nbsp; Thus, my new violin teacher is Dr. Eunho Kim. & nbsp;

While waiting to hear back from USD regarding the status of the violin teacher, I was still preparing for my auditions and getting ever more frustrated with my lack of ability to play my excerpts better. & nbsp; I was running out of time to practice for both orchestra & rsquo;s (a combined excerpt packet of 27 pages), so I ended up choosing to audition for only one of the orchestra & rsquo;s. & nbsp; I decided to audition for the Sioux City Symphony only. & nbsp; In the end, this was an excellent decision because, as of this last week, I & rsquo;m a member of the first violin section. & nbsp; Really, I & rsquo;m not quite sure how I managed this feat, but I am quite pleased with the results of this, my first professional audition. & nbsp; The audition went really well according to my teacher, who is concertmaster of the orchestra. & nbsp; My Mozart was quite good as was the more difficult excerpts that I had to perform. & nbsp; Really, this is all due to the fine teachers I had over the summer, Dan Auerbach for my solo lit. and Sonja Bundy for my excerpts. & nbsp; I couldn & rsquo;t have done this without their help and constant pushing of me to the next level. & nbsp; It was because of winning this audition that I realized the line between me as a student and professional violinist are much more blurred; also because I & rsquo;m looking to teach students here. & nbsp;

I & rsquo;ve already had one week of graduate school under my belt and I must say that it & rsquo;s quite different from undergraduate work. & nbsp; For one, I have much more time when I don & rsquo;t have anything actually going on. & nbsp; It & rsquo;s really different but it gives me more practice and rehearsal freedom than I & rsquo;ve experienced before. & nbsp; However, my schedule is about to get a lot fuller because ensembles will be added in this week. & nbsp; I & rsquo;m signed up to be the first violinist in a new string quartet, I & rsquo;m the violinist of the Townsley Duo/Trio, I & rsquo;m also going to do Chamber Orchestra and I & rsquo;m concertmaster of the USD Symphony. & nbsp; One top of that, once a month one week will be filled with long rehearsals for the Sioux City Symphony. & nbsp; It makes me wonder when I & rsquo;ll have time to practice my solo literature! & nbsp; While this is a lot of ensembles and playing, I & rsquo;m doing it to get used to a lot of rehearsing, playing and performing. & nbsp; It & rsquo;s what I & rsquo;m here to do and if it turns out to be too much, I can get rid of something next semester or next year. & nbsp; Plus, my academic work is reduced because I only have two actual classes, so I don & rsquo;t have to spend as much time reading and studying, which is actually a nice change. & nbsp;

On this last Thursday, I had my first lesson with my new teacher. & nbsp; I found her to be an exacting but polite teacher who expects a great deal out of me. & nbsp; It makes me quite happy to have a teacher who will push me at every lesson to play at the highest level that I possibly can. & nbsp; Over this last year and a half, I & rsquo;ve become pretty used to being pushed and I & rsquo;m glad to see that I can continue this tradition. & nbsp; I & rsquo;m working on some very difficult repertoire this semester, including St. Saens 3^rd Concerto, Bach G-minor Sonata-Fugue and the Wieniawski Polonaise Brilliante in A-Major. & nbsp; Also, I will be heavily working on technique as well, which pleases me to no end. & nbsp; I think I & rsquo;m going to finally fill in all those gaps in my technical training because I believe she is going to have me work through most, if not all, of the Kreutzer this year. & nbsp; I really enjoy technique work and have begun to reap the benefits of doing a heavy dose of technique. & nbsp; I & rsquo;m a much more secure violin player than I was even a year ago. & nbsp; I & rsquo;m able to learn notes more quickly and to be much more musical with phrases. & nbsp; Also, I & rsquo;m becoming better able to come up with my own fingerings and bowings & hellip;though they often look like something Galamian would have written. & nbsp;

Well, I could go on but I won & rsquo;t. & nbsp; Suffice to say, I & rsquo;m going to have a very busy semester full of making music and really going into the technical and musical depths of the violin with the pieces of music. & nbsp; It & rsquo;s my goal to learn those three pieces fully by the end of the semester. & nbsp; I & rsquo;ve already begun planning on auditioning for music festivals including Killington, Brevard, Aspen, Chautauqua, Rocky Mountain Conservatory and Rocky Ridge. & nbsp; If anyone has any insight into any of these programs, I would be happy for any information. & nbsp;

& nbsp;Have a great rest of Labor Day!!

Andrew Paa

& nbsp;

This is a test

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:17:28 GMT

This is a test. & nbsp; I have been trying to post a long blog today and it doesn't seem to want to post to the site. & nbsp; Help, why can't I post my longer blog?

Changes Around the Middle

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:35:29 GMT

I�have literally visited the "Post Blog" page three times a day for the last two weeks, yet have never actually written the blog entry!� Well, as you can see, that changed today.� I think my lesson yesterday spurred me to this.� Over the last few weeks, my tendonitous has acted up but it is now subsiding again.� I've discovered that my biggest weakness as a violinist is my "heavy" fingers.� Though not as a bad as a few years ago, I still tend to pound the fingerboard.� My left hand gets heavier the louder I play with my right hand.� It's quite amusing really and something I never really noticed, until my summer teacher, Dan Auerbach, pointed it out.� It's the whole reason I've never been able to play quickly!� So, I'm using a menagerie of Sevcik, scale exercises and special practice on my repertoire to get my hands out of the habit of pounding.� I'm also working on seperating my left hand and my right hand, or to play forte with my right hand but keep my left hand at a piano dynamic.� Apparently, my intonation is better than I thought because he wants me to focus less on intonation (that is, don't spend as much time working for the intonation I already have) and to focus more on the light left hand, shifting and phrasing.�

It's always interesting to get a new teacher and realize what's improved and what it's needs work.� I'll have another new teacher this coming fall because the violin teacher at my grad school has decided to not return after a semester away.� Now, the school has 3 candidates coming in for the position and I've been fortunate enough to be invited to play at the public masterclasses.� The first candidate that I'm playing for tomorrow is Eunho Kim and the second, that I'm playing for on Thursday, is Michael Jorgensen; I don't know who the third candidate is yet, but I play for them a week from today.� Both are highly qualified violinists, going to outstanding schools.� They're also pretty young, which is somewhat different to me because I'm much more used to working with older teachers.� I'm very excited to play for them and it will be an excellent experience for me, as I've never actually played in a masterclass before.� Also, it's intimidating because there will be students and faculty listening that I�have never met.�� But, let's be honest, I'm more excited than nervous.� I'm quickly becoming much more comfortable with performing; which is good since that's what I'm getting my masters in.�

Also, on a personal note.� I've lost 10 pounds since getting back from San Francisco!

�

The Bad and then the Extremely Good

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:14:59 GMT

When one auditions at a grad school, no one suspects the violin teacher they wished to study with will decide to leave the school. & nbsp; However, that is not the case with me. & nbsp; After 15 years at USD, the violin teacher is leaving. & nbsp; Shockingly, I'm not as worried as I might be but the worry is beginning to creep up on me. & nbsp; What am I going to get for a violin teacher? & nbsp; He only recently announced his official dicision to leave and the announcment of his open poisition was only recenty put up on on the USD website. & nbsp; Thus, I'm stuck. & nbsp; I don't want to end up with a bad teacher and one that is not completely qualified. & nbsp; On the other hand, I could end up with a fantastic teacher. & nbsp; I'm trying to keep my mind on the positive but it's just difficult. & nbsp; So, I'm hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. & nbsp;

Just last night I returned from a vacation in San Francisco, Monterey and PIsmo Beach. & nbsp; While in San Francisco I & nbsp;got to hear the San Francisco Symphony with a program featuring the Berg Violin Concerto and Schuberts 6th Mass. & nbsp; Gil Shaham was the soloist for the concerto and I counldn't have been happier with my first live performance of the concerto. & nbsp; His ability to phrase was astounding and his dynamics were extremely diverse. & nbsp; He made a concerto that isn't easy to make beautiful, completely beautiful. & nbsp; I also realized taht importance of the bow during his performance, most of the beauty came from what he could do with his bow, not with what he could with vibrato. & nbsp; His performance gave me a lot to think about and of course the symphony was absolutely fantastic. & nbsp; After the concert, I & nbsp;met with the soloist briefly and found him to be a very nice, talkative and personable. & nbsp; I took a picture with him and will hopefully post it at a later date. & nbsp;

Have a pleasant day!

Past, Present and Future

Sat, 30 May 2009 02:07:03 GMT

So, I don't update very often. & nbsp; Well, violin is going amazingly well and I've made a ton or progress. & nbsp; & nbsp; Specifically with intonation. & nbsp; & nbsp; I'm working on implementing the last major issue that Jubal was working with me on before I graduated and it's working well. & nbsp; That is arm support, which is an amazing tool for the improvement of intonation. & nbsp; This past Sunday I graduated from Luther. & nbsp; It's a hard adjustment, knowing that I'm no longer a student there. & nbsp; I'm going to miss it a lot next year; specifically the music environment there. & nbsp; I decided to go go USD, there I was offerred the Rawlins Trio Fellowship, so I'll be the violinist of the Townsley Trio this fall. & nbsp; While I'm excited, I know the musical environment is vastly different from Luthers. & nbsp; It will be an adjustment. & nbsp; Also, I'll be auditioning for the South Dakota and Sioux City Symphonies. & nbsp; I've already began the excerpts and there are a lot of them. & nbsp; I'm also starting a bunch of new repetoire; Bach g-minor fugue, Wienawski Polonaise Brilliante in A-Major and perhaps the Mendelssohn concerto. & nbsp;

It's a Waiting Game

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:17 GMT

For some outrageous reason, I decided to complete my application for Brevard last night. & nbsp; I learned the excerpts yesterday and recorded them...yesterday for the due date which was today. & nbsp; It's not that I don't want to attend but why did I do it that way. & nbsp; I've played all three the pieces I recorded, but some not for four years. & nbsp; I've had many of these excerpts for months and I've been sporadically learning them since October but not much more than the ryhthm and pitch. & nbsp; I've mostly been doing Don Juan but that wasn't ready so I had to learn the new ones. & nbsp; I didn't complete realize that the due date was today until our principle cellist mentioned it. & nbsp; So, I did that in hurry. & nbsp; Also, I sent my audition CD & nbsp;to Bowling Green last week and so I'm eagerly anticipating results from that. & nbsp; I hope they they got it on time. & nbsp; So, & nbsp;now I wait to find out stuff from these places. & nbsp; But, I already know the results of one school and it is very good but I'm not telling everyone yet. & nbsp; I'm waiting for the official letter at the moment and don't want to tell an untruth or something. & nbsp;

Next Audition in 3...2...1!!!

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:20:53 GMT

The second audition for grad school will be this Friday and I'm not really nervous for it. & nbsp; Actually, I'm excited because it's down at UNI where my summer teacher teaches. & nbsp; I'm really excited to see him and show him what I've done since mid-August when we had our last lesson. & nbsp; I hope I & nbsp;show him that I'm fully capable of improving at a rapid rate. & nbsp; Even if I & nbsp;don't get in, I & nbsp;just hope he's happy with how I've progressed. & nbsp; My audition last week went extremely well and I already know the results of that audition but I'm not going to post it just yet. & nbsp; I want to wait until I & nbsp;hear from the other two schools before I do that (I still have to get my recording in to Bowling Green and will hopefully do that next week). & nbsp; Now, I have to record some must for several auditions for the summer at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Eastern Music Festival for their Librarian/2nd violinist position and for Brevard. & nbsp; Although, & nbsp;I & nbsp;can only conceiveably do one of those three. & nbsp; I would love to do Brevard but that would cost money I currently don't have and EMF would be good but I wouldn't make a lot of money and it's not for the whole summer. & nbsp; Blue Lake would be the best option, but the cost of getting there would take up about 1/5 of my salary. & nbsp;

I'm also planning on applying to work at the National Music Museum in Vermillion, SD because it would be a good experience. & nbsp; I would also like to be in their daily and look at the beautiful stringed instruments they have there. & nbsp; It would be a great summer job for me. & nbsp; However, I would still like to study violin over the summer, which is hard in Sioux Falls because most of the teachers teach mainly up to high school and the teacher at the University will be gone. & nbsp; There is a teacher at Augustana in Sioux Falls who I & nbsp;contacted at one point, but I & nbsp;haven't heard back from him and, other than the Concertmaster of the South Dakota Symphony, he would have been my best bet. & nbsp; Perhaps I could see if the concertmaster of the Sioux City Symphony is but there could be a conflict of interest with either one because I may be auditioning for either of those orchestra's. & nbsp; So, I guess we'll just see. & nbsp;

Anyway, my musical life is going great and I'm starting Mozart's 5th Concerto now. & nbsp; However, I just realized that I switch concertoes now, it will be hard to do the concerto competition in...2 weeks. & nbsp; Crap, maybe I should work on the Bruch some more for this because I would like to compete. & nbsp; I should probably talk to my teacher and see if he wants me to try and compete or not. & nbsp; I would like to but I may not be ready for it but then again, it's still two weeks. & nbsp;

Positive update!!

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 04:36:59 GMT

Hello, everyone! & nbsp; I hope you're having a good day. & nbsp; It's been a while since I've written a blog here and there's good reason for it: & nbsp; I've been practicing like crazy!! & nbsp; So, I've been approaching each practice session with a better attitude and it seems to be working. & nbsp; Instead of wondering what will work and go well, I've been expecting everything to go well. & nbsp; Of course, not everything does go well but it keeps me more motivated and happy when more goes better than a few days ago. & nbsp; Yes, my Bruch is improving quite a bit, which is good since I have my first grad school audition this Monday. & nbsp; Just a few days ago, I was pretty nervous because some things were just not working but I set foward to work on them slowly, and in many rhythmic variations. & nbsp; This seems to be working very well. & nbsp; Also, I've established a much more secure and regular warm-up routine. & nbsp; I spend about 30-45min. on scales and then about 15-30 on some kreutzer etudes. & nbsp; With the scales, I & nbsp;also practice martele and do velocity exercises. & nbsp; I'm currently mostly working on E-major because that's the key of my Bach. & nbsp; It's extremely important to play this in tune because I've elected to play the easier Gigue movement over the Prelude. & nbsp;

Studying with a different teacher didn't pan out but everything will be fine and I know it will be. & nbsp; Thanks to everyone who sent me the emails, they were really nice to get. & nbsp; I'll respond to you soon, I'm on break from school right now so I & nbsp;have time. & nbsp; Well, here's to my first audition going well on Monday at 1pm... :)

Apply as needed

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:10:59 GMT

Ok, so my last blog stirred up quite the discussion. & nbsp; It was not meant to be about overall improvement on the violin. & nbsp; I consciously know that I improve everytime I pick up the violin. & nbsp; It was more about how much I love the violin and how I want to play it well, though it often feels as if it alludes me. & nbsp; Of course, I want to go to grad school and work with a teacher there but the pieces I've been working on since June are not ready, though I could concievably have another 2 months before I have to audition. & nbsp; A major part of the reason why I'm having so much trouble is for reasons I cannot mention here because it is such a public forum of discourse which ANYONE & nbsp;could read. & nbsp; Over the summer, I became positive that I could accomplish what I wanted in the next 5 months. & nbsp; My summer teacher was wonderful, pull of positive teaching and positive energy. & nbsp; I felt as if I could accomplish anything with him. & nbsp; The teacher is completely essential to the students positive thinking. & nbsp; Read into that how you will.

Taking a year off from rep (or at least the advanced rep) is what I see as needed. & nbsp; The teacher I had a lesson with said that a strong technique is the secret and the short-cut to playing the advanced violin literature. & nbsp; Working on nothing but etudes and scales for the next 8 months would drastically improve my technique and allow me to be ready grad schools next year. & nbsp; Also, I would like to apply to the most prestigious programs I can and only one of the schools I've applied to really fits that bill (Bowling Green). & nbsp; I have about a 50/50 shot of getting in there as I play right now. & nbsp; Though, I must say that UNI & nbsp;seems to be a very much underatted school as the violin teacher there is really quite good and the level of the program is high. & nbsp; It doesn't carry with it name recognition most likely because it is not a major university. & nbsp; As much as I hate it, the name of where you went to school often carries more weight than how you play or teach for that matter.

i would love to go to Bowling Green or UNI & nbsp;because I think I would recieve outstanding violin teaching at either school (same with USD). & nbsp; Both of the teachers there seem highly qualified and competent. & nbsp; However, at both schools, the teachers seem concerned with that fact that I'm still working on the basics of rhythmic control and pitch accuracy. & nbsp; I will be the first to admit that some of this is my fault but it has greatly improved since even six months ago. & nbsp; My rhythm problem really centers on the fact that I have a difficult time keeping a constant inner pulse that is same throughout. & nbsp; It's not always that my rhythm is wrong, its that I actually change tempos. & nbsp; When it comes to intonation, I can play in tune slowly through medium fast tempos, but after that it becomes somewhat shaky. & nbsp; My tone production is good, but my bow planning and distribution needs work. & nbsp;

Cruelty of the String

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:55:02 GMT

The violin is a cruel, heartless instrument. & nbsp; It sucks you in and brings you under a spell of complete lust. & nbsp; It holds you there until the moment you can't stand it anymore. & nbsp; You want to play it but feel as if your not worthy to wield it's immense power and infinite beauty. & nbsp; Everyday you bring it up to your chin, in hopes that today will be better; that you will be able to make an at least presentable sound. & nbsp; To your complete and utter dismay, you sound no better than you did yesterday or a week ago. & nbsp; You put the violin down gently, though you are in anger at your own abitlies, & nbsp;since you don't want to damage the precious violin, the focal point of your lust. & nbsp;

Currently, I am under my violins spell. & nbsp; I love the sound, the feel, the look of violin and it's music. & nbsp; I love to play it, to draw my bow across the taught strings to bring forth a new world of sound and colors. & nbsp; I do not find myself worthy to play such an instrument for its beauty in both sound and appearance seem to ellude me. & nbsp; I do not bring the violin what it wants, what it deserves. & nbsp; I only bring to it mediocre playing. & nbsp; My violin deserves better than me...perhaps it is time to let it have what it needs...