July 2004

July 27, 2004 00:32

Great news: I've been accepted into the next round of the Faith Court Scholarship for commencing string students at WAAPA. There's a bit of a story behind this.

I applied, but didn't tell any other string players about it (such as the cellists or double bassist) until after the entries had finished. Why inform them about it when I could have less competiton? Ended up that none of the people I thought were eligble applied so I needn't have bothered.

Anyway, I figured that I was a fairly sure bet to get the scholarship seeing as (in my opinion) I was the only commencing student playing strings that applied. However when the names went up for the next round, mine wasn't on there, but there was a second year student, and a final year student. I was amazed and angry and dissapointed, so I shot off a quick e-mail to one of my lecturers.

He replied that the second year student was atually considered in the rules a first year student because she had actually done a different course last year so was technically a commencing student. He didn't mention anything about the final year student.

I replied this morning that I was still confused at why the final year student could get through as a commencing student, but didn't get a reply before I had to head off to uni.

Before my last class, I was scanning cards (to check attendance) outside class. One of my lecturers comes up to me and says to me "Ben, are you ok to play on thursday?" I say "yea I can be" and he says "You're on. That final year shouldn't have applied for that scholarship so You're up"

I was so excited that I couldn't really relax and enjoy the concert that I had (One of the Bach Cello suites and a Duo by Kreisler i think).

Well, I best go as I need to practice. I don't think that I will get the scholarship, as the other person going for it has had a year of training before me so you'd assume that she'd be better than me, but I'm going to give it my best shot and hopefully give her a good run for the money.

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July 19, 2004 06:18

Uni started today, and wouldn't you know it, I slept in. I missed my 9am lecture, but it turned out for the better really. I was able to spend the time that I would've spent drinking coffee in the cafe practicing my violin instead.
Got into my violin lesson and worked on the Haydn and started on Legend. Haydn is sounding great, and we're now just putting finishing touches on the first movement which I'll be playing at the Joondalup Eisteddfod. Things like adding shape to the cadenza, cleaning up double stops, and making sure the development has the same energy as the beginning.

We're doing the middle bit of Legende, getting the double stops in tune etc. When I first looked at it on my own, I thought it was going to be so hard, but now that I've had my teacher go through it with me, I'm feeling pretty good about it.

Did two hours practice this evening, making about 4 hours worth of playing today. I should be able to get about 3 hours a day all this week (except friday as I've got uni 9-4 with no breaks, and work 5:30-10:30), so if I can keep that up for the rest of semester I think I'll be sitting pretty for my exam at the end of the year.

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July 18, 2004 06:10

Uni starts on monday. I have an assignment due in on tuesday that I just don't understand. We're supposed to analyze Density 21.5 by Edgar Varese. The funny thing is that Edgar Varese said that you shouldn't try and analyse his works...

This work is so difficult. It's writtin in 4/4 time, but as I don't have a recording, I'm writing it out in my midi program. However, there are bars where there are more beats in the bar than there should be. there are 5/4 bars and 9/8 bars, yet theyr'e not marked with a time signature change. It's so confusing that I've given up.

I'll ask the teacher on tuesday about it, and just have to hand it in late. I don't think there's any way that I'd get it done on time because it is a very difficult piece. Doesn't matter how late it is, just as long as I hand it in eventually.

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July 10, 2004 08:44

picked up my violin for the first time for a week or three (oops!). I've been working most days 9-5 or 6, some days i've worked 9-9 so when i get home i'm really tired and don't do any practice.

I'm taking this week off completely so that I can do some practice and prepare myself for the start of second semester (got an assignment due in the first week). Also my girlfriend has her holidays starting this week so it's basically the only week i get to spend some serious time with her.

I did 3 sessions today (1 session = 45 minutes of serious work with a 15 minute break to relax at the end), plus a rather long rehearsal with my dad because we were playing some music at an informal parish dinner.

Currently Working on:
Technical Work - G (Major, Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor)
Studies - Kreutzer 2, 4, 5, 13
Pieces - Telemann Fantasy 1 (Cleaning first two movements, learning third).
Haydn Violin Concerto in G first movement; cleaning and polishing
Wienawski Legende Op 17 - learning (haven't actually started yet, will start tomorrow focussing on getting the double stops in tune).

Well that's basically what's happening in my life at the moment. I best head off to bed soon. It's 11:45 at the moment, i've got 4 sessions of violin practice to do tomorrow, as well as an hour of house cleaning, some driving practice, and church in the evening, plus I will be watching Law and Order and the Brittish Grand Prix in the evening/night/morning...

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July 9, 2004 05:13

New strings!

I went to the music store today hoping to grab some infeld blue strings for my violin. They had looked nice on the website, but unfortunately they don't have any in WA it looks like. Instead I got a set of the Pirastro Obligato with the steel e string. I might switch over to a gold e when i replace these.

I'm very happy with these at the moment. Their sound is much more full than with the Tonicas i was using, and there is so much more resonance.

got an e-mail today about the Gyeongnam International Music Competition. Unfortunately I'm not up to the level required to participate in this competition, but I do want to wish all competitors good luck in it.

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More entries: August 2004 • June 2004

July 2004

July 27, 2004 00:32

July 19, 2004 06:18

July 18, 2004 06:10

July 10, 2004 08:44

July 9, 2004 05:13

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