July 2005

July 27, 2005 21:35

Well, POPS tonight was interesting...
Here is a warning to all string players:
When you are taking off a mute (the type that slids) DO NOT push DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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As you might have guessed I learned that by experience... There is one part in Sorcerer's Apprentice where the violins all have about a measure to take off their mutes. Well, mine wasn't sliding, so I pushed down *slightly* ......... and my bridge fell..... and there was that horrid sound as the bridge and tailpiece both hit the body, and the strings all 'thwanged' (it was in a quiet part too...) so of course, everyone looked at me, our conductor stopped the orchestra, and I felt really stupid. Then they finished Apprentice and went on break, and some how, I managed to have everything back together, and my violin in tune and still have about 10 minutes of break... but it was REALLY scary.

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July 26, 2005 15:17

Sorry in advance for my thoughts being really random.

Anyway, I'll start off with the non-music things. Did anyone else watch the shuttle launch this morning? Personally, I love everything about space flight, and so getting to watch the 'return to flight' was really amazing for me.

On Thursday night, a girl whom my family almost took in as a foster child will be coming over for a while. She's great fun, and she and I have a strange relationship. This is because she is completly deaf (that would be so hard for me) and I know very little sign language. So communication is done almost completly through facial expression (unless my mom is willing to translate).

On to music- After two months of no new music (pieces, scales, etudes, ...) my teacher suddenly gave me a whole lot of stuff to work on.

POPS is great. Our second and last concert is next Sunday. Over the past four weeks, I've been moved from 10th chair, to 8th, to 4th and now I'm sitting 3rd chair. And, as far as I know, I won't be moving again this season, which is good.

School starts in a week and a half. I'm taking Orchestra, Music Theory, Orchestra, AP English, Algebra 3-4, and Physics. I will also be working in the school's music library which will be really fun (I happen to really like sorting, cataloging, and organizing scores...)

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July 12, 2005 20:46

Here is something I just remembered, and thought I should share with you as a reminder of why we play the violin.

About six months after I started playing violin, I had a part in a play where I had to play the violin (Twinkle and John Ryan's Polka I think). Anyway, after the show, a girl (whose name I never learned) came back stage with her teacher. She was a very shy but nice and polite girl, about 6 years old. And was completly blind. As I was putting away my violin, her teacher brought her over to me and asked if the girl could try my violin. So, I let her. With her holding the violin and moving the bow while I fingered some simple tune. Together, she and I played a piece that didn't sound great, but brought a huge, beautiful smile to her face.

This was several years ago, and I don't know where this girl is now, or what she is doing. But I can only hope that the violin (or music in general) continued to touched her life.

~Jessica

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July 12, 2005 10:48

Rehearsal last night was really fun. Our first concert is on Sunday, so all the rehearsals this week are in the concert hall. Before rehearsal and during the break, my violin was being passed around the violin section, cause just about every one wanted to try it - that was somewhat shocking, but nice.
Also, during my lesson, my teacher said it sounded nice. And, that made me happy.

I'm thinking about auditioning for a youth symphony rather than playing with the college this season, but I don't know (any advice would be helpful...)

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July 9, 2005 10:06

As requested, here is a link to the violin I built.

violin

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July 8, 2005 21:20

Aside from not having time to practice (my cousins - ages 1 and 5 - were visiting) this has been a very nice week. Prescott Summer POPS rehearsals started. I'm in the middle of the seconds, which I guess is better than not playing at all. We are playing lots of fun 'pops' music, including Jaws, Spiderman, Carnival of the Animals, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Phantom of the Opera, and lots more... Its been so much fun!

Also, the violin that I've been building was finished yesterday. And its sounds amazing. I have never done anything like this, so I was rather impressed that it sounds better (in a way) than my regular violin. I'll be interested to see how the sound changes over time - as it sets, and as it gets played. Though I'm slightly nervous to show it to my teacher on Monday...

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July 4, 2005 16:14

Its always great to get paid for doing something as fun as playing the violin. Today I recorded a piece for the Arizona Shakespeare Festival. And that was really fun - I've never done anything quite like that before. They gave us a recording of someone humming the tune, then the other violinist and I had about 10 minutes to learn the piece. Then we recorded it. For the play, they are going to warp and distort the recording, so I have no idea what i will sound like...

However, this morning wasn't so great...

When I went to set up my violin (an hour before my lesson) I saw that all the pegs had slipped far enough that there was no tension across the body, which caused the sound post to fall. So, I called a friend in a complete panic, then my mom took me to her house so that I could use one of her violins.

That was ok, but its adjusted ever so slightly different from mine, so I was playing slightly flat for my whole lesson. (Once I to my teacher what had happened, he stopped tellling me I was playing flat...).

oh sigh...

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July 2, 2005 20:59

Wow! I just got back from Alaska. Its so beautiful there! For the two weeks I was there, I was using an electric violin. And, while it does its job of "travel violin" very well, I was very glad to get back to my regular violin (which some how was still in tune - I had a friend keep the humidifier full, but she said she didn't tune it at all... strange)
Anyway, Summer POPS started while I was gone, but I'll be able to join rehearsals on Tuesday.
Summer is starting tto feel too long, and too short............

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More entries: August 2005 • June 2005