Violinist.com - Because you can't say enough about the violin

News by E-mail
Violinist.com - Violin Blogs - Kelsey Z. - Blog Entry
Printer-friendly version
Kelsey Z.

May 9, 2004 at 4:34 PM

And the challenge is!

To prepare for symphony auditions in two weeks (still waiting for music..) and then have the Lark Ascending (which I've had a grand total of one lesson on so far, and have been playing for about a week or so now) ready for a concert in June. Get through my 3 hour history exam on Friday and manage to somewhere in there cram in three or four dance concerts and a possible trip out of town for a few days. Hmm.....
Somehow I think I have my work cut out for me. Orchestra auditions should be interesting. I've played with this orchestra since January as a mentor student but have to audition for the 2004-05 season. Whether or not I'll return to playing with the orchestra, even if I am re-accpeted, I am not yet sure. I've been tossing around the idea of really focusing on my solo repertoire and getting my theory requirements down for my ARCT. The history exam I am writing on Friday is one of many still to come to help me in my pursuit of this music diploma. I'm not wild at all about the history part for some of the memorisation things, but I am really enjoying all the harmony and simple anaylsis stuff. I guess maybe that comes from my strong interest and enjoyment in composing.

Lark Ascending is going pretty good so far. As you can tell from my other blog postings, I am a big fan of the piece and have a huge passion for the work. The biggest challenge for me, in this piece is going to be rythmicaly. The section I see the most difficulty being is probably where you have all the groups of 8 and then, suprise(!) there is a group of 7. That will throw a persons sense of rythm off a bit. Oh well. I think I'm up for the challenge of learning it quickly and in time for a performance and my teacher seems to really like what I've done with the piece so far. I've been really focused on trying to get my vibrato better and my teacher said that it really shows in this piece.

Speaking of my interest in composition before. I've decided after working on the Mozart concerto more and more, that I'm really not satisfied with the cadenza in the first movement at all, so I have taken it upon myself to write my own cadenza! Cadenza: An extended virtuosic section for the soloist usually near the end of a movement of a concerto I just wasn't getting that from the Joachim cadenza. It's a nice cadenza, but it just doesn't have much soloistic display and when the rest of the concerto is relatively simple in style technical interest I think a cadenza that has a little more flash and show off time then the Joachim one is an ok thing and hopefully Mozart would have liked it. Whether or not I ever perform this concerto and perform it with my own cadenza is yet to be seen, but at least it's been fun writing it so far!

My two Kreutzer etudes this week are 26 and 29. I actually quite enjoy Kreutzer etudes. They aren't Bach, for sure, but after working on them I can notice improvements, if just tiny, it's still an improvement and that's all the motivation I need. There is just something about striving to sound better and learn to communicate the music better that, even when things aren't going so well, seems to make
me always want to work harder. I have off days, to be sure, but it's having those kind of days once in awhile that makes me appreciate the work and effort I've put into music and then wanting to work harder again once I've gotten through those periods of doubt and realise just how much I would miss it, would I ever have the ability to play taken away from me. (is this making any sense to anyone?)

I'm thankful for music and the opportunity I've been given to learn an instrument. I hope that the teachers and parents out there who get frustrated with us over and over again give themself the credit they deserve for putting up with us and sharing something so wonderful with us.

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

Music Giveaway

Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor's method books -- released this week -- teach students using many styles of American music. Enter to win a set of the books this week, on Violinist.com. Photo: Deanna Rose

Search

About Kelsey

Kelsey Z. is from Vancouver, Canada. Biography

E-mail to Kelsey Z.

RSS Subscribe in a reader

Blog Archive

2009: May Feb. Jan.

2008: Dec. Nov. Oct. Sep. Aug. Jul. Jun. May Apr. Mar. Feb. Jan.

2007: Dec. Nov. Oct. Sep. Aug. Jul. Jun. May Apr. Mar. Feb. Jan.

2006: Dec. Nov. Oct. Sep. Aug. Jul. Jun. May Apr. Mar. Feb. Jan.

2005: Dec. Nov. Oct. Sep. Aug. Jul. Jun. May Apr. Mar. Feb. Jan.

2004: Dec. Nov. Oct. Sep. Aug. Jul. Jun. May Apr. Mar.

2003: Mar. Feb. Jan.