March 2007

Wedding March vs. Canon in D

March 21, 2007 20:54

So I was asked to play violin for a uni mate’s wedding. I was reluctant in the beginning because I thought the playing has to be “perfect” for a wedding. After all, it is going to be an ever lasting memory for my friend. So I randomly picked a popular Chinese melody out of my head, recorded my playing and sent her the demo. She was quite happy with it, so I guess I passed her test.

Now comes the second dilemma: Wagner’s Wedding March or Pachabel’s Canon in D. In my opinion, neither will sound appropriate for violin solo. It should be at least a duet if not a quartet to make the music sound decent for a wedding. I’m happy to play Canon in D on the piano, but my friend insisted it has to be violin, and she preferred the Wedding March. So I sent her another demo of Canon in D on the piano to see if she likes it. I have yet to get her response.

The wedding is in Hong Kong, which means finding a music friend to play with me impossible. Hiring a professional musician is not what my friend had in mind. She wanted her friend to play, not strangers. My sister, who will be attending the wedding, who hasn’t touched the piano for 20 years is my best shot.

Does anyone has:

A violin solo arrangement of Wagner’s Wedding March that is beautiful and yet easy enough for me to play it decently?

A violin & piano arrangement of Wagner’s Wedding March with a very simple piano accompaniment that my sister could play?

A better suggestion?

If I could have a wish now, I’d wish for Buri to fly from Japan to Hong Kong in December and play in the wedding with me! Any chance you'll be flying to Hong Kong for holidays in December?

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I like my job when...

March 11, 2007 04:47

New Baby
I bought a new laptop today and have been playing with it since, neglecting the practise I much obliged. As a matter of fact, I am posting this message with my newly adopted "baby".

I like my job when it gets me my violin, cello, ipod, laptop, CDs, DVDs, lessons etc. Accounting isn't so bad afterall.

Back to Music
I did practise 2.5 hours today learning Dancla Etudes Brillantes No. 4.

The 4 Grade 8 exam pieces have been decided finally (or have it?):

Dancla - Etude No. 4
Bach - Sarabanda and Giga (D minor Partita)
Beethoven - Romance in F (still not too late to switch to Romance in G)
Falla - 6 Spannish Songs Transcription (No. 1, 2 and 6)

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Theory of Music - taking exam on my own!

March 5, 2007 22:50

I’ve decided to sit for AMEB Grade 4 music theory exam in May. This decision came quite out of the blues really when I was browsing the AMEB website yesterday. I thought since I’ve decided to take extra time to prepare for Grade 8 violin exam, I might as well take the required music theory exam in the mean time.

The last time I took a music theory exam was in 1991, ABRSM Grade 5. When I looked at the AMEB syllabus, they took ABRSM Grade 5 as equivalent to AMEB Grade 2. I find this quite ridiculous since many of the topics covered in ABRSM Grade 5 are more equivalent to AMEB Grade 4.

There are so many things to brush up:
- Long list of Italian terms
- All major and minor scales
- Intervals and triads
- 4-part harmony
- 4 type of cadences
- Memorise 3 folk songs
- Rhythms, signs, time signatures etc.
- Writing simple melodic lines to given lyrics
- Knowledge of Baroque dances for keyboard instruments (those of Handel, Bach etc.)
- Knowledge of string instruments (this I should know!)
- Definition and recognition of counterpoints
…
…
…

I’ve bought 3 exam practise books, totalling over 30 exams to practise. With 2 Harmony textbooks and Penguin’s Concise Music Dictionary (not that concise really), I think I should be able to manage the exam on my own. I hope my violin and cello teachers won’t mind that I ask theory questions after lessons.

Something I thought I knew but found out I didn’t:
In diatonic scales, there are actually 3 minor scales in a given key instead of the 2 I knew (harmonic and melodic). The third being natural minor, having the mediant, submediant and leading note a semitone lower than its relative major scale. How could I be this ignorant??!!

Somehow deciding to take music theory exam excites me and depending on how it goes, I might just pursue further grades. Not only it will help in my practical studies, I will certainly enjoy music listening more, and how cool it is to be able to compose!

Wish me luck, I think I will need it.

p/s: Anyone has Fifty Folk Songs by Brandon (Allans) I can borrow? I just need 3 songs from the book (Polly Oliver, ye Banks and Braes). I’ve never heard of them but don’t want to buy the whole book just for 3 songs.

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More entries: April 2007 • February 2007

March 2007

Wedding March vs. Canon in D

I like my job when...

Theory of Music - taking exam on my own!

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