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Tracy WoodardJun. 1, 2004 at 9:27 PMJust got back from the Greenville Symphony audition. Didn't get the contract, but my friend Pepina did, though she won't be able to work past December since that's when her work permit runs out. Blah. I was the last to play, came right after her.Played my concerto (well, got as far as the exposition). The conductor heard two bars of my first and only excerpt before shouting, "Go back. Again, faster." Played it again, and that was it for me. This is why I signed up to play first at my last audition. It was nice to be completely relaxed. While waiting outside the stage, I sat in a chair fingering some Bach presto, to keep my left hand warm, and I nearly fell asleep in my chin rest. I only made one mistake in my playing, and it was something I hadn't even considered during my practice (yeah, ya know, that thing called subdividing your rests).
May. 17, 2004 at 1:11 PMPlayed a bunch of sacred music Friday and Saturday night. I shared the first violin part with one other person, whose playing is very good; yet I now get the joke "How do two violinists play in tune? Shoot one of them."I should be nice, the music was actually very well selected, the solo soprano was excellant, and the conductor was cool. Caved into my rising tide of estrogen and paid to see "Van Helsing" yesterday. Why can't there be a classical musician character like that? That tought yet sincere sub-for-hire with a mysterious past and a heart of gold? And turns into Scooby Doom whenever his stand partner turns the page too early?
May. 14, 2004 at 2:30 AMAgain, my lesson with Valerie blew my mind. My frog changes at the tip weren't making her happy, so she broke the movement down into several parts---"elbow is still here, then moves forward here, then stays still while the forearm extends, watch the angle of your wrist...."etc. I'm thinking, how does she know this? Does she teach this to her little students?Then I saw a third-grader of hers tonight play Bartok's Romanian Dances. With a _really_ good bow arm. In fact, all of her students, down to pre-schoolers, had solid bow arms. After seeing so many hundreds of mediocre college recitals, watching these kids was like watching water flowing upwards.
May. 11, 2004 at 4:12 PMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. This new left-hand technique is so relaxing. And makes learning orchestra music ten times slower, cuz it needs time to integrate. It's so awkward, it's like to trying to insert contact lenses with your toes.
May. 7, 2004 at 2:24 AMLast modified: May. 7, 2004 at 2:30 AMWoot, may have gig playing for a schnazzola jewelry store dinner party. Good thing, since none of my orchestras rehearse this month. Made dinner with Maureen and Dr. Tepping and my husband. Sooo much chopping and peeling. Like rehearsing chamber music, Maureen requires a lot of prep time, but it's always good. Lesson with Valerie today. Blew my mind, again. We spent most of the lesson just on bow changes. What she said is way too detailed for me to write down, it's like ciphering the communications between a divine locust swarm. Not in a doomy way, just the way prophets come away from sights-man-was-not-meant-to-behold with that blank expression, saying, "...stars....monsters...so beautiful..." Got a fit of inspiration on the Marta train two days ago, wrote a chanson based on a scene out of Grim Fandango (what do you call a Spanish art song?). I should get Gina's friend Gerald-the-bass to sing it.
May. 3, 2004 at 2:55 AMWow, Valentina Lisitsa is an amazing pianist, she soloed with us to do the second Shosty concerto. Wooooooo, cool.We did Tchaik, Shosty, and the planet's slowest interpretation of Rimsky-Korsekov. I've used the third movement melody from "Scheherazade" for so many wedding processions, I think of the tempo as regal and perhaps a little brisk. But no, the conductor took it slow. Our bride was drunk with a broken leg.
Apr. 29, 2004 at 11:13 AMOff to Valdosta Symphony gig. Yay five hour drive with a coupla other violinist buddies. I really hope we can find an adaptor for my CD player, or we're all gonna learn to love the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack.My lesson with Valerie Gardner last night blew my little mind. I haven't had lessons this detailed in a long time. Ever had those lessons where the teacher hears you play, gives you a sidelong glance for about ten seconds, takes a breath, and says, "Did you wear...orange socks yesterday?" "Why yes I did." "Ach! Well no wonder your intonation sucks."
Apr. 25, 2004 at 12:15 PMEver gotten an A on an exam after christmas-treeing the multiple-choice scantron? That's how I got the contract with the Macon Symphony yesterday.Yeah. The drive-thru audition. McAudition. Played the Bach that I haven't touched since I recorded it two weeks ago. First and second movement of 'Symphonie Fantastique'. That's all they had time for, for each of us. Lessons with Valerie Gardner means I don't look at repertoire for the next coupla months, just 2 hours a day of her homespun etudes (my frog bow-change looks like a duckhead now), and orchestra music. But now I never practice excerpts from beginning to end. Two notes here for a wacky shift. Six notes there for an awkard entrance. Four notes there for a scratchy string-crossing. And yet it worked. I love her etudes.
Apr. 22, 2004 at 10:28 AMSaw "The Pianist" at my flutist friend Maureen's dorm last night. Wow, now I know why all of my Serbian/Croatian friends loved it.Had a bad attack of the guilty-asian-child-sydrome at my last gig in Rome. After dress rehearsal, which is the same day as the concert, the woman who'd gotten me the gig told me, "You weren't playing all the notes for that section in the (insert symphony). You really need to practice that, you're supporting the whole second violin section." A pang shot through me, and while the rest of the orchestra got drunk (what else is there to do in the pulsing heart of Rome, Georgia?), I spent 2-1/2 hours working on the harder sections of two of the pieces we were performing. I could argue that they had only given me the music the night before, but...bah.
Apr. 16, 2004 at 2:47 PMAny of you New Yorkers know a Kristin Lee, studies with Perlman? I'm playing with the Rome Symphony this weekend, and she's soloing the Tchaik concerto with us. Her run-through last night was really good.I've got stack-o-music to learn for upcoming concerts and orchestra auditions. The worst is the Chattanooga opera, they must've killed _two_ trees to run off copies (of which, I noted, only one excerpt was from an opera. The rest are symphonies). Not that I'm complaining, I'd much rather do Marriage of Figaro again than something wacky like Richard Strauss. Had my first lesson with my new teacher, Valerie Gardener, yesterday. Wow, she has such a different approach to practice, she's so focused on playing relaxed and with a good sound. I was kinda freaked out, cuz I had arrived with a buncha Bach memorized, and the first thing she asked was, "Play a four-octave scale? Ok, three-octave. Good, now double-stop octaves. Good, now thirds, four to a bow. Good. (this is me cringing at my bad intonation) When I had my first lesson with Brodsky, the first thing he asked of me was fingered octaves. I was 16. He didn't want to work on scales with me, he just wanted to see what I would do. It tells the teacher a lot about the student." Dang.
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