January 2008

I'm getting a bit frustrated this week with my practice. I'm only in my week 5, and I have to play this piece with slurs and 4th finger. I am so not use to using my pinky at all. Everything goes out of tune when I use my pinky. Why is that???

This phrase is the hardest for me:

On A string:
Slurring E (quarter note) D, C, (both 8th note) then B on a separate bow.

The slur part is so hard, I don't know how long it's gonna take me to be more comfortable with it.

That's what I get from picking one of the hardest instrument to love.

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My biggest fear...... first recital as an adult beginner

January 27, 2008 10:38

I hate public speaking. I mean hate with a capital everything. Yet, my job requires me to give presentations every other day.

Two weeks ago, and my teacher told me she will have a Spring Recital and she really would like me to play. I started to panic, instantly. I was still working on twinkle and song of the wind, and the thought of myself playing those songs on stage just frightens me. I know I should be proud, hey, I'm a beginner, no one would expect me to be playing Paganini! But on the other hand, I'm very embarrassed about it. The bottom line was that I didn't want to do it.

This week, my teacher brought the flyer, the recital is in April. She seriously consider that I give it a try. She said she and I will work on picking a piece that will be a bit challenging but I will enjoy playing. I think the pieces she gave me for the past two weeks has been challenging, the Suzuki is alot, i mean ALOT easier. Maybe playing the piano does help afterall.

Should I play with piano accompaniment or violin duet with my teacher? Are there any pieces you can recommend? I posted a question but never made it on air. I'm working on a piece call Papini themes and variations.

7 replies | Archive link

Encounter new problem(s) everyday....

January 23, 2008 19:21

I barely practiced today because I just finished a big presentation today for work and I'm dead tired. I just picked up the Promenade piece and I'm very frustrated. I really find some kind of problem everyday... makes me start to wonder if the violin is really meant for me to learn...

Here is the problem, I'm playing this series of note, really simple, in A, B, F# (ending of phrase), A and B gets 1 beat, and F# gets 2. I stop the D string to get F#, when I lift my finger (after bowing), it freakn makes an extra sound as if I'm plucking the string!!! I experiment without the bow at all, pressing on the string, no matter what angle i try it, as long as I press and release the string, it will make loud sound like an extra note!! I don't remember this ever happening with my other pieces!! WHY?????

Who told me that learning the violin is a zen like journey???

4 replies | Archive link

Gil Shaham's Recital and some practice frustrations

January 21, 2008 09:33

It's hard for me to practice anything longer than 20 minutes, my left arm feels so tired!! I know the violin is only pound, but I felt like I've lifted weights for hours after 20 minutes of playing!

I went to Gil Shaham's recital yesterday!! Very exciting!! He is an amazing performer. Sorry, I'm still so new at violin, I cannot make any technical comments at all, all I can say is wow, and beautiful.
First, he played William Walton Sonata for Violin and Piano. I'm not a huge fan of modern music, this piece is okay, but as a violin student, I really enjoyed looking at how he plays, how his bow hand is really relaxed, his smooth wrist movements, etc.
Second piece is Bach's Sonata No. for Unaccompanied Violin in A minor, absolutely amazing!!
After intermission, he played another modern-ish piece Joaquin Rodrigo Sonata Pimpante, and closed with 3 famous Sarasate pieces. His wonderful performance lead to standing applaud from the audiences!!

I came home and practiced for a little bit. Being really mad at myself, why can't I even make a simple D on A string sound decent?

My string crossing is still horrible, my teacher said that I'm anticipating a string crossing, so my hand already changed the position before my bowing finishes, so I hear da-da-dee, instead of da-dee. I'm extremely frustrated with these , if anyone can tell me which exercise I can do to help with this I'll be forever grateful!! I purchased the first Wolfhart (I cannot spell his name for the life of me!), op. 38. :)

11 replies | Archive link

My forth lesson as an adult beginner

January 19, 2008 16:32

I've been reading the discussion and blog of v.com for a few weeks and decided to start blogging about my lessons and practices, hopefully a few years from now I'll look back and say... wow, I really improved!!!

Today, I finished my 4th violin lesson, so I can officially say that I've been learning for month!!

I played my assignment from last week:

G major scale, the hanon like exercise from the scale book (I use William Starr's Scales Plus!). I told my violin teacher that I enjoy them very much because they don't sound like nursery rhymes, she laughed but said I will still have to go thru them (them meaning those pieces in Suzuki).

Promenade by Alexander Gretchninov. This is a duet piece. A little history of why she made me play this. While I was playing the Suzuki songs, she found out that I was completely relying on my ears (predictable melody), I wasn't reading the music at all!! So she pulls out this book out of her rack and said since this piece's melody is not as preditable, I will not be able to play by ear as much. She's right. This piece also has the low two positions (G on E string and C on A string), so it's something new for me.

Twinkle twinkle Variation C (i'm glad this is over!)

Go Tell auntie Rhudy (done with this as well!)

Song of the wind (still having some trouble with the 3rd measure), will have to repeat next week)

Beginning as an adult, I think the hardest thing at the beginning was to stay completely relax. I'm getting better though. I have to concentrate on relaxing my bow arm, so that it's not pressing down so much and causes the wobbling sound.
She also want me to play the scales in more legato way, dude, it sounds so much nicer!!

So.... my assignment this week:
1. G major scale (3 other finger exercises based on the G Maj scale)
2. Papini Op57 no 1 (again, not so predictable melody for me to work on my sight reading skills) I also get started on some very simple slurs. (YAY!!!) My teacher pointed out to me that this is Papini, not Paganini :P
3. Song of the Wind repeat, concentrate on the string crossing on measure 3.
4. Promenade ( I really sound kinda horrible on that one... so...I'm not surprised!)

Wow.... that sounds like alot of work!! Does this sound like alot for a beginner? I do have years of piano playing from 6-15ish.

I find reading other's experiences learning as an adult really encourges me, so I hope I can update this at least weekly, hopefully this will be somewhat beneficial to others!

4 replies | Archive link

More entries: February 2008 •

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