July 2008

Irritated

July 31, 2008 10:35

I am completely irritated right now. This sort of crap ruins my day.

Family calls on a Thursday morning for lessons. I return the call Friday morning around the same time. A teen answers the phone. Parents are not home, and I leave a message.

Friday night, the Mother calls me and leaves an irritated voicemail about how they've been trying to get a hold of me for 'some time'. I have a second voicemail from our personnel manager at the symphony inquiring how this family has been having a difficult time getting a hold of me.

Right.

We finally connect and schedule a trial lesson for the following Thursday. Things go decently well, and I spent over an hour with the kid. We make plans for future lessons, the first of which being for the following Monday. I realize on the Saturday before that I double booked myself and call them back to reschedule for Wednesday. All seems good.

Wednesday comes and the kid is late. He calls and says he's at least 10 minutes away and needs directions again. My schedule is full for the day and I told him let's try for tomorrow.

Today (Thursday) comes and the kid is a no-show. I call home and the dad says he got the time wrong and is still sleeping in bed.

So. Drop them? Give one more chance? They sound high maintenance and not worth the time to me. What do you think? And have you had similar experiences?

10 replies | Archive link

Help?

July 25, 2008 14:12

Anybody have a decent grasp of the cadenza to the Brahms concerto?

I'm looking for a better fingering and bowing for the g minor arpeggio, bars 49-52.

I've tried a few things but nothing really 'clicks' yet so any suggestions will be very much appreciated.

3 replies | Archive link

Similar lists!

July 17, 2008 07:16

I'm preparing for 2 auditions right now. I won't mention the orchestras, but if you're in the audition circuit this may look familiar. :)

List # 1:

Solos:
Mozart concerto 1st movement of candidate’s choice (with cadenza)
Romantic concerto 1st movement of candidate’s choice (with cadenza)
Bach: one movement of unaccompanied sonata or partita

Orchestral Excerpts:
Beethoven: Symphony #3, 3rd movement, beginning to letter B (m. 119)
Brahms: Symphony #4, 1st movement, letter O (m. 354) to the end
4th movement, beginning to m. 97
Haydn: #103, 1st movement, Allegro con spirito to double-bar (mm. 39-93)
Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night’s Dream Scherzo, beginning to m. 103
Mozart: Symphony #39, 2nd movement, mm. 1-60
Schumann: Symphony #2, 2nd movement, letter M (m. 267) to the end
Strauss: Don Juan, 1st page (beginning to 9 before D)
Concertmaster Solos (solo passages only):
Beethoven: Missa Solemnis, Benedictus
Brahms: Symphony #1, 2nd movement
Haydn: Symphony #103, 2nd movement, Violin Solo variation with repeats (mm. 85-108)
Rimksy-Korsakov: Scheherezade
Strauss: Ein Heldenleben
Ensemble Playing:
Beethoven: String Quartet #9, op. 59, #3, 1st movement , beginning through 1st ending
Possible Sight Reading

List #2:

Solo works:

1) Mozart concerto 3, 4, or 5 - 1st movement with cadenza

AND

2) First movement (with cadenza) of one of the following major concertos:

Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev 2

Orchestral excerpts:

First Violin Parts:
Brahms Symphony No. 4 1st mvt, m. 392 to end
Schubert Symphony No. 2 1st mvt, m. 11-64
Dvorak String Serenade 2nd mvt, complete
Schumann Symphony No. 2 Scherzo, first page
Strauss Don Juan 1st page
Mozart Symphony No. 39 2nd mvt, beginning to measure 53

Second Violin Parts:
Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 3rd mvt, m. 238-274
Mozart Symphony No. 41 4th mvt, m. 1-35 and 74-115
Mozart Magic Flute Overture complete
Prokofiev Classical Symphony 4th mvt, complete

Chamber Music:

Mozart "Dissonant" Quartet, K465 first movement, first violin part

----------

So yeah, both of these lists look hefty on the surface. The truth of it seems as if both orchestras are being very picky and are looking for someone that can play on multiple levels. The big plus for this violinist is that they are asking for the same concerti and the addition of a solo Bach passage is very minimal, and in fact it helps the preparation for the second list. I just got the first list yesterday and had been working on the second list in my practice. After re-reading these lists, I realize I had been working on the entire Schumann Scherzo! D'oh! That's for another audition in November. Oops. Got them confused.

So let me ask this of you guys: What would you rather have, Concertmaster of a part-time orchestra or section 2nd violin of a full-time orchestra? Pay is about the same, maybe maximum 10 grand more for the full time job.

9 replies | Archive link

Brahms Concerto Exposition

July 10, 2008 12:06

Comments welcome.

6 replies | Archive link

The Bucket List

July 9, 2008 09:44

Hey, what did you do this summer?

It could very well be the most asked question of all time. And as we have grown up, the most anticipated event of the school year may just be that one day of show-and-tell of "What I did on my summer vacation".

Fast forward life to this 32 year old. As a professional musician, I have spent the past few years doing some gigs, padding the resume and trying to stay active as a performer, clinician, teacher, etc. Some things give way to others and while my recent success in auditions seems to say I'm getting better at something, whether it be the act of taking an audition or playing the excerpts better or becoming a better violinst, I feel overall that my playing has gone downhill since I was in college. This summer, with no pre-arranged gigs or festivals I am at the mercy of my own time, my own space, my own studio and perhaps worst of all, my own goals.

Allright, so what would I like to say I accomplished when I finally kick the bucket? Since I finally have a summer to accomplish SOMETHING for myself.... geez... uh.... where to begin? Am I in shape? Not really. I have Orchestra Syndrome. Gotta get back in shape. Okay, that'll take 2 weeks. Then what? I'm 'stuck' on the Brahms concerto in that I don't really have time to learn another concerto for the purpose of winning an audition. Gotta re-work that Brahms. Chamber music? God, I love chamber music. Don't have anyone to play with though. I can see the ad now: "Serious String Quartet seeks out Cellist, Violist, and 2nd Violin for active intense chamber music during the off-season".

I splurged and bought the complete Beethoven Quartets by Cleveland and started playing along with them. Lame, maybe, but at least it's something. Solo Bach? Solo Paganini? This may fit well. I can honestly say I haven't played *all* of the sonatas, partitas and capprici so there you have it. It may be slow and steady and nowhere near a performance situation but at least I can say I read through them all.

So as of this typing I have 2 movements of Bach left (The C major and a minor Fugues - ugh) to read through and all the Paganini Caprices have been read. Damn you, number 6 and 12. I hate you. All the rest are my friends though.

Too many notes. Just cut a few and it'll be perfect.

(If you know which movie that last line came from you get a gold star for the day and you may go practice for another 3 hours.)

7 replies | Archive link

More entries: August 2008 • June 2008