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June 2004June 24, 2004 22:36Aargh. My Evah's have gone false already. I wonder if it's because I had them on for a week in March, took them off, and then put them back on 2 weeks ago, and they were stretched, then put away, and stretched again. I cannot get a good fifth between the A and E on the first finger position, and the B natural sounds strange. So today, I went to the violin store and bought Dominants (at violin shop price) because I could not wait for mail-order. I put the Dominant A string and it sounds true. Although there is that metallic sound of a new string. I suppose the D, G and E are still okay, but the sound is somewhat off-balanced. But at least my intonation has improved and I'm hitting that B natural on the A string every time. Tomorrow's my lesson so hopefully things will have settled down.
June 16, 2004 20:16I'll just have to go and get a recording of the Bartok, because I don't think I've ever heard of it! Ha ha. What is the algorithm that they're using for this? I noticed that if you change your age by one, you get something totally different. A new concerto every year?
June 12, 2004 21:45I got in some good practicing today and also changed all my strings to the Evah Pirazzis I had stored up. They really have some pizzazz. Of course it was not a fair comparison as my Dominants were 4 months old and there was a twang on the G string, and a reediness on the A string. Incredibly, my Incredibow sounds great with the Pirazzi strings. I had given up on it because it sounded so dull with my violin, as all carbon fiber bows sounded dull. But maybe it's the strings, and not the bow. My Pereira bow still sounds great, and for some reason, does not sound as brittle with these new strings. Of course, I also mucked around with bridge position, and found a position that made my violin really ring. It's funny how less than 1 mm can make a difference. So I'm a happy camper and everything from Bach to etudes to hymns sounds really big and sizzling.I've picked out the Bach Partita in d minor as the one I want to ask my teacher about working on (minus the Ciaconna, as suggested). I've started with the Allemande and working on it slowly. I'll also ask my teacher about Dont Op 35, #1, to work on in addition to #2 (memorizing) and start on #3. I need to gather a large set of stuff since my teacher and I will miss 5 weeks or more of lessons this summer due to vacations. I think I'll be bored with just one etude, one Schradieck study and the Kreisler Praeludium/Allegro all summer! I'm thinking also to add the Mozart Concerto #4, because this was the one I entered a competition in high school with and came in #2 in the region. We'll see what he says, and whether he'll spend all of the lesson marking fingerings and bowings. My former teachers never marked much and I still have the Mozart that she marked up long ago.
June 6, 2004 12:53I just got back from church and the music director said that another member plays the flute, and he was thinking of having a selection of Pachebel's Canon sometime for special music. I'll ask next time for whether he had the score or not, and start practicing.Yesterday was a good practicing day as I was able to get in several sessions in between laundry, cooking and housework. I would practice about 20 minutes, put the violin away and do something else and then come back to it after a few hours. I'm still getting used to the new bowing hand position and paying special attention to my left hand and wrist (keeping it straight). Since I'm using the microscopic practice method (playing only the areas that I have problems with), I was able to work slowly and not worry about playing a piece through.
June 5, 2004 13:37My bow hand is behaving better, and I got some more fine points from my teacher on where to hold it, where the thumb should be, and how to keep the wrist straight. But now, I'm amiss on how and where to put my left thumb as I move up and down the fingerboard. Okay, I know that gripping the fingerboard with the thumb is absolutely a no-no. But not sure if it should stick straight up, or lie flatter like a hitchhiker.As for practicing, my teacher observed that I was practicing like a kid. Which is to rush through the entire piece speeding up at the easier sections and slowing down at the harder sessions. He told me that I don't have all that much time to play something a million times, but need to practice smarter. Which is to take a difficult section and practice it over and over again at a slower tempo, until I can get it right. This is surely a lot more work, and less fun, but is the right way to practice. Especially since at my age, and I want to improve faster. Makes a lot of sense. But feels like work.
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