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Lazy Saturday

February 24, 2008 at 12:18 AM

Well, after teaching 11 lessons in a row, I'm rather pooped, so I think I'll be lazy this time. I'm in a list-making mood, so I'll share a few of my recent ones here.

First, business. Amid recent frustrations with my teacher, (i.e., the fact, that I'm not learning much from her) I'm trying to figure out how the heck to teach myself. So, one day, I just sat and jotted down the things about my playing I most want to improve:

Bow: consistency of stroke from frog to tip (emphasis on the tip, where I tend to get messy); distribution
Left hand: accurate intonation (lifelong battle . . . ), relaxed hand frame, especially when playing double stops, continuous vibrato, connection between fingers in string crossings
Musicality: clarity, clarity, clarity of musical ideas, both large scale, and in individual phrases

Okay, so having done that, I had two thoughts 1) Gee, this all sounds so . . . basic; shouldn't I have mastered some of this by now? and 2) Okay, I know WHAT I want to fix, now HOW do I go about working on it? So, I came up with the idea that I need to pick one or two different goals to work on in each different etude or piece I'm learning. Thus, list #2 is born:

Scales: consistent bow stroke, relaxed left hand
Etude: relaxed left hand, straight bowstroke/flat hairs, smooth string crossings (both RH and LH)
Sarasate, Introduction and Tarantella : smooth bowstroke in opening, intonation overall, coordination
Mozart, D Major Concerto: articulation, clarity of phrasing
Brahms G Major Concerto: continuous, rich vibrato, bow consistency, phrase direction

So yeah, that's the general plan. So much to work on, so little time. That's how I always feel . . .

Okay, now for the fun part. So, the other day I was chatting with a friend, and a piece would come up and I'd say, "Ooohh, I really want to play that on a recital someday." So, just for the fun of it, I decided to write down all the music that came to mind that I'd LOVE to play for my college recitals. Here goes:

Bach: Chaconne
Bruch: Double Concerto for Violin and Viola
Sarasate: Zapateado
Elgar, Debussy, and Franck Sonatas
Part: Spiegel im Spiegel
Bartok: Romanian Folk Dances
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Rachmaninov: Vocalise
Smetana: Trio in g minor

I think that gives me sufficient fun to look forward to. ;)

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