September 2008
September 26, 2008 17:29
Sometimes practice doesn't make perfect...it just makes you injured!
It happens to many, many violinists, due to the awkwardness of the instrument as well as the fact that it requires a lot of hours to master. If it happens to you, you probably need a plan both for treatment and for prevention in the future. (By the way, look at this lovely picture of a violinist in balance on violinist Melissa Hullman's website.)
Most of us fall out of balance at some point. As a left-handed person who plays the violin and also writes, I've had issues with my left hand and wrist, where taking notes as well as playing them have compounded to create repetitive stress. I've also had...a pain in the neck! due to violin playing. I've had physical therapy for the hand and neck problems, but more recently I've been practicing yoga, and that has been the best prevention for me.
I'm curious about what our most common injuries are, and in this poll you can check off more than one answer, if you've had multiple areas of injury. Also, tell us a little about how you handled the problem and got back in shape. I stuck with injuries actually caused by violin-playing; if there's something I didn't include, you can also mention that in the comments section.
8 replies | Archive link
September 19, 2008 12:02
Does a standing ovation mean anything any more?
Violinist.com member Anne Horvath suggested this would make for an interesting vote and discussion, and I agree.
Many would argue that the practice means nothing any more, that anyone with a pulse that performs passably in front of an audience will likely receive a standing ovation in this day and age.
Indeed, the Internet offers us self-help-type advice on how to get a standing ovation, from motivational-speaker types. You know, the people who try to tell you how much money you can make with their latest pyramid scheme...
How cynical!
At a classical concert, sometimes I wonder if people are simply standing up to leave or stretch their limbs when they give a standing ovation. If someone is yawning, while giving a standing ovation, does it count?
But if the performance is rather mediocre, and you don't feel like rising to your feet, do you feel like a Scrooge when everyone around you is standing and you remain seated?
And yet for all the bogus standing ovations I've seen during a lifetime of orchestra playing, I'm not ready to completely discount the practice or call for its cessation. I've seen brilliant performances that certainly merited a standing ovation, when the collective enthusiasm simply overflowed, and that wave brought people to their feet. THAT means something.
Not only that, but a standing ovation can mean different things in different contexts. How about the student recital, where someone gives a clearly stand-out performance? Is it okay for the parents to rise to their feet? Or when a beloved artist returns to the stage after a hardship? Those kinds of standing ovations seem to mean something as well.
Does a standing ovation always need to be reserved for superhuman feats?
What are your thoughts on the matter?
13 replies | Archive link
September 12, 2008 14:35
It should comfort you to know, that when the world ends, we violinists will still be sitting around, arguing about the proper fingering for a three-octave C major scale. And the morality of shoulder rests...
But for now, let's stick to scales, specifically C major, since it's such a fundamental key. If you start in first position, you'll start on your third finger. But would you, and why? If you play the Galamian scales, like I do, you're likely to start on your first finger for nearly every scale in the book, including this one. Starting on the second finger is pretty tidy for the two-octave version, but is it advisable for three octaves? Now, a fourth finger, that's just weird. What would that be, "0" position?
I threw in the thumb because I fully expect some comedy. Sander?
By the way, this weekend vote idea comes compliments of Mark D. Roberts. If you have an idea, be sure to e-mail me (Laurie)!
27 replies | Archive link
September 7, 2008 14:21
Sorry I'm getting the weekend poll up a little late this week, with back-to-school, the start of soccer and a pops concert, life got a little busy!
I thought of this poll last night, as I was dutifully counting measures in the final piece of our Pasadena Pops concert: Maurice Ravel's Bolero. (Check it out, I found a Youtube version with Andre Rieu conducting! :)
I wondered, how many people here are just trying to endure to the end, and how many are in a deep state of building rapture?
I love Ravel. I love the violin sonata, I love Mother Goose Suite, and how about La Valse? But Bolero?
I suspect its runaway popularity has something to do with the 1984 film by the same name, featuring Bo Derek. ALL of Bo Derek, let's just say.
Basically, the piece is one long orchestral crescendo, and after playing it so many times over the years, there are other thoughts and metaphors that come to my mind, besides Ms. Derek on the beach.
The first thought: the poor drummer. Duh, Dudada Duh, DudadaDudadadadada Duh..... You have to have a drummer with steel concentration. While the rest of the orchestra, sometimes even the conductor, float off into la-la land, the drummer has to keep it all together, playing the same rhythm...has anyone counted how many times? Millions, I think. It might as well be.
Have you ever been felled by a really, really bad virus? At first, you barely know you have it. You feel just a little tingle. A cough here, a little roughness in the throat there. Then you go a little foggy; your head begins to ache a bit. The sniffles start; the cough persists, the throat tightens. But you fight it.. The fever sets in, and you steel against it. The chills come. You can feel the virus reproducing in your body, it comes in waves, dumping new virus into your blood stream. You are reeling from the attack. Then, all at once, you collapse.
If you aren't dead, you are nonetheless full of virus. It will take days, no, weeks, for your immune system to fully iradicate the virus from your system.
I won't tell you my thoughts about "Bolero," lest they influence yours. ;) Do you love it? Do you hate it? Or have you reached sweet apathy?
22 replies | Archive link
More entries: October 2008 • August 2008
