September 2009

V.com weekend vote: What is the best key in which to live?

September 24, 2009 22:44

Lately, I've been living in A minor. It's a good place to be; occasionally I'm in C major (such a nice square key) but it keeps me in a good mood. It might be more boring to say that I've simply been putting in a lot of time on the Bach A minor sonata. But I'm only partially joking about "living in" A minor; with the entire sonata in my current daily regimen, my mind tends to be in A minor both when I'm practicing and when I'm not, and probably when I'm sleeping as well!

I mentioned that I was "currently in A minor" on Facebook, and my daughter's fifth-grade teacher asked a good question: "What is the best key in which to live?"

Some friends chimed in: a violist mentioned G minor, adding that he had a darker sense of things over there in the lower strings. A choral conductor suggested Eb major. What? Okay, just not my idea of the perfect neighborhood, but then, I come from the distinct perspective of a highung fiddler.

So what is the answer, here? What is the best key in which to live? And what are your thoughts about that key, and others? I'll tell you mine, but not until you vote! ;)

poll by twiigs.com

34 replies | Archive link

V.com weekend vote: Do you have perfect pitch?

September 18, 2009 19:36

I do not have perfect pitch. I can't identify the pitch at which the doorbell rings, nor can I tell you what key an unfamiliar piece is in, from listening to a few bars of it. When I sing, I read things intervalically, I can't pick specific pitches out of the sky.

Well, sometimes I can. Sometimes I wonder if things would have been different, had I played the piano. More and more, I find myself with the correct pitch in my head, when I test it. But officially, I have relative pitch, and this has served me just fine as a professional musician. I'm not even concerned about cultivating perfect pitch, though it sounds like it's possible. Friends with perfect pitch say that it actually drives them bananas, at times, when the pitch out in the world doesn't match the pitch in your head.

Still, it would be fun, and convenient, most of the time.

Do you have perfect pitch? What are your thoughts about it?

poll by twiigs.com

12 replies | Archive link

What do you do with your unwanted violin items?

September 11, 2009 12:24

Do you have a secret stash of violin stuff you'll probably never use? I'm talking about old cakes of rosin; the pegs the luthier replaced and then handed you in a baggie; a collection of discarded shoulder rests; a book of sheet music you thought you'd use but never did and never will; an electronic metronome that has needed the battery replaced for four years; an old violin case, even old violins....

Maybe you even have a piano scarf. (Don't tell us if you do.)

How do you handle this old stuff? Do you keep it? Do you give it away? Sometimes I give things to students, or I serve as a trading posts for my students to donate their old stuff to younger students who need it. Do you try to sell it? Do you ever throw things away? Or do you keep it all?

Thanks to Alison Smith for today's vote idea! (Have an idea for the Weekend Vote? E-mail Laurie!)

poll by twiigs.com

17 replies | Archive link

V.com weekend vote: Is the musicians union helpful to working musicians?

September 4, 2009 22:31

It's Labor Day weekend in the United States -- a good excuse to talk about working musicians.

Thus this week's vote: is the musicians union helpful to working musicians? I've been a member of the American Federation of Musicians for some 20 years, and though I felt pretty grumpy about those union dues in my younger days, I must say that the presence of union-negotiated contracts for symphony players has helped me work under mostly reasonable conditions. The negotiated pay, the limits on rehearsal time, the mandatory breaks -- we need those boundaries set and enforced. Not that it's perfect, by a long shot: no contract is ideal, and work for musicians in the LA area (where I live) has shrunk precipitously in the last 10 years.

But I'm also thankful specifically to Local 47 for having a credit union and a program that allowed me to buy my violin. The local also offers health insurance to the musicians who get the best gigs, but not every gig counts towards being eligible, and this is problematic. Then again, health insurance is problematic all over the U.S. We won't get into that! (Or will we?!)

I'd love to hear about everyone else's experiences, and also, I'd like to hear about what labor conditions are like for musicians in countries other than the United States.

poll by twiigs.com

4 replies | Archive link

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