Academic Violin Studies; Chamber Music Fun!

November 17, 2019, 10:13 PM · Although I haven't had a ton of time to play my violin (more on that shortly...), I've actually had quite a few projects with my class assignments that involve the violin. First, I've been (sort of) working on a suite of violin sonatas that will become a book of some kind; we'll see if this takes me anywhere or if this project morphs into something else, as I have some ideas to potentially write a book of violin duets or violin/cello or violin/viola duets, ranging in difficulty as they go through perhaps...

Anyways, for my music bibliography class, one of our projects is to look at two different editions of a score and compare them - like the urtext and a performer's score. It's really important to understand the ups and downs to a particular version of a score. Some conductors are urtext purists, while some scholars may not mind using a performer's edition to see how one player did a certain phrase. I'm looking at Bach's Partita in E for solo violin, particularly the gavotte movement, and it's been fun looking through both versions to find differences.

Speaking of the gavotte, I am also writing a "mock" paper on the "Evolution of the Gavotte", going from Bach's Partita to Grieg's Holberg Suite (in particular the strings version :P) to Schoenberg's Suite for Piano, tracking how all of these gavottes still held true to the dance form while still offering the composer's own style. There are plenty of violin moments to keep in mind in terms of looking at the melody and rhythmic ideas in the melodies.

Just a quick post for tonight... However, particularly exciting to me, I have reason to really get into the violin with the time I have again! My friend and I are going to read through Ravel's Duo for Violin and Cello! It's a difficult piece, so we may only get through the third movement, but I'm excited to have a little fun with some chamber music. I may also play violin on some student compositions for a recital in the spring, whether they be just my own or a friend's. We are reading it on the 12th of December, so I have a few weeks to practice. Lots to look forward to potentially with my instrument, even if I am playing less... I am sure it missed me when I pulled it out to play through the Ravel tonight. :)

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Academic Violin Studies; Chamber Music Fun!

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