January 2010

My new music library

January 1, 2010 20:28

Several years ago, a lady who retired from our symphony after 50 years gave her teaching library to my husband and I. Around the same time, my husband's first violin teacher gave him all our her old teaching materials. On Wednesday this week, I was given the entire string library from a defunct community string ensemble. I happened to play a church Messiah and the cellist offered it to me FOR FREE. I now have 5 shelves of string orchestra music for intermediate to advanced string orchestra added to the several middle school and high school level works I already owned.

Boxes of music are like gold to me. When I was about 12, my parents bought me a box of old music from an auction. Up to that point, the music I played consisted of 3 Muller-Rusch Books and my school orchestra repertoire. That box had things like Wohlfarht Op. 45, books 1 & 2, Kayser Etudes, Mazas, Op. 36, vol 1 & 2, Kreutzer, Dancla Air Varies, a piano part to Seitz 1, the Mendelssohn, Lalo, Bruch, Beethoven Romances, Schradieck & Hrimaly Scales, Hohmann books etc. I had no idea that that was exactly what I needed. I worked my way through all those etude books on my own. I could not afford private lessons until my junior year of high school, so that box was my own personal tutor. I remember practicing Dancla in the winter when my parents were using the fireplace for heat because they couldn't afford to refill the propane tank. I could barely feel my fingers, but I kept going, because I wanted to nail the 5th position.

I am very excited about the possibilities for my newly expanded library. I also had my second donorschoose.org proposal funded, so my school program will be receiving over $500 worth of rosin, shoulder rest sponges, and cello rock stops.

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