It all started because of Bach's Adagio

July 5, 2006 at 7:30 AM

I was watching a movie and in it was a teenage character with a dream of becoming a violin maker. He played the first phrase of Bach's Adagio from solo sonata no. 1 and immediately I fell into its spell. Next thing I knew, I had a violin, a teacher, and Suzuki book 1.

I play the first phrase of the Adagio all the time... probably because that was all that I could play. Believe me, it took me months to learn that first phrase back then. Last night I decided to explore beyond the first phrase and attempted to play the whole thing... Not easy, but I manage to play from start to end... I have finally reach a stage where the impossible becomes possible! I was so excited I repeatedly played the Adagio from 6:30pm to 11pm (with a heavy mute after 8pm). Warning: this is not good for your health!

I'm glad I can finally play my most personal piece of music. So what music is most personal to you?

P/S: what do you call the note that is half the value of a hemi-demi-semi-quaver?

From John Chew
Posted on July 5, 2006 at 10:21 PM

Was it a Studio Ghibli movie you saw?

From William Yap
Posted on July 6, 2006 at 3:50 AM

Spot on! The first phrase of the Adagio from the movie stuck in my head so bad, I had to do something about it. I didn't know the name of the piece but once I started to shop for violin music CDs, I came accross NAXOS Bach's Violin Solo... bought it, played the first track of Disc 1 and WALLA! Found it. I spent 2 hours last night playing the Adagio again... no, I wasn't dreaming, I could still play it. Thanks to my many hours of double-stop scale practice.

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It all started because of Bach's Adagio

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