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June 5, 2004 at 10:22 PM

Well I'm feeling a bit down because of my lesson last Thursday. My teacher said that we really needed to fix my bow arm/hand because I wasn't using enough "bowfingers" and my elbow was sagging at the frog. It's been a problem for a while, and I guess that's the position I started with 8 years ago, with my Suzuki teacher. Old habits die hard. Since I've been so busy recently with concerts and such, we haven't really focused on correcting the problem. But as soon as I finish taping for From The Top (June 13) I'm going to get to work on it.

So they finished filming the movie. I'm kind of sad about it being over, but excited to see the final product. On the last day, they filmed the digeridoo player (Harold Smith), the jazz cellist (Monica McIntyre) and me playing a jazz piece that Chris Brubeck wrote for us. It sounded great, and it was a lot of fun for me, it being one of the first times I've played jazz on the violin. Also we reshot Syncopation (a neat little piece by Fritz Kreisler) because last time they shot it, I had long hair and now it's much shorter and hence I am no longer recognized as the same person.

Tomorrow I'm soloing with my chamber orchestra--Settlement Chamber Orchestra. I'm going to play the 2nd and 3rd mvts. of the Bach E Major Violin Concerto. I can't wait, I've always wanted to solo with a peer orchestra, not just a proffessional one (which I've done 3 times). I was influenced a bit much by the jazz experience and have began adding slides to my previously conservative Bach, almost sub-consciously. If I don't stop practicing it like that I'm going to do it accidentally in the performance. My teacher will be shocked. :-)
All for now.