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September 29, 2005 at 12:16 AM

On Tuesday I skipped school. Instead I was in New York, in the Manhattan School of Music. I was having a lesson with Patinka Kopec, a suggestion from my teacher at home. She seems very nice, has a thick accent and every other word is "darling". I was pretty nervous (I worked hard to bring the Wienwiaski back into shape; "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "March" from Love for Three Oranges didn't seem substantial enough to bring into an audition/lesson alone.) But in the end all I got to play for her was one A Major scale and the first page of "It Ain't"! She had a lot to say about my position. As I've talked about in this blog before, I've had problems with my bow arm/fingers in the past, and had trouble reaching the tip. Ms. Kopec told me that my chinrest should be more centered, bring my left arm around in front more, which allowed me to reach the tip, and that I needed to use more of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers' pressure at the frog, and the index at the tip. She showed me some exercises to do to master that "rolling" feeling. It was very enlightening. She said she would teach me, maybe a once-a-month deal or something. We haven't figured it out yet. But I'm glad I got to see her. Now, From The Top is coming up in only a few days, and we're leaving for Boston! This is going to be quite exciting indeed.

--alice

Nothing is worse than old ladies calling you darling. I'll have to get used to it someday though.

Hey, you're featured on the FTT website.
link

Hey, I'm so glad I haven't missed your showing yet. For a second there, I thought I had. Good luck with the recording this weekend, and George and I will be tuned in when it airs, cheering you on!
That's a nice image. I'm thinking Ozzie and Harriet sitting on the couch smiling at the radio. Going to Boston for the taping with some old lady I meet in the airport bar is the best I could do. More like Ozzy and Sharon :)