July 4, 2005 at 6:51 AM

The end of the National Arts Centre Young Artists Programme in Ottawa was great; by and large the concerts were successful. We performed the slow movement of Bruckner's String Quintet onstage as an augmented string orchestra with Maestro Zukerman conducting, and he seemed pleased with how the performance went. It is difficult to find chamber music that augments well (this year at Northwestern we did Beethoven's Grosse Fugue with some 90 strings for an appropriately titled "Monster Concert"), but the Bruckner really worked, and reminded me very much of the more often played Adagietto from Mahler 5.

One of the most memorable highlights of this past week was a piano masterclass with Joseph Kalichstein. There were only four piano students at the programme, all at a very high level, and they all got lots of time and personal attention in the class. Mr. Kalichstein knew just what to say to each student, and was demanding and kind at the same time. In particular I related to one student who was trying too hard to find something special in every note, or as Mr. Kalichstein put it, "walking in a garden looking for special orchids without seeing the beauty in the commonplace flowers." This is how a lot of my tension is created when I play--trying too hard to be artistic and exercising unnecessary muscles as a result. Mr. Kalichstein also did chamber coachings while he was visiting (though as I was not in a piano group, I unfortunately did not get to work with him), and performed in an amazing concert of the Schumann Piano Quartet with Mr. Zukerman, Steve Dann, and Amanda Forsyth. That concert was rounded out by an incredible performance of Bartok 5 by the Orion Quartet that garnered a huge standing ovation.

I arrived home in Chicago a few hours ago, and have since worked out all the logistics, if you will, of the rest of the work I have to do this summer. Very rarely do I come home from a music camp motivated to keep in shape, but at this point in my life I feel I have much to improve with my playing. By far one of the most inspiring aspects of the programme was hearing my peers play, and being moved by and motivated to rise to their level.

To this end, I have surprised myself by writing out the following plan--first a list of all technical things to focus on while practicing, and then an actual practice schedule. It may be difficult to stick to every day, and I'll have to take into account getting back into viola shape pretty soon, but as with intonation, if you don't aim for perfection, you never get as close as possible. It makes me feel much better to have everything written down; tonight I also changed to a flatter chinrest and experimented with some shoulder pads. I think have narrowed it down to the Play on Air Crescent shape and the Super Sensitive Thin, both from Shar. With my neck, I definitely don't need a thick, tall pad, but I do need some kind of support so I am comfortable keeping the violin up with just my chin. Already I feel better with my setup!

Things to Practice:

*expressive intonation
-sharps and flats. closer half steps. exaggerate notes that are important harmonically.
-slowly AND speeding up. without AND with vibrato.

*posture
-stand tall. practice on chair periodically, then try to recreate the same physical feeling on the ground.
-violin further out on shoulder and broader, especially on upper strings.

*bow arm = bank account. practice Zukerman concepts
-flat hair
-low wrist and knuckles
-in and out! bow direction. on up bows, move in and back right away with elbow.
-bow grip: index finger closer to others. curl fingers and don't lock, especially the 3rd

*body movement
*STOP moving for now
-only horizontal movement: in and out to help the bow

Practice Plan

*Roughly follow Ribeiro "Summer Technique Strategy" (a sheet he photocopies for his students every summer)

1. Scales and Arpeggios (45 min)
*Scales: Ribeiro's 3-octave major and minor, Galamian 4-octave for intonation and SOUND PRODUCTION
*Arpeggios: Galamian 3- and 4-octave for intonation, SHIFTING, and SOUND PRODUCTION

2. Double-Stops :-O (30 min)
*Flesch (all keys, Nos. 6-12) and Sevcik Op. 1 Part IV
-select exercises that focus on one interval each day (8vas, 3rds, 6ths, 10ths, fingered 8vas...)

3. Etude/Solo Bach (45 min)
-Pick one Kreutzer/Dont Op. 35 etude or one movement of solo Bach and practice as a purely technical exercise for SOUND PRODUCTION
-Apply different bow strokes: detache, martele, spiccato...

4. Repertoire (2 hr)
-Practice Shostakovich Concerto (or Beethoven Concerto, or Bach C Major Sonata...) for at least one hour as a technical exercise, forte, with flat hair.
-Then practice for one hour experimenting with adding colors and expression through technical means: changing vibrato or bow speed/pressure/contact point/division/etc.

To bed so I can try to start putting this into action tomorrow!

July 4, 2005 at 6:51 AM

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