And we have a winner...

January 19, 2006 at 6:06 PM

I'm about a week late in posting this, but I am now the proud owner of a $1600 Jon M Lee bow, a gorgeous, light Vuillaume copy. I'm happy. It's nice to support a local maker who is a really nice guy and is right here in town should I need anything done to it in the future. My special thanks to...

- Clare Chu, for shopping with me and sharing her vast experience
- My husband, for encouraging me to buy whatever makes me happy, even if it was twice what I'd originally planned to spend
- My teacher Virginia, for giving me her opinion on what bow she thought served me best, rather than what she personally liked best
- All the folks at V.com for their advice and support!

And now back to my regularly scheduled practicing:
I've decided to ask Virginia to assign me weekly scales and etudes. So far the practice has been just to work on one piece at a time (currently the Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso) and create etudes out of difficult passages. But I think I need more focused study on technique, as it seems insufficient (and a little boring) to play the same four measures over and over as an etude.

Some of you serious (and maybe not-so-serious) violinists might be appalled that I don't do regular scales and etudes, but keep in mind that I only get in maybe three hours a week of practice, if I'm lucky. So it's a matter of figuring out how best to spend those three hours, and if I have too much material, that's not good either. But maybe if I have more stuff to work on, that will actually entice me to figure out how to find more time to practice. (Too bad the Harry Potter Time-Turner pendant that I got for Xmas is only a fake, I could REALLY use one!)

Anyway, I'm bringing to today's lesson my Carl Flesch scale book which I bought ten years ago for a teacher I ended up dropping, and the Kreutzer etude book I didn't even know I had. I was going to tell Virginia that I was willing to buy it, but in the meantime, I had Wolhfahrt II. As I dug for it in my pile of neglected music, I found Kreutzer...clearly bought many years ago, from the look of the cover and age of the paper, but completely unmarked. I wonder where it came from?

From Eric Stanfield
Posted on January 19, 2006 at 6:57 PM

If I stay focused, I can do scales, etudes and concerto in an hour. Now she's adding arpeggios to complement the scale work so I doubt it's going to be doable in less than an hour and a half a night, at least until I gain a considerable level of comfort with the technical exercises.

Scales are fun though. First they really help with playing in tune, second they sound wicked cool when you notch them up to a very fast speed.

Wohlfart etudes suck. They are challenging so they aren't boring, but damn if the guy didn't purposely make them as unmelodic as possible. My opinion. Again though, they certainly accomplish the goal.

Everyone talks about Flesch on this site. My teacher grew up and studied in Czech, so she uses Sevcik for everything - bowing, scales, arpeggios. Don't know that it makes much difference, it's all extremely difficult.

Grats on the bow!

From Terez Mertes
Posted on January 19, 2006 at 6:59 PM

Yay on your bow purchase! It was fun to follow your shopping process.

From Karin Lin
Posted on January 19, 2006 at 7:17 PM

Thanks both! Eric, which concerto are you working on? Many parts of my piece would be a lot easier if I had scales and arpeggios under my belt. I try to practice 30 minutes a night (15 at a time); that's about how long my three-year-old will tolerate being ignored.

I don't know much about Flesch, but it's the only scale book I have other than Wessely, which I think is below my level. And I did Wolhfahrt like 15 years ago, so I don't remember anything about them. Everyone talks about Kreutzer, so I'm glad I have that book, even if I'm still puzzled about where and when I got it.

From Karin Lin
Posted on January 19, 2006 at 7:21 PM

Argh, I've got Evil Linda disease! I KNOW it's "h before l", but for some reason I keep typing Wolhfahrt instead of WoHLfahrt.

From Eric Stanfield
Posted on January 19, 2006 at 7:41 PM

I bought the Kreutzer book too, before I even had a teacher heheh. My teacher just laughed and said ok put it away for a few years.

Vivaldi A Minor, Galmanian edition is the concerto. It's not difficult to hack through, it's difficult to play it so it sounds very smooth and musical and interesting. Let's see, she's parked me on the first movement since around the beginning of December... It's considerably less difficult (at least it sounds less difficult) than the piece you've been working on. I have that on a couple of recordings here.

From Karin Lin
Posted on January 19, 2006 at 7:51 PM

Yes, the Vivaldi A minor is considerably easier than the IRC. But if memory serves, you're an adult beginner, whereas I had (ahem) about 13 years of lessons as a child. So it's not a fair comparison. :)

From Eric Stanfield
Posted on January 19, 2006 at 8:06 PM

So long as I can play the bach double before I'm pushing up daisies, I'll be a happy man ;).

From Colleen Russo
Posted on January 19, 2006 at 8:03 PM

Oh boy... you mean to tell me that you're WANTING to take the Flesch book to your lesson!? haha!!
My teacher, Mrs. Preucil, has all of her students do the Flesch book,(multiple times)! yikes!
Oh well, its not so bad, and its really good for you! If you have the same one I have, where its a huge thick book, then get it bound! It makes it soo much nicer!!! Have fun with it! *hehe*

From Evil Linda
Posted on January 20, 2006 at 12:05 AM

Heyy... now bad spelling is related to me? *stares evilly*

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on January 20, 2006 at 4:38 AM

I'm glad you took our advice and bought that bow. I hope you have fun making beautiful music with it.

I think it's a good idea for you to tell your teacher that you want to work on scales and etudes. I have some students who just won't work on etudes, so I do what your teacher has been doing -- make pieces into etudes. If your teacher knows what you are willing to do, she can give you assignments that both of you are happy with. Communication between teacher and student is very beneficial.

I can't stand Wohlfahrt. I couldn't stand practicing W, and I don't make my students play it, either. It is true that the W etudes are absolutely unmelodic and unpretty. I practiced Kreutzer, though. I think Kreutzer is more difficult than W, but K's etudes sound pretty. If I'm going to work hard on something, it had better sound pretty.

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on January 21, 2006 at 6:42 AM

Excuse me. Communication between student and teacher is absolutely essential.

From Clare Chu
Posted on January 26, 2006 at 4:19 AM

Hi Karin, glad you like the bow. I know I really liked it a lot, the handling was very agile and easy, and the sound was very nice and clean. Lee makes some nice bows, especially his Vuillaume copies.

Clare

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

And we have a winner...

Subscribe

Laurie's Books