A Weekend Fantasie

January 21, 2008 at 2:14 AM

It is so nice to be playing a piece other than Bruch!

The first few lines of Hummel are fairly solid now. I have one turn that is still a bit delayed even at the slower tempo. The first few lines are filled with turns at every turn, which is a fairly new technique for me. I moved along to not only the next few lines, but the first two pages. The runs of 32 notes are giving me some trouble, the same issue that I had with Bruch. Although for some reason, it seems a bit easier this time around. It may be because I have learned techniques to practice these more effectively. One thing that popped out, was a more prolific use of vibrato (even a few wiggles on the C string) and wider range of dynamics.

And to ease Buri's concern (and my teacher's)that I'm being entirely too self critical, I had a go at the Cadenza for fun (the one that I gave up trying to play at all during lessons last week and ended up listening to my teacher play it instead). Forget about dynamics or rhythm, it didn't exist and I didn't even try. Much to my surprise I made it all the way up to the high D on the A string with not too much searching around for the note. After a few tries, that D became more stable. I even managed about half of the harmonics. Boy, that was fun (and slow)! It ended up with me trying to find different harmonics on all my strings as a sort of game.

My father reminded me to listen to a recording of myself from a year or so ago, vs. the past month before I started berating myself over my most recent performance experience. He was wise in his recommendation.

"You've come along way kid."

As he said, it was like listening to a different musician.

The quest for perfection is a never-ending one. Each day brings you just a little bit closer. It is the journey and experience that makes life enjoyable.

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A Weekend Fantasie

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