The First Finger Tango

September 16, 2008 at 5:13 AM

In my CO, we are playing a symphony composed by one of our own. It is still under development and every week we get some new parts. Overall, it is a very nice work well suited for our orchestra.

The only complaint I have so far is one movement that is a bit dull for us violists. The most excitement we have is some interesting accents. To liven things up, I played around with the fingerings. After a few measures I realized that we could play the ENTIRE movement with nothing but the first finger. To make things more interesting, I tried playing it all on the G string. Well, that worked well until I was up to 8th position and measures that MUST be played on the C string. During break, I wrote in those fingerings and gave the movement a subtitle - "The First Finger Tango". My stand partner about fell out of her chair!

I think I may have figured out that little hardware issue. The modifications I made to my favorite shoulder rest are working out quite well. It took two sponges - a thicker one on the far right for "lift", and a smaller softer one in the middle to smoothe out the contour. I'll give it another week or two - then it is time for the shop equipment...

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