June 2004
June 24, 2004 13:34
well because i'm a fool, and in the interest of playing a more well rounded concert, (nutritionally balanced as emil would say), i've cut a bunch of stuff and decided to learn some new things as well. I needed a slow movement for the second half and i decided to learn dvorak's romance, it seems like a real crowd pleaser. Its got some tricky things in it but it shouldnt be a problem. By the way, anyone who's played this and has helpful advice please email me, it would be greatly appreciated.
June 17, 2004 14:45
why cant i figure out how to use that damn concerto box thing??? on the bright side i had a decent day of practicing but i cant believe it i screwed my hand up again im such a moron. anyway i'm doing some chamber music later and some wieniawski duets tomorrow so this should be a fun couple of days....except that performance is still looming.
June 15, 2004 13:18
ohmygod! its 95 degrees out and its only 1 o clock i'm screwed. and also i practiced five hours without a break and managed to hurt my hand on fingered octaves AGAIN! (i never learn) and then i inadvertantly signed up to play a concert tonight of music i've never seen before, am i a fool or what. The heat is melting my brain, i need to air condition a room for my violin or it'll melt as well. Screw the brain but the violin is rather expensive. On the bright side my concert program is looking up, i can play through the pieces now, it needs serious brushing up but at least i can give a half-decent performance now, so i have a month to brush it up, it just might work. meanwhile i guess i'll ice my hand so i can play tonight
June 11, 2004 17:21
oh what a wonderful day of practicing, things are coming together finally which is good, i'm starting to think i can pull this performance off. The saint-saens intro and rondo hasn't been touched in ages so it's probably a good idea to resurrect it soon, considering i want ot perform it in a month, but hte rest of the pieces are sounding good. it is, however, rather hot and sticky at the moment which is no fun and definetely not conducive to hard practicing. I'll have to resume later, for now i'll take a cold shower/.
June 9, 2004 17:04
sometimes, you just have to let loose. I spent a long time practicing slowly and doing sevcik and dounis and playing soft scales and trying to meditate on my sound as i played, and then suddenly i had to let loose, so i played the bach e major prelude at prestissimo and then ran through the saint-saens intro and rondo and also played that way over tempo and then played some random scales for a minute. and now i feel much better.
June 7, 2004 13:34
ahh, its a practice day today. I got off to a late start because i stayed up rather late last night. Well actually i went to bed early but my friend called me at 1230 to ask a stupid computer question, so that didnt help much. ANyway once i got underway my practicing went really well. I've been struggling a bit with paganini 11, its sort of easy to play badly, or blandly, but quite difficult to pull off in a musical and interesting manner, so i've been working at that. Also trying to make the slow part of that caprice sound really beautiful can be a challenge, trying to get lots of different colors and phrasings happening. oh well, time to get back to the grind i suppose. I should probably clean the house as well, naah, i'll practice instead.
June 6, 2004 15:41
wow im tired, its one of those days i guess. Had a lesson today, it went well, i had lots of criticisms as usual but he remained happy so i guess i didnt play too badly. i think i'll take a nap.
June 5, 2004 16:36
man it's hot, 93 degrees is NOT conducive to practicing as i found out this morning, plus my rosin has disappeared. I do have a lesson tomorrow and i had wanted to bring in a paganini caprice but instead i will bring poor excuses, and a rosinless bow, oh well, for now i just need the sun to go down so i can function again. It's been a while since updated this because i've been away among other things, and trying to find housing in san francisco, which is difficult (and expensive). gah, i dont feel like writing, i feel like swimming, say, swimming, thats a good idea.
More entries: July 2004 • May 2004
Violinist.com is made possible by...
Dimitri Musafia, Master Maker of Violin and Viola Cases
Laurie's Books
Discover the best of Violinist.com in these collections of editor Laurie Niles' exclusive interviews.
Violinist.com Interviews Volume 1, with introduction by Hilary Hahn
Violinist.com Interviews Volume 2, with introduction by Rachel Barton Pine
