January 2005

January 31, 2005 08:47

What a most curious weekend. The end of one love, the possibilities of others, and, of course, planning the escrow for the Leopold bow. I asked Darius Music in Budapest because I figured that Zoltán would be easier to work with since he speaks almost perfect English. (Although I must admit, I think it was very funny when he thought I was saying "escort service" rather than "escrow service".) Zoltán is quite charming, actually, and the shop is pretty. I'm so glad he agreed to facilitate the trial, despite his misgivings about upper-end carbon bows and working with a company of which he hasn't heard.

Other than that... Oh, girls, how hard did PMS hit me this Friday? I must have played the tune about 50 times over the course of the week and when I couldn't play it still and he kept making me play it, I just started bawling my eyes out. Thank god for waterproof mascara, but I'm upset at myself still that my emotions can be so out of control when (1) it's nearly that time of the month and (2) I'm trying to quit smoking.

And my not-so-secret crush told me we should be good friends. Oh well. Can't hurry love...

But the bow! I can hardly wait until I see that the arrangements are settled! Otherwise... Oh, we'll see... I hope everything works out all right.

Archive link

January 13, 2005 08:19

On Practicing with a Tuner and an Alternative to "Twinkle, Twinkle"

Wow. Last night I practiced with the aid of my electronic tuner. At first I tuned my violin and just played some scales and such, listening to exactly how the exact notes sound on my violin, storing each sound for future reference. Then, I turned the tuner off and played through my homework enough that I at least knew what notes I was supposed to be playing. Then I listened to myself play, guessed at where I was flat and sharp, turned on the tuner and fixed the problem areas. It was great! By the end of the two hours I *knew* that I'd gotten more done (in terms of intonation anyway) in that time than I had in any 5-hour stretch in the past. Boy, was I tired, though! I read a little bit more of Mozart until I realized I wasn't paying attention anymore and then I went to sleep.

I think it was Paul who mentioned in passing on his blog that he is getting, ah, how shall we say, a little tired of "Twinkle, Twinkle". Myself, "Twinkle" was one of my favorite songs when I was a Tiny, and I was happy when someone told me that I could use the song to help me tune my violin approximately (this was in August, around the 1/2 month mark), but even before "Twinkle", my favorite 5th-interval song was the vocal part of something called "Rusty the Skatemaker" by Rasputina. I transcribed it myself after my second lesson and was very proud of having done it. It can use exactly the same notes as "Twinkle", although in a different order and in different duration. Mayhaps it's sort of advanced Twinkle... Anyway, I just thought I'd share that.

There was something else... Oh, yes, when I bought my violin the restorer polished it using God-knows-what which gave a fantastic glassy shine to the back and belly, but in the course of one of my "cuddle with the violin while listening to Paganini's Op.6" I seem to have made an impression on this stuff. At the present moment there seems to be a sort of T-shirt seam impression on one area. And ideas on how to get it smooth again? I'm a bit embarrassed to take it back to my restorer as I'm loathe to admit face-to-face that I cuddle with my violin.

Admittedly, I wonder if she displays the t-shirt mark like some women would a hicky. I guess that would make me dubiously proud of her willingness to proclaim that she's mine. Such a wonderful violin...

The other day my teacher was alternating between his present violin and a new possibility. Quite honestly, I couldn't tell which was better except that new one seemed to give out more "hey, look, someone's bowing!" raspy under-sound. Pardon me if I don't know the proper terminology for it. Anyway, his violins are always very pretty, but I have to agree with Mr. Mozart that it's awfully silly to judge a violin by the ornamentation that has *nothing* to do with the sound. The first thing I've always done to any instrument that Mr. Mata gives to me for "megnézni" is tap on it's belly. My appreciation of violin construction is wholly intuitive at this point (I don't know what's art, but I know what I like!), but the tapping can either give me warm fuzzies or a sense of having been deceived.

Returning to the tuner... I was wrong when I said that nothing exterior (save a mirror) could help me with my bowing. Nay, the tuner helps because I can "experiment" with L. Mozart's long, slow strokes and pay attention with both ear and eye as to how steady the tone really is during the stroke. The tuner catches what my untrained ear does not, so I'm learning to listen as well. This makes me so very happy!

Right, time to go home. I have such an obscene amount of work this semester. How did I get myself into this mess?

Archive link

January 11, 2005 06:21

Fun with an elektromos hangoló!

That is, fun with an electronic tuner!

Yesterday I got my first electronic tuner! I spent an hour or so playing with it and my violin, trying out scales while looking at the tuner and paying attention to how my violin sounded and reacted when I hit a note *just right*. I mentioned a long time ago that that Nicolá has the most incredible resonance, so I want to learn how to use them to their best advantage. I think having a tuner will also help me to keep my violin in the tune that I choose, not 20Hz off.

After playing scales and stuff, I had a little extra fun with watching the tuner while listening to some solo violin pieces. I found that in this way I could tell when the violinist used an open string and stuff. I confess that I was amazed at the error tolerance (roughly about 20 Hz) that the violinists had. When I was studying chemistry and physics, I hated myself for a week if I was off with an SI unit by .001 of a unit. Still, on my own violin it's the difference between resonance and flatness...weird!

Ooops! Back to class! Szia!

Archive link

January 8, 2005 13:46

Bought a copy of the sheet music for Paganini's 24 Caprices for about 1200 ft and a little framed, matted portrait of Paganini for a little over 1100 ft (about $6).

I also saw my ideal concert dress today. Somehow it's inherently wrong for me to fantasize about my ideal concert dress when, realistically, there is a snowball's chance in Hades that I would ever give a concert as a soloist, but I still do it. This one was simple, strapless in black satin with a band of sequined and embroidered lace across the top and a slit up the front which had red satin lining peeking out. Beautiful, simple, with red satin as a sort of Paganinistic prima donna/virtuousic kick. *sigh*

I should go practice now.

Oh, there is a longer version of my day in my other blog if you're interested.

Archive link

January 6, 2005 06:16

Yay! My luggage arrived yesterday! Now I have all the music I could possibly want to practice today...except that I have a differential geometry final tomorrow that I should be studying for. *scowl* It's not that I don't love differential geometry, it's just that...I really want to practice today! I noticed yesterday when I was doing some scales that my sightreading skills are waning because I don't look at the music when I do my finger exercises and such. I guess that's the problem when you have a tendency to memorize the lines within tens times of playing. I think I need to force myself to stare at the written form while I do exercises from now on.

On the other hand...oh, I have the most marvelous crush on Nicoló Paganini. I mean, really, who hasn't? But I acquired two recordings of one of his violin concertos and it makes me so happy I can't stop listening to it! The bravura! The cheekiness! The flirtation! The romance! I can't get enough of it. *sigh*

Well, the sooner I finish studying, the sooner I get to practice to my heart's content!

Archive link

January 4, 2005 07:53

Well, my violin, my laptop, and my self are all safe in Budapest, but sadly my checked luggage was unable to make the date at the airport baggage claim. I guess I should be careful what I wish for!

Someone asked me about what I decided about the Leopold bow. I haven't had a chance to try one out yet, but I am sure that I will get one...eventually. I was very surprized when the maker of the Leopold bows, offered me the opportunity to be the one to introduce the bows to the Hungarian market. I'm afraid I will have to turn him down. After all, I'm but a student and I'm not very well connected in Budapest yet. I think that with a bit of willpower I should be able to save up to have enough money to buy a Leopold bow within a year, and maybe even make the trip to Copenhagen myself to pick one out. I think that would be a fabulous adventure! I have time to think about the whole thing.

In the meantime, I should be getting back to my apartment in case my luggage shows up. Gosh, it's awfully nice to be back in Budapest! I'm still in the stage of being confused as to where my heart is, but it's a relief that I'm where I need to be to do my job.

Archive link

January 3, 2005 12:53

Well, I begin the long travels back to Budapest this evening. "Tomorrow" (technically it's tomorrow, the 4th, but the days blend together when I'm on the move) I have a brief layover in Milan before taking a shorter flight to Budapest. I can hardly wait to be back home. Budapest really is my home now, although I'm not sure if it's where my heart is. That thing... I keep misplacing it!

Packed and repacked the foolish suitcase so many times that I began to consider taking off for Hungary with just my laptop and my violin...or just my violin.

I have a wretched cough. It has been bothering me since Thursday. I feel a little better today, but I'm sure the air travel won't help any.

Anyway... It will be nice to go home. I didn't get to listen to all of the new music I wanted to. Most notably, the recording of the Guanieri Quartet will have to wait until the next time I'm in Chelmsford.

*cough* Right, time for me to sign off.

2 replies | Archive link