Sunday morning blues

November 23, 2008 at 1:39 PM

It's the Sunday morning before my lesson tomorrow and I'm not feeling good about it. I have this lingering, annoying, cough. I don't feel sick enough to stay home, although I tried that at the beginning of all this. It got a lot better at first and then didn't. The problem with dropping everything and staying home is that you get clobbered with piled up work when you get back and never catch up. This happened to a co-worker of mine last month. She was out for several days and says she still hasn't recovered, work-wise, a month later.

While I'm barely keeping my head above water at work, I'm feeling like I no longer really have the energy to practice from 10:30-11:30 pm, which is the only time I have to practice, at least on weekdays. The weekend is already almost gone and while I got some decent practicing in yesterday, and will today, it isn't enough. All I've had time to work on is the Messiah and a few scales for warm-up. No etudes. No solo pieces.

I am learning the first violin part to Handel's Messiah for the first time. When I listen to the recording on the T, it is transporting (in more ways than one), but it is also a very long piece. Our parts have umpteen weird bowings and cuts written in and I'm trying to normalize them and bring them in line with what the conductor wants and what the section wants. The conductor, who is a choral conductor, trusts us with what we want to do. But we don't have a lot of rehearsal time.

And I'm just spinning my wheels as far as what I should work on in my lesson. My teacher had good, useful things to say about the Messiah last week. I guess it will just have to be Messiah, Part II.

From Jodi B
Posted via 99.162.48.75 on November 23, 2008 at 2:48 PM

I have had what you have described last year. A cough that seems bad then goes away and comes back again only to worsen; severe fatigue with headache and maybe stomach ache. I finally went to the doctor and he said I had microplasma or walking pnuemonia. My oxygen level was borderline to hospitalization. I can remember loading the dishwasher, then taking a nap for an hour and a half.... it was bad.

This will only go away with medication. There is a blood test to make sure that you really have it so there won't be a risk of overuse of antiboitics.

Please do go see the doctor and get some well needed rest. :)

Best wishes,

Jodi

From Terez Mertes
Posted via 75.18.168.24 on November 23, 2008 at 9:54 PM

Ugh, sympathies on the cough/illness. Sounds debilitating. Jodi, your own story sounds just awful. Hopefully Karen won't have to deal with that!

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted via 71.184.114.154 on November 24, 2008 at 12:10 PM

Thanks, guys. I don't think I have anything as bad as what Jodi had. I'm tired but it's not like her description of loading the dishwasher and sleeping for an hour and a half. I wake up in the morning and feel pretty good (like now) but then it gets worse at night (just in time for orchestra rehearsal, naturally!)

From Tom Holzman
Posted via 167.176.6.8 on November 24, 2008 at 1:54 PM

Karen - one thing that is important to realize as you work on the Messiah is that there are certain parts that are much more exposed for the violins than others, places where the violins or the strings are playing alone and not drowned out by the singers or the brass. Those are the parts you really need to work on. They also tend to be places that are poorly written for violin; Handel could not have been a very good violinist. One place is the 16th notes in # 18 (Rejoice, Rejoice). There is also an horrific passage of 16th notes in #53 (the final movement) if you are playing it. Some of the choruses also have tricky 16th note passages, but they are not as bad as the ones mentioned. Be careful with the Overture because the violins are very exposed in it. Good luck and have fun!

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted via 18.4.1.146 on November 24, 2008 at 2:59 PM

Yes, the 16th notes in #53, OMG!! ;-)

I was screwing up--er, practicing those last night. You must have read my mind.

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