Preparing for a Recital

March 17, 2009 at 11:44 AM

I am having my first recital on April 5th, at the Longy School of Music where I take lessons. I will be playing Rebecca Clarke's Passacaglia on an Old English Tune on the viola, which I've already performed in church once, so I'm feeling reasonably prepared. I love the viola as a solo instrument. The viola is where, to me, all the advice about singing and making your instrument sound like the human voice makes sense. It's not an operatic diva, it's a plain-spoken, honest song from the heart.

Unfortunately my teacher, Dianne, has been out of town on tour and won't be back until next week, so I'm also feeling a bit lost at the same time. I know the piece by heart and have been practicing it along with the piano part on the CD I have. The piece is in book 5 of "Solos for Young Violists" and there is an accompanying CD track with a tuning note, and just the piano part with the viola part very softly in the background. I only get one 30-minute rehearsal with the Longy-supplied pianist. It just occurred to me that I could try to pay for another rehearsal. While the piece is only 5 minutes long, 30 minutes doesn't seem like long enough to get used to a pianist I've never met.

When I played in church, I played with the new co-music director, who is also a music professor, and he said the piano part wasn't trivial. There is a section where the viola takes some time with the notes. It is basically a descending scale and then the piano comes in and then the two instruments move together towards a climax in a big crescendo. I can't seem to get this section right with the CD. The recorded violist takes more time than I want to, or something, because the piano is always coming in at a weird place and then the crescendo doesn't work either. The real pianist is going to have to follow me in that section, rather than vice-versa.

I am both glad and regretful about my decision to play viola in this orchestra concert. I am glad because switching between viola and violin would indeed have been too much. It has taken me a while to get settled back into viola and have it feel natural again and this recital is important to me to do well. But I am regretful because the unfortunate fact is, viola orchestral parts are not as much fun for me as first violin parts. They sound weird and incomplete when you practice them at home, all inner voices and no melody. It's better at rehearsal with the whole orchestra, but if you haven't practiced your part sufficiently at home, even that can be rather harrowing.

And, I might as well admit it here, not only do I miss playing first violin for the music itself, I miss being the concertmaster. At first, when the conductor asked me to sit there, I was nervous. It's not a role I'm used to from the past, I hadn't been playing that long in this incarnation, and my confidence about myself as a violinist was not particularly high. But the experience was good for me and helped me grow as a player. I started thinking a lot more about the music outside of rehearsal. I started to enjoy standing up there in front of other people. But practically, I really needed a break for a couple of months. Not only do I have this recital, but work is pretty crazy right now due to applying for grants related to the government stimulus package at NIH. I'm lucky to have a job at all, so I shouldn't really be complaining, but it has been hard to fit in practice time, and it's been a relief not to have to concern myself with the bowings for the section. I also missed a rehearsal due to work commitments last week, and would have felt bad about that when I was concertmaster. So it's a dilemma. I'm doing the right thing for now, but already looking forward to the next concert when I'll go back to violin.

From Tom Holzman
Posted on March 17, 2009 at 1:16 PM

Good luck with your recital. I am sure you will do fine. With regard to the problem playing that one passage with the CD, you might want to ask your teacher why the problem is occurring or try using a metronome to see how fast it should go. I am sure you will figure it out.

From Anne Horvath
Posted on March 17, 2009 at 1:39 PM

If you feel that more rehearsal is needed (a very reasonable thing), find out who the assigned pianist is, contact him/her, and schedule a couple of rehearsals before the assigned rehearsal. Good luck!

From Anne-Marie Proulx
Posted on March 17, 2009 at 11:47 PM

Really good luck! 30 min is not long to learn to play something with the piano... but if you can't see the pianist another time, check out the piano part ahead of time, be sure to know your entrance etc and this helps a lot (oh I forgot you had this CD that comes with the book...) Ah, your dilemma between work, violin and viola really tells somthing to me because I know what it feels like to have events comming and seeing yourself missing time... I had to canceled a concert this week... and felt bad but I would have felt even worse to go to it not ready and probably solidly miss my shot! I am sure you will be able to be the concert master again one day! If you really want to be a concert master somewhere even if you are busy, you could always try with a really easy level orchestra. I don't know if this is a solution or not since I'm not you but I wish things will get easier soon!

Good luck,

Anne-Marie

From Terez Mertes
Posted on March 18, 2009 at 4:32 PM

> They sound weird and incomplete when you practice them at home, all inner voices and no melody.

Oh, I can just imagine this! Good luck with recital preparations!

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