This is a test to see if I can upload an audio file. My husband got me an ipod nano at Christmas time, and one feature it comes with is "Voice memo." I'm sure this is not at all ideal for recording music, but I gave it a try. It motivated me to practice the Bach--which by the way came about when there was a violinist.com weekend poll about "which of the Bach solo pieces" are the most difficult. I had always gotten stuck on this Adagio. There were chords which I thought I could not even play (using the 3rd or 4th finger on 2 strings simultaneously). But when no one else seemed to mention this Adagio as most difficult, I thought I'd better go back and see for myself again.
Not as impossible as I had earlier thought, which may have something to do with my previous blog on the "incubation phenomenon." Having youtube videos of others playing the piece is something I never had access to before, and that is both a help and a motivation. I realized that hardly anyone plays the piece with double stops on just about all the notes, which I think is how the piece was written. (The recording we have at home of Shlomo Mintz , plus what I have heard of Julia Fischer's version, are the few which have the double stops going through out.)
The link seems to work out OK. For my own learning purposes, the recording does show that there are notes which come out too loud. They were easier to play!
Previous entries: May 2010
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