September 2006

September 23, 2006 14:22

ASYO rehersal was this morning. That was four well-spent hours. I enjoyed most of it very much.

My section coach was not as intimidating today as he was at Franklin Pond Chamber Music. I don't know why I was scared of him at my audition.

I have a large pile of music that I have collected in my office. it is a nightmare. I have to clean it up this weekend, and I really don't want to, but I need to.

And, I am now hooked on slow practice. For three days, I practiced the first movement of Lalo slowly (always qn=40-60), and now, I can play all of the runs in tune at tempo.

Instead of "learning" a piece and then having to go back through and clean everything up (say for an audition? )using slow practice, I will just go ahead and learn it slowly.

It is much easier because you have time to notice all of your movements. You can make corrections as you need to, and you stay very relaxed.

I wish I had done this sooner. It takes a lot of patience and focus, but the amount of work put into a piece practiced slowly is much less than have to go back and clean things up.

It is things like this that remind me that I am still a student... a very inexperienced student.

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September 18, 2006 16:48

First violin: 18th chair? I have yet to find out if this is good or bad.

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Well, I had my seating audition for the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra yesterday (http://www.atlantasymphony.org/
communityandeducation/youthorchestra/default.aspx).
My audition went okay. Bruch was a little better technically, but I rushed the opening cadenza, so I know that cost me. I knew it was going pretty well when my octaves were in-tune. My excerpt from Lohengrin was ok. It was better than last week, but I was not happy with it. My excerpt from Fidelio was better, too, but I started out too slow and ended up rushing towards the end of the excerpt. Finally, I played my excerpt from Morning Mood (Peer Gynt). It was ok. My intonation was close. It was about as in-tune as I was in the practice room, so I am happy that the arpeggios were not that bad. But, it is not often that I am playing G-sharp major arpeggios.

Then, I had sight-readng. My nerves had calmed down at this point, so I did reasonably well. That and the sight-reading was the same as last week. So many people messed up on the sight-reading that Mrs. Respress decided to have the same one, hoping that more people will do better. I did pretty good with the sight-reading last week (imho), and I did about the same this week.

So, I should find out my seat soon.

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September 11, 2006 14:14

I have good news and bad news.

I have a seat in the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra.

The bad news is that I'm sick, and I have a week to prepare for the seating audition for ASYO.

I hope that Augustin Hadelich wins the IVCI.

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September 1, 2006 16:32

I have an audition this coming tuesday. The excerpts for violin are from Wagner's "Lohengrin" (specifically the prelude to Act III) and Beethoven's "Fidelio" overture. I'll also play the first page of Bruch's Concerto No. 1.

Also, I had a lesson on Tuesday. My teacher gave me some insightful ideas for my excerpts... mostly phrasings. I've been working on the excerpts on my own for about a month while my teacher was out of the country, so I have most of the technique down.

Also, we went over Bruch again. Thankfully, it was only phrasings and intonation, two things that can be fixed relatively quickly.

I am feeling confident. I've spent many hours practicing this material, and I know all of it very well.

Now, I just have to hope the sight-reading poses no problems. Ha ha ha.

A three-day weekend is a nice break. I like Labor Day. This will give me even more time to clean things up.

This brings me to a question. How long can you safely practice? My teacher worked with me on my set up a few months ago, and now I can practice for long times (with breaks) and not be uncomfortable or end up with pains the next day. This really helped for summer music camps where we would play/practice/reherse all day. But, how much is too much? I think Itzhak Perlman said that you should not practice more than five hours a day, and Leopold Auer said that 3 hours was enough?

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More entries: October 2006 • August 2006