"forbidden riffs" in a violin store?
Hi all, it's been raining here for weeks already, so just for fun a question I was thinking about. Last week we read again the list with "forbidden riffs" for guitar players. This are very famous riffs that you are not supposed to play in a guitar store, because these riffs are driving the store employees crazy. Like Smoke on the water, and Seven Nation Army. When we read the list I was wondering if there were any of these pieces of music for violin and I could not think about anything. For piano I thought it would be Für Elise or some piece we call 'de vlooienmars' (Flohwalzer) For violin perhaps the beginning of Schindlers List? What is your "forbidden riff" for violin? Tweet
Replies (26)
Twinkle, Twinkle? "Oh Mother I Can Tell You..."
Wondering which set of lyrics you have in your head...
-Pop or rock song covers that are poorly transcribed or arranged
-The Devil Went Down to Georgia
-Orange Blossom Special
-Turkey in the Straw
-Vivaldi A minor concerto
-Pachelbel Canon
-Orchestra audition excerpts—these get especially old around audition times as a whole lot of players show up in shops playing them as they prepare.
Honestly, though, if the player is good enough, most of these are fine. It’s the butchering of tunes that makes it intolerable.
Irish Washerwoman
Swallowtail Jig
Danny Boy
Si Bheag, Si Mhor
The employees are getting paid to listen to what the costumers play.
But anyway, probably Mendelssohn E Minor, Bach E Major Prelude/Gigue and D minor allemande/chaconne.
Of course, you can achieve the same thing playing a scale or an arpeggio!
.........It’s the butchering of tunes that makes it intolerable.....
I Guess I better stay away from your shop...
It is true that that selection does cover all the strings nicely in a short amount of time while not just sounding like a scale, and that was why it became the top choice in the past. It
never bothered me, and I wouldn’t mind hearing it more often.
As to the idea of using the opening of the Brunch no. 1 as a preliminary test of a violin’s sound and response, I admit that it is a go-to of mine as well. But actually, if one has them in one’s fingers, the opening solos of the Beethoven and Tchaikovsky are more thorough, starting on the G, going up to the E, then back down to the G. In the Bruch opening the poor G only gets two notes! But do whatever is comfortable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f13FY94BKI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rezUprVf2s
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