Practice was good this week because I had Monday off. Part of the day was spent practicing and with no-one else in the house, it was good. I was not afraid to use plenty of bow and I could hear the difference. This Thursday was Anzac Day, so another day of work, but since we were preparing for Prince Sage to party with a dozen or so of his school friends at our home, there was little time to practice.
This week's lesson was running half an hour later than usual. That's was actually to my benefit because I had a heap of work on and got some good things done in that time. As it happens, the student who follows me turned up about the same time and we started talking. Her name is Sarisha and she is from Hyderabad India. She told me about how she learned to sing in India, and how Indian music is not annotated in the same way as Western music. It was fascinating.
When it was time for my lesson, Laura asked Sarisha to sit in. I was a little nervous but figured if I could not play my pieces and learn in front of another student, how was I ever going to play in front of complete strangers. I admit to being a little self conscious at the start of the lesson but relaxed a little as time went on.
This was the last week for Crazy Circus. Laura taught me the "grip and rip" technique for staccato. Make sure the bow has a good grip on the string, then let it rip with the short fast ninja-punch. And you know, I can't get that out of my head now. That's good, because that's what was missing from my staccato. Apparently, "grip and rip" is NOT an official term, but a Laura-ism :) I do enjoy playing this, and it will serve as a good warm-up piece for staccato work. Actually, I really like the finger exercise from last week as a warm-up over all four strings.
My second composition (lullaby) still needs work. I really need to just slow it right down, even though I originally wrote is as a light and bright piece. Playing it faster is not working for me since I'm still not so confident with bow crossing.
Walking My Puppy was pretty good but no stamp yet. I'm sure I played it better during the week in practice, but it wasn't quite there today. Perhaps some of that was nerves in front of another student. I need to be aware of exactly where I am placing my fingers for the first and second finger notes. What can sometimes happen is that the ear can trick itself into thinking a slightly-off note is the correct one. And unless someone has a tuner (or a good teacher) that kind of mistake can put off your whole piece. So I need to do a little bit more with this song.
And for next week, I have Rocking It Bunny Style. This new piece is an up-tempo rocking tune that will reinforce some of the rhythms I have learned so far. And it comes with two new things: chicken and the half-tone slide. Chicken is "code" for a dotted note, or swing note (I think). It has a slightly different rhythm and an accent on the first note. And half-note slide is not the technical term either. There are two notes that are a tone or semitone apart. The finger "slides" from one to the other. This is not the same as sliding (which is more like a tin-whistle with no single distinct note). Both notes need to be played distinctly but the finger slides from one to the next. I'm not sure if I've explained it correctly but I have tried. I must admit to having attempted slides already, as an experiment. And also because it looked cool when Heifetz did it (about 2 minutes 40 in, but the whole performance is amazing):
Heifetz Caprice #24 by Paganini
This will be a short week since I intend to have a lesson on the Thursday to make it to the Buddha Birthday Festival on Friday. So I'd better get to it...
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