Violin Lesson #51

Happy anniversary to me!!!!

It has been a year this week since my first violin lesson. I am not playing Mozart yet but I am well on my way :)

I only had five days of practice this week, which is a little disappointing. It's important to maintain a good balance in everything. That means sometimes I have to sacrifice violin time. My lesson this week was earlier, at my request, so I could be home to get the children from the neighbour. I really appreciate the flexibility with the scheduling of my lessons.

I need to keep going with my exercises. They are more important for my progress with pieces. Laura is very strict with them because a) any examiners I play in front of will be strict, and b) I want to learn to play well.

For some reason I am finding it hard to keep the flat of the hair of the bow on the strings. My wrist twists sometimes and produces an effect Laura can hear even when she is not watching me. There is nothing for it but to be aware of it and fix it when I notice it. Laura says things like that happen from time to time and it is not a major concern. This issue is mostly what is holding me back with Wave Machine.

The sticker sheet came out for Medieval Tale. It was one of my best performances of that piece. There were a few times where the bow was "wobbly" and produced an uneven sound, especially on the long notes, but the rest of the song was really good.

On the weekend I played The Old Fiddler Man and Medieval Tale. Both sounded great. I was able to play downstairs and without the mute so I could really go for it. I'm pretty sure the neighbours could hear it too since I could hear them outside. Oddly, after playing Medieval Tale a few times I stopped, and could hear nothing.Apparently they had gone inside. I like to think it had nothing to do with my playing :) Note to self: learn some Serbian tunes (for the neighbours).

I didn't spend much time with Raggle Taggle Hippie. Laura gave me plenty of good advice about it though so I look forward to making a decent amount of progress with it. The best advice was to play each phrase with small bow until I am used to how it feels and learn the fingering, then practice it as I would play it when playing the song - with nice long bows. The advice reminds of this article.

To take the place of Medieval Tale I have a song called First Base. No, not that kind of first base. The baseball kind. It has double stops in it and is in ragtime style. This will be fun.

Two more things - Firstly, Laura has been invited to play in China with an orchestra she played with previously. How cool is that? One of my aims is to play well enough to be asked to join an orchestra, and if possible, tour with an orchestra. I don't know that I would do that full time, but once would be marvelous. Secondly, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra was in Brisbane this week. Laura was fortunate enough to go to the first show. The second show was broadcast on ABC Classic FM. I listened to it at work the next day. Not only did they play beautifully, but they had someone associated with the orchestra talking to the radio host before and after they played. And during the interval they had a fascinating overview of the orchestra. They began in 1888, the same year as Tchaikovsky wrote his Symphony No. 5. I gather this is one of their "signature" pieces. This is one they performed during the broadcast, and what the radio audience could not see was the conductor actually stopped conducting  towards the end of the symphony and the orchestra just kept on going.

Violin Lesson #50

And here it is... the big 5 O. A half-century of lessons :)

The practice sheet is still paying off. It's helping to keep me focussed. Although, sometimes I find I am not playing a piece often enough to keep to the twenty minute target. Something is going to have to give.

The lesson was at 2pm this week. It came at a good time since I had forgotten my glasses at home and by about that time I had a headache. Also, Sarisha was after me and she was bringing in a violin she was considering buying, and it was was okay with her and Laura that I sit in on her lesson. More on that later.

I start off as I often do with the exercises. They are less fun but more important than playing set pieces. The heart beats were pretty good. The sound at the heel of the bow is getting there. I am sure there must be techniques I'll learn later that will make use of that. This week I'll be doing the G-Major arpeggio instead of the scales, just to change things up a bit. The double stops exercise had improved. This week I have been advised to pause slightly on the first line when adjusting from playing two strings to playing one again - it makes a cleaner sound. And I still could not get a good even sound with the whole bow on two strings. At home it's not too bad but I couldn't nail it in class today.

Wave Machine was next. It sounded okay, but apparently I play with the edge of the hair on the bow instead of the flat surface. I just know there is going to be a time I will need to do that and won't be able to get it right. For now though I'll concentrate on doing that, and again, playing with longer bows - that is to say, longer strokes of the bow, not a physically longer bow...

I passed my Heat Haze. The sounds on the G- and D- strings were still a little off for some unknown reason but the rest of it sounded pretty sweet. This song has one-and-a-half beat notes (aka dotted quavers) and I was previously taught to count that as 1 2 and 3 4. Laura suggested using the power of mathematics, so that the first know is a three-count (instead of one and a half) and the half note is now a one count. I found this easier than the first way. Cheers Laura.

This carried over to Medieval Tale. This was good too and Laura suggested improvements, like really leaning in to the most important notes in a phrase to give them a little more oomph. Stuff like that is not written down in the music. It is something that is picked up as you go, and I am really grateful that I have a teacher who is willing to share this extra knowledge and experience. It may not seem like much but it can really make a difference to the way the music sounds.

Then came the new song - an Irish-themed tune called Raggle Taggle Hippie. Do they even have hippies in Ireland? A little while ago I learned to play grace notes (don't make me try to recall the technical term - it's late). Now instead of one grace note there are two and three of them at a time. I had a go and felt like I was getting there. It's much easier to do it on a piano :) This is quite a long song, especially if I honour the repeats. I think it is going to take a while to learn this, and to get it right, but I am sure it will be worth it.

I didn't get to play The Old Fiddler Man since we were out of time. Laura wants to hear me play it amazingly one time to pass me on it. It will have to be next week then.

With my lesson done, Sarisha came in with her violin and the one she was thinking about purchasing. Laura played it first and it sounded great. Sarisha said the asking price was $1,800. Just to compare them, Laura played the same music on Sarisha's current violin. The new violin sounded much better. Sarisha played one of her songs (King William's March I think) with it for a little while. It was hard because there were no "stickers" for the finger positions. Sarisha has been playing about the same length of time as I have and I know that I still check the stickers from time to time. Eventually Laura asked to play with Patience to compare it to the new violin. She played it, and I marvelled as I usually do that Patience can produce such sound. Yes, I know it's not all her, but that sound would not be there without her. Patience sounded nearly as good as Sarisha's new violin. Laura mentioned there were a few things she could hear in the newer violin but I'm not sure what they were. Personally I was happy my $500 (I'll be honest here, I think Patience was almost a steal at that price) violin compared favourably with the violin we were looking at. Eventually it was decided the new violin sounded great but did not suit Sarisha. I felt a little bit bad for her because she didn't end up getting it and had to keep looking, but good at the same time because she is one step closer to her next violin.

After the first song Sarisha played her other piece. It was from an old Indian Movie. I saw the amount of notes on the page and I was stunned. There were a lot of them, you see. And I thought it was amazing. It was so cool to hear something like that. Sarisha had not taken long to learn it, partly because she was so familiar with the piece. She is going home to India and wants to play that for her family. I hope they will like it as much as I did. To finish with, Sarisha was also given Raggle Taggle Hippie. It will be interesting to see how we both go learning that piece. One thing I picked up from Laura going through this with her is that it is okay to leave your finger on two strings if you are going to play them one after the other. I did not notice that so much in this sing, but there are other songs I am working on at home where this will come in handy.

After the lesson Sarisha mentioned that it has never been her intention to become a professional musician so she feels she doesn't need a violin to match. She just wants to be able to play for family and friends. And me? I hope to be able to become good enough to play at the same level as a professional musician. Could I be one? I really don't know. I suppose it depends on where the journey takes me.

I did watch Dancing With The Stars after my lesson. This clip shows Tina Arena and her dance partner Damian Whitewood performing a paso doble. The first time I watched it I found it hard to take my eyes of the violin soloist who provided the music for the dance. She was amazing. I figure if I can play well enough to appear on a TV show like that I would be more than happy. Then I found out who she was. Sally Cooper. I might not ever be better than her, but that doesn't mean I won't try (even if she looks better in that white dress than I would, but that's another story).

Violin Lesson #49

According to the practice diary I managed to practice six out of seven days this week. Having the diary helps to keep me focused and motivated. I won't play for my own pleasure unless I have practiced. In the end I wrote down how many times I had to play each piece of music because I didn't always have a metronome handy.

The funniest violin-related issue happened on Monday night. I was finishing my session when my princess asked to read The Floods to me. She has been reading to me for the last few days. I told her I would sit with her to read when I finished my heartbeat exercise. When I finished I felt a little happier than I did when I started the session, so I started playing Irish Washerwoman. I learned this in my accordion days apparently. The tune was familiar but I don't remember learning it specifically. About half ways through the second run I hear a crescendo... "dad, Dad, DAD, DAD!" I stopped. "That's not heartbeats!". So I stopped and went to her room to listen to her read.

The lesson was at 2pm this week. Laura made time for me because I had a dentist appointment in the afternoon and Laura was busy in the evening. We started with heartbeats. Sometimes this went well at practice and other times not so well. I have to keep going for another week and that's fine with me. I need to make sure I go all the way to the heel of the bow and work on the circular arm motion for a cleaner sound.

My double-stops exercise was a little hit and miss too. When it was a hit it sounded pretty sweet. I need to keep the bow straight and level when I play the two strings at once to get a better sound and to make sure I use the whole bow (all the way to the tip).

The sticker sheet came out for Rowboats. It was not a difficult piece technically, but there was plenty to remember. Laura was impressed that I was able to play it without looking especially giving the changing dynamics. Memorising is not something I deliberately try to do, but after playing a piece for a while it just happens. That, and I focus on what I do when I'm practicing. There is always something to work on.

This means I am able to start a new piece this week. It's called Wave Machine. And again, for an exercise it is a pretty enough piece of music. The wave motion relates to the movement of the arm as it crosses strings. Wave motion is also the type of cannon on Space Cruiser Yamato, but I digress. Having said that, the Japanese have some absolutely kick-arse music for their anime and video games (like Final Fantasy).

The Old Fiddler Man was next. Speed is not an issue but sound quality is. Some parts sound great. Others (especially moving off the G string) still need some work. I think I found during practice that when I was not concentrating so much on the start it sounded better. It might be a case of trying too hard? Laura says this piece should be ready to play at the recital on November 24 (a Sunday) but I'm still not sure if I will go, or if I do go whether the family will come with me.

After that was Heat Haze. My daughter learned to play this on her glockenspiel. It sounds so cute. I think she plays better than I do because I still have things to improve. My third finger was out of tune for some reason and the sound on the G and D strings was a little off at times.

Unfortunately we didn't get to Medieval Tale so that will be one of the first pieces to play next week.

I enjoyed my lesson this week. It came at a good time. It was not my best day so taking a break was quite welcome.

Violin Lesson #48

The practice diary has been working well for me. It has helped me focus on my technical exercises a little more than I have been and it is paying dividends. There were a number of tasks on my list and I didn't spend as much time on some of them as I would have liked.

This week I also learned that the weekend of November 23 and 24 is going to be full of events for violinists. 

1. Undoubtedly the biggest event is the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra playing at QPAC on November 24 and 25. 

2. The Animato International Violin Competition will be held on November 22 to 24. This is open to players 17 and under so I miss the cut-off ... by 30 years :) 

3. Young Scottish duo Ross Couper (fiddle) and Tom Oakes (Flute and guitar) are visiting Australia for the first time and playing on November 23 at 7pm at the Danish Club in Newstead.

4. The Browning Street Studios (where I learn) is having a end-of-year recital on November 24. Details are still sketchy but there may be a chance for me to perform. Even if I don't it would be good to support  my fellow students who do perform.

I was actually planning to be in Sydney that weekend but that has been postponed.

My lesson this week went really well and I think this is largely to do with the practice diary.

But before the lesson, Laura checked my violin tuning and before giving it back let rip with a piece of classical music. Wait a minute. That was Patience? Sounding like that? Cool! What that tells me is that Patience herself is capable of producing such a sound. It also tells me that with enough practice I can get that same sound from the violin. Also, I won't need a new violin for quite a few years (which is great). The piece was called Allegro Brilliante by Willem Ten Have. It's something I can play at Grade Seven level apparently. Never heard of it, but guess what... it's on the list. LOL... did I say a few years? I am thinking at least seven or eight :)

I passed my PC (finger stretching) and PF (whole bow) exercises. This means I now have one more from the list Laura gave me. This is PD (double stops). They sound really cool. It is going to take some time to master but I think I am off to a good start. I didn't get to play the heart-beat exercise this week which was fine by me because I think it needs more work.

The soft dynamics for Rocking Rowboats improved, apparently at the expense of the louder ones. One more week ought to do it, which will give me time to get a good clean sound too.

Heat Haze is one of the songs for the preliminary test. This went fairly well too and I have it for another week. I also recorded a version of this song from a CD to compare my version.

The last practice piece I played was The Old Fiddler Man. The speed was good, the sound was generally good but I was missing the rests. I think this was because of the way I practiced it. I did not make the rests long enough at home. Laura thinks that with a little more effort and polish this could be good to go at the Browning Street Studio recital in three weeks.

There was one more piece. I played Lavender Air for Laura. It is a piece I learned from a piano book I borrowed from Pip. It is a fairly simple piece but sounds very pretty. I think it fits in well with the French and German folk songs I have learned. Laura confirmed, again, that is okay to learn pieces outside what she has set out for me as long as I don't neglect my practice and don't forget what she has taught me about how to play correctly.

I look forward to another wonderful week of practicing and playing