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