Violin lesson #96

This week's lesson was almost, almost I say, over-shadowed by another exciting event. Lindsey Stirling is coming to Australia! She is playing at the Tivoli Theater on February 20 next year. Not only did the Sage get two tickets for the show, he also ordered a meet-and-greet upgrade. This includes:
* meeting and greeting Lindsey
* a signed poster
* a VIP laminate
* question and answer session (I promise not to propose marriage to her)
* watching the sound check

Needless to say I can't wait to see her and the show.

The lesson was supposed to be on Wednesday because the Sage Princess was graduating from primary school on Tuesday. When I turned up another young lady was having her lesson. After that Sirisha had her turn. Her songs for the recital are sounding great. When I thought it was my turn young Andre turned up. He is really good and fast-tracking his violin studies for entry to high-school. It was at this time we realised Laura had double-booked. I didn't mind coming back on Thursday in the least. I sat in on *two* lessons and learned things from both of them.

When I arrived on Thursday there was a young lad going through his recital piece. After watching him go through his paces it was my turn. I started with Jumping Jelly Beans. In whatever time I had for practice I focused quite a bit on this piece. I finally practiced it with a metronome at 140 (the minimum suggested speed) and I was pleasantly surprised to realise this was a little slower than what I had been practicing. I was able to play the piece through accurately about half a dozen times. When I played this for Laura it sounded really good, even if it was not at top speed. Even the quick string change from A to D in the first part of the piece worked well. Laura was particularly happy about that. It showed I had worked hard to overcome a small section. It is across the space of two notes, and at this speed it is less than a second - only Laura and I will know how much effort it took to get that part just right [and anyone else reading this of course]. Laura said she did not currently have access to the piano accompaniment for this but improvised with the violin. I was impressed. After I played through I received a sticker for my efforts.

When I asked Laura if she would play something I half-expected her to say Monti's Czardas or something. I think my mother would almost pee her pants if she heard Laura playing that because it is a piece she now recognizes and likes. Laura said she would most likely improvise something with Dave - her boyfriend (and a very good music teacher in his own right). Laura said they will often take time in the evening to improvise things with Dave playing piano and Laura playing violin. As much as I like playing existing works, I would also love to learn to improvise, and it pleases me that Laura does this fairly regularly because it means it is something I can learn later.

We ran through the Telemann minuet as well. There were a couple of places Laura wanted me to pay special attention to this week. I need to start off strongly (though we agreed if a piece was to have a single strong point it would be best at the end). The start of the second section also needs to be as bold and strong as possible. And there is part towards the end, before the last pedal notes, where I need to get loud quickly. She demonstrated this to the young lady (not Sirisha, the other one) from Wednesday. And speaking of endings... Laura mentioned a student of the incomparable Jascha Heifetz told Laura about "last notes". Laura told us the bow should never just trail off on its own. It's okay, but it is much better to be in full control of the bow right to the end and to finish off the last note deliberately in the way you wish to finish it.

Last time I expressed my desire to prepare for the ABRSM Grade Two violin exam. To that end I ordered the ABRSM Grade Two violin book from Vivace Music store. Until then Laura walked me through one of the three songs I want to play for the exam - Londonderry Air - which goes something like this. Call it what you will it is a beautiful piece. Laura says it can be played by a student or a professional violinist as part of an encore. Of course the professional would add more layers to it than the student but it would sound beautiful in both cases. I can't wait.

I was Laura's final student lesson for the year. I'd make a comment about saving the best for last but I don't think that's necessary =)

Violin lesson #95

Laura tells me this week and next week will be the last lessons of the year and after them the concert towards the end of the month. This lesson was crammed full of music and knowledge. I wonder how Laura gets so much into a lesson. Then it occurred to me: she runs over time :) Not just for Sirisha and I but I think for many of her students.

We are fairly happy with how Minuet is going to sound so there was no focus on that this week. There is still no sticker for Jumpin' Jelly Beans so this needs the most work. I don't get it. The piece sounds pretty good at home and I work on what Laura tells me, then when I play in class it goes to pieces. I expect part of that is to do with confidence. After a few mistakes nothing seems to stick. Last week Laura said I needed to swap strings faster. The next day at home and for the rest of the week that part was good. And in class today it was poor again. There is a mind-set here that is holding me back and when I find out how to fix it that will be a good thing.

Laura mentioned that I should play the piece slowly and speeding it up will be easier because it has been practiced so well. And I need to practice with a metronome to find out where I am rushing or where I am slow, and to make sure the speed is consistent all the way through.

Te Deum is going well, There are still some issues with the notes on the E-string. I will have to be mindful of those when I practice this week. It does sound pretty cool. Again, I got stuck playing from a certain bar because I did not recognise the notes. I can start from the beginning of a phrase but I struggle to play a particular bar. I don't know how concerned I should be about this. It may only be important in class when we are learning to play a piece ... or there may be more to it than that.

There was also theory this week, oh yes there was. We looked at duplet and triplets and how they can be simple or compound, and how they go together to form time signatures. It all comes back to mathematics, and since I speak mathematics fluently it didn't take long to see what Laura was talking about.

I also had a moment to bring up ABRSM exams. I am going to prepare for Grade Two. Laura showed me some of the pieces I can play for the exam, and there along side the William Tell Overture was Londonderry Air (aka Danny Boy). Laura thinks I should be ready by March or April next year depending on how much time and effort I can put into my practice. I think I need something like this to keep me focused and to set some challenges. I was a little surprised that Laura was surprised I wanted to do ABRSM exams instead of the Australian AMEB ones, and it surprised me more that not many of Laura's students went with ABRSM. Laura made it sound really good last week so I don't know why more people don't do it.

Sirisha's pieces also sound really good. Here Laura started talking about different ways of playing the same piece. She mentioned one of them had warm sections and cool glassy sections. What sound you make depends partly on the bowing and I think partly on the player's own creativity and feelings. It's intangible. A student and professional musician can play the same piece but it can sound quite different. A professional musician can add colour and texture and feeling to a piece that a student can't. It's hard to explain, and I think also hard to teach. I think I'll know it when I play it and also when I hear it.

For one of Sirisha's songs - a Caribbean tune - Laura suggested a different bowing technique. It's one that is not annotated in a standard way but violinists know what it means. It's "somewhere between staccato and legato" :) All I know is I like the way it sounds and certainly did give a different vibe to the piece.

I think this is the part I am going to like the most about playing - letting out what is within, Playing pieces in different ways for different effects. Right now I will settle for playing correctly and be assured that playing with colour etc will come in due course.

Violin lesson #94

Not only is this lesson #94 but it is also two years since I started on my violin journey. More on that later...

This week the focus was on the two pieces I am playing for the recital at the end of December. The minuet needs some polish. It does sound pretty sweet, but I am not always getting the second set of pedal notes, and sometimes not the third. Wrist action is very important, especially to get into the third set. I am sure Laura has mentioned the phrase "leading with the wrist" before so I need to pay more attention to that.

While Jumping Jelly Beans is sound it is not up to speed yet. Laura talked a little about speed today. A few things to note: keep the fingers close to the strings during fast passages so they have to travel a shorter distance. The danger in that is the fingers may touch the strings when not required so there is a fine line there. This is something Laura was explaining to Andre before our lesson started. He was playing an etude and it really sounded familiar, so either I have heard it before or something similar is in another piece. Laura also told the story of having practiced an audition piece so well at a slower speed it was almost effortless to play it at almost double speed at the actual audition. I guess part of it is also getting the brain out of the way to let the body do what it knows to do.

Less time this week was devoted to the exercises (the Spock hand and the slide). Laura passed me on the Spock hand as it was so close and there wasn't anything else to add. Perhaps there was some intangible thing but I know that I can play it and it won't be too hard when it comes to a piece that uses those fingerings (like the Balkan / gypsy music of which I am a very big fan). The sliding goes better with closed eyes. I think the signals my eyes give me get in the way of the hands and fingers moving about.

There was also talk about the different grading systems for violin exams. Long story short Laura prefers ABRSM to AMEB. So the Sage hopes, all things being equal, to prepare for and pass Grade 2 level ABRSM next year.

As I said, today marks two years since I started learning from Laura. In some ways it seems so long ago. Starting with hired violin I borrowed one from my dear friend Tina (the one she played at my wedding) and then to my own beloved Patience. It would take quite an effort to write down all of the musical events I have attended since starting. Some were expensive and some were free. I have seen internationally renowned acts and local groups (including the Ady ensemble featuring Laura). And I have met some lovely people. Laura, of course, and Sirisha, who now shares lessons with me, and Greta, from MZAZA (and Deep Blue). I feel like I have learned a lot, yet I am sure it's the tip of the proverbial iceberg. And it feels good to play for myself, and great to play for others. And I plan to keep learning at least until I can do justice to Monti's Czardas =)

Violin lesson #93

No free concerts and not a lot of practice time this week. I did get Friday off for the G20 summit - a gathering of various political leaders.

There was a request for the Sage to perform at a recital. Oh frabjous day. At the lesson it was decided to perform the Telemann Minuet I recently completed and Jumpin' Jelly Beans by Loreta Fin.

Also this week Sirisha forgot her violin so Patience did double duty. It was kind of weird to hear someone else (other than Laura) play my violin, and I am not sure how it felt for Sirisha, but it sounded pretty good. Her violin is similar to mine so I imagine she felt fairly comfortable.

I played 'Te Deum' first up. This week I learned how to play close to the bridge. I need to play slower and lean into the string more and in return I get a richer sound. Obviously I can't play everything like that, but this is a slow majestic (maestoso) piece so it is appropriate. To my inexperienced ear, I was getting a very similar sound to the sound Laura was playing. I am the first to acknowledge there is a big difference between Patience and her violin, and I am sure there a things I am missing when I try and compare sounds like that, but to me it felt good that I was able to get a sound that I felt was comparable to a professional violin player.

After this there was time to go through Jumpin' Jelly Beans. Here there were tips on how to cross quickly between strings. By keeping my elbow on a level that can easily double stop (play two strings at once) I can keep the elbow steady and change strings with my wrist movements. The tricky part for me is to play fast enough so that my bow and fingers can keep in sync with what they are doing. Also, having so little leeway between the strings means it is easy to miss the string I want and hit the other, or play both at once. So I want to be able to, above all, play this cleanly yet as quickly as possible. It is listed as 140 to 160 beats per minute. The Old Fiddler Man I eventually got to 150 so it is within my range. And since this going to be a recital piece we want it to be extra polished.

Sirisha started learning a new rhythm too, and it was a Carribean one. To me the first part of it sounded like "ency clo pedia" :) Funky. I like it.

Mostly that's it. Short and sweet and lots to do between now and December 20.

Violin lesson #91,#92

It has been a big two weeks musically speaking so I am probably going to ramble a little. Yes, shocking, I know :)

I have been a regular visitor to a different coffee shop these last few weeks. Mostly I go to Paladar Fumior Salon run by a gentleman I have known for a very long time. The visits to this new place - The Establishment - were in most part due to the G20 summit. Unfortunately for Fil his shop was in the forbidden zone. The Establishment is notable for many things: very good coffee, great Italian theme, and knowledgeable and friendly staff. Not only that but two of the staff members play string instruments. One lady played the viola for eight years. Another started on the violin, but her fingers were too small, so she switched to the double bass. Good call =) So if you get a chance, try this place for coffee. My favourite is The Hookup.

I was blessed with three free concerts. The first was a cello recital by Ngaio Toombes on November 5th. She played the Cello Concerto in A major (WQ172) by CPE Bach. In this she was supported by the Ady Ensemble (of which she is a principal player). She also played Five Pieces in Folk Style for cello and piano by R Schumann. This was part of her masters thesis. Before she started I observed three people waiting for her. They were the three teachers who were grading her. I am sure the lady recognised Laura's (my violin teacher and also a principal player and concertmaster of the Ady Ensemble) name because I heard her mention it to one of her colleagues. I am not a professional judge but I think everyone played wonderfully. It was an even bigger deal because that particular Bach Cello Concerto is rarely played, and only one edition of the score could be found in Australia. Did I say rarely played? Ngaio and the rest of the ensemble will be playing this piece again in May 2015. And this is also going to feature in Heroic! - a performance by Camerata of St Johns next month.

The second was a performance in Post Office Square by MZAZA as part of Stamp program on November 7th. I missed the start of the show because I worked back to fix an issue that, in the end, was left until Monday. What kind of person asks me to stay back late on a Friday afternoon when MZAZA are playing, for free? I'm looking at you Jonathan Frame... I knew it was them as soon as I heard Pauline's vocals and the music from the rest of the group. It was a great way to finish the day. I wanted to stick around for Saruzu and another set by MZAZA but I was needed back home, but not before a quick chat with Greta Kelly. I told her perhaps I picked a bad time of life to start learning the violin but she disagreed and encouraged me to keep going. Sometimes it's tough because I feel I can't devote the time to it I would like so her words were welcome. Apparently MZAZA were also playing with Deep Blue over the weekend but I was already busy enough. Speaking of busy, the same night saw two other concerts: Journey Through The Cosmos with the QSO (a show about Einstein and the violin) and Classical Rock Fusion with Attilla Sautov (apparently TWO Phoenix Performer electric violins were being raffled at the show).

The third concert was Broken Glass by the Ady Ensemble on November 8th. Yes, I saw them twice in a week. This concert, in two parts, featured Symphony in A major by CPE Bach, 3rd Symphony by Philip Glass and Jump For My Love by The Pointer Sisters. The second part was St Paul's Suite by Gustav Holst and Thriller by Michael Jackson. A strange mix to be sure, but they all fitted the theme of transformation. The Bach symphony was as beautiful as one would expect from Bach. Glass's symphony was well played too though much more emotional than Bach's judging by the players and the conductor as much as the music itself. Jump For My Love was fun. What would you expect? St Paul's Suite sounded like good fun - a fusion between folk tunes and Eastern music with Greensleeves thrown in. Thriller was very cool too. This concert was in St. Andrew's Uniting Church in the CBD. It is a beautiful church and provided a great setting for the concert. It was great to take my daughter along. She loved it almost as much as I did. We sat with Sirisha and her husband Anand. Part of me felt bad that not more people were there to enjoy such beautiful music.

Yes, I had two lessons as well. Where *do* I find the time? :)

I was proud of myself in the first lesson because Anand turned up with Sirisha. Normally I panic when there are others in the room. It took me long enough to get entirely comfortable playing in front of Sirisha. But this time I didn't feel any of the nerves or doubting thoughts and played as if he was not there at all. I made very good progress with Jumping Jive, which I played through to the end. And Jumping Jelly Beans was also pretty good, though it takes some self restraint not to speed up as the piece goes on. I need to pick one speed and stick to it.

The second lesson was even better since I passed Telemann's Minuet. Sirisha recorded it for me (naturally I felt the nerves and the recording was not quite so good as a previous performance, though when I heard it back I cringed less than I thought I would). No new pieces but there is plenty occupy my precious practise time.

My shifting from first to third to first is going well. I am trying really hard because a) it is a new technique, and b) it is important.The exercise with Spock hand is almost there too. It will be important for the Balkan / Middle Eastern music I want to learn.

Sirisha is learning a few techniques, but one in particular was interesting to me. The sequences on long note - short note. Laura suggested Sirisha group them short-long to help her get the rhythm. She played I've Been Working On The Railroad to demonstrate in a song we might know. I knew it but Sirisha did not. Why this technique interests me is because it will probably help me with some of the songs I have been teaching myself. When I get back to those I might keep in mind what Laura said.

And speaking of songs I have been teaching myself, the confidence I have with the two Greek pieces Laura was gracious enough to transcribe has helped me to learn a number of other old (think 1970s old) Laiko style songs. Part of this came about after playing Psaropoula and drifting off into another song, and partly because of a song that I associated with an uncle in Greece who passed away this month.

In between all of this I learned what was involved in getting through Grade Five for violin. Lots. Lots and lots. Not only playing, obviously, but study of music theory and music evaluation. Do I want to go that far? Not at this stage. I don't think I can afford the time quite frankly even if the desire is there.

When I passed the Minuet I jokingly asked Laura if I would get a sticker for passing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. Laura laughed and said I would get to stop having lessons. On a serious note, the student will find the right time to stop regular lessons. Laura confided that when your inner creative voice matches up with the sound you make then that is the time when you can teach yourself [Please forgive me if I mucked up what you said Laura and I'll amend it]. And further, with Tchaikovsky at least, there is a certain amount of tradition. I understand there are ways you play his concerto and ways you do not. Not to worry, Szechuan, for that is in the long-term future for you.

It has taken a while to write this. I really really need to learn to better manage my time to get done all of the things - violin and non-violin - that I want to get done.

Violin lesson #90

Ha... I managed to post this a week after the last one =)

I tried to get as much time as I could for practice but it was a little difficult because of Multifest (primary school fete), my birthday (48) and a trip to Caloundra to buy drift trikes (for Prince Sage).

And today's lesson was at an unusual time because Laura had a school function on tonight. This means it was a Sirisha-less lesson too.

I started off with the bow hold. Yeah, I know how to hold it but there are subtleties that I need to know about to improve the hold and to, possibly, prepare for upcoming bow techniques that require a better hold than my current one. It felt a little odd and there was certainly some improvement.

Next came two technical exercises. I am still doing the one with the "Spock" grip, where the first and second finger are close, then a big gap to the close third and fourth fingers. Apparently this finger pattern is used in Balkan / world music so you just know I need to learn how to do it correctly. The first line sounded good and I almost nailed the second. The second exercise is the shift to third position. That's coming along quite nicely and will only improve when I learn to keep my palm down. Now that I have a better idea of how it should look in the mirror it will be easier.

And just on my fingers... I compared them to Itzhak Perlman's. Laura says his finger-tips tapered whereas mine are more square. It just means I have to practice a little bit more and take extra care. I have seen for myself it is possible, so I can't see why I can't get there one day too.

I had some time for one of my pieces. Today I was playing the Minuet. Laura said it was about 85% there. I need to slow down the passages with the double stops. That will a) make them easier to play and b) allow me to get a better sound from them. Amd there is a quiet passage that needs some practice with bowing so that I can get the bow to the correct position for some of the notes. This is the kind of thing I hope to work out for myself eventually. I know there are some pieces I have taught myself that would benefit from paying attention to the bow.

I really enjoyed my lesson this week and I look forward to the next one.

 

Violin lesson #87, #88 and #89???

Crikey, the Sage has been slack with his blog. There has been plenty happening to distract me from my blog. Fear not, valued reader, for nothing will deter me from being the best violin player I can be.

It has been a good three weeks and part of me is a little sad I was not more diligent with my entries.

Firstly Laura has changed studios. Two doors closer to me from the old studio, so still in Browning Street but now behind a coffee shop which, lamentably, is closed by the time I start lessons. I did go there once when they were open. The coffee was good and the barista was conscientious.

Maybe it was the new environment, or maybe the practice, but I passed one of my pieces. I finally earned a sticker for "Air In G" :) And it was at this time I expounded on my theory of "top left". Whenever Laura asks which sticker I like I always answer "top left". Why? Because it does not really matter which sticker I pick. It is all the same to me. I went on to say if I was on Deal Or No Deal I would do the same thing. That is, I would pick the cases in numerical order from lowest to highest. Why? Because it does not really matter which case I pick.

I now have three more pieces to learn.

"Jumping Jive" by Christine Myers. This is a fast and lively tune and is now a favourite of my daughter. For her it sits just below the little piggy song for which I can no longer find the sheet music (not that I need it).

The second piece is "Jumpin' Jelly Beans" by Loreta Fin. This is a "moto perpetuo" piece - a fast instrumental passage made up of notes of equal length. It is NOT Paganini's piece. That will come later. Much later. This is going to be one of my favourites when I can get my bow and fingers going at the same speed.

And finally prelude from "Te Deum" by Charpentier. If you are a fan of Eurovision Song Contest you may well recognise the theme. It was familiar to me but I don't know if it was necessarily because of Eurovision.

And I have also reached another mile-stone. Third position. That's right, You heard me but I'll say it again. Third position. This means I have to shift my left hand along the violin so that my first finger now plays where third finger usually does. This will introduce some new notes, I expect, especially on the E-string and make some other passages of music easier to play.

We have also learned about finger patterns. It is a way violin players talk about which fingers are close together and which are apart when playing. There is the low position where first and second are close, middle where second and third are close, and high when third and fourth are close.

Oh, and on other thing and fingers. Mine are apparently bigger than average for a violin, meaning I need to take more care where and how to place them so I stay in tune. My hands might be more suited to a viola. But perhaps that is a guide-line more than a rule. Apparently Perlman has big hands and big fingers yet he can still make the most beautiful music, and can still play the quick intricate pieces as well as the best of them. I may never play like Perlman but that's okay. I just want to play like me (and above all to play well).

So, there has been lots of learning and lots of fun, which I believe is how a lesson ought to be. May the next post be quicker to the blog than the last ones =)

Violin lesson #85,#86

This is rapidly becoming a fortnightly rather than weekly blog =)

There is not a whole lot to report, that's why. I am still learning plenty. Last week for example Laura talked about Baroque style and how to play it. Also, last week's lesson was especially sweet because Sirisha brought some delicious coconut and passionfruit cake.

This week Laura presented me with a new song: Ksekina Mia Psaropoula made popular by the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Nawww that was very sweet. The youtube link will have to do for now until I learn to play it. This song is in the key of D-Major which means there is a C# (high third finger on the G-string). That's was not exactly new to me since I have been mucking about learning my own songs that are either already in the key of D-major or that I have transposed from C-Major using the power of mathematics (that is to say, adding one).

We also talked about the A-minor melodic scale. It appears in one of my exercises, and apparently also in one of Laura's pieces for an upcoming Ady Ensemble performance. She played some of what she has been practising. It's time like that where her love of music shows, and it's an infectious love. She can't way to play it and I can't wait to hear it (and perhaps play it myself some day).

No stickers for Szechuan in these lessons. Sirisha has received some for her efforts. Go Sirisha!

Laura will be away next week so lesson #87 will have to wait a fortnight anyway. It's not so bad: Mzaza are supposed to be performing at City Hall next Tuesday.

Violin lesson #83,#84

It has been a case of "steady as she goes" for the last two lessons. No major changes though Laura did introduce a new piece - Jumping Jive by Christine Myers, as modern as Telemann's Minuet is classical =) In some ways it is easier to learn that Minuet and Air In G but it has its own techniques to master.

Both Sirisha and I are learning Minuet. Apart from Paploma it is not often we learn the same pieces. I think the last one was The Raggle Taggle Hippie. It is an interesting exercise for the three of us to compare and contrast how we play the same piece. We have our own strengths and weaknesses. That is fine when we are playing alone, but what happens when we need to play together? Laura is guiding us through Paploma so we follow her lead when it comes to style and so on. In an orchestra a conductor generally has a vision so I suppose they have the last say. I imagine in a duet or small ensemble these differences sort themselves out.

Last week Laura also played another piece but there was no follow-up this week. I think it was called something like Hot Chocolate. It had lots of string crossing and sounded pretty cool. I can't wait to give it a go.

In the lesson today Laura told me she was impressed with some of my playing. That is very encouraging for me. Sometimes when I hear myself I play I think "damn that sounds good" and other times not so much. So when someone with Laura's experience tells me they really like how I play it's great. I still get down sometimes with my perceived lack of practice. Yer even with that I can still make a good sound so I feel like persevering. It's hard to describe how much I enjoy playing, especially when I do find the odd moment here and there to muck about on my own.

Laura also mentioned that as you learn the violin, you get less pieces and spend longer on them than you do when you started. This is because at the start you are learning the basic skills on which you build later. When you study later pieces you can get more out of them and do more with them than you can with earlier pieces. Maybe this is one reason I have spent a while on the current pieces. Well, that and inconsistent practice times =) There have been times I have been tempted to ask about learning particular pieces, such as Klezmer or gypsy or even something from the Women Of Pop book I bought ages ago. But I trust that Laura chooses the pieces she does for a reason, and that when I am ready I will be taught well enough to learn those pieces on my own.

Since my last blog I met a cousin with the same name as me. He is a doctor in Sydney and about twenty years older than I am. He like to collect wine and appreciates classical music. Apparently he counts Richard Tognetti as an acquaintance and he has been introduced to David Oistrakh and Yehudi Menuhin. Violin royalty! Hopefully I will get to speak with him again the next time he is in Brisbane.

I also pledged on Pozible to help fund Guerilla Zingari's second album and make an album with MZAZA. Hopefully both projects will go the distance with funding. There can't be enough of their kind of music in the world.

Violin lesson #82

This week was a good week musically. Wednesday I went to a show with Mzaza. They were fantastic as usual. And on the week-end I won two tickets to Laura's ensemble's show.

Sirisha and I now have 5pm lessons and that seems to be sutiting everyone. Today we started off with more Paploma practice. This is where I had to channel my inner Greek. Huh? Wait... I *am* Greek. What Laura meant was to play enthusiastically and loudly and with fire. And when we did we sounded really good. The piece is coming along nicely. Just where we will ever perform it I don't exactly know. And although we still have some work to do on this song part of me wonders about the next duet.

No scales, no studies, no pieces for me this week. Unless you count the new piece. And with it comes the steep learning curve. It is a jumpy jive piece and will sound great... eventually. There are a few different techniques to learn in this one and learn them I will. There is the reverse heartbeat: a loud down stroke and quieter up stroke. There is the four staccatos. This is similar to an exercise I currently have so it will be good to put it into practice. And a jumping note: a quick down stroke followed by an up stroke and a re-take.

Sirisha played very well. She was playing Minuet, which is one of my pieces, and she sounds great. I'm going to take some things I learned from her playing and Laura coaching and apply them to my practice. Then Sirisha played her lullaby piece. It's almost done. It sounds so pretty, especially with the piano.

Laura's biggest advice to us today was to keep going if we make a mistake because at the end of the night, nobody cares. The one wrong note you play, or think you play, will go unnoticed by nearly all of your listeners and none will care enough to remember. Just after she said that she pulled up Sirisha for a wrong note. Too funny.

The only down side of the lesson might be getting the train home. If I don't get the quarter after six train I have to wait for the quarter to seven train. Unless I remember to park at Coopers Plains in which case I can get the six thirty train.

Mzaza Fireside Tour

The evening started off well enough. I had plenty of time before the show. I took a bus to the Cultural Center and a train to South Bank. From there I went to have dinner at Swampdog. This is an environmentallly friendly fish-and-chip shop. It was their support and promotion of sustainable fishing that attracted me as much as the menu. Any place that will offer mackerel, sardines and mullet is fine by me =) Almost everything in the shop is recycled or renewable: the tables, the plates, the cutlery, everything.

I ordered sardines on sourdough because I wasn't sure the pineapple would go so well with mackerel. I don't know what happened but I ended up with calamari on sourdough. This was also on the menu (same price as the sardines), so I don't know whether the lady that took my order pressed the wrong button or perhaps there were no sardines. In any case, I enjoyed my meal. The calamari was chewy, which was good because the sourdough bread was soft. The taste was very good too.

After dinner I caught a bus from South Bank to Mater Hill. It is times like this I appreciate the go-card and how easy it is to get around the CBD and surrounding precincts. But more on that later...

I soon found the venue. Can You Keep A Secret is  a vintage store that is newly opened on Stanley Street next to Vespa Pizza. It was still early and the shop was closed so I went around the back. There I bumped into Greta. She plays the violin and Persion fiddle, aka kamancheh. I had met Greta twice before: once at the concert Mzaza did with Chaika and again at a Waziz session (a session where people hang out and play Balkan / Middle Eastern music). She introduced me to Pauline, the lead singer, but only briefly as they were setting up. There was still some time before 7pm I went in search of snacks before returning to wait for the doors to open.

At last it was time to go inside. The shop is not very big but it is full of charm and lots of old stuff. I know I feel old when I can look around and say "I remember this" or "we used to have that". Mrs Sage and the Princess would really like it so I will have to bring them back one day. Mzaza had allowed for sixty people. I don't know how many turned up but the little shop was packed. Thankfully some people brought extra chairs. I scored a backless bench seat and was later joined by two Turkish mamas, Soon it was standing room only at the back. The place filled up with the smell of sweet tomato sauce base from the Vespa pizzas and alcohol from a variety of bottles bought from the bottle shop a few doors down.

The last time I saw Mzaza was at Vision Gallery with Chaika. That place was a little larger but just as packed as this shop. I appreciate the closeness you can get from smaller venues. Admittedly that was my first concert in an art gallery and this was my  first concert in a vintage shop.

Someone on Facebook described this an evening of boisterous intimacy. Pauline told us group were going to play some music from an upcoming album and a few of their earlier pieces. In between they were happy to take questions from the audience and chat in between songs. They all had a turn introducing songs and talking about the music that went into the song, or the meaning of the song - many of them were in French or Ladino (a Judaeo Spanish language, almost dead apparently) - or sharing stories about themselves. I think that any of the six members of the group would make fascinating dinner companions. Besides the two ladies already mentioned there was Stephen (accordion and flute at one stage), Chloe (double bass), John (guitar), and Jordan (tonbak and drum). Jordan I had mat at the Waziz session which he attended in spite of just having returned from Greece. Chloe and I have a mutual acquaintance as it turns out - Laura Thomson, my violin teacher.

The music was great, as I expected. There were musical influences from all over the Balkans, Middle East and North Africa. The definition "world music" really applies here. I think of all the music they played my favourite was the first piece. It was an instrumental with double bass and accordion. I know, I'm shocked too that it was not something that featured the violin. I will confess though, as someone who is learning the violin, it was hard not watch Greta when she played. Often things Laura has taught me would come to mind as I paid attention to her hands and bow.

One of the topics that came up was shredding. Shredding refers to fast virtuosic playing, typically with guitar. I think it has come to be applied to anyone who can play an instrument very well and very quickly. In this case Jordan had brought it up talking about ten-year-old kids who could drum circles around him, which is impressive since Jordan is certainly no slouch himself. There were a few passages there where Greta could be said to have been shredding.

On the whole it was a great evening. It ended up with Pauline teaching the audience to sing the chorus to Adios Querida. It sounded so cool. I can't help but wonder what people outside the shop would think was going on if they heard that. Actually I think there was one more song after this - Rampi Rampi - to which the aforementioned Turkish mamas and a few others started to dance despite the lack of space.

After the show it was good to get out into the cool evening air. I had a quick chat to Greta before saying good night. I had to go because I was relying on public transport to get home and she remembered what that was like. It was a short walk to Mater Hill bus station and a short wait for a bus to get to South Bank bus station. Next to that is the train station. This is where my evening starts going down hill. I miss a train by about three minutes so I wait nearly half an hour for the next one. I get on, and just as we are about to leave the lights in the train go off... and stay off. The radio chatter I can hear from the driver's cabin does not bode well. There are apologies for the delay while they fix this little fault. They were still fixing in when the next train home came along.

Nothing could take the edge off that show though. It was great fun from start to finish. Shows like that are what motivate me to keep going with the violin. While I am struggling with even small pieces from Telemann and Bach (JC, not JS) Greta is having the time of her life on stage. And it's not just her. It's also Laura when I see her play, or Jorge from Underscore Orchestra or anyone else who makes music with a violin. Then I remind myself that the pieces I am playing now are not the destination. They are part of a journey. And eventually I will get to Rampi Rampi, and beyond. Will I get to Paganini Caprices? We'll just have to wait and see, but it will be fun to find out.

Violin lesson #80,#81

It's still a case of steady as she goes. No more stickers since last time and no new pieces.

Looking back at the last blog there was no small not of pessimism. I should not be so negative. There have been no stickers but I have been learning all the time. I learned what it means to play baroque style (no vibrato - unless it is an embelishment - which is good because I don't know vibrato yet). I learned that advanced and professional violinists prefer to tune by ear rather than use tuners or smart-phone apps because there is a certain ringing you can hear when the instrumnent is in tune that can't be picked up otherwise. I learned about chromatic scales - they are scales which use every half-tone in an octave. Laura mentioned this because Sirisha was playing in third position and wanted to know how to tell whether adjoining notes  were close-fingers (half tone apart) or open-fingers (whole tone apart). If annyone asks you, B and E are the only naturals that are not followed by an accidental (sharp) when ascending. And of course that makes C and F as the naturals without a flat when descending.

There has also been constant fine-tuning of my bow hold and violin hold. I know I will be thankful for this one day. Laura tells of times when she was at uni where a teacher would get her to do a very basic exercise over and over again to reinforce some point or other. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to know how to play beautiful and intricate pieces yet spend hours on some seemingly minor point. I get an hour lesson a week (shared with Sirisha) and sporadic practise at home so it is going to take a little longer fo rme to get things right. It's not good or bad: it is how it is.

The other thing is getting my body to do stuff. It's the same problem that plagued me when I learned yoga and tai chi. The more I try and make myself do something or copy someone the harder it gets. For the violin it is learning to relax. Shoulder, arm, wrist, hand fingers... all need to be relaxed. When I think they are, Laura shows me they can relax more. I didn't know I carried tension like that. It is only obvious when I hear the difference between playing with relaxed muscles and playing with tense muscles.

My lessons have moved to the 5-6pm time slot. It means I get home a little later but won't need to make up time during the week.

And tomorrow I look forward to a Mzaza event. Can't wait :)

Violin lesson #79

I seem to be at a plateau.

My bow hold is not what it should be. The thumb position is not correct and the hold itself is more grip and less hold. Of course, the more I try to relax the hand the tighter it gets...

Staccato is not what it should be. This is related to the bow hold. I need to tense and release. I can't tense if I hold too tight.

I can make a great sound, which is wonderful. I can't do it consistently, which is frustrating. I know the sound is in there. I've heard it. So has Laura. It will be a grand day when it is the norm and not an irregular occurence.

I need to find exercises or something to relax the shoulders / neck / back. Too much tension there is communicating itself to the bow. It also won't allow me to move my elbow as freely as necessary to cross strings without hitting a wrong note.

I must accept plateaus. It is a part of learning, especially when practice is not what I want it to be. I will do my best for next week. Either I will pass or there will be something else to work on. Hopefully it won't be the same thing.

Violin lesson #77,#78

No, the Sage has not died. He's just been slack with his blog...

In truth there has not been an awful lot to report for these two lessons. I have passed more scales and arpeggios but I still have the same exercises and pieces. Each time there is something else to learn with them. Sometimes it's my bowing (yes yes, more bow) and sometimes the bow hold (hold the bow lightly, don't grip it). I appreciate Laura taking the time to teach me correct techniques. I have said it many times before: I don't know where this violin journey will take me. One thing I am sure of is that I don't want to be stopped by poor technique :) The flip side of this is that I often don't get the practice time I want at home. I have a family so there is alway stuff to do and I sometimes find myself struggling to get good quality practice time. On other occasions there is time to practice but for various reasons I can't get into the mood so I let those chances pass by. Of course, later I feel guilty and that doesn't help. I think I need to learn to be satisfied with what I have and to make the most of my opportunities. The last thing I want is to get to the stage where I put down the violin and never pick it up again.

On a lighter note, Laura did mention one of her students is buying a violin, so if I can get to one of the try-out sessions that would be cool. There was a suggestion there would be one at Animato, which I would like to visit again - it is where Patience was first sold, before she came to me. Also, Laura is playing with her quartet on Friday night at the Conservatorium. If all goes well it should be an awesome night: free beer and nibblies at office location, the Tuba performance, and a visit to the West End night markets. Finally Mzaza are having an intimate (ie small crowd, not a love-fest) show in August prior to recording an album. I have a ticket. Now I just hope I can get to the event =)

Hopefully next week I'll post on time, and brag about how well I played my pieces.

Violin lesson #76

I can't believe it has been almost a month since my last lesson. It has been hard at times to keep motivated with practice but I have done my best.

It was good to see Sirisha again. We keep in touch outside of classes so I know she has been doing very well since our last lesson.

The lesson started off with our Greek duet "Paploma". We both decided to learn a duet. It is not that the song itself is especially difficult - the hardest part is probably getting used to the 7/8 time signature - but we are learning so much else at the same time. For example, it is not easy to adjust to someone playing right next to you, and often playing something different. I don't quite know why it is different to the times Laura has accompanied me on some of my other pieces (with piano or violin). But unless I want to spend the rest of my violin plahying days as a solo artist I am going to have to get used to it. Otherwise I will not be able to play in a quartet or any other ensemble let alone anything like an orchestra. It also highlights to me that if I were to get serious about making music with others I will have to commit to spending what would otherwise be family time practising and rehearsing with others.

Brief aside: On June 18 I went to a Waziz session at BEMAC (part of the Queensland Cultural Center). They are a group of musicians specialising in Balkan and Middle Eastern music. They made me feel welcome and it was a great experience. However, even trying to learn one of the songs would require a commitment of time I just don't think I can provide right now.

Back to the lesson... Paploma was sounding good. Laura provided some guidance on how to play the music for the rest of the song so now I can have a go at playing all the way through. She says we are doing well and some parts are really sounding very good.

After this is was time for scales. I was happy to earn two stickers: one for A Major (two octaves) and the other for A Major arpeggio (two octaves). What practice I have done in the month since my last lesson focussed on scales and studies first. Laura the explained the formula behind the Major scale. It goes

Tone Tone Semitone Tone Tone Tone Semitone

Seven steps for the eight notest in the scale, starting and ending on the same note an octave apart. Knowing the formula allows a musician to play a major scale starting from any of the twelve notes (seven natural and five accidental). As a demonstration Laura very quickly had me playing a B-flat major scane even though my fingers were out of the one position I know. I don't know if this is something I was specifically taught previously or something I came to realise one time when I was mucking about on a keyboard. But it is a part of music theory that some people pick up easier than others. As a software engineer and soemone who is good at mathematics as well as having previous musical experience, I understood the concept immediately. Music is mathematics. Mathematics may or may not be music.

I moved on from here to the stacato exercise. This was okay but not passed. I need to watch my tempo so playing this exercise with a metronome will be really really helpful. Also, the staccato at the nut of the bow need to start with the bow on the string. I baulked at that because putting the bow back on the string before the next stroke makes a scratchy sound that I really don't like. HJowever, it is important to endure that to make sure the bow is on the string before I start. That sound will go eventually.

I had time for one piece: I chose the Minuet by Telemann. It went well, though again not well enough for a pass. I think here too I need to watch the tempo. The passages with the notes that required rapid string changes (aka elbow circlies) had improved so I was happy about that.

After this it was Sirisha's turn. She did very well with her exercises and pieces and I think increased her sticker total by one. Her new pieces (new at least to me) sounded very pretty.

When we were done Laura spoke about an article I shared on Facebook. It was about the age people should start learning the violin. I think general consensus was around four or five. Laura told us she started late. She was eight =) Goodness. Really? Three to four years later is considered late? What is it about those extra years that is so important? If you have been learning and playing the violin for twenty years, does it matter when you started? Won't you eventually catch up to someone who started a few years before you?
I guess I will find out for myself... eventually.

Violin lesson #75

I had some good practice days this week, especially Sunday night where I even had time for mucking about after all of my practice. During the week I managed to track down the Middle Eastern / Balkan music lessons. Check out Waziz. I plan on attending the gathering on June 18 so expect a post then - unless something happens and I can't make it.

Sirisha is back this week. She had been in Sydney and is the first person I know of who has been in a nuclear reactor. Her trip away sounded very busy and just as fascinating. We talked about that and stories about GPS adventures until it was time for the lesson.

Sirisha's violin was tuned first so she had the first lesson. She said she had played very little over the last two or three weeks so Laura started her off on scales. Sirisha then played some of her pieces and they sounded pretty good given her sporadic practice.

Soon enough it was my turn. I played my scales. Laura employs a "baseball" style system: if it takes me three times to get my scale right I have it for another week. Frustrating perhaps, but there won't be any excuses for me not knowing them. Laura also admitted that she is a bit of a nag, but totally in a good way, and that her boyfriend Dave is happy because by the time she gets home after lessons she is nagged out and he gets no nagging! As long as Laura uses her nag powers for good instead of evil I'll accept it.

Something that became evident today is that my upstroke is not as fast as my downstroke. Stop giggling you lot - I'm talking about my violin bow stroke. Sheesh. It is something I need to work on to improve my playing. Laura is able to tell without looking which bow stroke I am doing by hearing it. It should be indistinguishable. I have an exercise for that so I will be working on that at home.

There was even time for two pieces this week. Air In G was first. Some parts have improved but there is still a fair way to go. This is one of the places where the up-stroke issue was obvious. It is frustrating for me because some parts can sound so good while other parts are still ordinary. I suppose I just have to be patient and apply Laura's advice so the whole piece can sound great. I am often my own worst critic and that doesn't help either.

I finished with Minuet. Oh my goodness the trouble I can get into with a sniff! I have blogged before that professional string players will often start off a piece with a sniff to indicate when to start,  rather than counting in. I had to sniff to start this piece. One sniff indicated a faster tempo than I intended (I didn't know about that). Another time I sighed instead of sniffed and Laura started without me. Then I started giggling because it was absurd to me that I could not sniff correctly - how will I ever be concertmaster or part of an ensemble if I can't get that right? The upstroke problem plagued this piece too. And it didn't help that I the timing for my first bar was incorrect. Eventually we managed to play through the whole piece. Laura gave me some more advice for finishing the piece - I should trail off the last note. I know what she means but couldn't quite get it right today.

There won't be a lesson next week since Laura is off to music camp with some of the school kids she is teaching. It will feel a little awkward skipping a week but it can't be helped, and it will give me more time to get my scales, exercises and pieces in better shape.

For now I am looking forward to Waziz tomorrow night. It should be exciting.

Violin lesson #74

There was a lot going on this week and not much to do with my practice unfortunately. On the plus side I did go and see two shows: Camerata Of St John's "French Twist" and Chaika Meet Mzaza On The Mountains Tour. Two very different shows and each of them awesome in their own way. I have blogged about them already =)

To my lesson, it was Sirisha-less again this week. We started off with the Paploma duet. I really need to get into it a little more. It has been a while since Sirisha and I have played it together. Laura gave me some pointers and I will be sure to incorporate them into my practice.

We moved from there to scales and exercises. My scales are going really well, especially F Major which I have only had a for a little while. It was sticker time for the sliding exercise, finally. I really enjoyed playing that. This means I now have another exercise to do - Minor Stretches AKA "Spock Hand" on account of the finger positions. Time to rewatch those original Star Trek episodes =)

There was time before we finished to play the Air In G. I think this needs a lot of work, and certainly a lot more love and attention. I still can't put my finger on why I am finding this piece so hard. I suppose it won't be anything more practice won't fix.

And that was it. Laura was trying to keep her lessons on schedule. She says the last student is sometimes half an hour or more late. Laura is nothing if not generous with her time.

Chaika meet Mzaza on The Mountains Tour - Vision Gallery

I booked a ticket for this event about two weeks ago and I was so excited.

Some background: a while ago I went and saw Underscore Orkestra at The Bearded Lady. Some weeks later they came back to the same venue with Mzaza. Unfortunately I missed that event but I joined the mailing list for Mzaza. Thus I was thrilled when I saw the announcement for this event.

The venue: Vision Gallery
West End continues to surprise. Across the road from The Three Monkeys is the ABSOE warehouse. The block is the site for West End Markets. This gallery is on the top level of one of the warehouses in the block It is a small intimate venue. I loved some of the art work that was displayed. There was a picture called The Vikings, which I thought was great, and another unnamed picture which I admired at various times of the night. I don't know if it was because of the frequently changing lights but it seemed there was something new nearly every time I looked at it. It's not a picture I'm likely to bring home given the skeletons and skulls littering the beach in the picture. As well as the paintings there were several clay castles, lots of chairs and tables and some bookshelves with various interesting looking books on them. They had a bar there that served a very good scotch and dry (even though Steve kept asking if I wanted coke with it. No Steve).

Before the show I went to The Three Monkeys for a coffee and Greek biscuit before the show. It was my first coffee of the day and I felt like I really needed it.

I went up a little while before the scheduled start time and presented my ticket. Unfortunately I didn't have any spare money for CDs, songbooks and other merchandise. In the gallery I bought a drink and spent some time checking out the artwork before taking a seat. It was a good thing I sat down and didn't move because the gallery soon filled with people and the chairs that had been set up earlier were augmented by even more chairs. Yet they weren't enough. By the time Mzaza started there were people sitting on the floor in front of the stage.

Mzaza
They were amazing. The vocals were outstanding from start to finish and varied in type of song as well as language. The violin player started off with a Persian-looking instrument before switching to the more traditional violin. She was incredible to watch. It wasn't just the way she played (which was great) but the way she moved, the way she interacted with the other band members, the way she was always doing something even when she was not playing. What impressed me the most about her was the way she was able to put her arms around the lead singer and still play the violin. I'm going to have to learn how to do that one day... The bass player was playing a more modern instrument and the sound was great. I hope the guy playing the accordion didn't think I was checking him out. I wasn't. I was just interested in his accordion and the way he played. Apparently the percussionist was a ring-in. He was an original member who filled in for a missing member. On behalf of Princess Sage I was paying attention to what he was doing so I could report back to her. I thought it was so cool they were able to call in a former member of the band when necessary. And in the same vain, another original member joined the band for a few songs to play a wind instrument. They played  a few new songs. One story was spooky: they said during a performance about a week ago a man with a violin got up and interrupted their set! It wasn't me, I swear. A couple of times during their show a lady dressed in a colourful gypsy-style outfit got up and danced to a song. She moved really well and added another level to the performance. Apparently she teaches Balkan / gypsy dancing.

During intermission I made the "fatal" mistake of getting up to get a drink and losing my seat. It was still really packed by the time Chaika came on. I had to find a place to stand towards the back of the room to make sure I was not blocking anyone else's view.

Chaika
The four ladies and two men who made up this group blew me away. Two of the ladies frequently swapped between keyboard and accordion. Another played the clarinet and the fourth the violin. On top of the fantastic way they played they all had outstanding voices. They often shared the microphone as they related stories about the band and the music. As near as I can tell the music and lyrics were all theirs.

One of the gentlemen played percussion. He was unreal though not as pretty as my princess. He had a cool looking three-legged drum and a variety of other percussion instruments. He got to speak once. The other gentleman played the traditional double bass, and as talented as talented as he was this his instrument he was mute on the microphone.

It was really difficult to divide my attention between the accordion and the violin. Actually I would have liked to have seen the show more than once to focus on each instrument. Even the percussionist was interesting to watch, especially with the big three-legged drum. He said he was used to playing it very loud when he joined the group and now he has become used to playing it very soft.

It was hard to pick a favourite until the a capella performance of a Bulgarian song written by one of the ladies. I don't know if you have ever seen Bulgarian singers before but it's not the same as what we are used to in Australia. Apart from the obvious (being in Bulgarian) it is not all singing, that is to say there is some holding of notes as well as some ululation. And because it was such a sad song there was such a haunting feeling regardless of the fact that I could not understand a word.

This is what Wikipedia says about it:
"The distinctive sounds of women's choirs in Bulgarian folk music come partly from their unique rhythms, harmony and polyphony, such as the use of close intervals like the major second and the singing of a drone accompaniment underneath the melody"

The gypsy dancer made another performance. I get the feeling it was unexpected although again she was very good.

Perhaps the only letdown was the lack of room to dance. The space was great and intimate but that meant there was almost no room to dance, which I understand is usually what happens at Mzaza and Chaika performances.

By the time the last note faded away and the cheering died down it was 11pm and I had several messages and missed calls from Mrs Sage. She was worried because she thought the show would be over by 10 (the published finishing time was 1030). West End is not the safest area to be in, especially on a Sunday night of a long week-end. There were ambulances and police in the area. Having said that, I never felt in danger. It was actually a sign of how engrossed I was with both bands that I lost track of time during the show.

At the end of the show I did get to meet to and speak with Greta. She plays the violin for Mzaza. She seemed lovely. She talked about how safe she felt playing with an accordion because it fills out the sound with the violin and they are a good match. It turns out the Mzaza played with the London Klezmer Quartet in Tasmania and she was able to go to one of the workshops with them! She also told me Bemac have lessons in Middle Eastern music on Wednesday nights. Alas she was called away and I had to go before she could tell me more. I have searched the Bemac site but could not find any reference to what she mentioned.

All in all it was an absolutely amazing night. It was everything I had hoped for and more. I can't explain how much I am looking forward to the next show by either of these groups. As for the gallery, I am keeping en eye out for future events.

Camerata of St John's - French Twist

I was working away on Friday morning when I received a phone call from my violin teacher Laura wanting to know if I would like to see the Camerata of St John's that evening. Um, that would be "oh my goodness yes" once I made sure things were okay on the home front. Lucky for me that a) I work close to the venue - the Queensland Conservatorium theater, and b) I have a violin teacher who knows I like going to see shows like this.

As it happens, this is the first Friday of the month so my work had the regular monthly social drinks, that is to say, pizza and beer. It was free and still gave me plenty of time to get to the Conservatorium in the evening. On the way to the Conservatorium I passed the West End markets. I had forgotten they were on. I'll have to go back and check them out one Friday. I saw food stalls, and at least one was vegan =)

When I arrived at Southbank I thought someone was celebrating Carnaval. There was capo ferro and samba dancers. Walking a little further on I realised it was the annual Lantern Parade Walk for Refugees. I stopped at a stand that had African singers and listened to a few songs. Further on there was a coffee van so I tried my luck. I asked the young man if they did espressos. He looked confused. Short black? Yes they did. And a double shot? Yes. At that point the older man who actually made the coffee looked around from behind the machine. I gave him my espresso glass cup. His face lit up. He said it was something he didn't see very often and he was happy. And the coffee? It was great. Very smooth. It was a shame he was gone by the time I walked that way again.

At the Conservatorium I had to find someone to open the cloak room. You see, I had Patience with me and I had take the train in to work today, and I didn't want to leave her in the office or to have to go back there after the concert. Fortunately one of the lovely staff opened it up for me and she was safe and sound. The staff member actually asked me if I was playing. I chuckled inside and said no. I wish. Maybe one day...

I caught up with Laura to collect my ticket. And here I met Dave. I didn't get to speak to him for long but he was very kind and polite and I liked him straight away. Inside the theater I sat with Jessie and Nathan. Nathan is a lovely young man, a fellow student like myself, but much younger, and less Greek, and more Korean. He was there with his mother and this was their first string concert. As it happens, they were in row N and I was in row O but I didn't know that until I had a closer look at my ticket. My, that could have been more embarrassing than it was.

The Camerata played the first work on their own - Dvořák Serenade in E Major for Strings. I was reminded  what a great sound a string ensemble can make. There were seventeen string instruments on stage. It is easy to forget when I practice that violins are often heard in groups like this more, I think, than on their own, so it is great to see and hear ensembles, especially when they are as good as this one. I would really like to play as part of an ensemble one day. I noticed too how much the players moved. All of them. Some of them moved around quite a bit. And one more thing - clapping between movements. I can't be 100% sure but I believe fist fights have broken out over this issue. It seemed that there were times when the Camerata were waiting for applause after movements, and the audience obliged, but there were no applause after some other movements. This was welcome especially after the fourth movement, which is one of those moments where the air seems to be sucked out of the room and no-one is breathing.

For the second piece we were introduced to 75 year old Maurice Bourgue who is a world-class oboe player from France. I have said numerous times that I love the violin. However, I think I find greater and greater appreciation for other instruments. I guess it is a little easier to do when someone like Maurice is playing =) What  amazed me most was how a single oboe could hold its own against the seventeen string players on stage. It was also impressive the breath control someone of that age (with apologies to Maurice) had. It was a wonderful performance.

After this there was a brief interval. Jessie thought the show had finished so she was pleased when we told here there was more to come.I met Patrick, another of Laura's students but he still goes to school. I can't be sure what he made of a mature age student =)

The first piece after interval was not by the Camerata nor was it by Maurice. We were treated to a performance by the Orava String Quartet! They won the Musica Viva Australia Award for the most outstanding Australian ensemble as well as the Audience Prize for String Quartets at the 2013 Chamber Music Awards. So yes, they are pretty good. I regret I cannot remember what they played, but it was splendid. Also they will be based in Brisbane for twelve months from July, so that's something of a coup.

The evening finished off with Maurice Bourgue, sans oboe, to conduct the Camerata plus horns plus reeds plus percussion (one of Laura's friends) for Mozart's Paris Symphony in D Major. Obviously this man has many skills, and his conducting was passionate and energetic. It was a most entertaining performance and a fantastic way to finish the fight.

I had a brief moment to thank Laura for the evening before she was whisked away with Dave and the rest of her group. It is alway a great experience to see what can be accomplished by a violin player. If I could make people feel the way I did after a performance I would be so proud. All that was left now was to track down a person kind enough to open the cloak room and re-unite me with Patience. I think I was smiling the whole trip home =)

Violin lesson #73

I was reasonably happy with practice this week.I kept the focus mostly on scales and exercises and still made time for the pieces. And there was even time for the blues. It's not my usual genre of music but I did learn a few things from "Fiddlerman". All in all it was good fun.

There was one day this week where I had a "cranky old man" moment and went to the park to play violin. One of the songs I played was Hornpipe, which was passed by Laura with reservations. After I had finished my rendition I looked around and noticed an older gentleman some distance away. He saw me looking at him and applauded. That made my day.

There was no Sirisha today, not even a late one. We got straight into it. I passed my G minor arpeggio and was rewarded with the F Major scale and F Major arpeggio. Laura said my first attempt at the F Major scale was pretty good. I put that down to a) listening to her instructions, and b) diligence with the existing scales.My sliding exercise is going really well so fingers crossed and it will pass next week, and I made good progress and got very good feedback for my bow stroke exercise.

There was time enough to play through the Telemann Minuet. Laura says that when I play the music and focus on the technical issues I can sound mechanical, but when I put that to the back of mind and just play the music it sounds great. I am happy to be making good progress with this piece. Laura gave me some tips about how to play certain parts of it so I will take that on board with my practice this week. I won't be neglecting the rest of my pieces either ... and who knows, there may be more time for blues =)

Violin lesson #72

I was on reduced practice this week as I tended to a flu-type cold. It kept me away from work for two days and away from the Paniyiri festival (where I could have stalked Helena and Vicki but I digress...)

I kept up with my scales and exercises and it showed. I was able to finish off the A melodic minor scale. I'll miss those sad scales. Now I have two octaves of A major to do, and I don't expect there to be problems. I am also to do the G minor and A major arpeggios.

My sliding up and down exercise is getting very good, except that I forget when to slide sometimes. I really need to pay more attention. I expected this to have been finished by now. I also made the last note a harmonic. I was stunned when Laura pointed out that it was not harmonic. It wasn't until about two thirds of the way through my lesson that I realised that harmonic is actually the last note in Rum-Bah Ba :) I knew there was one somewhere.

I can now start on the Bow Strokes exercises. Staccato, Martele and short nut-end strokes (what, no pretty name for them?). They are supposed to sound identical so Laura suggested I record them to make sure they do. I remember Sirisha playing this exercise and I am trying to remember what Laura said to her.

I got a tick for Rum-Bah Ba. No sticker :( I learned the rhythm well enough, and most of the notes as well as the dynamics. This means I move on to syncopated rhythm and Vanilla Ice Cream. This is going to be tricky until I get used to the rhythm (stressing the off-beat) and the bow stroke style. It should be good fun to learn.

That was it for my lesson. Sirisha turned up a little while after I started but now it was  her turn.

Her pieces sounded really good. She has some funky music going on there =) I noticed two things: first, Sirisha looked so focussed when she was playing contrasted with Laura accompanying on the piano who looked like she was having the time of her life, and second, Sirisha seems to move around more when she plays than I think I do. It's neither a good thing or a bad thing - just different. I wonder if moving around like that helps to relax the player as well as get into the music.

There was an incident on the way back to work after my lesson. I was carrying my case hugged close to me when I decided to hold it by the handle. Only then did I realised I had not zipped the case and most of the contents spilled onto the ground! Tragedy! Patience is fine, so worry less :) As I was packing away I met Damo, who plays the harmonica as well as studying music business and stuff. He asked if I would be up for a jam, and I said sure. He also wanted to know if I played something other than violin and I told him I was okay with a keyboard. We swapped numbers so I'll wait and see if anything eventuates from this random encounter. Just in case it does, I'll see if I can work up some time to learn a little blues on the violin.

Violin lesson #71

This focus for this week's practice was mostly on my scales and exercises and then Hornpipe. I did my best not to neglect anything.

After Laura fine-tuned Patience she played an Irish tune. It sounded amazing. Half way through I am thinking "Wow, listen to the sounds from that violin." I don't know enough about violins to decide what makes one better than another or why one violin may be more suited to this style or that style of music. What I do know is that if Laura can get sound like that from Patience, then eventually so can I. It was almost intimidating to follow playing like that. There was no way I could blame the violin after that performance :)

First up for me was scales. I was erroneously given a sticker for the A minor melodic scale. I passed two of the three bowing styles. Oddly it was detache that let me down and usually I find that the easiest of the three.

My sliding exercise was next. I found to my dismay that I had been misreading some of the music and that the slides were not space correctly. I was hoping I could finish this but it wasn't to be. At least I know where I can improve.

I did pass Hornpipe but I was not happy about it. Laura couldn't put her finger on it and ended up calling it a reserved performance, like I was holding something back. I think that's probably right. I played it all the way through and played it well, but it was missing something. To earn the sticker the piece should be played wholeheartedly. I wondered if it was because I was over it. Perhaps, but as I think about it not as likely as playing within my means. Maybe some if was from the memory of last week where I played with gusto but mucked it up. I think next time I would like to play it a little slower but with more oomph and see what happens. Regardless, there was nothing left the piece could teach me.

I finished with Rum-Ba-Bah, which I had not  been practicing so much. It went okay but it was lacking dynamics. Hopefully next week?

Then it was time for Paploma - the Greek duet. I think we both did okay considering it has been a while since we last played together. Laura said first duets are often difficult as you learn to listen to each other as well as yourself and still try and get a good sound too.

Sirisha's lesson went well. I don't know who was having more fun: Laura making up piano accompaniments or Sirisha playing her piece :)

So all in all a mixed lesson this week but better than last week. Let's see what  next week brings...

Violin lesson #70

Practice has not been great this week but I do what I can.

To start with there were flashcards for Sirisha and I. I think between us we nailed most of them. No-one kept score but I'm going to say it was a tie =)

Firstly, I finished off my G Major scale exercises. Sticker time. Unfortunately it was mostly downhill after that.

Next was the sliding finger exercise. It wasn't too bad considering I only started last week. I still need to get the notes right but progress was good. It was interesting to hear Sirisha play the same exercise. She plays it better than I do so Laura gave her some different advice. It won't hurt to try and apply that to my playing.

Hornpipe is nearly finished. Or is it? Whether it was the tension across my shoulders or trying to play this too fast, it just wasn't happening. Laura said once I relax my shoulders the sound is way better. I can't be expected to play with someone massaging them all the time so I'll have to a) figure out why I get tense there, and b) how to get rid of it.

The notes were there but that was about it. The dynamics and the nuances of the staccato were missing. Laura told me, and I heartily agreed, that it is better to listen to music played a little bit slower but with all of the colour and flavour written on the score that to listen to the same piece played a little faster but flat-lined. I have seen similar comments on some youtube videos "Lacked dynamics", "no feeling" and so on. I will not be one of those players.

This week I spent less time on Air in G and it really showed. I am just not getting my head around it and I'm not sure why. So I will be taking it slow and making sure I am kind to myself as I practice. Some pieces will come to me easier than others. This is one of the others.

So after the lesson I was feeling a little deflated. I am my own worst critic, and that is not helped when I know I (and Patience) can produce a great sound. Practice this week will have to focus on scales and exercises this week and getting back to basics with those two pieces.

What a difference a week makes...

Violin lesson #69

The blessings from Buddha's Birthday Festival must have paid off because even with the three days I missed out on practice I still managed to earn three, count them ... three, stickers. I could not stay for the second half of the double lesson with Sirisha because I needed to be home as early as possible for teacher interviews with the Szechuan Prince.

The lesson started off poorly. A bouncy bow meant another week on the G melodic minor slurring exercise. I know the cure for bouncy bow so I expect at least one sticker next week.

The A melodic minor scale was in tune so now that I am comfortable with that I expect to be able to tick off at least one of those scale exercises for next week.

The KISS exercise passed. I used plenty of bow and I was in tune so the sticker was mine. Of course this means I have a new exercise so I am curious to see how that plays out.

The second sticker was for Toffee Nut Fudge Cake. I finally nailed the accents and staccato and everything else well enough to earn the pass. It sounded pretty good. There is still Rum-Bah Ba left to do in the Superstudies book. I am glad Laura suggested that book when I bught Patience.

Before I went any further Laura brought out the next piece: Air In G, by Bach. OMG. Not Air On G. But still by Bach. This is my first official Bach piece. Huzzah! So not, it's not the famous Air On A G String from Suite For Orchestra Number 3. That is at least Grade 5 and mroe likely 6 or 7 as I understand it so it's a little way away yet :) However, this is Bach, and it is pretty, and I will learn to play it.

After this I had time for Fiddler's Fancy. And it was fancy. Sticker fancy. I played it very well. Then Laura wanted to accompany me, but she music for a different key. Can I play it one string down? I would not be CDCCD4U if I could not. I knew that I could do it and I played it passably well considering it was such short notice.

That was it for this week. It was time to go. I hope Sirisha had as much stickery success for her lesson.

Buddha Birthday Festival 2014

Another year and another great festival. I was in a good frame of mind especially as I had fixed the last of my current tickets just before leaving work.

This year Poh was at the festival (think Masterchef and Poh's Kitchen) for a vegetarian cooking display. I was at both that she did (at 4pm and 6pm) when I was there. Cooking was a stretch. She made a soup / broth. She would have received bonus points (and I would have peed my pants) had she referred to her broth as the Broth Of Vigor. Any Iron Chef fans will know instantly what I'm talking about :)

Cooking aside she was very entertaining and appears to be a lovely person. She was also pimping her new book "Same Same But Different". She will be in West End on May 13 to talk about her book and stuff.

I learned less about vegetarian cooking and more about Masterchef.

* She was in lockdown for four months - no phone, no computer, no contact with family or friend except for two (timed) ten-minute phone calls a week. They were driven from the house to the kitchen and back. The first time she went shopping after the show she left her wallet, house keys and phone at home. When it came to pay she had no wallet. When she got back home she couldn't get in, and she couldn't call her mother because her phone was in the house.

* They were mic'ed all the time. If you wanted to talk to someone personally you would put your hand over your chest (where the mic was) to prevent the producers hearing you. Poh caught herself doing this after the show when she was back at home.

* The last ten seconds of each challenge are staged. The challenge ends in the correct time then they film the countdown again with the contestants rushing around like mad. When they are asked to step away from the bench, the crew comes in to reset the station and set the plate back down before judging. Before they did that people would be sneaky and add garnishes or seasoning after time was up.

* There was a producer for each contestant or two. They would watch for people getting stressed or doing something silly. As soon as they saw that the camera crew would rush over and start filming up close.

* The food was often cold when it was tasted, especially in the early stages (they start with 20 people). Some contestants became strategic with cooking choices: they would not cook food that would congeal when left to sit for some time, or they would pick a dish different to others if there were many similar dishes. Poh's example was preparing a carpaccio or spicy salad when there were many other rich dishes thinking that hers would stand out simply because it was different to others.

* They did not practice and they were not instructed. They only cooked in the Masterchef kitchen.

* Her work experience consisted of five hours of skinning peas.Not shelling the pods. Removing the skin from individual peas. They were given cab-charge vouchers to get home because there were no minders to escort them. When they got into the cab and the driver asked "where to" none of them knew the address of the house. He told them to phone someone. They didn't have phones. He offered them his phone. They didn't have a number. They finally remembered a shopping center near a jetty (at Darling Point) so he drove them there. He asked if they were chefs (since they were wearing whites and had knife kits). They said no, since they weren't allowed to tell anyone what was going on. When they arrived at the shops they got their bearings and directed him to the house.

* The ingredients are not always in the same place in the pantry each time. This is deliberate. The ingredients are mostly based around European cuisines so she was often without what she would regard as staples for her preferred style of cooking.

[Some of the stories may or may not be true. I repeat here what I remember. There was probably more]

I found this information really interesting. I like to think about what goes on behind the scenes (also known as paying attention to the man behind the curtain).

Poh's visit was sponsored by Sunnybank Plaza. This is where we do a lot of our shopping, not least of all because it is the location of my favourite Zarraffas. As part of the promotion they were awarding three double passes to their Food Discovery Tours to people who could answer questions at the end of her demonstration. And because I have the amazing power to remember stuff that happened longer than a commercial break ago, I won one! Winner, winner, vege dinner!

The food stalls were all pretty good again, except that the place that sold me the Malaysian Laksa put ham in it! Inconceivable. At a vege food fair. By the time I realised this I had eaten about a third of it and the rain was coming down hard so I wasn't about to take it back. It was just a little disappointing. I went back to the nice people from Su Life vegetarian restaurant and bought some deep fried oyster mushrooms. I did not buy the pineapple mooncakes the little kids there were spruiking. I know where this restaurant is (in Palmdale shops across from Garden City) and I really want to go there one evening. The guys selling the coffee were really good too. Mrs Sage would have loved the sweet stuff but I was happy they knew how to serve a nice double espresso... twice =)

The welcoming ceremony was great too. They had the usual groups like the Southern Shaolin martial arts students and two performances from Queensland World Dance Academy. This year they had some students from the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts who were great. And there were two numbers from a group called Heart Of Spades - a modernized version of Pachelbel's Canon and a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit. This is a duo featuring a violin and guitar. I enjoyed their performance, in no small part because the violinist is Katei :)

Speaking of violin, as I sometimes do, I managed to catch a little bit of a performance on the Performing Arts stage of a violin and cello duo who were playing Celtic music. I don't know who they were but they played well and were obviously passionate about their style of music.

If you have made it this far, thank-you for reading. I had a great time as I often do and look forward to the festival next year.

Violin lesson #68

Practice was back in routine like the rest of my week after the holidays. It also helped that I no longer have to look after Mr Whiskers since Sir Mark is back from his trip overseas. I will miss him not least of all because he was a charming cat but also because I enjoyed practicing in their house =) I know the lady next door could hear me but I don't know if she liked my playing.

I started off with scales and exercise this week. No sight reading or singing this time. They went well enough for me to start on the A minor melodic scale. I didn't quite get my head around it during the lesson but not doubt will improve quickly with practice during the week.

The exercise was interesting, mostly because Laura said the start of it reminded her of the Kiss song "I Was Made For Loving You" (skip to the 20-second mark if you don't want to sit through the beginning guitar riff). I had been singing that every time I started the exercise. Haha... could there be a Kiss cover coming up for the Sage?

Next was Toffee Nut Fudge Cake. I learned how to improve my accent (musically speaking). It's all in the first bow-finger. Otherwise the notes are all there  and I just need to pay attention to all of the other information on the music such as the dynamics and note embellishments like the accents and staccato.

Fiddler Fancy was close enough for Laura to accompany, so I know it is almost there. Wow, just like in software, the last 10% of a piece of music takes 90% of the time to learn. It just needs to be a little quicker. Hopefully I can start May with a sticker for this piece.

I finished off with Minuet. The tricky sequences were sounding much better and now with a little more bow. One day I am going to play something and Laura will be like "less bow" and I'll probably pass out. Also, I think I have been doing the tricky pieces so long that my timing for the rest of the music was way off. It's not that it was difficult but I just couldn't get it.

And that's all I had time for. Sirisha was next and she did well. Her scales and pieces are going along nicely.

We didn't have time for the Paploma duet. Not to worry because I did not practice that much this week. I vow to start writing down what I practice. I am a little less concerned about how long I practice and more concerned that I am not giving attention to all of my pieces. I may not be able to play everything every day but I need to make sure nothing gets forgotten either.

This week-end is going to be good because it is the Buddha Birthday Festival. Buddhism, vegetarian food and hopefully some great entertainment at the Welcome Ceremony. And as a special bonus, a visit from Poh.

Violin lesson #67

It has been two weeks since my last lesson. In that time I had leave from work and a break at Scarborough with my family. That was all well and good. The only down side was the lack of time to practice. I don't think I even practiced enough for one week let alone two.

It was great to be back at lessons. I did miss my time with Laura and Sirisha. 

I started this lesson with some sight reading. I feel comfortable with sight reading and enjoy doing it when I get the chance. It would do better if I slowed down a little and focussed a little more on what I was doing. This music had slurs and I missed many of them. However I do tend to get to the end of the piece without stopping or stalling. Another test involved clapping a rhythm and that went well. It was not so good when I had to sing it back - I have very little confidence in my singing voice. It was good enough for the purposes of this test. My last task was to tell by hearing whether the second of two notes on the piano was higher or lower than the first. These are all things I have to do when I sit for an exam .. eventually.

After this I got to play. Huzzah! I passed my two-scale G-Major arpeggio. And I did fairly well with my G melodic minor scale, even with the two bowing styles I had not practiced a great deal. I like the sad scale :)

None of my pieces passed. Again the Fiddler Fancy (which I played) and Hornpipe (which I did not play) are very close. But as close only counts in horse-shoe pitching and hand grenades, there was no sticker. I did learn though that you can hear when someone's fingers are not curved enough. No, really, it's true. I was there. I did learn some more about the music I am playing and there is plenty of work to do this week.

Sirisha was next. She earned a sticker for Raggle Taggle Hippie. Yay! And dare I say, it sounded better than mine. Or perhaps just different. I'm not sure.

Then there was a few minutes left for the Paploma duet. I didn't think it would be so hard to play something different to something the person next to me was playing. I have done this a number of times with Laura when she would accompany with violin or piano. Why it should be different this time around I am not sure. I don't pay enough attention to what Sirisha is playing while I am playing my part. And I am not 100% confident with what I am playing yet. I lose my place too easily for my liking. This means it needs more practice on my part.

On a side note... something I have learned since starting lessons is to recognise Monti's Czardas when I hear it. I turned on the radio the other day, and I knew it almost immediately even though it was a version with mandolin and accordion (instead of the violin). And yes, the rest of the family had to listen to it as well. The slightly spooky thing is that very same recording played again a few days later. This has been on my wish list since I heard Laura play part of it very early on in my violin education. And seeing as it is a Grade 8 piece I am guessing it is going to be on my list for anywhere between eight and twelve years. Gee, perhaps I can learn to play it well enough to perform it when I'm sixty LOL. If not perhaps Laura will be kind enough to play the whole piece for me.

This is one of my favourite versions not only because of Maxim Vengerov (one of my violin idols) but also because of the three bass players. Outstanding.

 

Violin lesson #66

I didn't feel good about my practice this week. There were four days where I could play through everything I am working on. It took a little over half an hour to cover it all. Looking back I feel as though, while I did practice everything, I didn't give each item enough attention in each session for the sake of trying to make sure nothing was missed. Perhaps I need a schedule so I can give each item enough time even if it isn't every day.

Sirisha and I were in a bigger room today and it was pretty cool. There was no mucking about. We started with Paploma - our Greek duet. Sirisha told me that she thought Greek singing and Indian singing were quite similar. She has seen a youtube clip of the song. Her brother was listening from another room and could not see it but he made a similar comment. My lack of preparedness showed here. All too often I would miss my place and had a terrible time trying to find it again. Hopefully this is one thing playing a duet will teach me - don't worry if you lose your place, catch up as soon as you can.

After this there was time for sight reading. I'm pretty good at it and I really enjoy it. I want to work my way up to the point where I can pick up a piece of music and make a good go of playing it straight away. Obviously not all music is that simple (I am sure Paganini's caprices will still be hard to learn and harder to master) but some other music should be okay.

I finished the three bowing methods for my two-octave G Major scale. Then it was music theory and learning about minor scales. Specifically, G minor melodic.Finally. A minor scale. Now I can make any song depressing by playing in this scale. Have you heard Mary Had A Little Lamb in this scale? It sounds like she is taking the lamb to the abattoir.

My exercise for this week, while better, still needs work. Laura suggested for this piece, and probably for Paploma and others, I should keep my first finger down to use as an anchor point for second, third and fourth finger. I found that I don't need to put down all of the lower fingers when I play a higher finger. In fact, it is often easier to stretch the third and fourth finger when the other fingers are not down.

Rather than play any of my works in progress and knowing that many of them are close to being finished, and the fact I have no lesson next week, Laura asked me to choose a new piece. I had to choose between a Telemann piece (Sieben Mal Sieben Und Ein Menuet) and a Polish song about injections. Check out the clip and admire the gorgeous dark colour of this young lady's violin. I settled for the Telemann piece. Both songs were rather pretty but I felt I was lacking classical pieces. I would like to come back and learn the other song - Ajajaj!!! Nie Lubię Zastrzyków.

And that was it for me. As I said, no lesson next week. I am on leave from work and spending time at home with the family. It is also my son's 14th birthday on the Tuesday and we are having a gathering at home. In any case, I have much to go on with for the time I actually get to play violin between now and the next lesson.