Laura forgot it was Valentines Day this Friday. She said she might have taught as something romantic, then she played a little of It's Now Or Never. How sweet =)
Still, it must have done some good because... I passed First Base. There is an audio recording of it and I will link it to this blog and perhaps post the link for the blog to FaceBook. Laura accompanied me on piano and Sarisha was the sound engineer (she pressed record on the voice recorder app on my phone). It was a very good performance but I will stick with it one more week to give it some polish. The criticism was that the lyrical pieces were not as musical as they might have been. I am sure I have played them musically during practice. It might have been a combination of (a) playing the piece with the Laura on the piano for the first time and (b) recording the result.
The other three songs are showing improvement too. If I can get some decent practice in I should be able to finish another piece or two. The one with the most work to do is still Raggle Taggle Hippie. There is still quite a distance between how the music sounds to me now and how I want it to sound. I can play the notes in the right order and in tune, but there is something not quite right. I have been advised to relax my hold on the bow and let the bow float across the strings. Perhaps I am over-thinking it and not feeling the music enough. It's hard to put my finger on it exactly but I know it when I hear it.
Sarisha started on third position today. We don't go from first to second. Second is actually last. Third is taught second. I don't think I am too far behind. It is more motivation to make the most of my practice to improve to the point where I can learn more technique.
I only have the three pieces this week. Hopefully next week I might have a Klezmer piece, or I might suggest a Greek song, or perhaps Jar Of Hearts. Maybe I can even play it like this guy.
Extra note
Tonight I took my wife to Beaudesert because she had a training session. While she was training I went to the local fish and chip shop for dinner. When I got back she was still training so I parked at the centre. I discovered two things: One, playing violin in the dark is really hard. Lighting was poor so I had to find my positions by ear. My intonation suffered and so did my bowing. Two, I don't know a whole lot of songs to play. I really do need to learn some more songs and review them from time to time. Laura has taught me several, obviously, and I have taught myself some too. It will be all for nothing if I can't remember them to play. Still, it was an experience and I enjoyed it.
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