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.

Violin lesson #65

This week the lesson started off with Laura's arrangement of Paploma (a song about a quilt). For ten minutes, until Sirisha arrived, Laura took me through the song. I have to admit it was pretty cool. Laura has arranged the song so that both parts play the melody at some point while the other part provides support. When Sirisha arrived she was asked to get straight into playing her part. It did not take her long to get up to speed. I think we are both going to struggle a little with the rhythm. It is 7/8 time so it will take a little while to get used to counting the odd beat 1-2 1-2 1-2-3.

I passed another bow style of my two-octave G Major scale. The rest of the exercises were okay. I am still struggling with the running up and down pattern and I am not sure why. I know I will get there in the end.

Strawberry Milkshake earned me a sticker this week. Toffee Nut Fudge Cake improved. I need to work on the dynamics, especially as they pertain to the staccato. Rum Bah Ba was better too even with Laura improvising on the piano to help keep me in time.

That was all there was time for this week for me. I didn't get to the two longer pieces. They needed more practice anyway, in my opinion. The next time I play them I want them to be performed well.

Speaking of performing, I play for Whiskers. Let me explain. An ex co-worker of mine asked me to mind his cat, Whiskers, while he and his family are away. This means I visit the cat every afternoon, check on him, feed him, pat him a little. You know, cat stuff. While he eats, I play, since I am doing nothing else at the time. I have since learned the lady next door looks after Whiskers in the morning. She can see the lights come on in the evening when I visit and she can hear the violin. I wonder if she will become part of my audience :) This is set to continue for about five weeks or so.

Sirisha was next. It might be that she was warmed up with her Paploma performance but she was on fire this week. I lost count of how many stickers she earned. I was really proud of her. And that is another plus for double lessons. We support and encourage each other. Sorrows shared are halved, joys shared are doubled. I think there is something like that in our lessons.

For next week I really want Paploma to sound good. I don't know if it will be necessary to practice with Sirisha outside of class or whether there is sufficient time during lessons to rehearse together. In any case, I want to do my best with this song so it will sound good with her part playing too.

That's it for now. I am excited about Paploma but I can't ignore the rest of my practice.