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.
No comments:
Post a Comment