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 =)