Violin lesson #113

The Sage had another great lesson this week. We covered a lot of areas. I don't know what Laura had prepared, but she showed she was able to incorporate my questions, which was very cool.

During the week, Sirisha linke us with this video. It is an Indian player, sitting cross-legged on a bed, playing violin. Essentially the violin is upside-down but he seemed to have no trouble playing it and getting a great sound. Contrast this with Greta Kelly sitting in a similar position but holding the violin differently. I wonder whether each could play the other's style of music without changing how they hold the violin. I then wanted to know how to play sitting up (cross-legged can come later). So Laura showed me how best to sit on the corner of the chair where my legs are naturally apart, so with a good posture I can still play all strings with the full bow.

After this we moved on to scales again. This week I played an ascending scale but after each note I played the one two notes further along, so I would play 1st, 3rd, 2nd, 4th, 3rd, 5th note and so on. I should say "we" played because Laura played the same pattern one bar behind me, so it was played as a round. For something so simple it sounded beautiful. If people are practising together it is a great way to experience playing scales. The other pattern we played was 1-2-3-1-2-3, 2-3-4-2-3-4, etc. Once the patterns are memorised it is easier to think about bow position and string crossing.

The first piece I played was El Padrino (The Godfather). I did some very good during the week and it was sounding pretty sweet. Laura had a few pointers for me to work on before the next lesson. I don't need to play this song quickly which means there is more time to give love to each note.

Then I played Click Go The Shears. This was sounding good too. I need to work on bow positioning to get the best sound for some of the longer notes. Also, I need to work on my fingering. There is one place where I need to put my first finger on a higher string than the second and third fingers. This proved to be quite a challenge. I need to relax my hand to be able to move the fingers independently without affecting the shape of the palm. Relaxing your hand sounds easy, but I can see it's going to take me a little while to be able to manage this without the brain getting in the way.

More than two years on I am still loving my lessons as much as ever.

On a side note, this month I participated in Mindful In May. This had two purposes: a) to teach mindfulness through meditation, and b) to raise funds for clean water projects around the world. I mention this because I think I can apply mindfulness training to the way I practice. Indeed I might find out that Laura's teaching will lead to the same result. There's only one way to find out...

Violin lesson #111, #112

The Sage has been slack again, but that does not mean he has not done his best to keep up his practice and lessons. There was a lesson on May 2nd and two weeks off before another lesson on May 23rd.

One thing I have learned lately is the bow pinky is not very helpful right now. In fact, Laura encouraged me to try and play without putting the pinky on the bow and that was a big improvement. Obviously I can't play like this all the time, but for now it is a useful exercise, and I can gradually introduce the pinky again with as little pressure as possible.

I have started two new pieces. The first is Click Go The Shears - an old Aussie classic. The tune is very familiar to me, and possibly one I tried to play on the violin previously. Now I have sheet music and it includes harmonics as well as a variation on the theme. The second is El Padrino, aka the love theme from The Godfather. I have wanted to learn this for ages, and after this post on Facebook, my wish has been granted. Horacio (one of the programmers at work) will thank you for this too, as he has expressed a wish for me to play it, and as we know, music makes people happy. And while we are speaking of The Godfather, Chris Peck (another programmer at work and fellow curmudgeon) has loaned me the box set of The Godfather movies. It saddens me to say I have not seen them and look forward to doing so when I find time.

Last lesson I felt a little lost. I was not sure about grading for ABRSM. Laura explained that she has seen many parents (and it is usually the parents) rush their children as quickly as possible through AMEB grading without enjoying the journey or exploring branches along the way. As far as I understand it, Laura's plan for me is to grade, but to also play non-grading pieces that are interesting or have something different to offer. If that is the case, that is fine with me.

I have long thought so, and Laura showed again in one lesson, how versatile scales are. Like I often say, once you learn the notes of a scale, any scale, you can then use it as a platform to learn and practice different rhythms and bow techniques. Because you can focus less on the notes themselves, you can focus more on other things. So most times I try and spend at least a little time with scales.

Just briefly, I want to mention here that Laura and Dave have put me on onto Brent Miller who has kindly offered to teach Maria percussion lessons to go along with the piano and theory Dave is teaching her. Maria's percussion tutor from school was more interested in drum kit where Maria likes various percussion instruments (tuned and untuned). I will never push my daughter with her music, but I will encourage her to make the most of something she likes and does well.

The Sage will do his best to keep up with the blog and with his music even though times lately have been rather busy.