altistitar*

Quote: Are you in an area that it is possible to find a(nother) luthier who is more enjoyable to visit?? I have visited other luthiers, but I have yet to find one I truly enjoy visiting. Or maybe I'm just too picky...

Quote: You may hate going to the luthier but it's necessary, we take our car to the mechanics, we go to the dentist, musicians take their instruments to luthiers and so on. Yeah, I know it's necessary, I just have had some unpleasant experiences in the past. The luthier I bought my viola from is very arrogant and has no customer service skills - not a pleasure to deal with him! Thanks for the help, I'll go try the cleaning now. And if it doesn't work, I'll just have to bite my tongue and visit a luthier.

Should I take the strings off when doing that? I absolutely hate going to the luthier, I don't know why, but I try to avoid it as much as I can.

When I was at a music festival a couple of weeks ago, I took my viola to a luthier for cleaning. It's now nice and shiny, but the neck, fingerboard and strings are a bit sticky and that makes shifting difficult. How could I clean these myself? Obviously I can't complain to the luthier, because the festival is over and he has travelled back to Russia or wherever he lives.

Is anyone from here going? It's a quartet course in West Dean, UK, on July 9th-15th. My quartet is going there, and I'm just curious. Or if anyone has attended it before, what was it like? http://www.westdean.org.uk/site/arts/music/music/CSQ.htm

Quote: --You might allot a limited time for the practice of each item (each scale, etude, or piece) and gradually increase the allotment with each practice session. Use a timer to enforce the time limit. Wow, so many great replies! Of all the things everyone said, this one interests me the most. If I told myself that I'm only allowed to spend x minutes on a passage, I might actually get something done. I think I'll print this thread out and take it with me when I leave for a music camp tomorrow. There I'll have lots of time to think about my practice habits and concentration issues. Again, thanks for all the suggestions!

Thanks for the replies! About memorizing, I usually memorize most of my stuff sort of automatically. Often I find myself walking away from the music stand, while still playing the piece and thinking about something completely different. I might try memorizing something I never play from memory, like etudes, though. I tried saggio3of4's suggestion today. It didn't work out as well as I had hoped, because I was too lazy and didn't stop playing completely - I just took the viola off my shoulder and tried to focus on the music again. When I was playing scales, my concentration was so bad I should have been stopping every three notes . Maybe next time I'll just force myself to really stop and take a break. All of your suggestions are good, but I was really thinking about some off-instrument concentration exercises, maybe some meditation-like stuff. Preferably something that can be done without the guidance of a guru

I'm having a problem with concentration while practicing. I can truly concentrate only for very short moments. Is there a way to learn to keep my mind focused on the playing for a longer time? I don't think this is a motivation problem, because it also happens when I'm reading - after a while, I notice I'm thinking about other things. Any suggestions?

Mainly concentrating on Britten's Lachrymae, I'll perform it for the first time on December 2nd - I'm not too confindent about it yet, but gotta start performing it sometime. Also Vieuxtemps' Capriccio in c minor (solo viola), and I should start with some Bach also... I have university auditions on May, where I'm playing Britten, and maybe Vieuxtemps or Bach. With my quartet we are playing Borodin's 2nd quartet and Beethoven op18/4. Both are very much fun Orchestra (Helsinki Strings - if you've heard of us I'll start to feel famous ): Sibelius The Lover suite, Nielsen Little Suite, Nordgren Concerto for strings, Mozart Violin concerto n.4 in D. That's pretty much all, of course not counting quartet gig music and such. I've played for seven years now.

Quote: His Sonata for Viola is so disonant and harsh sounding.. the more I get it in tune.. the worse it sounds! WTF is this! He wrote quite many sonatas for viola. Which one are you talking about? Hindemith is Hindemith, it will never (and isn't supposed to) sound like Mozart!

Quote: so...if the violin is the devil's instrument...what's the viola? The angel's instrument of course! At least to me, but I am a violist... And I totally agree about the violin being the devil's instrument. Viola could never go that low!

I have one, but it was too shrill for my viola which in my opinion has a bit too bright A. I kept it for emergency situations. Now I'm using a Larsen dolce with the rest Dominants, and it's OK. But the best A I've tried is the new Evah Pirazzi - anyone of you tried that? I can't really describe it because it unfortunately broke and they are kind of hard to find here so I'm back to Larsen. But I do remember it sounded extraordinary.

Yeah, kinda like that mouse one, except that there were lots of different kinds, like a frog, a beaver, a conductor... Anyone know anything about these?

I remember seeing a page selling all kinds of animal-shape string instrument mutes on the net a few years ago. I didn't order them then because I thought they were expensive, but now I'd love to get some for christmas gifts to my viola teacher and friens. But of course I can't remember the URL, and I've had no luck with search engines... anyone know the webpage or an email address to the seller?

I took my viola to a repairsman, hoping he would get my A string less bright and harsh. That didn't happen, even though he changed the tailgut (a synthetic one really). He said that now with the new tailgut the lower strings might be too "loose", and if I wish, I can change the old one back myself. I read all the posts about changing tailpieces or tailguts and I'm now afraid that the soundpost will fall if I take all the strings off. However my teacher once did some adjustment on my viola, and he loosened all the strings. The post didn't fall even if he wasn't holding the viola exactly still. So should I try? Any tips? I think the instrument was better with the old tailgut, but I really wouldn't mind to bother my teacher (or the repairsman) again with my instrument problems