What are you working on?

[violinnewb]

10 minutes ago, Rue said:

Nothing like having something you love doing...to keep you from the necessary evils! 

A very ambitious concerto!  In comparison, it makes my little piece look like, well...a little piece!!! 

The Mendelssohn is a piece that has eluded me all of my life.  Either a teacher did not want to teach it, refused to teach it, thought I wasn't ready, what have you.  

The truth of the matter with the concerto is that it fits really neatly into the hands.  All of the pyrotechnics are manageable and are technically easier than one would think just by looking at the notes.

The difficulty of the piece is getting the intonation, style, and flow right.  Don't get me wrong, I am not breezing through it at all.  It is difficult.  But it is much more manageable than I thought it was, especially after having done tons of etudes in preparation.

 

I just listened to the Wachs.  Now I want to learn it!

[Rue]

...etudes are always a good idea...I probably should be doing spiccato exercises...just to limber up again...

(...and I can never spell spiccato correctly...I always want to spell it spicatto...which is likely how I jinxed myself...)...

[violinnewb]

17 minutes ago, Rue said:

.(...and I can never spell spiccato correctly...I always want to spell it spicatto...which is likely how I jinxed myself...)...

Same.

I was just showing my son how I practice my spicatto or spiccato or spiccatto....

I use Shraedieck no. 1 and Kreutzer 2.  I showed him to start single string martele, then staccato, then bounce.  I showed him Kreutzer 2 because of the string crossings.  That etude can be used for so many things.  BTW - you can practice up bow and down bow staccato using the Shraedieck too.

[Altgeiger]

Speaking of etudes, I found a nice collection on IMSLP.

https://imslp.org/wiki/The_Violinist's_Daily_Companion_(Saenger%2C_Gustav)

They've selected etudes from lots of sources, lightly abridged them to focus on the essential bits, and arranged them by topic.  It's been useful to me, especially when I think, "I'd really like to polish up my x technique;" I just look for the relevant etude, add it to my practice for the next week or two, and receive instant improvement.  (Yes, it's for the violin, but I haven't forgotten how to play a fifth down on the viola just yet.)

[MacCrimmon]

Ciaccona a basso solo by G. Colombi.

[GoPractice]

3 hours ago, violinnewb said:

The Mendelssohn is a piece that has eluded me all of my life.  Either a teacher did not want to teach it, refused to teach it, thought I wasn't ready, what have you.  

 ( ... )

The Mendelssohn e-minor/major eludes many of us. Sometimes it is the teacher, sometimes it is the player with too high an expectation or a player too critical of themselves... to start.

As youngsters, aging out of pieces before getting a grasp of the works and as oldsters we tend to short change ourselves... I was one. My teacher thought my string crossings were not to their liking nor was my faster stepped shifting, which trapped me into trying other works. I tended to muscle my way across the notes.

But they did not restrict me from studying it on my own. 

Etudes and scales do help.

Currently I seed works and teach excerpts from concertos, sonatas, when the kids are younger. If the kid's parents do not listen to classical music, getting the kids interested or at least curious in 20 minute works becomes a battle. Utube is a wonderful resource if at least to get to know a work. And kids talk. I had a 5th grader approach me about the Mendelssohn and I gave her the 1st page, 1st mvmt. In one week, she could not play the octave at the bottom of the page, but she learned it, not to please me, but for herself and her friends. She is motivated. 2set videos also help. Others are less curious. And for others they only play because their parents make them, trading 1 minute of practice for 1 minute of screen time. 

Every person is different and working a piece requires more than stubborn practice, though that has helped me in the past/ can help. Learning to recognize patterns, sections, transitions to keep practice efficient is difficult. My current students on the average practice the least of any in the past.

Anyway, though the opening is so so famous, recently, have been starting the concerto work with the 3rd mvmt. The melodic scale work is kinder and the accidental work into B major is better grounded, that works better for my kids. Sometimes the Brahms 1st sonata 1mvmt is also introduced about the same time. The slower bowing helps smooth out the frantic quality of the left hand.

This summer I plan to teach 40 new kids 40 minor newer non familiar chamber mvmts. They just have to sign up and commit. Handel- Halverson seems to be tops on the list for about half a dozen to a dozen. To be fair, I have taught most of the works but I am constantly learning from others. Duos are the easiest to teach because that's essentially one on one, starting next week. 

[Zeissica]

1 hour ago, MacCrimmon said:

Ciaccona a basso solo by G. Colombi.

Not familiar with this - I'll have to look for it!

Just started in on the Dounis Daily Dozen - trying to play them for the first 45 min. of practicing for the day. And then starting on Max Reger sonatas for viola. No definite gigs or performances on the calendar at this point so my goal is to work mostly on technique this spring/summer. 

[MacCrimmon]

6 hours ago, Zeissica said:

Not familiar with this - I'll have to look for it!

Just started in on the Dounis Daily Dozen - trying to play them for the first 45 min. of practicing for the day. And then starting on Max Reger sonatas for viola. No definite gigs or performances on the calendar at this point so my goal is to work mostly on technique this spring/summer. 

Here's my instructor playing it. It's a gem.

 

[violinnewb]

19 hours ago, GoPractice said:

Handel- Halverson seems to be tops on the list for about half a dozen to a dozen. To be fair, I have taught most of the works but I am constantly learning from others. Duos are the easiest to teach because that's essentially one on one, starting next week. 

Love the Passacaglia - hope to learn and perform it someday.

[Rue]

Love the Passacaglia too...

I have both arrangements, for violin/viola and two violins.

Funny story; I saw it performed a few years ago, by a couple of very talented performers, but their take on it was so different than mine, I was rather taken aback!  How so?  They performed it in a humorous manner. To me, it's lyrical.

Just one of those elucidating (musical) life moments! 

[Zeissica]

13 hours ago, MacCrimmon said:

Here's my instructor playing it. It's a gem.

 

Thanks for sharing that! Beautiful piece. 

[Stephen Fine]

I have to learn Franck Piano Quintet for a concert in a week or so.  We're also playing Dvořák, but I know that one pretty well.

[Rue]

Love Dvorak 

Er, are you playing piano for the Franck? I'm not familiar with it.

[GoPractice]

2 hours ago, Stephen Fine said:

I have to learn Franck Piano Quintet for a concert in a week or so.  We're also playing Dvořák, but I know that one pretty well.

Awesome. Great programming.

I missed out not doing enough score study on the Franck in terms of texture. Melody/ harmony of over the flow of pulse can be a pain. I did not understand decades ago as a violin grinding, having played the sonata and the Symphony. I should have taken the time to understand how the parts are together, come apart, interlace to make a whole.

Just came across the Heifetz CD and hope to listen to it when everything settles down.

The Dvorak is such a great ride. If there is good protein in music, this is high on the menu...

Have a great and wonderful show.

[Stephen Fine]

2 hours ago, GoPractice said:

Awesome. Great programming.

I missed out not doing enough score study on the Franck in terms of texture. Melody/ harmony of over the flow of pulse can be a pain. I did not understand decades ago as a violin grinding, having played the sonata and the Symphony. I should have taken the time to understand how the parts are together, come apart, interlace to make a whole.

Just came across the Heifetz CD and hope to listen to it when everything settles down.

The Dvorak is such a great ride. If there is good protein in music, this is high on the menu...

Have a great and wonderful show.

Thanks.  I'll do some more score study on the Franck.  Good advice.  I've given it a couple listens with the score now taking notes and, unfortunately, I haven't cracked the code yet.  Compared to the Dvořák there's less to grab onto.  I love some of the things he does with harmony and that's about it.

5 hours ago, Rue said:

Love Dvorak 

Er, are you playing piano for the Franck? I'm not familiar with it.

Rue, the Franck Piano Quintet in f is an absolutely gargantuan piano part and I am just about at the level of a beginner on piano despite my decades of plunking. (The famous story is that Saint-Saëns had such a bad time at the premiere that he stormed off stage after it was finished without acknowledging the applause or accepting the score as a gift even though the piece was dedicated to him.)   I will be sticking with the viola as per my usual.  There are a couple little moments of viola fun in the Franck, but it's not like the Dvořák which is one of the biggest and best viola parts in the whole Romantic repertoire.

Here's a pretty bananas lineup playing the Franck:

 

[Rue]

Thanks! I didn't think you played piano...but maybe you do!  

I suppose I coulda/shoulda looked it up first...but I didn't.

Thank you!

P.s. I also assumed it was for 5 pianos (like the Feldman)...that's why I asked! 

[GoPractice]

20 hours ago, Stephen Fine said:

Thanks.  I'll do some more score study on the Franck.  Good advice.  I've given it a couple listens with the score now taking notes and, unfortunately, I haven't cracked the code yet.  Compared to the Dvořák there's less to grab onto.  I love some of the things he does with harmony and that's about it.

 ( ... )

I am no musicologist. My apologies for this rambling.

Later in ( many ) discussions with ( then ) friends, I tried to parse out why of Franck, still loving Faure more, at the time oversimplifying musical trends by nationality, was difficult to understand. Score reading reveals a lot, but do not have the time to read volumes. Will read the CD liner later.

I am sure it's been discussed a bit in the ensemble. Having no friends to email about this or willing to go on record with crackpot ideas, this is the bit of clue of I have been thinking about: the last mvmt, Allegro non troppo, ma con fuoco is a funny tempo marking.

Has ties to Schubert, I think. His melodies are a bit haunting, bit jaunty, scary, a bit too sentimental?

There is not necessarily a code, but pairings of voices and their relationships, at least in the 1st mvmt. Certainly a composer indulges in the battle between the quartet and the piano, both allies and rivals. So not to sway any performance, but a POV is that if I were to approach voicing the quartet against the piano, it would be more like a pipe organ against a piano. Way more stops, way more texture without vibrato. Piano, no vibrato, SQ, no vibrato to reveal, if there are any revelation, how the textures can both contrast and blend.

I am guilty of wide ugly vibrato and punchy dynamics, necessary at times. Perhaps I did then.

Also, when a organ hits a chord, the blend or voicing is somewhat predetermined. My performance was very top heavy and overbearing, to say that I wish the voicings were better then.

You have a lovely and awesome voice and it appears that Franck does love the viola here.

And the Dvorak is the love of melody. Not that the Franck doesn't. In my mind, if I were to do it again, the mature me would be far more disciplined. If I were to play it again, and not to vicariously do it through your performance through messaging, but that the work might be served by understanding the voicings of the pairings and doubling up. Restraint, give and take, would deliver the better tension and the release ( perhaps ) built into the work. It is a but restless. Not much to bite and grab. While the Dvorak drips with warmth, kindness and inclusiveness at its best.

My sister- in- law says that I should double space after the period.

[violinnewb]

16 hours ago, GoPractice said:

My sister- in- law says that I should double space after the period.

Double spcaing after a period used to be the standard.  Not anymore.  I still do.  However, hyphenated words need not include spaces.

[Rue]

I still double space! Makes it easier to read!

...and...I use ellipses! I don't care how "boomer" the practice may be!