Week of August 16, 2009

Kreutzer Number 1

C-major Scale

Bach Sonata in G-minor: Adagio; Cantabile.

I picked up my violin again after months of not playing. It was not too far out of tune.

As I played the C-major scale, my hand shook, and it brought back fond memories of violin lessons when my hand would shake on scales, not for lack of practice but out of nerves. I used to have terrible stomach problems the day of a violin lesson and have to relieve myself right before I started. I haven't done anything that made me so nervous since those lessons in my teacher's apartment during middle school - with the exception of the recitals, of course!

Playing violin is like riding a bike. My fingers remembered where to go. Shifts on the scale that I had once mastered were still in tune when I tried them today. Other notes I'd never gotten were still out of tune. Kreutzer Number 1 is very slow, and I have yet to master the bow-saving (multiple measures played on one bow) or the notes (some fast scales thrown in to accompany the slow bow).

As for Bach, it's still pretty much in tune. I learned the Adagio movement in the summer of 2007 and have been practicing it off and on since then. I got the double stops in tune, and they stayed that way, thank goodness. I still need to solidify the rhythm and make it musical and double check that intonation I say is so good, jinxing myself as I say it.

This movement is very lonely. It seems to me that the solo violinist is calling out for someone to listen to her. At least in the first few measures. I can't tell a story with the entire piece the way I once did with the second movement of the Bach Double (section D, the minor section, stood for "drugs," to give you the gist of my story).

Tomorrow, the novelty of playing violin will have worn off. It will be back to the grindstone.

But I'm 25 and playing for fun. It's different than when I was a kid and music was tied up with wanting to be talented and do well for my age. I'm just a gentleman violinist now, playing as part of a balanced life. That's the idea, anyway.