Sunday, September 13, 2009

Week of September 13, 2009: Starting off in tune

B-flat Major Scale
Kreutzer Number 5
Bach Partita Number 1 in B-minor: Allemanda

My violin was particularly in tune today. That is, I did a good job tuning it before I started playing. That, in turn, improved my intonation.

I try not to obsess over tuning my violin because sometimes, when my intonation is bad, I try to blame it on my violin being out of tune and waste a lot of time fiddling with the tuning.

Today I really got my violin in tune, and it made such a difference. My A string had been a little sharp before. I have learned to listen for the beats you hear when you play the out-of-tune A string against the metronome's A440 and can adjust the tuning until the beats slow and go away. I think I also know what harmonics I'm listening for when I tune the other strings. I certainly got it right today, anyway. As I played, I kept thinking I heard my cell phone ringing. That means my notes really were ringing!

Now that I've bragged about my in-tune playing, I'll be out of tune tomorrow...

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