Schradieck No. 1

This is the exercise I always play after scales. I don't go that fast! My old violin teacher, Arnold, really liked Schradieck No. 1, so I like it, too.

Bourrée

Why must the first few measures of pieces be so difficult? This is the case both with my Kreutzer étude and my Bach movement for this week. The first four measures of the first section are full of chords. When playing them, I think of Irene Rissi (sp?) telling me to smile with my bow. Smiling with the bow means you start at the frog, move your hand down as you hit the chord, then lift your hand up again as you lift the bow off the strings and bring it back to the frog. It makes for a nice clean release from the string so that the chord rings well.

After those first few measures, the rest of the section isn't very hard. The chords come naturally.

The second section is more difficult than the first. It's also much longer.

At about 1:50 into the recording, there is a section that isn't predicted by anything earlier in the movement. Ouf of the blue come these eighth-note melodies and chords broken into single notes (1:50). Then, from 1:59 to 2:06, there's a new melody with a great rhythm. Bach eventually brings the music back to the opening chords to finish the movement. The end of this movement almost seems like a cadenza that ends when the orchestra comes back in playing a familiar theme. Like a cadenza, this section feels improvisatory.

Bach is often surprising. I'm sure I mentioned earlier how disappointed I was when I learned that there were some rules composers followed when writing music; therefore, it wasn't as magical as I had once thought. Bach still has his fair share of magic. What rule could tell you to throw a major section into the Ciaccona where he did, for example? It's like the sun coming out.

I hate to say it, but I think that changing from minor to major like that always sounds like the sun coming out. A composer could just say, "Ok, time for a little sun," and the magic would be gone. Tchaikovsky does the same thing in his violin concerto at the end of the stormy first movement cadenza where a trill changes from minor to major and then the flute comes in playing a happy theme to accompany the formerly lonely violin.

Kreutzer No. 11

Week of October 25, 2009

F Minor Scale
Kreutzer No. 11
Bach B-Minor Partita: Bourrée

This is a great week for the violin. My instrument is in tune. The Kreutzer exercise is my favorite, and the Bach is beautiful and full of chords, which are starting to feel familiar to me.

As for things to work on: That three-octave scale puts the fingers on the E string very close to the bow! It's hard to sound beautiful up there.

I'm trying to relax my fingering hand more. I tried playing Schradieck No. 1 with my fourth finger down, either on the A string or on the D string, in order to practice keeping it still while the other fingers are playing... I'm also trying to get more comfortable playing near the frog by playing Kreutzer No. 2 with the bowing reversed: up bows going to the frog on every downbeat.

I still remember the big shifts from the last time I played the Kreutzer exercise. The very first measure still gives me a bit of trouble, though. It will take practice to play the exercise fast.

Unfortunately, I haven't felt very well today. I thought my cold was better, but it's not.

Dependable Bach, good old Bach

I have a cold, and I've been moaning about for the last few days.  There have been times when I really haven't felt like doing anything.  This morning was one of those times.

I took some medicine - an herbal supplement with many times the daily recommended dose of zinc and vitamin C, among other things - and decided to just try carrying on as usual.  I did my dishes and decided to practice.  Maybe my neurons would be too busy firing about music to remind my brain that I still had a cold.  Either the medicine or the practicing worked.  I feel better.  Not great, but better.

I figure that if I can go to work with a cold, I should be able to do things that are more important and more fun, like playing music.  Yesterday at work, I tried to think of all the "blessings" I had that didn't depend on whether or not I had a cold.  Parents, music, nice Fall weather.  Thinking about music in that context also made me want to practice. 

I've warmed up to this week's Bach movement.  It's a variation on the preceding movement.  It's all in triplets.  It's very dainty and graceful.

There's one great part where you roll the bow from the E string to the G string, then back up again, hitting the open A, D, G, then D again.  It reminds me of the famous opening line of the Bach Cello Suite.  You can growl and pretend to be a cellist on that open G. 



Grumiaux plays all the notes detached! My music has many slurs. Well, he doesn't do the "growl" the way I do, but he's a great musician. I'll find another video if I can.

Week of 10/18/09

A-flat Major Scale
Kreutzer No.10
Another Double from the B-minor Partita

I'm not particularly thrilled about any of what I'm playing this week.  I've been sort of blue the last few days, so maybe it is seeping into my violin playing.  Who needs all those flats in the scale, anyway?  Kreutzer No. 9 is something I've practiced many different times in my violin studies, and those same shifts are still hard.  The Double is the kind of piece that requires phrasing and dynamics to be interesting.  Some Bach is so gorgeous that the notes themselves are enough to give a person goosebumps.  This movement will take more than notes. 

The most I can say about this week is that it's the week before next week, when I'll be playing one of my favorite études, Kreutzer No. 11. Kreutzer No. 11 is a pretty song full of smooth shifting.  It's the first Kreutzer étude I played, in seventh grade, and I've studied it many times since then.  Unlike Kreutzer No. 10, it's an étude I love to play!  I'm afraid to play it badly next week, because I know that I've played it very well in the past.  On the upside, I know that I can play it well if I practice enough. 

I practiced the violin this evening instead of persisting in the newspaper article I was trying to write.  I feel better now that I've practiced.  That's probably a sign that I did the right thing.  Tomorrow, I'll do the write thing:)  Hopefully, it will also be satisfying.  

Happy noodling, happy noodle

Oh, I practiced wiggling my fingers fast tonight, both on Schradieck No. 1 and Kreutzer No. 9.  I stared at my fingers and thought, "There's nothing unusual about wiggling my fingers fast.  La de da."  I tried to pretend I was Itzhak Perlman and had really fat, relaxed fingers and all the time in the world to hit my note in style.  It helped me to relax.

I even managed to relax my bow arm on Kreutzer No. 9 and make it sound really fluid.  I was pleased.  I played sixteenth notes about about four notes per tick of 108 on the metronome.  "Moderato," not even Allegro.  Sometimes playing slowly is too boring for the brain.  I liked having to think quickly as I played. 

I am enjoying the Bach.  I could (and did) play the first phrase over and over.  It's very resonant and satisfying.  All those fourths sound so beautiful and interesting, too.

I rewarded my practicing with a mini apple pie and vanilla ice cream.   My friend and I made these pies together on Monday, and they are perfect.  The crust is flaky and delicious and was easy to work with, too. 

Even though my practicing wasn't perfect, and I know eating pie could make me gain some weight, and I know my writing is lazy, I'm just so happy and satisfied.  Aah... Happy noodle. 

Week of October 11, 2009

C-minor Scale
Kreutzer No. 9
Bach B-minor Partita:  Sarabande


It's the time of year when I stand with my hands over the kettle as I wait for the water to boil for tea.  Brrr!  It's also the time of year when my Reynaud's Syndrome kicks in.  That means that if my fingers get too cold, one or of a few of them may turn white and go numb for a little while.  Don't worry:  my fingers won't lose circulation long enough to die.  They might, however, be numb while I'm trying to practice a scale in a cold room, as was the case with the fingers of my bowing hand today.  Warming up has new meaning in the wintertime.

This week's Kreutzer étude is certainly not something for a person with numb fingers.  It's all slurred sixteenth notes, it's very repetitive, and it feels good to play.    By the time I got to Bach today, I felt thoroughly warm, as if my fingers had gone for a jog. 

I thought about skipping the warm up today and going straight to Bach, but that proved impossible.  Unlike the Presto last week, the Sarabande is not just a series of sixteenth notes that can be slowed down and substituted for scales.  The Sarabande is full of slow and stately chords, which came much more easily after a warm up.

This is the movement I've had stuck in my head recently, I was glad to discover today when I turned the page in my volume of Bach. 

I practiced from 10 to 11 tonight.  Rather than use my housemates' sleep as an excuse to skip practicing, I said, "Oh, let them complain.  Chances are, they're still awake!"  It's the kind of irreverent, impassioned thing Paul Farmer (of my Tracy Kidder book, Mountains Beyond Mountains) would do.    
Thus begins the second month of the B-minor Partita. 

Excuses, excuses

Sometimes I think that what I did INSTEAD of practicing Bach might be more interesting to narrate than the practicing itself.  Last night, for instance, I heard the author Tracy Kidder read from his newest book at my local bookstore.  I hadn't read any Kidder before yesterday, but I planned to go to the reading because I knew my parents liked Kidder's work.  I bought a copy of Mountains Beyond Mountains, which is about Dr. Paul Farmer, a young man who thinks he can do the impossible and goes to Haiti, founds a hospital, and stops at nothing to improve the lives of the people there.  It's an inspiring story, and Kidder makes it an interesting one, too.  A neat tidbit:  Farmer's close friend, Ophelia Dahl, is now the head of Partners In Health, and she spoke at the reading last night. I was one generation away from Roald Dahl!  And I saw one of the main characters in the wonderful book I'm reading.

I also played some folk music with my housemate and his girlfriend.  It was fun.  I hadn't played many of the tunes before, so I learned them by ear.  I can now pick out not just the relative pitches that make up the song but also start on the right note the first time.  I'm getting toward perfect pitch.  I know that my ear is unusually good, so it's fun to show it off and pretend to be modest.  Of course, though, it's hard not to be self-conscious and show off when you pick up a tune just like that and people are impressed. 

As for Bach:  I've practiced twice so far this week.  I haven't gotten very deeply into the Presto Double of the B-minor Partita.  I've worked on the notes of the first half pretty carefully.  That's it.  I am just going to keep going, one movement per week.  Life keeps going, and my practicing will, too.  If I ever did go a week without playing, I would not skip a movement.  But to stop for a week would risk abandoning the project, so I will try to practice every week.   

Sometimes, students go to violin lessons without practicing.  It turns out fine.  It's not like you can't play - you just can't play any better than you could the week before.  And maybe, by chance, you will play better after the week's break.   Say you performed at the low end of your abilities after practicing, then went a week without practicing, and performed again, this time at the high end of your abilities. It would appear that you'd improved, even if your average ability hadn't changed.  It's important to keep going to lessons every week, practice or not, just so that you don't give up.  For the same reason, I need to change movements every week so that I don't give up. 

Week of October 4, 2009

E-flat Major Scale
Kreutzer No. 8 (E MAJOR)
B-minor Partita: Double; Presto (B-minor)

I'm playing in three different keys this week, each one a half-step higher than the last. From the Bach, we have B-minor, equivalent to D major.  The scale is E-flat minor, and the étude is E major. 

I particularly like the étude I'm playing this week.  It's very melodic. 

The most significant thing about this week's music is that it goes one movement beyond the Bach I played the last time I attempted to play all the Sonatas and Partitas. 

I'll write again when I have something to say.