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.