First Notes

It's amazing how starting something I've been putting off can cheer me up so much.  Just tuning my violin made me happy today.  I just played for a few minutes, but it felt good.  It reminds me of how I sometimes dread going to work, but once I get there and start "ringing" (what cashiers do), I feel fine.  The routine of ringing can even be comforting.  By the time I've told twenty customers I'm doing very well, thanks, I'd better be feeling fine!  It's the same walking out the door to do an errand I've been avoiding, or getting in the shower.  All these things I avoid are okay once I begin them.

Beginnings, débuts, baptisms, tonics.
Awakenings, realizations, openings.
Openings of eyes, stores, doors. 
Dreams give way to reality.
Babies are bathed and baptized, agnostic adults simply shower.
Sunrises, springs, seeds.
Coffee.  A walk outside.  Warming up.
Tightening the bow. Tuning.  The A.  Schradieck number 1.

Every day is the oldest you've ever been and the youngest you'll ever be.
You'll always look younger on your driver's license. 

Week of December 6

E-flat minor scale
Kreutzer 16
Bach A-minor Sonata: Andante

Another nonsensical scale.

Trills!

Played the first measure of this movement and learned that there's a lot more to music than meets the ear.

Week of November 29

G-flat Major Scale
Kreutzer 14
Fuga from A-minor Sonata

I have never played a piece in G-flat, and there's a good reason for that:  it's a bewildering key.  I can only think about the notes, like G-flat, C-flat, by converting them to familiar ones like F sharp and B natural.  It's very high on the E-string, because the three octaves begin not with open G but G-flat nearly an octave higher.  This is the highest 3-octave scale Flesch will ask of me. 

The open strings provide little consolation on this scale.  In many cases, when you get to the top of a scale, you can just play an open A and hear if you're in tune or if you've wandered into another key on your way up the E string.  For G-flat, you have two options:  play an A and think "am I a major sixth plus 2 octaves above the A?" (an interval that isn't particularly easy to hear); go to the D string and listen for a major third plus 3 octaves. 

A fiddler would just tune the whole violin down a half step.

Revisiting an old cassette through an old Walkman

I have been practicing this week. I think I am going to move on to the second movement of the A-minor Sonata this Sunday. I'm starting to feel familiar with the first movement, which is all I'm asking of myself for the moment.

I've been revisiting some old musical favorites of mine this week. How music affects my mood!  On a whim Wednesday night, I listened to an old mix tape using my Walkman, now many years old.  Thursday morning (Thanksgiving), I woke up in a great mood and with show tunes in my head. 

That morning, on a roll, I put on another old cassette tape - Claude Bolling's "Suite For Violin and Jazz Piano." It's a tape my mom made for herself, maybe of a record? I think she used to listen to the tapes in the lab. At some point, I had coopted the tape with the Tchaikovsky violin and piano concertos, the Vivaldi violin concertos, and this one. The Bolling is the only tape I actually took with me to Somerville.

My mom's recording features Bolling on piano and Pinchas Zuckerman on violin. They're good. Listen to one movement of the Bolling here.

I love these cassette tapes.  They've been my favorite music since before my age became two digists, and they still are.  Music runs deep. 

Now for a bit of Phantom of the Opera before bed.  Some may not like it because it's over-popular. Well, it's popular for a good reason.  It's a classic.

Try again this week

This week was as busy as the previous week. But this week, I should have some time to practice. I'm not giving up.

Week of November 15: Repeat last week

I only had one day of practicing last week, so I'm going to play the same music this week. I started the second Bach sonata last week, and since the first movement introduces the sonata, it's particularly important that I at least look at the music, count it, make an attempt to learn the notes and get something musical out of playing it. I can't just go on to the second movement. If I miss the introduction to the other movements, I won't get as much from them.

That's the plan.

Weeek of November 8

B-Flat Minor Scale
Kreutzer No. 13
Sonata 2 in A Major: Grave



This movement will be difficult...I can't believe this Sonata only has four movements. I became accustomed to playing the second partita after two months. I think this Sonata will feel short.