There is nothing worse than when your violin has to go for repairs. Once you have stepped up to a better instrument, its very difficult to go back. I bought a new violin fairly recently. Its a nice violin but with no provenance at all. To cut a long story short, it cracked. After much discussion it went in to be fixed last week. I have been playing my B violin. Its quite different. Everything feels off and its hard to play it well. I think I can feel about 1 mm difference in the set up now.
Anyway I now have my new violin back. Its still sort of is my violin , but when the front comes off, it springs a little when it goes back on. Also the luthier decided to improve it a little (I had commented that the G string was not as good as the rest of it). So on getting it back, the bridge is different (higher) and the violin has been rethicknessed. It looks, feels and sounds slightly different as well. Its like starting the relationship again and takes some getting used to. To make matters worse it may settle over the next couple of weeks meaning the bridge has to be changed back - I do hope so. I have been continuing to work on bowing, vibrato and intonation. Slow practice. As for the last piece I played there is a tricky bar with string crossing which means straddling with the third finger. I have been practising that a lot. I am also playing a lament. I have been trying to find lines and variations that I could improvise with and I have also been trying it an octave down. As I find these, I am enjoying the tune more. I am introducing trills and ornaments. I am much better at these but I am trying to strengthen my fingers to trill using a fourth finger - very difficult. I am doing some scales using vibrato. There are fingers and strings more difficult than others. The pieces are in A minor and A mixolydian. I am still trying to keep the pieces I played in January up to standard too (G minor,D etc) We are also coming up to a number of performances. i am performing with the folk band in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday so I am looking at those pieces too. It means working up the pieces I played in December as well as the folk band tunes that we will playing on March 14. We are playing ghosts of Brandenburg with Stings Group. Its a cool piece but its challenging. The last page involves bowing patterns that i find quite hard. i am trying to practice it too. Its coming. There is improvisation on top, with Bb blues and pentatonic scales, Eb7 arpeggios, Cm7 and C Dorian, F. Cantalouple involves D7, Db7 and F7. We have been playing in ensembles which I've found easier. Its hard to fit this all in and a lot to do with assignments and theory. I had developed a sort of repetitive strain injury but this seems to have gone now - thank goodness! I have been playing a little less this week as I have been really quite ill with a flu thing for over two weeks. Overall I can feel my playing lifting all the time and the violin is singing. Its a thrill when it goes right.
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I am playing three new pieces for my recital in May. Back to very slow practice to try to get each of the pieces clean. There are triplestops and high positions. I am playing a Lament this time so I am working out the ornamentation. I will probably try an improvised section in the middle.
I have been practising the bowing patterns and almost have it. But the strathspey bowing is difficult with stops on each bow stroke. Its hard to do this while keeping the tone. Gets a bit harsh sounding unless you are very careful. I am practising first without the notes and warming up by getting the tone and rhythm right before actually trying to play the tune. I am practicing string crossing and doing scales with vibrato. I am a late vibrato learner. It isn't used much by many folk players and some people feel it shouldn't be used at all. But, actually, many of the famous fiddlers, for example, Scott Skinner were first classically trained. They probably would have used vibrato when it was appropriate. I am also playing a borders reel. It sits under the fingers better than the reel I played last time. We are playing The Ghosts of Brandenburg and Fiddle Faddle. I have been trying spending time to get the bowing patterns of Ghosts of Brandenburg. There are some quite tricky and fast sections. The bowing seems quite odd to me at times coming from the folk side.I still find the sight reading and bars of rest tricky. I like the piece though and it feels as though its coming together. Its fun to play. I don't really like Fiddle Faddle. It might be good for those playing solos. I'd describe it as a classical sort of fiddle piece rather than actual folk music which wouldn't usually go into the high positions etc. The second part is basically syncopated crotchets all the way through with the odd run and pizzicato here and there. Ah well. Its tricky to get it tight. There are also folk band pieces which are good and Improvisation on top of that. I will be performing the Ghosts of Brandenburg and folk band pieces in March. And I have been playing in the Canon's Gait session on and off. Its a lot of playing and I have developed a sore shoulder and neck. I can still play but I'm trying to give it a bit of rest. My last performance (last Thursday) was a performance of a graphic score - Per San Pietro Martire (Saint Peter the Martyr).
It was interesting to play. It was written by Colin Holter and has five sections. There are notes prescribed (four lines) for any instruments and voice. Dynamics are rather like a cityscape skyline or blobs in the case of the base. Each section is timed but the note value is for each player's own interpretation. I enjoyed the performance. It allows you to play uninhibited by the scoring or by what others might expect (if they know the music). Each musician's interpretation differs but within a overall framework. There is cohesion as we move from section to section and we all start and finish together. Its also interesting in that the score used quarter tones. The last section is only three notes and is depicted by a large hatchet - St Peter's beheading! Its not the first time I've played a graphic score but the last one looked quite different. I have also written a graphic score and performance notes called "Self determination" . Again is looks nothing like this one. The Young Trad musician of the year was announced on 3 Feb. All the finalists were great. It was won by Paddy Callaghan - a melodeon player. Hannah Fisher, a fiddler was also among the finalists. Here she is below. Went to Celtic Connections last night and saw Breabach, Blazin" Fiddles, Dougie MacLean and Kathleen Macinnes. Good mix of sets including lots of Burns songs and poetry. Great fiddling by Blazin' fiddles and Meg Henderson. I am starting on new pieces this week. The bowing seems difficult so i am working at making it feel more natural by bowing on open strings before adding in tthe notes.
In strings groups we are moving onto Brandenburg Ghosts. Brilliant piece but quite challenging. We are also playing a very fast piece called Fiddle Faddle. I have to say the seconds part - while on the fact of it isn;t that hard - seems difficult to work out how it fits with the firsts. There is a lot on the backbeat. My last post mentioned that I was playing my recital this week. I practised a lot for it and felt comfortable that I had prepared as well as possible. I had to play really early between 9 am and 10 am. I find that playing early in the day is harder. I never practise until the afternoon and evening as it takes that long to get going properly. Musicians are a nocturnal breed of people. Never in bed until the small hours. The actual playing went OK. Not perfect but the feedback from colleagues was good. I felt I played the Shetland reel as well as I had ever played it - its very exposed much of it solo - with improvisation. But it was great and I enjoyed playing it. Everyone who played did well. Its good to have it behind and to start new material. I am going to play a lament next time, as well as a slow Strathspey and reel. I am concentrating on tone, bowing and am practising vibrato. There are very mixed views about vibrato in folk. Many think it should never be used. But I think I should have it in my toolbox.
I have been percussive dancing recently. I enjoy the Quebecan fiddling style where they play along to percussive footwork. I have been scottish step dancing and tap dancing for a short while. This week I tried flamenco. I am hoping that if I can internalise the rhythms I will be eventually be able to do it while playing. But even if that doesn't work, its great fun, music related and the rhythms soak in. Stepdancing and tapping seems relatively intuitive to me. I am so used to the music and rhythms that its only the footwork you need to concentrate on. Flamenco rhythms feel much more alien.
Excited to be playing my recital tomorrow. Last minute practice - keeping the turns and ornaments as clear as possible. I have been trying to sort out a slight buzz on my hardanger as well. The cold is not helping. I like the pieces I am playing but I will enjoy getting onto new material after tomorrow.
I have been rehearsing a lot this week and last. My next recital is on Thursday morning.
My violins are complaining with the cold weather and continually pop strings at the moment. My hands have been cold too making playing difficult. So on Thursday I will be wearing gloves and parking as close to the venue as possible so as not to let my violin (or me) get too cold. In rehearsals we have been trying to sort out the speed -particularly of the reel. I am paying The Marquis of Huntly, John Cheap the Chapman, Da West Side Bride's March and Da Muckle reel o' Finnigart. I shall be tuning the hardanger up for the second set and improvising a lot. The hardanger sounds great. Well, Xmas has come and gone. Back to work. I have been practising for my recital in January. I had a few days off over Xmas while down in Brighton and I felt rusty when I came back. Trying to get it all back under the fingers. I am working on vibrato - not for this recital but for the next. I am also starting to choose and practise the tunes for the next solo recital in May. Also working on intonation so playing the G minor scale quite a lot.
My hardanger developed a slight buzz at the end of last year. Not sure why. Its been so cold though that it might be unhappy. We have been trying to sort it. I have been playing it a lot over the holiday with the g string tuned up to A. This brings extra challenges. It's quite disconcerting. First the violin has a different resonance and you can't gauge when the the G on the D string is in tune as well. It doesn't have the same ring as when the G string is on G. Its also means I need to be careful not to hit it accidentally, as the chords are not the same. I have to change the fingering too. But the problems are worth the gains in the second tune (in my view). The reel I am to play is still causing me endless problems. its very awkward. I have slipped back a bit on the Strathspey and am working to get the clarity back again. Holidays shouldn't be allowed. On the bright side I have booked flights to go to the USA in the summer to study hardanger playing in Winconsin with the American Hardanger Association. After that I will be flying to Montreal to visit a school friend and then to go up to a Quebecan fiddling week. Quebecans not only play the fiddle but stamp rythmns at the same time. Its great. Looking forward to it already. And I hope to fit in some Scottish fiddling and a trip to St Kilda too! Might be overambitious... |
Fiona Harrison
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