Performances coming up tomorrow. We had strings group rehearsal today. Much of my practice has been on the performance material this week.
We are playing Ghosts of Brandenburg. Its technically quite tricky for our group. The second violins have enough in numbers to sound quite strong. But the rest of the group was down in number today at rehearsal. We talked about the need to play out confidently. The audience can pick up if we are playing tentatively. This seems to be code for we are all worried. Its a cool arrangement though.
I can get through the notes Ok but the bowing patterns are tricky and I find them quite alien - even now.
I have been practising with Audacity at home to work out where the part fits. Most of it is Ok But there are still one or two entries where it seems easy to lose count when playing with the group. Its difficult to hear and of course we have assigned parts to different instruments as we don't have all the instruments to play the original score.
I also went to my lesson yesterday. I am trying to improve hook bowing. Its difficult to play the stops cleanly and annoyingly I sometimes feel the bow slipping back giving a slight skipping. Very sweet but not quite a strathspey.
I have also been playing a lament. I have been improvising a lot, finding lines. Of course i am off into orbit but my teacher is making the sensible point that improvisation should be recognisably the tune. I am having trouble with the timing of the lament. i think I have listened to a recording too many times where it is certainly not played as notated. It has contaminated me. In fact the recording plays the piece in a sort of 6/8 rather than 4/4 in parts. Other parts are free timing. Every time I play I have to check myself or I am off into 6/8 or worse.
I am working in ornaments and playing the octave down. Trying to get vibrato in. I have been learning an arm vibrato but I am apparently naturally playing more of a wrist vibrato. Hmm . Ideally its good to be able to do them both. Slow practice required to get the bowing better. Triple stopping needs to be smoother.
We are playing Ghosts of Brandenburg. Its technically quite tricky for our group. The second violins have enough in numbers to sound quite strong. But the rest of the group was down in number today at rehearsal. We talked about the need to play out confidently. The audience can pick up if we are playing tentatively. This seems to be code for we are all worried. Its a cool arrangement though.
I can get through the notes Ok but the bowing patterns are tricky and I find them quite alien - even now.
I have been practising with Audacity at home to work out where the part fits. Most of it is Ok But there are still one or two entries where it seems easy to lose count when playing with the group. Its difficult to hear and of course we have assigned parts to different instruments as we don't have all the instruments to play the original score.
I also went to my lesson yesterday. I am trying to improve hook bowing. Its difficult to play the stops cleanly and annoyingly I sometimes feel the bow slipping back giving a slight skipping. Very sweet but not quite a strathspey.
I have also been playing a lament. I have been improvising a lot, finding lines. Of course i am off into orbit but my teacher is making the sensible point that improvisation should be recognisably the tune. I am having trouble with the timing of the lament. i think I have listened to a recording too many times where it is certainly not played as notated. It has contaminated me. In fact the recording plays the piece in a sort of 6/8 rather than 4/4 in parts. Other parts are free timing. Every time I play I have to check myself or I am off into 6/8 or worse.
I am working in ornaments and playing the octave down. Trying to get vibrato in. I have been learning an arm vibrato but I am apparently naturally playing more of a wrist vibrato. Hmm . Ideally its good to be able to do them both. Slow practice required to get the bowing better. Triple stopping needs to be smoother.
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