Performance points

Interesting performances last Thursday.  We talked a bit about:

• performance nerves and to think about techniques for overcoming these.  
  
• elasticity of phrasing
• improving long notes with a crescendo
• for the singers, its good to act it out and get into the character before staring to sing the songs. Accent can be important. If its an American show - try to sing with an American accent - or at least not in broad Scots.  I guess that's true for 
  

The other interesting thing that happened this week was my old fiddle teacher sent me a recording of her recital (she went to Newcastle to do her Masters specialising in Shetland music).  Completely by coincidence she had played the Muckle Reel of Finnigart (which I blogged about earlier).   Sounded amazing. She had loosely interpreted it, rather than sticking faithfully to the tune and was playing it in a different tuning to get more double stopping through it.  She also sent me Peter Fraser's recording which she had managed to find - it is pretty much as I play it.

We have had a few e mail exchanges about it and I hope to meet up with her soon to get a few ideas about my version.

Borrowed a violin to try out but I don't think I'm going to go for it.