Day 10, 11, 12 and new violin teacher
Day 10 was all about hands on back of chair - it was a rough class day for us none of us seemed to be feeling the top of our game. By the time we finished I was completely wiped out, it was all I could do to get home. So tired. I took the next day off school and went to the dr, the best I got was it's a virus....take it easy, oh and this one seems to hang on longer than some. Great.
So, I didn't go to class on day 11....and I'm still not well, I'm a different miserable today. I swear my body is out to get me right now.
On Friday afternoon I took a violin lesson (virtual) with Byron Duckwall. I was worried that things would be really wrong when he initially told me that many people studied with Niekrug but many forget the principals - however, I think I was pretty much on track. I expected and hour lesson and ended up with an hour and 45. My brain was so much toast by the time we finished.
There were some things he liked - one was the fingers in relation to the string - I think if there was one thing I DID semi-master with John, it was that idea.
Then Byron questioned me:
"What is the most important thing in music, don't think about just say it."
"Expression."
"Good. What is the function of your hands?"
"Well, to execute the use of the instrument."
"What were your hands just doing? What do we do when we talk?"
"um...use our hands?"
"Too.....???"
"ah..."
"Express! What does a conductor do? Express with his hands! Now, what is the express purpose of your hands?"
"To touch?"
"YES! And now, using our body (Pointing to heart), we have to use our hands to express through our instrument, AND what do people say about a beautiful performance? That they were 'touched'"
*insert dumbfounded silence here.
Holy crap....
Then it was time to play.
Mozart....ugh...why did I ever choose Mozart, I should know better, I should know better!
I made it thru the 1st page then we went back.
Chords...must be played softer with less force, we don't need force in chords. The fact that they are chords gives them the volume.
Long note....have you heard of the Viennese accent? (oh geez..no....) From everything I could gather I need to not accent the first of the note, but allow it to get heavy AFTER I get the bow moving on the string then decay
16th notes......groupings, not note note note. Give the first one emphasis and let the others follow - If I go back to my limited baroque training I believe he's talking about gestures, why not? Classical music follows the Baroque period, why wouldn't there still be gestures??
We reviewed see-saw with the bow using the thumb as the fulcrum. He wanted that same motion in my bow arm - I didn't get it. He got a little frustrated with me, but it's hard for me when it's not hands on. He got his cello out and showed me - I'm still processing what should be happening in my right hand, it's gonna be tricky.
He had me go from low level to high level (E-G) in one fluid motion, like lifting a weight. I got it once or twice, but again, it's going to be tricky.
Last he told me to play everything with just my hand (RH), no arm, none. zip. nothing. This idea is one that I probably should have gleaned for myself when I was working with John but he never insisted I take it that far. I should have figured that out for myself.
It's remarkable to me that cello or violin the principles of motion are the same. I hope I can make some improvements, it makes me nervous working with someone of this caliber BUT I know there isn't anyone else around who does this who makes things go back to their natural state and make it happen from there, I can't do it any other way, my body is too important, I dont want anymore man-made scars.
One of the last ideas he left me with was fast/slow practice. He said that practicing fast passages slowly was the death of the passage. You don't do things the same fast as slow, your motions are different, the way you approach things is different. I'd never thought about it. He talked about maintaining the position of the hand for the fast things. It's kind of like when I teach my guitar kids about chords how it's easier to get from one chord to another quickly if you have a shape in mind, not finger, finger, finger. This concept is going to be an interesting one for me to try out on the violin....
Class today was ok. We did more hands on back of chair and monkey - I swear I'm never going to get it right - my front body likes secondary too much -
C was still frustrated today over her apartment situation since coming to SLC. It's going to get ugly I'm pretty sure, the problem is it really wears on her, then it affects us too. On break we talked about our food likes/dislikes, I feel so heathenish sometimes - HA! We have someone who is strict vegan, someone who is a strict plant person (I'm still trying to figure the difference between that and vegan...), and then me and J who aren't real meat people. It was a fun discussion and I got a couple of good food ideas from S.
Then S did her presentation regarding the positions of dance and the spirals it creates. It was kinda cool, but I'm so not in shape and the "workout" was kind of misery for me. I think I'm just going to be a lot that way until we figure out why I keep gaining weight and why everything hurts. So aggravating.
I'd really like to take some dance classes from her, she's so knowledgeable! There was some discussion about how detrimental the competitive aspect of our lives is and how it keeps people from working on themselves because they're so worried about outdoing the person next to them and the person next to them that they never fix anything, they just try to keep going.
I compared it to my seating practice in orchestra where I don't do competitive seating, they're given a seat and it gets changed a few times a year. S suggested I do some sort of paper on it - I thought that would be kind of cool, I'll have to think of an angle for the paper, maybe how to incorporate the inhibition and mindset of AT :)
That's all for today, next week will be a slow week too, with fall break we're going to Idaho on Weds to hike and play, so I'll miss most of next week's class - I feel kinda bad about it but then, I have got to get out of this place for a while, I've had it.
So, I didn't go to class on day 11....and I'm still not well, I'm a different miserable today. I swear my body is out to get me right now.
On Friday afternoon I took a violin lesson (virtual) with Byron Duckwall. I was worried that things would be really wrong when he initially told me that many people studied with Niekrug but many forget the principals - however, I think I was pretty much on track. I expected and hour lesson and ended up with an hour and 45. My brain was so much toast by the time we finished.
There were some things he liked - one was the fingers in relation to the string - I think if there was one thing I DID semi-master with John, it was that idea.
Then Byron questioned me:
"What is the most important thing in music, don't think about just say it."
"Expression."
"Good. What is the function of your hands?"
"Well, to execute the use of the instrument."
"What were your hands just doing? What do we do when we talk?"
"um...use our hands?"
"Too.....???"
"ah..."
"Express! What does a conductor do? Express with his hands! Now, what is the express purpose of your hands?"
"To touch?"
"YES! And now, using our body (Pointing to heart), we have to use our hands to express through our instrument, AND what do people say about a beautiful performance? That they were 'touched'"
*insert dumbfounded silence here.
Holy crap....
Then it was time to play.
Mozart....ugh...why did I ever choose Mozart, I should know better, I should know better!
I made it thru the 1st page then we went back.
Chords...must be played softer with less force, we don't need force in chords. The fact that they are chords gives them the volume.
Long note....have you heard of the Viennese accent? (oh geez..no....) From everything I could gather I need to not accent the first of the note, but allow it to get heavy AFTER I get the bow moving on the string then decay
16th notes......groupings, not note note note. Give the first one emphasis and let the others follow - If I go back to my limited baroque training I believe he's talking about gestures, why not? Classical music follows the Baroque period, why wouldn't there still be gestures??
We reviewed see-saw with the bow using the thumb as the fulcrum. He wanted that same motion in my bow arm - I didn't get it. He got a little frustrated with me, but it's hard for me when it's not hands on. He got his cello out and showed me - I'm still processing what should be happening in my right hand, it's gonna be tricky.
He had me go from low level to high level (E-G) in one fluid motion, like lifting a weight. I got it once or twice, but again, it's going to be tricky.
Last he told me to play everything with just my hand (RH), no arm, none. zip. nothing. This idea is one that I probably should have gleaned for myself when I was working with John but he never insisted I take it that far. I should have figured that out for myself.
It's remarkable to me that cello or violin the principles of motion are the same. I hope I can make some improvements, it makes me nervous working with someone of this caliber BUT I know there isn't anyone else around who does this who makes things go back to their natural state and make it happen from there, I can't do it any other way, my body is too important, I dont want anymore man-made scars.
One of the last ideas he left me with was fast/slow practice. He said that practicing fast passages slowly was the death of the passage. You don't do things the same fast as slow, your motions are different, the way you approach things is different. I'd never thought about it. He talked about maintaining the position of the hand for the fast things. It's kind of like when I teach my guitar kids about chords how it's easier to get from one chord to another quickly if you have a shape in mind, not finger, finger, finger. This concept is going to be an interesting one for me to try out on the violin....
Class today was ok. We did more hands on back of chair and monkey - I swear I'm never going to get it right - my front body likes secondary too much -
C was still frustrated today over her apartment situation since coming to SLC. It's going to get ugly I'm pretty sure, the problem is it really wears on her, then it affects us too. On break we talked about our food likes/dislikes, I feel so heathenish sometimes - HA! We have someone who is strict vegan, someone who is a strict plant person (I'm still trying to figure the difference between that and vegan...), and then me and J who aren't real meat people. It was a fun discussion and I got a couple of good food ideas from S.
Then S did her presentation regarding the positions of dance and the spirals it creates. It was kinda cool, but I'm so not in shape and the "workout" was kind of misery for me. I think I'm just going to be a lot that way until we figure out why I keep gaining weight and why everything hurts. So aggravating.
I'd really like to take some dance classes from her, she's so knowledgeable! There was some discussion about how detrimental the competitive aspect of our lives is and how it keeps people from working on themselves because they're so worried about outdoing the person next to them and the person next to them that they never fix anything, they just try to keep going.
I compared it to my seating practice in orchestra where I don't do competitive seating, they're given a seat and it gets changed a few times a year. S suggested I do some sort of paper on it - I thought that would be kind of cool, I'll have to think of an angle for the paper, maybe how to incorporate the inhibition and mindset of AT :)
That's all for today, next week will be a slow week too, with fall break we're going to Idaho on Weds to hike and play, so I'll miss most of next week's class - I feel kinda bad about it but then, I have got to get out of this place for a while, I've had it.
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