Music Monday: How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall? PRACTICE!
My two favorite things in the world (besides my cats of course): my 1902 French Maxim Angard violin and Bartlett Bear!
Happy Fourth of July! And… welcome to Music Monday! Today I just wanted to share with you a blog about my practice sessions. In a nutshell, I started playing the violin in kindergarten. When I say I’m “classically trained,” that’s just a fancy way of saying I took years and years of violin lessons. 🙂 Right now, I haven’t had time to take violin lessons, so I just practice on my own to keep my chops up. Playing the violin is like being an athlete – you have to work out on a regular basis or your muscles can go slack!
Because I’m working full-time as a TV writer/producer and also as a book author, it’s hard for me to find enough time to practice on a regular basis. I haven’t had a chance to do any classical music chamber concerts in awhile, either. The last couple recitals I did were a few years ago when I performed Dvorak’s Romance in f minor for Violin & Piano and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in d minor with some friends. I hope one day to do another classical chamber music recital, but I’ll have to wait until I’m on a TV hiatus. I sometimes play with the Torrance Symphony Orchestra, so that’s my only other classical music outlet. I love playing with my rock bands, but my first love is always classical music. 🙂
(Keep reading after the jump for more musical musings! :))
This is my Thomas Knox violin from 1902. I played this in high school.
Over the weekend, I decided not to practice on my Angard violin (pictured at the top of this blog with Bartlett Bear). That was my main violin in college and post-college. I use the Angard for most concerts. But in high school, I played this beautiful violin (pictured above) that was made by Thomas Knox in Utica, NY in 1902. It’s a beautiful violin – it has a sweet tone. It’s on the quiet side, however, which is why I upgraded to the Angard violin which is much louder.
But  if you don’t practice the violin (or cello or viola or any wooden classical instrument), it can go “dead” from neglect. In other words, the wood can sound muffled. Again, it’s like being an athlete – you gotta use it or lose it.
So I decided to practice on the Knox violin to make sure it wasn’t going “dead.” To my relief, it sounded beautiful and had a clear tone. Phew!
So when I get a chance to practice, I usually do about 40 minutes of four-octave scales and some etudes from Kreutzer and Dont. Then I usually just run through some familiar pieces I played in elementary school and high school and college because I just don’t have time to learn a new classical piece. Sob. But it’s fun to keep my chops up by playing some favorite pieces I had officially studied and performed when I was younger.  That way, I don’t have to learn new notes but can review what I had already learned and make sure I can still play the notes in tune and in tempo.
This weekend, I practiced the following pieces…
Bach’s Solo Sonata for Violin in g minor  – below is a photo of my actual sheet music from my freshman year of college when I learned this piece and played it for a student recital.
If you want to hear this, check out one of my favorite recordings by Arthur Grumiaux:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_VBtfK79kQ
(I also LOVE Nathan Milstein’s recording of the Bach solo sonatas and partitas.)
Bach Solo Sonata for Violin in g minor, movement 1 in adagio
Then I decided to play the first of twelve fantasias for solo violin by Telemann. It is such a pretty and melancholy piece. I couldn’t find it for violin on youtube but found this LOVELY transcription of it for classical guitar (a lot of Bach and Telemann pieces for violin have been transcribed for classical guitar):Â http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNuNY0ickAQ
Telemann's Fantasia No. 1 for solo violin
And then I decided to run through the first two movements of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in g minor, which I learned my freshman year of college. Now here’s a youtube clip of famous (and one of my favorite) violinists, Joshua Bell, performing it. And no, I do not sound anywhere NEAR as good as Joshua. LOL! 🙂 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKwmfkDQ_Ws
Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in g minor
When I practice and it’s just for me and not for a concert, I tend to focus on making sure I can still play in tune and in tempo. I then focus on musical phrasing and try to remember what I had learned from my teachers when I originally learned these pieces. It’s also just a way to make sure I can keep my arm and finger and shoulder and back muscles in shape because the violin is a very, very physical instrument. It can wear you out! Which is why yoga helps me because I’m getting older! LOL! 🙂 (I might do a future yoga music blog later. Stay tuned for that!)
Anyway, I had a lot of fun getting a chance to practice my technique over the holiday weekend. Playing rock violin is a totally different ballgame – you tend to use less vibrato for rock bands, and you also tend to use a rougher and heavier bow stroke because you’re amped live in concert. So focusing on classical technique is important for me so my technique doesn’t deteriorate.
Also, practicing the violin is another form of “writing” for me. I find that it allows my subconscious to work on my writing projects while I focus on a different form of creativity.
Anyway, the best part of my practice session this weekend? After about three hours of practicing, I suddenly felt like someone was watching me! I turned around and saw that one of my three cats, Charlotte, had been sitting on my cluttered desk the entire time, listening quietly to me play! I had no idea Charlotte liked the violin! (Oreo, my other cat, runs away and hates the violin. Beethoven, the other cat, loves the violin like Charlotte.)
Charlotte listening to me practicing my violin!
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Thanks for reading this week’s MUSIC MONDAY blog. Do you play an instrument? If so, what is it and how often do you practice? I’d love to hear from fellow musicians!
Stay tuned for TV TUESDAY tomorrow. Until my next blog Happy Writing! WRITE LIKE YOU MEAN IT! 🙂