Music Monday: “Is Mendelssohn ‘Good Enough’?”

Music Monday: “Is Mendelssohn ‘Good Enough’?”

Me at age 7. Look at that perfect technique! LOL!

Me today with my Fender electric violin! Rock on! πŸ™‚

Welcome to my first MUSIC MONDAY blog!Β As many of you know, I’m a huge music fan as well as a musician. Β I listen to everything – and I play everything on my violin – from classical to rock to country to prog rock to punk rock.Β :) I’ve played, recorded, or toured with dozens of bands, includingΒ NO DOUBT, SPIRITUALIZED, ARTHUR LEE of LOVE, BIRD YORK, DILLON CAMPBELL, THE DILETTANTES, RANDOM AOK, BUCK MCCOY, EMMA BURGESS, LISTING SHIP, WAIT THINK FAST, BRIGHT BLUE GORILLA, and THE NOW PEOPLE. (For more on my music bio, you can go here:Β https://paulayoo.com/music.html)

I figured I’d start off each week with a fun music blog. These blogs may be super short, like a link to my favorite Duran Duran guilty pleasure song πŸ™‚ or something more substantial, like my musings on American Idol. πŸ™‚ LOL!

Today’s blog is about some of the music that was referenced in my YA novel GOOD ENOUGH (HarperCollins). This book was published in hardcover in 2008. The paperback edition is out this June 7, 2011! I plan to post several Music Monday blogs about the music featured in this novel as we near the paperback release date! The music ranges from Bach to The Sex Pistols, to give you an idea of the variety of music I love! πŸ™‚ For today’s blog, I’m going to focus on the classical pieces mentioned in this book…

(For more info on my book, go here:Β https://paulayoo.com/books-good.html)

(Keep reading after the jump for more info on the music in GOOD ENOUGH!)


So you can understand why GOOD ENOUGH focuses so much on music, here’s a good summary of the novel’s plot from KIRKUS REVIEWS: “Patti knows that the only thing harder than calculus, or maybe mastering the cadenza from the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor, is being a PKD, a Perfect Korean Daughter. The PKD achieves great grades, shines at extracurriculars and is devoted to her church but never complains or brags. Most important, the PKD never questions her parents’ pushing her to get into Harvard, Yale and Princeton and become a doctor or a lawyer. Though witty, linguistically gifted Patti has a number of academic talents, her greatest joy is playing the violin. She knows she’s not supposed to rock the Harvard/Yale/Princeton boat but, encouraged by her violin teacher, she applies to Juilliard. Now her dilemma is not her SAT scores or her grades, but how to hide her desire to attend music school from her academically oriented parents. The Clash, a jam session and a new boy at school encourage Patti to break from her PKD shell and see her social life and violin studies in new ways. Teens living through the pressure of college applications and questioning their futures will sympathize with Patti in this enjoyable, funny but not superficial read.”

For today’s blog, I thought I’d focus on the big piece in my novel. It is the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in e minor. I played this piece my senior year of high school.

Here’s a snapshot of the actual music I used when I was in high school. See all the pencil markings and bowings and fingerings from my teacher? LOL! πŸ™‚

The actual sheet music I used to learn Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in e minor!

I guess all those markings in the music helped me in the end. I won a concerto competition and got to play the concerto with the Greater Hartford Youth Orchestra. We even toured CHINA in the summer of 1987 – I had to perform this piece everywhere in China. I have to go my garage and look for the old photos to scan and post in a future blog. And yes, I had large, horrible 1980s eyeglasses and a horrible haircut. LOL! πŸ™‚ I promise a future blog with some photos from that amazing summer. So stay tuned for that! πŸ™‚

If you are curious to hear what it sounds like, check out this great youtube video featuring Sarah Chang! Link here:Β http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCLxso5XDN4

Another classical piece that I included in GOOD ENOUGH was Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnole.” My character Patti Yoon has to audition for concertmaster of the All-State Orchestra with one of the famous cadenzas from that orchestra work. The true story behind this? When I was in the 9th grade, I made it into our Connecticut All-State Orchestra. I forgot where I sat, but I think it was somewhere near the back of the first violin section. Being the competitive-yet-insecure teen that I was, I remember being upset that I had “failed” for not making concertmaster. Aieeee! If only I could go back in time and tell myself to “get over it.” LOL! πŸ™‚ I remember being in awe of our amazing concertmaster who ROCKED the cadenzas in this Rimsky-Korsakov piece.

So I had to write about that in my novel. It fit so perfectly with the coming-of-age themes I was exploring. (Ironically, in real life, I ended up making All-State Concertmaster the next year when I was in the 10th grade and got to play the solo in the first movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. We got a standing ovation! One of my fondest musical memories ever.)

To hear an excerpt of the Rimsky-Korsakov piece, check out this youtube video performance… Link here:Β http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvLVNVim0QM

Finally, here’s a fun video I did for READER GIRLZ TV featuring some of this music, plus a little LED ZEP at the end! πŸ™‚

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqQ6jQ_SrCY

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Well, I hope you enjoyed today’s MUSIC MONDAY blog. Do you listen to classical music at all? If so, what are your favorite pieces? (Don’t worry if you’re not an expert!) I look forward to your comments. Stay tuned for more music next week! Until then… Happy Writing! WRITE LIKE YOU MEAN IT! πŸ™‚

 

9 Responses

  1. Paula Yoo,
    You are a delight! I am enjoying your book and look forward to hearing you perform again soon!
    Keep spreading your brilliance within & throughout the world.
    }:~)
    Johnny English

    • paulayoo says:

      Hi Johnny! Thank you again for your kind words. And hopefully we’ll find time to jam too! πŸ™‚ cheers, P.

  2. Mary M Russell says:

    Wow nice, only problem is that violin solos always make me cry, well the good ones do, the bad ones make me a little crazy. Thanks.

    • paulayoo says:

      LOL Mary that is TOTALLY true. I too shudder at the bad violin solos. The violin is an extreme instrument – it either sounds like angels singing or a cat yowling for food. LOL! πŸ™‚

  3. LadyJai says:

    If ever I were to learn an instrument, the violin tops my list. I am in utter awe that you are such a talent in more ways than one. I would love to see/hear some of your music on youtube if ever the chance arises.

  4. Miamore says:

    Hi! I skipped playing the Mendelssohn violin concerto for some odd reason, and am learning it now at 40 πŸ™‚ Your music looks like mine (actually, a LOT like mine… you didn’t happen to study with the Vamos’s did you?) I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing the rest of the pages of the Mendelssohn with me? I know it’s a long shot, since you don’t know me, but I thought I’d ask πŸ™‚

    • Miamore says:

      I forgot to mention my reason (oops!) I don’t have fingerings, and I also find the other markings are also very helpful. I had no idea quite how valuable those markings written by my teacher were at the time of studying!

    • paulayoo says:

      Hi. You can email me at paula at paulayoo dot com and I will try to send you the music once I find it (it’s lost in a big box LOL). Happy Weekend and thanks for your kind comments. πŸ™‚

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