It’s been two weeks since my last lesson, and I’ve had a four day weekend in the meantime as well.  We have stayed put all the while, so I’ve managed to get plenty of practice time in.  In fact, I feel I’ve had a very productive two weeks with my violin, despite still feeling my wrists from my bike crash.  The tonalization exercise I started Book Two off with has really just been the jumping off point of me playing and exploring ways to create resonance within the instrument.  Being perfectly on tune is the main thing, along with smooth and consistent bowing.  Relaxation is also key.  I’m pretty terrible at all of it, of course, but I’m getting better, and I can tell.

Still, focusing on making the thing hum isn’t exactly memorizing new music.  I have yet to memorize my new song, and I’ve had it for over three weeks.  It’s called Musette¸excerpted from some Bach or another, and there’s one line in particular that’s of the type I’ve wondered about while listening to pros play.  I’ve wondered – how do large sequences of melodic slurs that scale up and down and switch directions seemingly randomly ever really make their way into your head?  I’ve just got one of those lines to deal with in this piece, and I’m finding it tough to gain a memory foothold!  I think that’s the how, though.  You start with one line, then you can do two, then four.  The patterns, of which there generally are some, start to emerge the more you play.

The other song I’ve been working on is really coming along – Chorus from Judas Maccabeus.  It has a lot of great resonance moments, and I do have it memorized.  There’s one challenging two measure long spot that mucks up what’s otherwise becoming a lovely piece for me.  I’ll keep at it.

I find myself looking forward to this lesson more than most.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan