Every once in a blue moon, Teacher brings the duet parts for the Suzuki pieces so she can play along with me; this past Tuesday was one of them.  It’s always fulfilling for me to play like that, making real music, and this Vivaldi concerto movement was the most fun I’ve had with chamber music so far.  Of course, Teacher totally supports and carries me, masking my foibles and modifying her rhythm to suit my many inconsistencies – she’s great at treading water in a hurricane.  But after our little concert, I decided that there’s no denying the piece is really coming together for me – we didn’t sound half-bad.

One thing I’m working on now is speeding up the two sections where sixteenth notes predominate.  I’ve listened to the concerto played by others, and know that those parts are to be played fast fast fast.  After our duet, we used the rest of the lesson to work on making them faster.  I’ve also been working on memorizing it, and I do actually have most of the first two pages in my head at this point.  The third is another story; I’ve still got a long way to go there.

If the Seitz concerto movements that preceded the Vivaldi in Book Four presented technical complexity that I’d never encountered, the Vivaldi represents a leap into real music like none other I’ve made.  It’s been rewarding, and I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The next piece in the book is the third movement of the same concerto – I wonder if it’s going to take as long to get through.

The bright side is that as boredom has occasionally intruded into my practice of the concerto, my interest in the other things I’m working on has increased – those include the etudes, position shifting exercises, and Ashokan Farewell.  I’ve also returned to the Book Three finale – a beautiful Bach bourree.

Slowly we go, but ever onward.

Thanks for reading.

Ryan