Category The Suzuki Method
Corelli and Reading Ahead
Arcangelo Corelli was a violinist and composer of the Baroque era, born in 1653. He was active in Italy from an early age, and did much to enhance the prominence of the violin. Wikipedia also reports that his work was instrumental in formalizing the sonata form, and in bringing harmony to violin music. It seems […]
A Pass on Seitz
Somehow, three months after starting it, I managed to play through the Seitz from memory for Teacher in Tuesday’s lesson, and she declared it passed. I had to be honest, of course, and told her that particular play-through was the second time ever I’d accomplished the big doubled sixteenth note section of the piece without […]
Back to Boccherini
I’ve come a long way since the end of Book Two, but I basically left the Boccherini Minuet, the book’s finale, in the dust sometime in the middle of Book Three. For whatever reason I haven’t been as motivated to keep it active as I have with some of the other Suzuki pieces. Because I […]
Revisiting Beethoven
Beethoven is represented exactly once in the Suzuki repertoire in Books One through Four – his famous “Minuet in G” in Book Two. I loved it when I learned it, but recently I haven’t given it much attention at all. In some ways it’s a tough one – there’s a position shift down and it’s […]
Perlman and Stern and Me
I’ve been slowly getting around to all nine of the CDs in the Perlman collection that my parents gave me for my birthday back in May – I’ve been taking them wildly out of order, but this morning I loaded up the first CD from the collection into iTunes. It opens with the Bach Concerto […]
Cradle Song
Brahms’s Opus 49 was published in 1868; the great composer worked alongside Clara Schuman, the noted pianist, for many compositions, and it was she who first debuted the song on piano the following year. Brahms titled the piece, Wiegenlied: Guten Abend, Gute Nacht, and it is indeed a song with words, sung for its debut […]
My First Concerto
Suzuki picked Friedrich Seitz’s Concerto No. 2 in G Major, the third movement, as the Book Four opener. I have been listening to it like a good Suzuki Kid, and have been looking forward to getting going on it, though feeling a bit intimidated. Book Four has several concerto movements – including Vivaldi and Bach! […]
Looking Back and Staying Present
Lately, I’ve had a whole lot to work on in my practice sessions – in addition to my new pieces being quite complicated and just longer than past pieces, I’m trying to work on vibrato, shifting positions, and to do daily work on scales. Consequently, I spend less and less time on my older Book […]
The Minors
In yesterday’s lesson we made it through to the end of the final piece in Book Three. This Bach Bourree is beautiful, but it will take me a few more weeks to get it up to snuff. Bourree Two (the piece is two back to back Bourrees) is a minor variation on Bourree One – […]
Ryan Libel 