Brahms: second-to-last coaching
Well, Yu recorded this Wednesday’s coaching again, and I think we’ve definitely made progress. The intonation, ensemble, balance, and tempos all seem better (and the third movement is gorgeous, if you ask me!). Now it’s time for some serious polishing, I think–especially on the first movement. Making sure our note-lengths all match, not clipping the ends of phrases, more vibrato here, less there, stuff like that.
And Amanda and I could definitely use new A strings! I’m still playing on the ancient Jargar A, and Amanda’s A was so false, it was unusable. And since she didn’t have any extras on hand, she had to use one of my used viola strings on her violin! Surprisingly it works better than you might think, but still not as good as an actual violin string, I would imagine.
April 30th, 2004 at 6:33 pm
I hope you’ve dropped your bow off for a rehair! Seriously, I’ve gone months w/out rehairs, but new hair is SO much better. If you look at horsehair under the microscope, from what I understand, it’s covered in “spikes” (my word), and as you bow the spikes pull at the string. After a few months all the spikes have ground down and your just skating on the string, you’ve got no bite. Any of the good craftsman in Boston, and there are a bunch, will lend you a bow, in the interem if it’s the only one you have.
Thanks for linking Hass Dot, you were next on my list!
You can pull off Grovvy Newbie, I’m going to let that die, unless you have a better suggestion.
April 30th, 2004 at 6:51 pm
No longer a newbie, huh?
Actually, I haven’t dropped the bow off yet. Maybe I’ll try doing that tomorrow before rehearsal, if they can lend me a bow.
Since I don’t practice as much as I should, I think there are still some little barb things left on the hair, as I’m not completely sliding around, but yes, it is definitely time for a rehair. It can be annoying if the new hair isn’t completely rosined, though. And going from slippery hair to new hair can be slightly disconcerting at first! Like, too much gripping!
April 30th, 2004 at 8:46 pm
My wife is finally going to get her Voirin in for a rehair, it’s been like a year and a half, I think. And she wonders why it doesn’t sound like it should
And Hass, you’re definately not a newbie anymore, though I think you shed that title in record time.
Glad your coaching is going well and you’re happy with your sound; listening to recordings of myself is always so painful - I don’t think I’ve ever said “gorgeous” about any of my playing.
April 30th, 2004 at 10:37 pm
“Barb things”…I like your term better. And Eric, your playing had gorgeous tone.
May 1st, 2004 at 12:01 am
Well, gorgeous is a somewhat relative term.
And I’m speaking more of the lovely cello and violin solos at the beginning of the movement, not myself (I don’t have nearly as nice juicy places as they do, and my vibrato doesn’t come out nearly as much as I’d like). I think we just do a better job of relaxing into the music in the third movement–we play it more musically than the other movements. I guess we’re less concerned with things like maintaining tempo and such–it’s so hard to get some of the transitions in the faster movements.
May 1st, 2004 at 11:01 am
I owe it all to the white chocolate mochas.