(no subject)

[violachic]

There are two things I want to post about, but I am going to make two separate posts, since they are things that are very different from one another.

This post, as might very well be indicated by the seizure-inducing icon, is about music.


I don't know how many of you know this, but this past June, while in Quebec, I got a new viola. Its a long story of serendipity and generous help, and I won't tell it here- but if you want to know sometime, ask me and I'll tell you.

The viola I bought eleven years ago to replace my student viola was 16 3/4", with a wide, thick body and wide neck; nobody should have let me buy it, as I have the hands and arm span of a child, but it sounded incredible when I tried it, was in our price range, and I didn't have much guidance from teachers. It was too huge for me, and I have struggled with it since then, thinking the limitations were mine. I mean granted, I had a pretty successful stretch of gigging with it, but nothing superbly strenuous. But since this chronic pain cropped up, I've been even more limited in playing it. I really thought I'd never play again.

The new viola is 16", with a proportional body, and a lovely slim neck- it feels unbelievably natural under my hands. And it plays like absolute butter. When I got home from Canada with it, almost the first thing I did was to play them side by side, and the new one, while smaller, plays rings around the old one- which I got lots of compliments on when I was gigging, about the great deep viola sound it gets. Its been an amazing thing in helping me get back in the saddle, vis-a-vis playing and all. To wit- I can.

I've played a couple times at church over the summer, choosing stuff that is less athletic, to kind of get back in the game. But now that I know I can play again, I've been trying to ramp it up. A week from today I'm playing a Bach sonata movement that tests the stamina of my left hand- which has been hard going to revive, although my technique seems pretty intact. And for Christmas Eve, I'm going to do the first group from the Vaughan Williams Viola Suite, which includes a spirited third movement called "Christmas Dance", that has a 6/8-3/4 time signature that is very fun.

So I'm excited by all this. Very excited.

**If you ever want to visit my church, or hear some great music for free, next week is the week to show up. The choir is doing an amazing Vaughan Williams piece, and I'm doing my Bach. w00t!**


I am looking for a piece of advice, though, from the viola players on my flist. As I mentioned, while my left hand technique hasn't suffered too much, my muscles are slack, and need to build and stretch. While doing my 3-octave scales, I'm finding I'm having trouble stretching much beyond the F scale. What can I do, beyond continuing to do scales up there, to help stretch the muscles? In my regular practicing days, I could do all the way up to a B scale, even on my huge viola, so this is disconcerting. Any advice?

So yeah, I think that about wraps that up, at least for now. I'll write more on it as it happens.

Comments

[violachic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm really trying to stay relaxed. Having the smaller viola helps SO much with that. I think what you said makes sense, I'll try it tonight when I practice, thanks.

[sweetzicke.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to hear this good news! Very happy for you. First of all, I would suggest you take it easy while building up your muscles - I don't know how many times I've gotten myself an RSI by playing too much too soon after my summer break. If you get tired, or anything hurts, stop. I certainly wouldn't recommend playing 9ths unless octaves are easy. I too have very small hands, and a short fourth finger, and tend to use my fourth finger where others use a third (like the first chord in the Stamitz concerto, F# on the C and A on the G - a helpful hint from my dear teacher Michael Tree). I would recommend doing scales in thirds and sixths, I use the Carl Flesch books for that.
I've got more finger exercises and warm ups that I could write down and send to you, if you like!
By the way, I passed a falafel place yesterday called Habibi here in Berlin, Kreuzberg, and thought of your little cutie.