Hi, Guys!
I'm hoping that I am posting this correctly. I will readily admit to being a blog virgin...
Jim, Sheng and Jacqui, it was great to read your postings! Jim, I chuckled while reading about your house and music downloads. Jacqui, I do want to see wedding pictures. Sheng, good luck to you and Cindy with your studies.
We have had a really stressful past few months and I really rely on thinking of Summerkeys when I need a "happy" place. My parents are rapidly declining in health and I spend a lot of time making the 2 1/2 hour trip to Birmingham. My mother has had multiple mini-strokes that are now catching up with her and she is in rehab for speech and mobility issues. Daddy just turned 90 and is not doing well. Unfortunately, Mommy was the "healthy" one until the past few weeks... Dale is basically beginning a new company. This is a good thing but a bit unsettling.
Of course we also have the wedding coming up in May.
I have had limited time to play my viola and that really stinks! I did get to play for our middle and upper school production of Sound of Music last fall. It was really fun since I had taught most of the performers when they were pre-schoolers.
Hope all of you are well and making wonderful music!
Millie
2 comments:
Try this if you dare:
I went to a music party down outside of Boston this weekend. There were about 15 of us, and we were handed 5 out of 6 Brandenburg Conceri to play. Some of the people were real pros, others were Pooh-Bears like moi. I did... uhhh... OK. I neither distinguished nor disgraced myself. Everyone was a good sport. BUT (herein lies the crux) they were all Early Music geeks and I had to tune Down 1/2-step to A-415. I'd always thought this was malarkey... after all, if you want an Organ at 415, you just shift all the pipes one hole to the left; if you have a piano, tell everyone to take a hike, because it's no secret that THE PIANO IS ALWAYS RIGHT. But here, there were some really adept players on baroque oboe and recorders, some w/ baroque violins, bla bla bla. So I wasn't about to make waves and tell them they were all snobs, even though I'm an ARCH-SKEPTIC about Everything in Life.
So I dutifully tuned down. If this were a religious experience, I'd use C.S.Lewis' phrase "Surprised by Joy". All of a sudden my viola sounded sweeter, much goooooooier, more IN TUNE, and softer under the fingers. I loved it; I was wrong all along.
Now then... I want to know if there are strings I can use that will give this relaxed, laid-back sound and feel when I'm at normal, god-fearing, right-thinking, left-wing A-440. I use Pirastro Obbligato strings now, and prefer them over other strings on This viola. That's the baseline. I want more Goo, more slurp, more rubberiness.
Any ideas born of experience are welcome.
Oh... and the other good thing about this party, food and schmoozing aside, was that I was seated right in front of a Double-Bass Viola da Gamba (Violone) player. This was a delicious experience; it gave me this warm, snuggly, pee-in-my-pants feeling throughout the afternoon. She (the player) assured me that this was a normal reaction, nothing to be embarassed about, and no medical treatment was necessary.
Oh... I forgot: All of you, when you have time, tune down 1/2 step and see what you think. Of course, I shouldn't have said what my reaction was, so this spoils the objectivity of the test. Tuff.
JB
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