Blog-o-Mania ! ! !

Hey Everyone!
Try logging onto this:
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/viola/
Yeah... I know... how geeky can you get? But I've had fun with this Yahoo group. They pester me 2 or 3 times/day with email updates, but I don't mind, and you can opt out of that. One regular contributor is LouiseLaChance-Price who sits next to me at the Willy-Filly and who comes over to play on Sunday Afternoons, so that's all very chummy.
Anyway, once in a blue moon someone has a useful question, fielded for comment, my present fave being something on the order of "what's your opinion of Eudoxa strings". Wellsir, as a unashamed advocate of Eudoxa viola strings, you can bet I put in my 2¢ worth!
It's also a bit revealing, with respect to how Very Bent Out Of Shape people get about trivia. That can be RAWTHER tireing unless you take a broad view.

By the way... what kind of strings do you all use, and why? I first used Dominants, since they're kind of a "benchmark" baseline string, always good, never-fail. Now I use Pirastro Obligatto (sp?), which I religiously Adore for the gooey mushy sound they give to my viola. All instruments are different, of course, so a discussion of what brand might prefer is not terribly meaningful. This summer I may well be sporting all-gut Pirastro Eudoxa, just to see. I like to experiment, and I like to blame all my shortcomings on [1] the rosin, [2] the strings, [3] the price of the viola, [4] the bow, [5] the quality of bow hair, and so on, into the night.

More later,
Jim bump

Jacqui,
GOOD JOB ! ! Now I'm really psyched to inflict a YouTube on everyone, a permanent, public record of my private living-room string shennanigans with my shameless Sunday-afternoon quartet. So stand back, and turn the volume waaaayyyyyyyyyyy down. Or play a CD of a real string quartet while you're watching us.
Tonight I have to go accompany this community chorus up in Charlton MA. Oh Well... it's good money, and not horrid music, either... but I think EVERY community chorus is performing "Frostiana" this spring. That's nice, but it's high time someone wrote something ELSE! I'm not inviting you to our concert. But you all must show up for the spring concert of our Willimantic (CT) Orchestra (the Willy-Philly) to watch the little Bumplet... the Deer in the Headlights... sweat his way through the Stravinsky Pulchinella Suite and Wagner's Big Ugly Noisy Overture to Something. Also we accompany a Haydn Cello Concerto played by some local whiz-kid who won a contest. He's doing a fabulous job, too. No one's said so, but I think this kid won 2nd prize. First prize kid gets the Vienna Philharmonic; 2nd prize gets Willy-Philly. So everyone hop on a plane and fly to Willimantic, a murky, dead little mill-town that subsists almost entirely on welfare and drug deals. Charming. I'll be in a tuxedo.
Maybe I'll get Rachel to take a tiny video w/ the camera. Watch for me in the 2nd or 3rd row right, squeezed in between 5 other viola players, hideing.

Performance #2 of Amazing Grace

Well I have done it once more. I just got back from Remlap, Alabama where Kayla and I played Amazing Grace with a twist. It sounded much better than Good Friday, we had the keyboard set to cello and we had a second keyboard playing drums. I started to early and did not have the beat until a few measures into the song but it did sound better than the last time. I guess it is nerves on my part at this point, for the performance problem. I do not seem to have these problems when we practice.

Anyway here is the video clip:

Hi, Guys!
Jacqui, I'm so proud of you for playing on Good Friday! Way to go!
Easter is one of my most favorite times to play in church with my church orchestra. ( I am the viola section, thank you very much.) We have three services back to back with minimal time to grab a drink of water or use the facitilies but I do love the music and everything about the day. There's so much positive energy!
I am still really working on my intonation. I decided to go back to square one and just bought books 1-3 of Suzuki as well as the CD. Due to my parents' health, I have practiced very little in the past months so I am trying to be very simple in my time with my fiddle. Any suggestions on ways to improve intonation?
I'll miss you guys this summer!!

Permissions

I have received a request for the Blog page to be private. So I have set the page permissions to be read only by those that can post to it. Perhaps this will help in the postings to know that only the few of us will be able to read, or see what is posted.

Good Friday Performance

Well I am posting the video's from Good Friday's service. I played Dark Island by GreenBlatt & Seay by myself. Then Kayla accompanied me, on the piano, for Amazing Grace. We are both a little nervious, the church was full tonight.

I ended up using my old bow for the performance. I am not able to control the new bow on one string yet. the weight of it is a bit different than I am used to. I need to practice much more with the new bow before going public with it.

Of course the two videos are not as good as I thought they should be. The sound is not what I hear when I am playing at home. If it sounds this way to the cats, no wonder they try to stop me from playing :) Let me know what you all think, and be honest.

One more step in the right direction

I was finely able to locate a luthier here in Alabama!! I have gotten my practice bow rehaired, and also purchased a Pernambuco bow. Boy can you tell the difference when you hold and/or play with the two bows. I also found out that the bow I received, with the viola I purchased, is really a violin bow and needed allot of repair work done to it, more than just rehairing it. I opted to just order the new bow instead. The new bow is a J. LaSalle, I think it balances much better than the student bow I was using before. I even think that it makes the viola have a richer tone.