&c

I am feeling a little incoherent right now and I don’t really want to write…but.

I do not understand Obama’s new stimulus package. I thought that to restrict inflation you were supposed to restrict the cash flow, not flood the market with more money. But then again I have had no economics at all and he’s the president.

Ampersands are cool, don’t you think? Even the word ampersand is cool. And they’re hard to handwrite.

All the school I did today was math, some Language Arts, and Latin. And music. In Latin I really need to learn some more words, because all my translation excercises are about the Gallic Wars or the Virgin Mary.

Literature is Emma this month. I didn’t actually care for Emma THAT much…I’ve read it before. I thought that the plot was good but not big enough for a three-volume novel. So far this year my favorites have been the Importance of Being Earnest, Sherlock Holmes, Beowulf, and Three Men in a Boat.

Viola update: I am really happy now because my orchestra director gave me unlimited access to an entire drawer full of old solo and small ensemble music, proving that all you have to do is ask. I chose a Corelli sonata to start with, and a transcription of the Telemann violin concerto and a graded repertoire book of easier pieces.  Another plus is that after playing viola, I can find the big intervals on the violin much more easily. AND I just got nearly begged to do a gig on the viola after having played for three days!

That was a true statement that sounds much cooler than it was, but I’m gonna keep the illusion of coolness and not elaborate.

I actually was kind of enjoying writing about nothing but it turns out I have a mysterious violin lesson they all forgot to tell me about, so I have to eat supper, get dressed, find my music and get out the door in 15 minutes. And I didn’t practice my Wolfhart this morning….uh-oh.

LaLaLa

I have a new project! As of yesterday!

I am learning to play…the viola.

Yes. The viola.

There is this sterotype that viola is for losers. Please set it aside while you read this post, and BEAR IN MIND that I was a vioLINist first.

When I was 3 I fell in love with the violin and begged my parents for lessons. I’ve been playing for 12 years now and I can do pretty much anything on the violin. Plus, it uses the treble clef which is normal.

 

My current violin is very good student quality and has a one-piece back that has been described to me as “mesmerizing”. Really.

Then when I was 11 I somehow ended up playing the piano despite not asking for piano lessons…I took piano for a year and then quit. I like to listen to it but it drives me crazy to play it. I mean, how are you supposed to get your hands to move different directions?

Then when I was 13 I started French horn. French horn is really from Germany and should not be confused with English horn, which is French and not a horn. More on that later.

Then I made this bet at a party which involved me switching to the viola. The person with whom this bet was made later kind of backed out, so I am playing violin with the orchestra in our spring concert but learning and auditioning on the viola as well. I am determined to get one of the first 2 stands. (that would be one of the top four people. out of nine)

I started yesterday. It’s a a borrowed instrument, Scherl and Roth, and so far it has not posed many dififculties. The only thing I’m struggling with is reading the music, because unlike a normal instrument it does not use treble (violin, flute, trumpet, horn) clef, nor does it use bass clef (cello, trombone, bassoon) NOR does it use the Grand Staff (piano and organ), which is stupid.

Also, I accidentally kept tuning the wrong strings because I was so used to using my finetuners without looking. And it’s bigger, so I haven’t completely gotten used to holding it yet and my fingers have to strech farther. Or further. Whichever is more correct.

My completely objective observations on viola vs. violin so far:

Viola pros:

• It has a very nice deep sound
• It’s easier to get “gigs” or orchestra positions because there’s less competition
• There’s less competition
• It’s easier to listen to than a violin when you’re a student

 

Viola Cons:

• The orchestral parts are boring
• There’s not even a whole lot of solo repertoire written specifically for it
• Everyone will crack jokes and/or think you’re a loser
• It doesn’t resonate as well as a violin or a cello
• The clef is unusual and you have to learn treble as well
• You won’t know how to shift (ha! ha!) (okay, i remained unbiased for most of the post.)

So my general summary so far would be: viola is a fun project and a good thing to learn, but not so amazing that I would tune down (ha!) my violin or horn playing to concentrate on it.

Seven Books that Have Affected My Life

This was an assignment for Language Arts.

My mother and father for some bizarre unknown reason decided that my schoolwork needs to be “rigorous” and gave me Sonlight Core 600 (I think) which is the equivalent of AP Brit Lit on steroids. This means that, for the first time ever, I actually have to study for everything this year. Grr.

This was supposed to be 25 books…but Mom gave me dispensation to only do five. But I came up with seven.

           

Because really, at fifteen, how am I supposed to know which books are going to affect my life? Goodnight Moon? One of the examples they gave was a book on how to improve your marriage. Like THAT helps me.

           

But anyway.

 

Obviously the Bible has to be on this list.

 

And then I would choose the Hardy Boys, because they made me fall in love with reading from the very beginning and since then I have never put a book down. I remember I used to carry a Hardy Boys book in one hand and put my other hand on the wall so I could read while I walked…but then I fell and Mom said no more.

           

Suzuki comes next. I know they’re not technically books…but the computer dictionary defines “book” as “a bound collection of pages” and Suzuki certainly is that. And they are the books I have used the most and spent a LOT of my free time as well as my school time with. And yes, I know that it is wrong to end a sentence with “with” on account of it is a preposition, which I know because they made me do stupid Easy Grammar in the sixth grade and I still know the prepositions by heart.

Also, I don’t think you’re technically supposed to say “on account of”, you’re supposed to say “because”, except in Latin there is a special word just for “on account of” so I totally think it should be allowed.

           

Then I would say the Harry Potter series…because they deserve to be on any list of modern classics.

 

And 1984 reminded me to live the present and also if I grow up to be an author never to inflict the hideous dream of negative utopia upon thousands of innocent high school students. What IS it with these Utopia people? We’ve got Paradise Lost, and Gulliver’s Travels, and that one by someone called VanAuken (I think) that I’ve got to read later this year…and then 1984 is negative utopia…argh. I don’t want to find meaning! I just want to read!

           

The Grapes of Wrath ALSO goes on here…I don’t think it affected my life in any big way per se, but it certainly left an impression on my poor ten-year-old brain (yes Dad…I was only ten when you made me read this.) with all the vivid, frighteningly accurate descriptions of Oklahoma. Plus I know it’s one of Dad’s favorite books so he should definitely give me extra points for mentioning it.

           

 Last is Bartleby the Scrivener, the best work poor old Herman Melville ever did. This was my favorite book from American Literature in 7th grade, and it provided me with my answer to so many of life’s little questions:

           

I prefer not to.

You Know You’re a Music Geek When:

The first post I did on this was one of my more popular ones, so here are some more I’ve been collecting.

You know you’re a music geek when:

• Instead of getting emails advertising cheap insurance, you get emails offering 10% off “our entire bodhran category!”. (true story)
• You clip the nails on one hand shorter.
• You wear your hair back so it doesn’t get in your way when you play. The same goes for jewelery.
• You collect quotes from your music class (yes, I do this…and I have four pages too!)
• You know who the “Three B’s” were.
• You know how to treat valve-oil stains.
• When you grab a random piece of paper to use as a bookmark, you often find yourself holding a string packet..
• or an audition application…
• or a lesson schedule…
• or sheet music.
• And speaking of sheet music, you have written down phone numbers on sheet music before, “because it’s handy”.
• You know you’re a violin geek when within one measure you can tell whether it’s Hillary Hahn or Joshua Bell playing, but you don’t know the names of the Spice Girls.
• You can pronounce Dvorak.
• You actually practice.
• You find fault with Jascha Heifeitz
• You start playing Vivaldi on the mandolin.
• You give up playing Vivaldi on the mandolin.
• You rate rooms in your house based on the acoustics.
• You are insanely protective of your instrument.
• More so than you are of your little brother.
• Somebody requests to examine it, and you won’t let them until you’re absolutely sure they won’t break it.
• You know what a wolf tone is.
• You get stuff like rosin or Dominant strings for stocking stuffers.
• Dominant totally rules.
• You won’t play contact sports for fear you’ll hurt your hands.
• When someone says, “Chrysler”, you immediately think, “Kriesler”.

Yes, I am a total loser.

Friar Chuck Redux/Recital Time

Friar Chuck!!! Adorable, but unfortunately he has been eating most of Mom’s garden over the last few days. Any advice on how to get rid of woodchucks would be appreciated; we’ve already spread pepper around. Plus, we have a pellet gun and a pellet pistol at the ready. Plus, rodent eradicating gas bomb things, PLUS Ben and his slingshot. Mom was talking to someone today whose friend caught them in HavaHart traps and then shot them.

Interesting shot of Ben and I on a hammock, pointing in a strange, semideranged manner.

And the recital photos I promised on Wednesday:

This is me doing my solo piece, Adagio from Handel’s Fourth Violin Sonata. I hit the fourth note wrong, but other than that it was pretty good.

The BACH DOUBLE!!!! Which was relatively mistake-free! We stayed together during the entire thing, which was practically a first. I had one major rhythm mistake but that was it. So happy to be done with that!

Hopefully, some type of contest thing coming tomorrow. Or this weekend at least. Or, possibly next month, unless I get my butt in gear.

I think I am telekinetic

or is it psychic? Anyway, in my last post, I closed by saying, “Go Red Sox”. And guess what? BOSTON HAS WON THEIR LAST TWO GAMES!!!! Rah! I am sure that this is because of my own indiviual affirmation, and of course it has nothing to do with the fact that they are amazingly talented people. AND the Royals have been playing a series with the Yankees, and they actually won one of their games! The Yanks won the other two, but for the Royals, that’s pretty darn good. So, that made my day!

Anyway, yesterday I had my last Taize meeting, which required driving to NJ and reading the map. I suck at mapreading. If I had to give directions to somebody, odds are that they would end up in a different state. Also, when Mom was trying to merge, she wanted me to tell her when to go. I didn’t understand that, and she yelled, “what color is it?”. Meaning the next car. So I said, “grey.”. I didn’t realize that I what I was supposed to say was when to merge. Huh.

The meeting itself was really good though. Then we went and did some shopping for the trip. And it was 100 degrees out. And on the way home we stopped for pizza. So all in all an okay day.

Ben and Dad were camping this weekend, and they came home with five fish (the legal limit) and fried them for supper tonight. I have a new personal policy against eating anything with the head still attached now. Ben won third place in the fishing contest with a 14.5 inch trout, and so he gets an MP3 player as a prize. He also got a horrible sunburn, through a) being pale, b) using spf 15 sunscreen, and c) wearing a top with a really wide neckline. You can even see where his glasses were.

Tonight I performed for the PCYC’s annual fundraiser dinner as second violin in a quartet, and it actually went better that I anticipated! That’s taking into account that we had exactly one hour and ten minutes of practice time together beforehand. I was subbing for a girl who couldn’t make it, and last weekend the other violinist broke his collarbone, so both Josh and I were first-timers in the group. The only thing was that it was in a non-airconditioned restaurant and it was really really hot on stage.

 

I am now going to eat dinner, but not before making another of my telekinetic/psychic encouragement statements: Go Red Sox!

 

Recital Time…

It’s almost time for the annual recital again! Ours is this Thursday (weird day, I know; it was supposed to be Friday but that’s graduation so some people couldn’t come.) Ben and I are doing the Bach Double together. I am really worried about the timing; I tend to go too fast and Ben tends to be erratic in his tempo, and I also tend to play louder than him.

 When I was younger and still doing the traditional Suzuki method, the Bach Double was a VERY BIG DEAL. There are ten Suzuki levels total, and the Concerto for Two Violins is the last piece in book 4, and then you learn the first violin part as the last piece in book 5. Ben is in book four; I am about to start book seven but I picked up book five again to play with him.

Every year, right before the play-down—play-down is when the teenagers start with the most advanced milestone pieces (Bach’s Concerto in a, Fiocco Allegro, La Folia, the district-level stuff) and gradually work their way down, to medium pieces like Humoresque, then to Minuet in G, and more and more kids come to the front as pieces they know come up, until eventually even the three-year-olds are standing and playing the Twinkle Variations with everyone else. It’s a Suzuki Tradition.

Anyway, before we did that, the kids who knew how would stand up and play the Bach Double. Every year since you were three or four you would sit and watch until finally, usually around eleven, you could stand up and play with them. It was always fun to see who had learned it in the last year, and who had moved on from second violin to first violin. And amazingly, even though everyone hadn’t played it together until two hours before, it always sounded amazing. At least to me. Pachabel’s Canon was the other big-deal piece, and that always came off too, I have no idea how.

So Ben and I will be doing that, and it will either be fantastic (hopefully) or very bad. Ben’s other piece is a fiddle song called Big Walleye Blues. It has all the traditional fiddle-music slides and double stops that Ben loves. In fact, our teacher assigned him The Battle of New Orleans, from the beginning of the book, and he decided that he liked Big Walleye Blues and he was going to learn that as well.

My other piece is Adagio (real original, right?) from Handel’s Fourth Violin Sonata. I think it will be good, but right now I have trouble with dynamics and it’s not as clean as I would like, plus even though I practiced two hours today all my shifts were too low. Last year I played the first two movements of Handel’s Third Sonata and they went really well, so I have a reputation to uphold with this one. Slow music takes a lot more patience to learn, unfortunately. I’m also supposed to work on “expression”. Hah.

Orchestra…

was not too bad, actually!

It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t absolutely horrible either, and it was better than last year’s. Especially the recognition. Dad and Ben took many pictures, of course, and you can really tell who took which ones. All of Dad’s are of…big suprise here…the orchestra! Whereas with Ben, some are of the orchestra, and there are also about twenty of the empty stage, the lighting and sound room, the program, Dad’s chin, etc.

This is the string orchestra. I’m on the end on the far far left, dressed like a waiter.

Actually, everybody is required to dress like waiters…in fact, when the drama club put on “Hello Dolly”, they used the orchestra cummerbunds for the waiter accessories.

 My mother told me that my tie was off. She also redid the senior speech.

And the seating.

And the dress code.

And everybody’s posture.

And so on.

This photo is of just me, and Michael, and the girl on Michael’s other side, and if you squint you can just see a bit of Anthony’s head. I’m sitting really really straight…come to think of it,I’ve been told that I play like a robot and I need to be more expressive. “Hug the note!” was the exact phrase.  And people have told me I look like I’m in pain when I play.

So what I really look like is a waiter in severe pain, playing Beethoven’s fifth.

 

 

music is my entire life…

From about three weeks ago until mid-June, at least. School has been sort of on a break….in the last week i have: practiced (of course!), done occasional chemistry and French, and managed to do quite a bit of Latin during downtime in the orchestra room.

My band concert was last night, the climax of months and months of rehearsals, and, as predicted, astoundingly mediocre! Actually, mr. swinehart said it was one of the best concerts he’s ever heard this band do, so either it was better than i thought or the band is usually worse. Apparently all three groups are on an upswing this year (according to the teacher, who might be a little bit biased….) and that rarely happens. Dad got numerous photos, in most of which I’m either looking away or talking, plus i am sooo pale that under the stage lights i look ill, so i won’t share them right now. mom has decreed that i will be wearing makeup to the orchestra concert next week, because “Ryan is no tanned person himself, but you made him look like he just spent a week in Florida!”. i personally would rather just make Casie and Joe look tanned, but i already have to wear a cummerbund, so…..

If anyone is curious, the hat this year was Mickey Mouse.

Speaking of which (actually, we weren’t speaking of this, but i want to share it and “speaking of which” is a nice segway, don’t you think?) i got my audition results back, and I’m fifth out of twenty, which is not great but not bad either (top 25%!), and better than i expected considering that i had to start one song over and my cumulative score was 160/200. I’m the highest freshman.

This week is insanely filled with my concert, Ben’s concert, practicing for the concerts, half-day rehearsals for the concerts, on-stage rehearsals for the concerts, possibly school, and on and on. then once the concerts are over we have the recital to prepare for and I’m filling in for the school quartet.

So, i guess that this post is just a really long excuse for not blogging as often as i want to.

 

Music Musings

You know you’re a music geek when:

• Your stand partner tells you he plays the psaltery. You say, “plucked or bowed?”.

 

• You spend valuable time arguing essentially worthless points, such as where to shift, whether to use a fourth finger or an open in measure 135, and the merits of French bow versus German bow…

 

• …and you enjoy it.

 

• You know which composer was the bridge between the Classical and Romantic Eras

 

• And you know the distinct differences in style between those eras and the Baroque Era, as well as which came first.

 

• No matter how sensitive and mature of a musician you pretend to be, you know, deep in your heart, that faster is more fun.

 

• You own your own soprano sax.

 

• You can play the harp

 

• You regularly ask and answer questions such as “do you have perfect pitch?” and “do you have a guitar pick?”

 

• You know all the verses and the violin riff to “Braes of Killiecrankie“, despite not being Scottish and therefore not having any idea what the words actually mean.

 

• When you’re bored, you practice.

 

• You know that in beginner books, they call the William Tell Overture “Go Tell Bill”, and this bothers you deeply.

 

• You know La Folia by heart, even though it’s the most boring repetitive song that ever was, and you know who it was written by and which number sonata it is.

 

• Speaking of violin sonatas, you know the difference between Handel’s Third, Fourth, and Fifth, and you will never admit that yes, they all sound sort of alike.

 

• Your high school ambition is to learn “The Devil’s Trill”.

 

• You can transpose by sight and yet you are NOT a French Horn player

 

• Rachmaninoff and Rimsky-Korsakov? Similar names, yet totally different.

 

• REAL orchestras tune to an oboe.

 

• You find Fiocco Allegro “fun”.

 

• You LOVE the Bach Double.

 

• You can tell viola jokes.

 

• When you screw up, you become mildly obsessed and play the offending section 50 times a day until it’s perfect.

 

• You feel that the portrayal of Mozart in Amadeus was disappointing.

 

• You actually watched Amadeus?

 

• You can sing Psalm 133 in Hebrew at the age of 12

 

• Bedrich Smetana: good or bad?

 

• Pachabel’s Canon? Three violins, one cello, a piano if you’re feeling reckless. That’s it.

 

• You’re sitting with twenty other people just like you; all holding small wooden boxes in the same manner; all watching a middle-aged guy wave a stick; all looking at a page full of little black dots with tails; and you all know exactly what to do. Enough said.

 

I am actually guilty of an astonishing number of these.