Update

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted. Norma and I have spent a lot of time together in the last month. Orchestra NAPC activity ended Sunday, so now I have no commitments until Play Week Virginia at the end of July. I still haven't received my music assignments and I am panicky over that. Hopefully they will arrive before I head to FL next week.

Put new strings on last night. The Larsen A was marvelous from the first pull of the bow. I'm not sure the new Obligato G and D are any better than the Dominants I was using. We'll see after they break in. At least they don't have the metallicky sound that Dominants have for a week when new.

name change

Well, I've just learned that viola is a feminine substantive, so Norm will have to be renamed Norma. I can live with that. I always enjoy making new girl friends, don't you?

And BTW, I played my first rehearsal this morning without my fingerboard dots. All the intonation practice this week with the electronic tuner payed off. I did not panic when I was out of tune, just made adjustments, and found that I listened more carefully than before. I think I can do it!

YYM

85 minutes til Yo Yo Ma! Headed out the door in a few minutes. Sooooooo excited.

LTF and bye-bye stickers

Well now that I've put myself out there and risked "looking the fool" (LTF) with the flute quartet, I must move forward with my new love, Norman. I took the stickers off the fingerboard today....never to return. That is a huge step for me, I guess, since it's taken 5 and a half years to do it. I gave up the full finger board tapes 3 years ago, but have not been confident enough to let go of the mini dots I've used as landmarks for finger placement. You really have to look to see them - Cooper was my stand partner for 8 months before he noticed them. The few times I've attempted to give them up have not lasted. I get to a rehearsal, can't "find" my notes and I panic. There has always been a performance "coming up" and I've used that as an excuse to put them back on. Talk about insecurities!

Today after I removed them, I spent nearly an hour playing scales and phrases slowly with the electronic tuner. I was amazed at how off my intonation was at times. And yes, there were times I could not find my home base, middle C. It rings the clearest when in tune on a string instrument and is my most consistently in tune note. However, after an hour or so, I was making improvements. I was forcing myself to really listen and was beginning to recognize if I was high or low on the first finger especially.

How many hours do I have to practice before July 19th? Oh panic! I do not want to LTF!

Successful Norm debut!

The flute quartet performance at NAPC yesterday went very nicely. We played Mozart's K285, Allegro for the offertory. John came to the service and his review was not glowing, but good. That's probably more accurate than the rave reviews from church peeps. I was satisfied with my playing although I know it was not perfect. I tried very hard to play musically rather than just play the music. I was able to tell myself to relax while we played - less tension improves the tonal quality of a stringed instrument immensely. I was able to actually listen to the other players at times - again a must for good chamber music. Overall, it was fun and I'm ready to work up a new piece to perform.

My Norman

I'm into day 5 of playing my new (to me) Norman Bernal handmade 16" viola. I've wavered from absolute delight to utter frustration. This is a wonderful instrument... so light, so responsive, so incredibly easy to play. But that's where some of the frustrations lie...it is unforgiving. I've told several people that it's like learning to play on a K Mart guitar and then being handed a Gibson.

I think I love it. I'm trying to break in the new Dominant strings Nathan included. I've never used them before and on top of the usual pitchy-ness of new strings, they sound just weird at times. I did a little searching on the net today and found several mentions of Dominants sounding metalically for a 7 to 10 day period. I think that must be what I'm hearing. The flute quartet plays the offertory at NAPC Sunday, so I hope the strings have settled and mellowed by then.

I want to play all the time!!!! I will post a picture soon.

Woot!!

I was just notified that I have been accepted at the Princeton Chamber Music Play Week in Virginia! It is in July on the campus of Washington and Lee University and I am so stoked. 6 days of coaching and playing with 3 different groups. I cannot wait!!!!!!

viola shoppping

I've been stalking a viola that's been posted on Craig's list for a few months now. I thought it might be too good a deal to be true, but further investigation appears to validate the seller's claims. I'm meeting him Saturday for a look/play on the instrument. I am sooooo excited. It would be a wonderful deal on a fine instrument if everything goes as I expect. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

all English

The first of the last concerts for SCSO was tonight. It was satisfyingly nice - those Planets and Elgar really grew on me the last few months. I especially enjoyed the English Folksong Suite. Fairly easy and really fun to play. I am lucky to have this community orchestra to participate in. Richard says we may play for the GA MEA conference next year in Savannah. Wouldn't that be fun?!

JUMC rehearsal

Had a great rehearsal at JUMC orchestra last night. We sight read several pieces for the May performance and a few had significant viola passages. Another good night for intonation. Hey... I could be on to something here! Andres played my viola briefly. I am always suprised at how good it sounds when someone else plays it. Maybe I don't really need a new viola after all.

Easter Sunday

JUMC had a wonderful church service this morning. The orchestra was in good voice with a few subs among us and I had an exceptionally good intonation morning! Woohoo! I feel like I've had one of those surprising bumps in ability. These steps up the viola playing ladder are very small and seem to come out of nowhere. I did have a good week of practice - make that smart practice - and maybe that's why my confidence level is up. I definitely have begun to listen more effectively when I play and that always makes for better intonation.

Top all of that off with an afternoon filled with fun and good food with family. Easter doesn't get much better than this.

Chamber Music at Noon

I attended a free concert at Emory University Friday and thoroughly enjoyed it. The artist was Karen Bentley and she was supposed to play a viola concerto according to the write up in the newspaper. She actually played solo violin, violin and piano and a cello duet. Yes, you read that right - she played violin AND piano herself. It was an amazing jazzy, blues piece. She moved the piano bench to the left end of the keyboard, sat on the edge and secured her violin with her chin. Then proceeded to play left hand on the piano, open strings on the violin interspersed with long, lingering chords (piano peddles) followed by several measure of violin. At one point she put the violin in her lap and played pizz with her left hand and piano with her right hand. How interesting was that? Anyway, I just love that I live in Midtown and can finally take advantage of free stuff in the city.

Mozart Flute Quartet

My new chamber group is a flute quartet made up of flute (duh), violin, cello, and viola. We are all members of the NAPC orchestra and are trying to put together the Mozart D Major Flute
Quarter for a performance in May at NAPC. Heidi's mom is coming for a visit and we plan to play during the 11:00 service so that she can hear us. There are 3 movements and the first 2 are easily doable for me. The third movement has many, many black notes and string crossings for the violist - all played at a brisk tempo. I am working hard to get it under my fingers. Below is a link to a professional ensemble playing the third movement at Julliard. We are totally psyched about getting this pulled together.

Spectral Ensemble

Sick Day

I am rarely ill, so today is unusual in that I woke up with a whopping headache and upset stomach. When I turned on the TV I realized how blurry my vision was and gave up the ghost. Dodge and I are chillin' on the couch with all the lights off and I am waiting for the drugs to kick in. It's pouring rain here today so I anticipate a low key day with some extra time for my viola. Hurrah! The Planets are calling my name.

Yoforia = Yummmmmm!

No SCSO or JUMC orchestra rehearsal this week due to director conflicts, so I got home early for a Tuesday. Christen came over and walked with me to Yoforia, my new favorite frozen yogurt place in VAHi. It is similar to the trendy CA yogurt shop, Pinkberry, and is very good. The fresh fruit is just that..fresh! Our hike was nearly 6 miles, so no guilt here! Well, maybe a little guilt because I haven't practiced my viola in 2 days.

Weekend Wrap Up

Saturday was a total girlfriend day of shopping, eating out (twice!) and catching up with a good friend. My feet were tired when I put on my pjs last night, but it was a great day. This morning I jumped out of bed, ran and got the paper to see what the print scoop was on my employer's latest debacle (they fired the 4th school superintendent in 4 years, warmed up my viola, drove in the nasty rain to Jonesboro to play with the JUMC orchestra, beat it back to midtown to rehearse with my quartet, sat through an 1 1/2 hour NAPC orchestra rehearsal, came home and put my pjs back on! The minister at JUMC used the 10 Commandments in his sermon today - I think I totally failed at making Sunday a day of rest!!!!!

a Night at the Opera

The SCSO concert at Spivey Hall was a huge success last night. I loved most of the music and best of all, played most of the notes!! John, Christen and Walie came and we had a late supper at Cracker Barrel afterwards. John said it was the best concert he'd heard. We are a stronger orchestra this year with probably 12 new members. Our next concert will be an all British program and we will be playing in both Clayton and Henry counties.

ASO bargain

I have become more active on FB in the past few months and sometimes question whether that is a good thing or not, especially in light of the scam that took a friend's $$$ recently. However, I did reap the benefits of a FB account last week. I got a notification in my Inbox from the Atlanta Symphony giving me the opportunity to purchase tickets for last night's concert for $7.99. Whoa! I jumped on it and enjoyed a wonderful concert in the best seats I've ever had in Symphony Hall last night preceded by dinner at Brio. The soloist, Jennifer Koh, had the sweetest sounding violin I think I've ever heard. A delightful evening out.

Catch Up Time

As you can see, I haven't posted anything since last year. How grim! I started this blog to journal about my musical adventures and guess I got too caught up in LIFE stuff to keep it up. I've since grown to become an addicted blog reader and was inspired by Laura's blog to start back writing. More to come soon.