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.