Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Back to Reality

Well, I have taken off the fairy-princess dress, and I am back practicing viola. I have viola music to learn, and the only way to play viola parts well is to practice them on the viola. Of course I have to do my Sevcik too since I have become greedy and still want to acquire more technique.

I'm giving my violin a well-deserved rest until it's time to work on the Debussy Sonata. I hope it appreciates the time off.

So what have I noticed about the viola that I didn't notice before? The resonance is totally different from the resonance of the violin. There is much more potential for roughness in the sound, and the upper register has a quality very much unlike the sweetness of the violin's high register. I also notice that I am far more comfortable playing at the frog when playing the viola than I am playing the violin.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Sense of Accomplishment

I just finished all 480 of the numbers in my Moyse chart as applied to Sevcik, and know that I am a much better violinist because of it. I even played a recital this past weekend that was a great improvement over the last one I played, proving that practicing Sevcik really works.

So what's next? I guess I'll apply my number system to a few more books of Sevcik or Dounis, maybe.