Conductor's Notes from March 2

This past Monday was all about spicatto again, a pursuit that lasts a musical lifetime! Notes as per last week, with the addition of a couple of new suggestions...

Watch out for gravity! Well it's rather important for general planetary demeanor, it can cause your downbows to become much heavier and more dominant than your upbows. try accenting the upbows to keep them strong.

Keep you bow arm as loose as possible. even in small length strokes, open the elbow and lead with the wrist, to keep the motion controlled and light. Using smaller muscles give you more control and helps to keep your arm relaxed.

Practice the 16th note passages in the Moldau) that are bowed in groups of two without the notes, just with the bow patterns on open strings. Then add the notes and see if you can keep the bow even and the tempo going forward.

For the Capriol 2nd mvt., work on a light, even stroke. Avoid 'wows', that is changes in the bowspeed. Let the audience do the 'wowing'!

We'll be looking at the next two movements of Capriol next practice; you'll be able to get the bowings from the blog in the near future. We'll also have a look at the 'Round Dance'.

Meanwhile, everybody keep you bow straight, and eat lots of leafy green vegetables!!! See you on the 16th.

Alison

Conductor's Notes from Feb. 23

Hello there Tenacious Stringers,

Good practice last night! Bravo to you hardy souls who braved the uninspiring weather out there to come and play.

Right, here goes, my first commentary on the blog. Technique!

Last night we worked a lot on spicatto. Firstly, always think of spicatto as coming FROM the string, as opposed to from ABOVE the string. Keep your bow at the bounce point, that spot near the grip where your bow is equally balanced on both sides. This means that when the bow bounces, it will stay balanced and not want to tip one way or the other. Keep your arm relaxed and use the natural buoyancy in the bow to 'let' the bow lift off the string. Experiment! Remember that there are two directions at work - vertical: that is, how much downward momentum you use in the stroke, and horizontal: how much bow back-and-forth you use. Imagine that with these two directions you are creating a 'bowl' shape in the air; is it a wide shallow bowl, or narrower and deeper? It depends on the sound you want to produce. For the spicatto in the 'Wedding Dance', I would go for a shallower bowl shape so use more bow and less downward force.

Another point to think about is the equality between up and down bows. Because of gravity and the fact that the frog is heavier than the tip, the tendency is for the downbow to be overly dominant, leading to an imbalance. When practicing, imaging that you are accenting the upbows, which will help correct that imbalance.

Again, keep your arm relaxed! Always think of using arm weight instead of muscular force. This way you can react to the natural bounce of the bow instead of interfering with it. Sooo... relaxed arm motion... lead with the wrist... use your fingers as springs to absorb the friction of the bowstroke... shallow bowl shape. Oh, and make sure to keep your bow straight on the string. Tally ho and good luck!

When practicing 'Wedding Dance', work on keeping the tempo steady when going back and forth between the OFF the string and ON the string stokes. Be careful not to use too much bow for the ON the string strokes. As I said in my last missive, the spicatto stroke for this piece uses more bow than with other spicattos, but Katrin is right in her comment to be careful with how much bow you use there too - tailor the amount of bow so that you can switch back and forth easily without interruption to the tempo.

Also, try varying the dynamics while your practicing your strokes; practice on and off the string, vary between piano and forte, always keeping the same tempo.

For awkward string crossing 16th passages, try playing the bow patterns on open strings, without the notes. Ha! Now there's a brain teaser.

Give me a shout with any questions!

Next week we'll do a little bit of Smetena, and lots of Capriol, including the next two movements 'Tordion' and 'Bransles'. See you then!

Alison

TSO practice Feb 16, info for first violinists

First of all, no worries about bowings for now, Alison will decide on bowings for each section within the next little while.

We practiced mainly the Country Wedding from "The Moldau", as technique practice we focused on spiccato bowing. For spiccato just remember to stay in the balanced part of the bow and to keep the length of the bowing relatively short and of course come off the string to get the spiccato sound ;-) (shallow bowl motion instead of straight motion for regular bowing on string). For the country wedding the important aspects are the dynamics (really loud forte and really low piano) and that the 1/16th notes that are not spiccato are played seamless (for example in bar 6). Important theme to work on is the one appearing in bar 9 and again in bar 17 and bar 33, big difference between sfz and piano! However, there is no decision made yet on how we will bow that part.

We also looked at the Schubert for a bit, thing to remember here is that at C the tempo is slower (poco meno mosso) and then goes back to the original tempo at G.

I assume everybody has the bowings for the Mozart "Ave verum corpus" and the Basse-Danse from the Capriol. If not, let me know and I will post those.

That's it for this week,
Cheers,
Katrin

Haydn Out

Welcome back, everyone, and Happy New Year! Our first practice of 2008, although postponed from last Wednesday due to storm, was well-attended by 5 firsts (two of whom were relocated from the thriolas), four seconds, two violas, and three cellos. Alison handed out two new pieces: Haydn's Quartet Op. 1 No. 4, and Divertimento No. 1 in D major (K136) by Mozart. The latter is a large, long-term project, so we started today on the Haydn.

This Quartet is a early work of Haydn's. It has Presto's at the beginning and end, Minuet and Trio between, and an Adagio in the very centre. We started the first Presto and got all the way to the first repeat. Here are some notes I took from the second-violin section: if other sections have anything I haven't covered, do add a comment.

• The piece is in 3/8 time: eighth notes count for one beat, and there are three per measure. Presto means "fast", so it will end up that way although we practised it under tempo this evening.
• As exercises, we played G major scales in round, using different three-note rhythms: first beat only and lift from string, second and third beats legato, all three beats in a down-up-up staccato pattern. All these appear in the piece.
• The dynamics are dramatic changes between piano and forte; to play the right ones at the right time takes attention and perhaps a highlighter!
• First and second violins have two- and three-note chords in the first line. They can be divided among the members of the section or played as dramatic bow-waving double stops, which we practised doing. They are in a forte section, so make them prominent. They should be played as down-bows, even measure 19 which is marked as up-bow for Seconds.
• The trill in bar 11 (for Seconds, at least) is optional but makes it sounds very nice. One or two grace notes from A to B should be sufficient. These bars can be diminuendo'ed in order to play bar 12 piano more easily.
• Bars 25 to 32, full of sixteenth notes, are not quite as hard as they look! They are almost completely made up of string changes between a note on the D string and the open A. Practise alternating open D and open A to get the feel of how to do these changes smoothly; use the balance point of the bow. They are not slurred anywhere; first note of the bar is a down-bow. Bars 38-39 are similar.
• Firsts and Seconds play together in the slurs spanning bars 40-41 and 42-43; lower strings play in between.

We will have a "fill-in" practice for those wanting more basic note- and bow-work next Monday at church, if conditions permit; watch for email to confirm. The next full practice is January 29th.

From Corelli to Mozart and Bach

We had a perfect-square crowd out Monday: four firsts, four seconds, four "thriolas", and four cellos. Unfortunately our solo-designate for Pastorale from the Corelli Concerto Grosso wasn't able to come (we miss you, Cathy!) so instead of working on that, we went on to Rondo in G by Mozart. This is a piece with canon-like elements where the sections echo each other at different times. Alison mentioned to keep the first bar-and-a-half or so of these phrases strong, and the second bit, weak; that keeps the entries obvious while making way for the entry of the next section. The eighth notes should be somewhat detached. Practice the bow patterns in the running eighth notes to get the flow going smoothly. In the middle, the cellos and inner parts pass the supporting quarter notes back and forth under the firsts' melody. The musical term of the week is Tritone, the interval in the "question-and-answer" section near the end. (I'm not quoting bar numbers since they're probably different for the different sections.) No matter how demonic, they should be played out and emphasized.

We also received Die Kunst der Fuge ("The Art of the Fugue") by Bach as out first undertaking of counterpoint. (Loads of information in the Wikipedia entry. I must read Gödel, Escher, Bach again.) The beginning is the same for each section, albeit starting at different times; it diverges after a few bars. We experimented with singing it in sections (in rhythm, not necessarily with any particular pitch!) to get used to the timing.

For next rehearsal, have a look at these two and the Pastorale; hopefully our soloist will be able to play the interesting bits of the latter so we can practise the less-interesting-but-still-important bits!

Last rehearsal before performance

Thursday is our first performance of the year! Alison says we sound great, so who are we to argue? We spent most of Tuesday evening attacking the trickiest bits of both the Corelli and the Schubert, which seem to be different for all the different sections!

Schubert: The form of the Schubert is A, A, B, B, C, C, D, D, A, B. The second time the first half of the Trio is played (part C in my form notation) it should be pianissimo. The two four-bar phrases that cover bars 45-48 and 49-52 (they begin part D) should crescendo and decrescendo slightly over the four bars. There will be a slight lift at the end of bar 56: watch for it!

Corelli: make sure dynamic differences are quite clear: make the pianos piano and the fortes really forte! During the fugue from bars 48 to 54, save your down-bows so as not to end up stuck at the tip. There may be a ritardando at the end, again, watch Alison for instructions.

Alison also handed out "Rondo in G" by Mozart. We played through that a couple of times, and will do so again next time. We'll also work on trills.

On Thursday, players are welcome to come to the dinner as well, free to all guests; it starts at 6:00. Several of us will be there a bit early to get the chairs and stands (bring your own!) and to warm up. We are second on the after-dinner program, so we're likely to be on at sevenish. To wear: black bottoms and coloured tops for everyone.

Extra rehearsal

Many thanks to Anne who submitted this week's rehearsal report in my absence. She recalls 12 players in attendance: 5 first violins, 3 second violins, 3 third violins/violas and 1 cello. They mostly worked on the Corelli Vivace piece. Notice to those participating in the St. David's Congregational Dinner on November 1: it was decided to wear black bottoms and assorted color tops for performance. I assume that's assorted among people, not among areas of shirt. But I could be wrong.

A Schubert-centric rehearsal

Our rehearsal this week was a bit short since we accidentally overlapped schedules with the Suzuki Concerto Class. Five first violins, four seconds, two thirds, two violas, and four cellos were present. We warmed up with C-major scales in unison and in round, and did some rhythm work with the spicatto technique (more about that at Wikipedia). That's used mainly by the lower strings who play bars of quarter rest-quarter note-quarter note, mostly in the Trio (second half). It gives the piece a light and airy feeling.

The following hour was a thorough work-through of the Schubert; we got a good grounding in how it's supposed to sound, and pointing in how to make it sound that way. Some things I made notes of:

• The first note of the bar tends to be highlighted by the higher strings, and the second and third notes by the lower strings, so the notes get volleyed back and forth.
• The four-bar phrases in the Trio need to be "hairpinned" dynamically - slightly louder in the middle than at the ends - and the phrases get gradually louder.
• The form of the piece is as follows: play the Minuet part with repeats as printed, then the Trio with repeats as printed, then return to the top and play the Minuet without repeats.
• Among the first violins, artistic license was invoked: in the fifth last bar in the Trio, there are four eighth notes and a quarter note, all marked to be played with one down-bow. It was decided to play the eighth notes with a down-bow and the quarter note with an up-bow, to allow the subsequent half-note to be played with a down-bow.

We finished with a quick meeting which I'll expound on in a separate post.

Second rehearsal

Another good rehearsal this evening. There were five first violinists, five seconds, two thirds, two violists, and three cellists in attendance for a total of 17 players plus conductor. We spent a good bit of time in the beginning tuning up and getting organized; I think as we go along we'll get better at getting ready to play, although it's nice that we're such a friendly bunch that do love a chat! Alison handed out selections from Corelli's Christmas Concerto: 'Vivace', 'Allegro', and 'Pastorale', and there are plans for two violin solos. We didn't play any of that tonight, but do look at it for next time. MIDI files for this piece can be found at the website printed at the bottom, www.virtualsheetmusic.com .

We spent most of the evening on Corelli's 'Vivace' in C major, starting with rhythm exercises that matched most of the trickier rhythms in the piece, trading around rhythm patterns among sections. The second half has lots of counterpoint in it and needs more work than the first half; we'll concentrate on that half next time.

In the last ten minutes or so, we read through Schubert's Menuetto and Trio in C major, which we didn't attempt last time. It's sounding pretty good without any large stumbling blocks.

Musical term of the day: Hemiola, where three bars of music in 3/4 time contain 3 half notes (the middle one written as two tied quarters). Corelli's Vivace contains several. Brahms was also famous for them. More info can be found at Wikipedia.

Next rehearsal date and time, to be announced! If you haven't indicated your preference of day of the week to Anne via email or Margie via yellow-ticky-sheet, please email either and let them know when you can meet. And, if you haven't paid Margie, please do so at the next rehearsal.

Need stringed-instrument repair, music, accessories, or advice? Go see Rodney DeVries, Luthier; 77 King's Road, 753-2680 (E-mail). An unpaid and unendorsed recommendation!

All for now!
Heather

First meeting

The Adult String Orchestra met for the first time this year this evening at St. David's. In attendance were 12 violinists, 2 violists, and 2 cellists, with a few more members promised to attend who couldn't make it tonight. We welcomed a bunch of new members, discussed scheduling for a while, and got down to business with Alison, our new conductor. We all introduced ourselves and talked about our plans for the year, and then tuned up to play. Alison divided us into sections and chose section leaders. We did a rhythm exercise to get going, and Alison handed out "Vivace" by Corelli and "Menuetto and Trio" by Schubert, both in C major. We started with the Corelli and attempted to read it through, and Alison worked with each section to improve our rhythm. By the end of the session we read through the whole thing and sounded not too bad at all for a first go!

Notes: our rough schedule so far will focus on the first and fourth Tuesdays of the month; there may be supplementary meetings on Thursdays or Fridays of off-weeks for anyone feeling the need for more technical practice, to be scheduled later. We will meet at St. David's Church, 98 Elizabeth Avenue, any time but Thursdays. Anne is our scheduling and email person; Margie holds the purse. Don't forget to pay Margie the year's fees at the next meeting, and, new people, give her your registration information (the green sheet). The next rehearsal is September 25th; come at 6:45 to be tuned up and ready to play by 7:00.