Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Our final get-together for 2007 was Tuesday; we played our current pieces and finished off with some carols, and we had a dozen or so family members and friends along to share our good times with. And the tea and biscuits afterwards was marvelous as well! Alison thanks all for her lovely gift-bag and wishes us a Merry Christmas. Have a harmonious holiday, everyone, and we'll see you all on January 2.

Bach for the third violins (Threolas)

The third violins who attended rehearsal on Monday were given a hand
written part for the Bach fugue.
Bach meant to write another part it seems but passed the job on to
Alison's husband Alasdair. I've written it out in Finale Print Music
and I think it's correct. Sunday should see a test drive and I'll run
off copies for everyone and perhaps Heather is going to publish it on
the site as a JPEG.

However, The last 2 bars are missing from my copy. The stalks are
visible and I am assuming the notes are
Bar 1 half note followed by 4 eighth notes Bar 2 One whole note.
Can anyone tell me the pitch of these notes. or confirm that they are
(Bar 1) B BDCB (Bar 2) A ?
Thanks
Hilary

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!

Suggestions for new music?

Alison brought forth several suggestions for us to play over the next few months, and there were quite a few differing opinions on some old standards. If you have ideas on what might be fun for us to tackle in the near future, in any genre, please leave a comment. If you have links to sheet music, audio or video, even better, so post them here. Nothing's guaranteed, but you may have heard something recently that's not foremost in Alison's mind.

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.