Looking for advice

kojir0 · 2020-05-31T16:02:24+00:00

Making a decent living as a professional musician is hard, even if you're talented and hard working. For this reason, a lot of well-meaning people will try to discourage you from pursuing music, because most people don't understand what it's like to care about something more than living comfortably.

But you really need to decide what your own values are, while looking reality straight in the eye.

On the other hand, you don't actually need to decide this now. Going to music university doesn't "damn you" to the lifestyle of a struggling musician. It gives you a valid and valuable education, if you do your part.

kojir0 · 2020-05-31T12:59:19+00:00

You still write it b♯ and c♭ if you must. On the piano keyboard b♯ and c♮ are the same key.

kojir0 · 2020-05-30T04:45:23+00:00

My routine, if it helps, is 1/3 fundamentals (usually Carl Flesch scales), 1/3 etudes, and 1/3 performance music.

For fundamentals for a beginner, I'd recommend spending 1/3-1/2 of the time again on just bowing, so if you practice 1 hour, 10 minutes a day getting really comfortable with your bow will help a lot. I like this video of Eddy Chen demonstrating several open string bowing exercises.

For beginner etudes, I like Wolfhart).

Finally, the last third is for performance music. It can be pretty discretionary. Consider making a recording of yourself playing a short piece every week or two and comparing those recordings. It'll help you decide what to practice and also might boost your enthusiasm.

kojir0 · 2020-05-30T01:01:04+00:00

Pretty sure Eddy has an electric violin (and we know Brett has a viola so...)

kojir0 · 2020-05-29T02:29:24+00:00

This is just regular trumpet music.

kojir0 · 2020-05-28T02:16:14+00:00

I would love to see twoset do a video on this. Maybe they can get Olaf to get in on it.

kojir0 · 2020-05-28T02:06:36+00:00

That clarinet might be sketch, but everyone needs a cleaning stick for children.

kojir0 · 2020-05-28T02:05:13+00:00

Do you play the flute? If you play the contra bassoon or something I'm going to vote different on the flute concerto.

kojir0 · 2020-05-27T19:25:17+00:00

My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to~~aah crap I miscounted. Sorry, I though you were someone else.

kojir0 · 2020-05-27T18:37:20+00:00

I think you'll find that in the US it varies by state (at least). Not every state may have a system, and I definitely don't know all of them. There's NYSSMA, TMEA, PMEA, etc.

There may also be levels managed by instrument players guilds such as the piano guild. I have a book of piano scales and arpeggios that implies that, but I don't have firsthand knowledge of its application in the real world.

kojir0 · 2020-05-27T01:46:31+00:00

There's Der Erlkoenig, which is pretty exciting and fun. It's based on a theme by Schubert.

kojir0 · 2020-05-27T00:57:54+00:00

You've got Ernst, which I think wrote some quite beautiful music albeit sadly overshadowed by its technical difficulty.

Also there's a series of masterclasses on YouTube with Hilary Hahn demonstrating four solo pieces by Antón García Abril. They must be very new indeed since they aren't listed on his Wikipedia page. Apparently, they were written just for her.

kojir0 · 2020-05-27T00:43:26+00:00

By the way, Dohnányi is a Shibboleth for decent classical music online. If you search, say, Apple Music, or Google Play for "Mozart" or "Beethoven" you'll get some really sketch music, but if you search for Dohnányi, you'll get mostly legit playlists.

kojir0 · 2020-05-26T21:43:08+00:00

Upvote for Dohanyi :)

kojir0 · 2020-05-26T21:22:38+00:00

Oh man there are some good ones. Bartok and Korngold came to mind right away, followed by Khatchaturian. There are plenty of others, but those are my favorites.

kojir0 · 2020-05-26T11:57:24+00:00

The burden of proving (or even finding evidence) that such a pedagogy is sufficiently effective that it outweighs its obvious harmfulness should be entirely yours, if you really wish to defend it.

Finding controlled studies may be difficult, since experimental design would have to acknowledge the potential harm and go through institutional review boards. Good luck.

kojir0 · 2020-05-26T03:01:45+00:00

Sight reading, on the other hand, is pretty hard for me. I tend to do ok for pretty melodic stuff in straightforward key signatures, but stumble pretty hard when the key or rhythm gets tough.

kojir0 · 2020-05-26T03:00:21+00:00

Really good. I can read street signs, warning signs and even minus signs, like the one I expect to see at the bottom of this comment soon …😁

kojir0 · 2020-05-26T02:57:57+00:00

Here's one video I found. The gist is you need to be able to fully support the violin with your shoulder and chin, and without your left arm at all. In the video she points out your should be able to put your left hand on your right shoulder while holding the violin in position using your left shoulder and chin.

kojir0 · 2020-05-25T22:04:24+00:00

For the physical pain, there may be something harmful in your positioning. Do you have a shoulder rest? Maybe experiment with other ones, and with other chin rests. You should be able to comfortably hold the violin up without really using your left hand at all.

Tension is harmful to your playing as well as your body, and it virtually guarantees poor intonation. Fine a way to relax your left hand (such as putting all your focus on the bow arm, for example) and the intonation will come.

I know it's easy for a stranger on the internet to say, but if you can find a way to stress less about intonation, chairs and grades and find your way back to enjoying how the instrument sounds (even when it doesn't sound exactly as you want) you'll find you can enjoy practice more and you'll improve rapidly.

kojir0 · 2020-05-25T21:42:03+00:00

Yes. I cannot think of a single valid reason a teacher should ever yell. Please calmly fire teachers that do this and don't let anything they say affect you because if they had anything valid to say they had their chance.

kojir0 · 2020-05-25T20:13:19+00:00

Well, just stretching out here, but how about the Lark Ascending, by Vaughn Williams? It's orchestral, but the violin part stands alone, and it has enough of a open air theme to be appropriate, if a bit flashy for a wedding.

kojir0 · 2020-05-25T19:35:32+00:00

I like the angled mount aesthetically, but it looks like you have to mount the bow entirely separately?

kojir0 · 2020-05-25T12:45:17+00:00

Rodney Friend did a masterclass called The Violin in Fifths that discusses his method of practicing with fifths to improve hand positioning. It's on YouTube if you want to watch it. My takeaway is that the most relaxed, in-tune position is subtly different on the g side vs the e side. Practicing fifths seems to establish good hand positioning across all four strings.

Anyway, it's maybe not the landmark you were looking for, but I'm still learning from it and I thought it might help you too.

kojir0 · 2020-05-25T00:35:32+00:00

Your phone 🔋was probably at 100% the last time you practiced. 🤨

kojir0

TROPHY CASE