I've been working on volume and it's really been driving me nuts on how harsh and scratchy I've been sounding lately....horrible!!! I actually recorded a video yesterday, but when I listened to it today and heard how awfully scratchy it sounded and I had to re-record.
This one is less harsh, but it's still annoyingly loud to me, and I'm not sure how I can get a rich tone yet without sounding so darn harsh! Ugh...ugly..ugly... *sigh* :(
Turn down the volume before you press play!
Things to work on:
- TONE, TONE, TONE!
- I really HATE my tone at the moment. I like the fact that I'm able to go louder now, but I just can't make it sound good.
- Speed
- This is definitely a LOT slower than how my teacher plays this, so hopefully I can get my tempo faster.
- Intonation
- Every time I focus on something else, like my bowing or fingering, my intonation goes out the window! I also stopped working on this piece to work on Minuet No. 2 and Long Long Ago in Book 2, so it isn't as good as how I played it before! :(. Yeah I know - excuses, excuses!
- With the tuner blasting away during the video, my missed notes were pretty obvious too! Oops!
- Bowing
- My bowing is still skidding around all over the place even when I'm watching it to make sure that it doesn't do that, and my bow angles look weird to me. I think I may be pushing my bow too far forward to quickly...?
Whew - anyway, glad I got this recorded so I move on to Minuet No. 2.
I thought this was an interesting piece for a few reasons:
- First, both my teachers interpret this piece differently.
- Since both my teachers interpret this piece differently, I decided to learn it both ways (although I only recorded the way Adam wanted me to do this). I know the piece says mezzo-forte and piano, but Adam wanted me to work more on volume, which I agree - I've noticed it's harder to get a good tone with loud volume, than it is to get a good tone while being quiet (for me anyway). And getting more volume is something I've struggled with from the very beginning, so better to keep working on that, especially since Minuet No. 2 has a few sections that are supposed to be forte.
- Also, Adam wanted my bowing to be more smoother and connected with the bow closer to the bridge, but I couldn't quite get it to be very smooth and because it sounded so harsh, I moved my bow closer to the middle. Hee, hee...
- On the other hand, Clayton wanted it to be closer to the fingerboard to have a nice light and airy sound with it being more articulated, which I also like the sound of and actually prefer! It's just sounds so lovely and sweet! :). But I need to work on my weak points, so I decided to work more on volume and post that instead.
- My teachers also phrase this differently. I've been exploring different ways to phrase this and I tried messing around with the repeats, which I didn't do in the video because my repeats always came out really bad, so I decided not to do the repeats when I recorded. I was practicing it with a really loud beginning the way Adam wanted it, and then a really soft repeat the way Clayton wanted it, but going from really loud to really soft messed up my bowing and made my tone and intonation even worse!
- Those two definitely have different schools of thought, but I really like both their interpretations. Although I kind of interpret having the notes being much more shorter and articulated so its easier to dance to.
- Although I'm sure I'll look back at this post and think, "What in the world was I thinking, I should have listened to my teachers because my interpretation was awful!"
- Also, when I listen to my teachers play this piece, Adam has a much more bold rise and fall, while Clayton uses mellower softer dynamics. It's funny because I kind of like it in between! Lol! :). They're definitely on the opposite sides of the spectrum. It would be interesting to see those two play something together... ;).
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