Welcome to our forum. A Message To Our New and Prospective Members . Check out our Forum Rules. Lets keep this forum an enjoyable place to visit.
Currently working on errors from the latest (SimplePress) forum update. Many issues have been resoled and others are being worked on. Thank you for your patience.
Log In
Register
Topic RSS
(0 votes) 
I bought some church music (violin/piano) only to find out that one of my favorite tunes has a section which transposes to G flat (6 flats).
Should I:
Give up the violin ?
Stop going to church ?
Pretend that my arthritis is back ?
Actually try to learn this ?
See if there is a congregational SATB arrangement for the same title ? (in a "decent" key)
Woe is me 
(I thought of butchering the music but it is from an arranger who is a favorite of the piano player. He would NEVER mess with the music !)
Honorary advisor
Regulars
Offline
Stop purchasing...Start producing...
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it ..(William Shakespeare in Twelfth Night)
Regulars
Offline
Draw the fingering on the music sheet, it helps me to doodle in parts I'm struggling with. Though the arthritis... nah! you can do it Oliver!
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
Regulars
Offline
Where is Pierre's circle thingie? Isn't there a key that complements G flat that you could play in? I can't distinguish between flat/natural or natural/sharp, so I wouldn't care. Maybe you will luck out and your congregation is partially tone deaf! 
I have a idea, Oliver..... learn to whistle it. 
Problem solved.
Honorary tenured advisor
Regulars
Offline
You can do it, Oliver. It will be good for you, like exercising when you don't feel like it. I believe the key of G-flat corresponds to F-sharp, so that is probably not going to help you out. Good luck!
Fiddlestix You may be closer to the answer than you think. All that printed music stuff can be scarey but melody never lies.
doo-dah, doo-dah
Regulars
Offline
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Problem solved Oliver!
I may be taking too simplistic a view of this, but if the pianist played the tune as arranged, couldn't you just make the G flat adjustments by ear???
If I do indeed know the melody then I can follow the piano OK.
It can actually be a hindrance to see the printed music which I consider to be misleading. (I think the present music writing system is flawed so it may be good not to look at it ! Perhaps sharps notes could have triangles and flats might be square .... something like that.)
The only trick is to nail the very first note.
Oliver, what is the name of the piece you are wanting to learn?, go on YouTube and find it or post the music here on the forum. Maybe one of our member's can play it.
Yeah, that would be neat but the music is a highly stylized medley with piano. The piano player will be a conservatory class musician who takes no prisoners.
This is one of the pitfalls of maturing musically on the violin. The music gets harder and more difficult then just searching for a decent midi or mp3. I had more fun when I was flat out "bad".
Regulars
Offline
dionysia said
Where is Pierre's circle thingie? Isn't there a key that complements G flat that you could play in?
You mean this wheel Didi?
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
To NV and all, I must apologize for not making a sample of the music available for your playing pleasure.
I have copied the last page of the music. The violin part is easy, EXCEPT for G flat !
(Make FM proud!)
Honorary tenured advisor
Regulars
Offline
Hey, I just had a thought. Would it work if you tuned your violin down a half step? So you would read the music as if you were playing G major. I haven't thought this through completely yet.
Regulars
Offline
My jaw dropped on the desk then I realized I was looking at the piano part, I was like: how can you play so many notes at the same time? Benchpress the strings? Then I look up a bit and said phew ok this is more like it. What is hard about the G minor? Can this help Oliver?
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
Honorary tenured advisor
Regulars
Offline
That's not the right key, NV. G-flat major has 6 flats (b e a d g c).
Well SaraO
I guess I could re-tune except there would be a problem with the previous section in the key of A. Then too, I could have two violins available.
Regulars
Offline
Ok now I get it, ouch! Oliver it does look like the hardest. I found this video maybe it can help? Looks like you'll have a lot of practice to do!
"It can sing like a bird, it can cry like a human being, it can be very angry, it can be all that humans are" Maxim Vengerov
Honorary tenured advisor
Regulars
Offline
Yay, I was helpful! 
I was at a fiddle festival last year, and a gal tuned her instrument differently between songs. I think it will work. A second violin would make it a bit easier (faster), though.
1 Guest(s)
