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Bravo, a lot of improvement over the last recording. The intonation was so much better. It's obvious that you knew which notes I was referring to. I still would like to hear you play more dynamics. Would you like me to mark your part with my ideas (dynamics)? I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am sure your guests will love it as well.
Thanks.
Pierre,
What a kind offer! Email on the way with the basic score in pdf. If you would prefer I can send it in musescore format or maybe mUsic xml.
FWIW, I think more dynamics will come naturally in the next few days. 1st chore is rhythm, 2nd is relaxing left, right, and all over. 3rd is moving with the music to help keep the beat when there's no melody track. 4th, turn the emotion knob up to 10. If there's a dry eye in the house when I'm done I'll be disappointed... not crushed, but a little disappointed.
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Sorry, I'm lazy so I just printed it and scribbled my ideas on the print and scanned it. Good luck.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Sorry, I'm lazy so I just printed it and scribbled my ideas on the print and scanned it. Good luck.
Lazy? My choice would be "Awesome".
Thank you. I'll have a look in the morning.
That one is even better!!! Thanks, Joe.
Can't wait to listen to that piece with Pierre's dynamics ideas =)
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Mad_Wed said
That one is even better!!! Thanks, Joe.Can't wait to listen to that piece with Pierre's dynamics ideas =)
Me too 
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
Now if I could get my daughter married off so I could play at her wedding.
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That was so good. I loved it....you are going to do great!
Vibrato Desperato.... Desperately seeking vibrato
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Kevin M. said
Now if I could get my daughter married off so I could play at her wedding.
ROFL, that is too funny Kevin. I think you should keep her around as long as you can.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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FYI I played this for my teacher today, with the accompaniment and later played it again for her, her husband an another student. Nerves got the best of me so I stuck with the plain vanilla version without any ornaments let alone new fingering or dynamics.
The wedding is only 3 weeks away so I think I'm going to stick with what I know for know and just practice like a pro... I heard somewhere that amateurs practice till they don't make a mistake. Professionals practice until they never make a mistake.
My teacher also pointed out that with the background music playing without coordinated dynamics it might not work out as I'd hoped.
Sooo... while I truly appreciate the suggestions that you made, Pierre, for the wedding I'm going to stick with what I've been doing and try to get stronger with the ornamentation I've already been working on for a while.
I'll be playing for our ukulele group tomorrow and probably doing sort a dress rehearsal, on-location with the real sound system, for a group of neighbors next week or the week after.
Thank you all for your kind words and suggestions!
joe
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Just do exactly what feels right for you.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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just wanted to share... I got the best compliment ever today... I was playing SBSM with the accompaniment for my fiddle teacher near the end of our lesson. One of her other students arrived early, just after I'd started (he's a banjo player about my age). When I was done, he said "that was beautiful. How long have you been playing?"
I never thought I would ever hear someone ask me that. Made my day.
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I want to hear his reaction when he heard your answer.
"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."
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Fiddlerman said
I want to hear his reaction when he heard your answer.
it was something along the lines of "wow! I wish I could play that well".
I'm not trying to be boastful... I really don't play that well, no vibrato, not much in the way of dynamics (as you know), but I guess I did enough right for it to sound like music rather than having it sound like I wanted it to sound like music
joe
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but I guess I did enough right for it to sound like music rather than having it sound like I wanted it to sound like music
joe
SLAP~~~ BANG!!!!!! > thats the TICKET!!!!!!!!!
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The suggestion to practice playing in front of people was a good one. My first performance in front of relative strangers was this morning when I played SBSM with the backup track for our ukulele group. It was not pretty.
I was not afraid. I did not feel particularly nervous. I know the piece inside out and backwards. My mind was quiet and I had a pretty positive expectation based on my practices and playing for my teacher and a couple other people. I even took a couple deep breaths before I started. By all accounts, I expected things to go smoothly and to play really well.
As soon as I started playing, my hands began to tremble. I hardly missed a beat but at times they were trembling so badly that I could hardly keep the bow on the strings. It was the oddest feeling to look down at my hand, feeling rather calm, and wondering almost out loud, "why are you doing that?"
When I was done, having actually played through, albeit poorly due to the shakes, I was asked to play it again with a different setting on the PA I was using for the backup. I had to wait about 5 minutes before the adrenaline tapered enough to even consider playing it again. When I thought I'd calmed down enough I played it without the backup and the shakes came back as bad as the first time. Again, I remember looking down at my hands and wondering why the heck I was reacting this way
I know I played poorly but did not feel overly frustrated or upset by it, it was more like fascinated and concerned that unless I get a handle on whatever caused this to happen, I should probably reconsider a live performance at the wedding. This was one of the more bizarre experiences I've had in a long time.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
joe
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Find a park, Walmart parking lot, or street corner and practice there. You will get used to people watching you and will feel more comfortable. Get it in your head that you are playing for your own enjoyment, forget what others might think. Works for me at least I've def been where you are . I still get the shakes when making a vid too, can feel it i my gut.
"Please play some wrong notes, so that we know that you are human" - said to Jascha Heifetz.
I DO like the WalMart suggestion, but here's another idea. Depending where you live, you may be able to just out on the front porch and play. That way you can just sit there and wait until nobody is walking by and no cars are driving by (if you happen to live in that kind of neighborhood) and practice without feeling quite so nervous, while knowing there is still a chance someone is listening. Maybe close your eyes so you don't know when people are walking by, stopping, staring at you....
For sure, and this is common knowledge, but something we forget when we're the performing, 99.99% of people listening will have NO idea if you mess something up or not. They will be completely clueless unless YOU acknowledge your miss. So maybe try to find some comfort in that. Everyone is just trying to enjoy the moment. You aren't auditioning for anything, no one is trying to be critical, and none of them have ever even touched a violin, so the fact that you are playing at all is so amazing that they can't even wrap their brains around anything other what an awesome job you're doing.
Oh, open your eyes at the end of the song on the porch, and see if anyone decided to stop and listen after sneaking up on you. Then you know that you can play in front of people, because you just did it. Then repeat the exercise. Now, all that being said, I've never tried that experiment, but I think that's what I would do.
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Here's the thing though... I did not feel nervous, apprehensive, or afraid. When I was playing I was not thinking of the people watching, I was just trying, as usual, to pay attention to the rhythm and my tone. It truly surprised me when my hand began to tremble. My first thought was not about what people would think or anything to do with them, it was more of an observation that playing with trembling hands was going to be really difficult.
There was obviously a huge Adrenalin rush, and it never happens when playing for family or friends or in groups of other players, so I guess I should try playing in front of strangers more.
Thanks for the suggestions and support,
joe
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Well, I don't think it was fear, Joe. From the sounds of it, it was just a bit of excitement, which also gets the adrenaline up. You were getting to do something cool and fun, show off a little bit for some folks on something you've worked on. That's a good thing.
If you had just felt like "Blah.. Whatever." and felt bored, I'd say it would be more likely to adversely affect your performance.
Rather than avoid it, I think you'd be better off using it to your advantage. What I used to do was plan on a fast hard song first, to just take a little of the edge off while using any extra adrenaline to put some extra energy into the opening number and make a good first impression.
That may fit better with the ukelele group situations than the wedding performance, though. But maybe if there's someplace on the wedding day where you can go a little while before you need to play, so you can play something fast and fun for a couple friends or family members, that may warm you up and settle the hands enough for you to be in perfect form for the song at the wedding.
Wookieman's suggestion of playing on the porch.. I've been doing a bit of that this summer, and I can say that it does seem to be a good way to keep the stage fright down. I am kinda prone to a bit of stage fright, and I know from experience that the longer I go without playing in front of people in person, the harder it gets. So I've been using that tactic to keep it whittled down. I've been ready for at least a few unpleasant comments, but so far, people have been quite nice. Some just seem to ignore and walk by, but some stop to listen for a minute, sometimes clap when I get to the end of a piece or make a positive comment. Even had one couple ask if I'd come and play at a cookout they were throwing that evening. LOL
So, it is actually not a bad idea for anyone who wants to sort of ease in to playing in front of people. It might not go over in every neighborhood, but it's at least worth a try.
Public parks are also cool places to go and play. Nice scenery and a pretty day can help inspire for some good playing, especially if it's too hot to want to play indoors. I've done that a couple times, with a friend or two for moral support and to act as a rooting section. LOL
Cemeteries are also good, at least with appropriate material. SBSM would work well there, as do pieces like Amazing Grace. Just pick the grave of some stranger, stand in front of it take out your violin and act like you're playing in memory of some relative who has passed on. If anyone passing by says anything, it's pretty much always positive, or at least has been when I've done it.
"This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in 5 or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development." ~ Itzhak Perlman
You bring up a good point @JoeP, adrenaline is a very real factor in performance. That being said, if it is adrenaline, than I would think that it would be extra beneficial to get some "public practice," because adrenaline can do strange things to us if we aren't used to it and don't know how to control it and USE it in a certain situation.
That being said, if it is adrenaline, that usually means that your body has kicked in to "fight or flight" mode. OR you're extremely excited. So, try to pinpoint the reason, remembering that it might be completely subconscious, and I really think that continualy trying to re-create that scenario, or building up to it could be beneficial until your subconscious stops sending the adrenal gland those signals, or until you get used to playing with the exra high. Good luck man! Sounds like a great science experiment to me. Might even be something I look at in my studies.
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