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Gordon Bennett
Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 Topic Rating: 5 (26 votes) 
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Gordon Shumway
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May 11, 2022 - 6:59 am
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This is my first ever internet upload of any kind.

I told a couple of people I really should put my money where my mouth is, probably with a practice blog, as my approach is always to play stuff that stretches me, so it will never be performance standard.

I chose a month when the cabling company is digging the street up. So much so that I couldn't even be bothered to turn the radio off (I've just been listening to Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the volume on 50!).

I start accompanying whatever was on the radio, then I muck around a bit and play a little bit of the tango from memory, then I get frustrated and start playing around with the sounding point. Unfortunately I cut it off a few seconds too early, before I'd played a few satisfactory pianissimos.

I'll play some more of the tango later, and better, as it's good to improvise on.

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Andrew

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ELCBK
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May 11, 2022 - 8:22 am
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@Gordon Shumway 

GEEZ, ANDREW! 

Glad I couldn't sleep!  

 

BRAVO!!!

THAT'S A HUGE, 1ST STEP! 

Great start for your Blog! 

LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE TANGO!!! 

 

WHEN YOU GET TO WHERE YOU TO SHOW YOUR FACE WHILE PLAYING, WE'LL SHOWER YOU WITH YOUR 1st BADGE 🤗 
THANK YOU, FOR SHARING YOUR VERY 1st UPLOAD! 
HOPE YOU DON'T MAKE US WAIT LONG FOR THE NEXT ONE! 
 
 

- Emily

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Gordon Shumway
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May 11, 2022 - 8:26 am
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ELCBK said

 WHEN YOU GET TO WHERE YOU TO SHOW YOUR FACE WHILE PLAYING, WE'LL SHOWER YOU WITH YOUR 1st BADGE 🤗  

Like I said once before, if I had a thousand for a camera, I'd spend it on a bow!

Andrew

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ELCBK
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May 11, 2022 - 9:34 am
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Have a smartphone that takes video or a friend who can take a video for you? 

...my last tug on your shirt sleeve. 😊

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Mouse
May 11, 2022 - 10:21 am
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Hey, @Gordon Shumway, Alf, that was very cool. Thank you for sharing that. Playing accompaniment to something on the radio sounds like a really good exercise and learning tool. Do you do that often?

I have often thought of maybe getting out my cello, viola or violin when I have my CD’s playing but always tell myself that I will mess it all up, but I guess that is part of learning, right?

Sometimes, I will put my phone face down at home to listen to what I just did, when I am practicing. Setting up to video takes too much time away, and it is like playing in front of someone to me, and I can’t do that.

I hope you will post more of your audio recordings here. Listening to your playing to the radio has actually brought me a little closer to doing with my CD’s. I could use the cello, viola or violin, wouldn’t matter. I should do it. Maybe I will start this afternoon. I have to make a supply of bday cards for my daughter the rest of this morning. She asked for some and I told her I would bring some down when we visit next. 

Thanks for the incentive!

🐭

The Bumblebee Flies!

Please ignore any typos. My typing ability on a real typewriter did not transfer to these device key pads.

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Gordon Shumway
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May 11, 2022 - 10:38 am
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Mouse said
  Playing accompaniment to something on the radio sounds like a really good exercise and learning tool. Do you do that often?  

Lol, no, it's the first time I've ever done it.

Andrew

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stringy
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May 11, 2022 - 3:06 pm
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Sounds good, pity you have all the distractions, cant be easy with the banjacks outside making a din, but thats london  for you, they are not really stand out  on the recording though.

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
May 11, 2022 - 4:03 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
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Way to go Gordon! Just know that we all judge ourselves harder than others do.

Thanks for sharing. I'm happy that you did. One small step for mankind, one giant step for GORDON!!!! Congrats.

"The richest person is not the one who has the most,
but the one who needs the least."

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ABitRusty
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May 11, 2022 - 4:55 pm
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congrats Andrew and I envy your ability on vibrato. Im Really struggling getting it going.  Happy to see you share some playing!

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Katie L
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May 11, 2022 - 5:23 pm
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Well done Gordon I really enjoyed listening .

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SharonC
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May 11, 2022 - 10:43 pm
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@Gordon Shumway  You have a wonderful tone, even with the “dentist office” accompaniment.  Thank you for sharing smile

Characterize people by their actions and you will never be fooled by their words.

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Mark
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May 12, 2022 - 12:52 am
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Gordon Shumway

Nicely done, good tone and vibrato, 

Thanks for posting enjoyed listing to your recording.

Mark

Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.

Albert Sammons

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Gordon Shumway
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May 24, 2022 - 1:33 pm
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The good news: -

today I took my Gewa with relatively new Dominants and my Breton with relatively new Zyexes and swapped them both over, aiming to brighten the Breton and tone down the Gewa.

The bad news: -

after I did it I realised I should have recorded them both, before and after.

Sorry!

Andrew

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ELCBK
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May 24, 2022 - 3:07 pm
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@Gordon Shumway -

Oh, come on - you must have some thoughts, one way or the other! 

Didn't you notice ANY difference?

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Gordon Shumway
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May 24, 2022 - 3:15 pm
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The point is, I should have recorded the differences.

The Breton is a very warm violin and it sounds much better with Dominants because the Zyexes are among the warmest strings. I've just ordered some Thomastik Visions to put on at the end of July after orchestra season to take the use of bright strings on a warm violin one step further. The only reservation I have about the Dominants is their low tension. If the Visions are higher tension, maybe they will be revelatory.

Neither violin has settled yet. The Gewa will only ever be a backup instrument and will never sound great -it has sweet treble but weak bass (i.e. the G and D strings), whereas the Breton's bass is fabulous. If I ever buy an endoscope, I'll check how heavy the Gewa's bass bar is, not that it will be worth the expense of having it shaved down.

Andrew

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Gordon Shumway
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May 24, 2022 - 3:25 pm
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Gordon Shumway said
I'll play some more of the tango later, and better, as it's good to improvise on.  

Tico Tico might be a good one to look at.

Andrew

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stringy
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May 24, 2022 - 5:12 pm
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To be honest I hate changing strings, especially new ones, then there is the hassle of constant tuning for a week and re setting the bridge, which invariably moves. I have done it with guitar strings, but I couldnt be bothered with fiddle, mind you, you cant boil fiddle strings.

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Gordon Shumway
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May 24, 2022 - 6:28 pm
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Yeah, changing strings is no fun.

I've timetabled it for mid December and mid July, both times after orchestra breaks up.

A week? I'm still not happy after a month. I Hope the Christmas change will have settled by mid January!

Andrew

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Gordon Shumway
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June 16, 2022 - 4:03 am
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We have a gig towards the end of July, so it's back to the balancing act between a) graded material (ABRSM) for progress, but never performable unless I play a few grades down from what I'm working on, and orchestra for performance. The orchestra is playing difficult pieces (Suk Serenade, Parry English Suite, Strauss Metamorphosen, Boyce symphony no 2, Moszkowsky Prelude and Fugue op 85 and some dall'Abaco). The Strauss isn't difficult, but every violin part is unique and playing a solo fortissimo after 52 bars of rest is embarrassing if you play it in the wrong place. There is a septet version, which we may switch to).

Also our octogenarian conductor is retiring, so we have hired a new conductor for September - I hope he'll be briefed to do three gigs a year.

For bariolage, I had been doing the Vivaldi G Major (grade 5) and was planning to spend 2 months on the Handel D Major (grade 6) second movement (slower than Stern below - ABRSM recommend 100bpm, he's playing 120, I might aim for 90) before September, but the Handel isn't that much more difficult than the Vivaldi, and the bariolage extends down to the D string, so I may begin it now, but then I'll have a void to fill in the summer. Perhaps easier pieces with a view to performance. The Dulwich Symphony Orchestra publishes its pieces online for people to practise in the summer, but this September is too soon for me to consider joining them.

So I've made the formal decision to play ABRSM material for technique only, and practise orchestra pieces seriously. Perhaps that was obvious before, but it was only informal. There was hope of emulating my progress on the piano (go up a grade a year), but that isn't happening, as I haven't got a teacher to hold me in check, and I'm not sure where I should be held back to, and teachers aren't 100% reliable at doing that either.

Andrew

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ELCBK
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June 16, 2022 - 4:22 am
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@Gordon Shumway -

Have you been trying to record yourself anymore - even for practice?

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