ELCBK said
@Gordon Shumway -

How's the Viola practice going? 

  

Non-existent at the moment, just like the flute practice, lol!

I have to devote April to my symphony orchestra's June gig and to my teacher's prescriptions - she's in Italy for the month, and I want to show a big improvement when she gets back.

However, I am thinking of leaving my viola out of its case permanently, so it's not all  bad!

Gordon Shumway said
I thought I'd give you a BonMusica update.

Here's the most comfortable setup. But the red arrow points to the corner of the backing plate which is revealed as I rotate the rest's back-half towards my neck. This corner, rather than the visible nut and bolt, presses against a vein or nerve in my shoulder, so my only need for the time being is to cover it with something such as a piece of yoga mat.

  

I'd been practising Sevcik Op.8 and having a bad time trying to play in 7th position on the G string. I've just discovered that it was the configuration of my Bon Musica that was doing that. I had it dog-legged towards my neck for maximum shoulder-contact, as in the picture above. But that meant it kept getting pushed around the bout as I reached for top C (later Sevcik Op.8 hits 10th position. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to attempt that one! I can't even reach 10th position on the E string, and on the G string it will sound like a cat in a garbage disposer). Now it's straight, and 7th position on the G string is much easier.

I hate that damn shoulder rest!

Gordon Shumway said
My next lesson is tomorrow and I had considered last weekend deleting my FB account due to compulsive behaviour and ADD. Today I spent all day on FB and didn't practise the violin, so tonight I deleted my FB account.  

Yesterday I deleted my violinist.com account. I decided the cultural- and viewpoint differences were so great as to make genuine communication impossible. I never said, I had also long ago deleted my ABRSM forum account. Music is way too subjective to discuss except ftf. And when the cafés become inhabited by too many different people, then they become mayhem.

I may have said that my first teacher, a freelance violist, was on the internet but took part in no online string groups or forums. I know how she feels, but have no plans to quit Fiddlerman yet, my only remaining social site. (the uke forum closed, as the sponsor quit paying the licence, but that was just a very angry café anyway, lol)

Gordon Shumway said
Tuned the viola today. Spent 5 minutes drawing notes. 

Hung it on the wall, so that it's always there to remind me.  

But it turns out I forgot to loosen the bow when I put it back in the cheap viola case, but it's only a $50 carbon bow, so I don't think it's a problem.

Gordon Shumway said
 So far April has been a good month.  

Not any more. The first week turned out to be unproductive, and now I've had a stinking cold for a week. Yesterday all I ate was a bowl of cornflakes, and I've been spending 12 hours a night in bed. And I have to spring-clean the place ready for the cable-guy (Openreach) to come on Wednesday, so not much of April will have been good. If I could get in a fortnight's intensive practice before my next lesson, that would be good, but the gf, in anticipation of Easter, is now starting to treat my absence as more of a misdemeanour than a misfortune.

Mouse said
 I am glad to hear you are dealing with the area that is pressing the nerve. That pressing will cause major nerve damage if allowed to continue   

I'm pretty sure it's a vein, not a nerve, but it's taken care of.

Mouse said
Things will het better. 

Thanks. My next progress deadline is mid September, but my teacher always looks puzzled when I mention long-term progress, lol.

I've just been listening to Prokofiev's 5th symphony on the radio imagining it was an Indiana Jones theme tune!!! That's the problem with film music - it's so derivative!

Ugh, one of them is pronouncing Karajan Karahan - does he think he's Spanish?! Even if it were a German name it would be "yan", but Herbie's great-great-grandfather was a Greek called Karaiannis - the "von" was made up.

Gordon Shumway said

 I've had a stinking cold for a week. Yesterday all I ate was a bowl of cornflakes, and I've been spending 12 hours a night in bed.  

  

Swigging Benylin for breakfast, and it has probably now been a week since I last touched my violin. Cancelled the cable-guy appointment until the second Thursday afternoon in May. I've pulled muscles in both sides of my abdomen from coughing.

Gordon Shumway said

 

Yesterday I deleted my violinist.com account. I decided the cultural- and viewpoint differences were so great as to make genuine communication impossible. 

Lol, there's a thread about Yehudi Menuhin where for a while they were guessing his first language (Yiddish, Russian, Merkin?). They seem to have given up now.

His parents were linguists (among other things) who left Russia for Palestine, where they learnt English (or they may have learnt it in Russia), before leaving for the USA. They understood Yiddish but never used it.

Merkin is closest, but that wasn't until he was 3. Hebrew was what he learnt until age 3. He regretted that 3 was too young to learn Merkin, as it made him forget his Hebrew. (Source: Unfinished Journey). I've read arguments about how strictly one should define "first language", but can't remember if there is any genuine strict definition. I think he'd have to have retained fluency in Hebrew to call it his first language.

And after a poll, we got our gig list for the next year and a half.

28 June 2025
Elfrida Andrée Concert Overture
Dvorak Cello Concerto soloist Sophie Kauer
Schumann Symphony no 2

6 December 2025
Alan Taylor Prelude Remembering the civilian victims of warfare
Mahler Totenfeier
Prokofiev Selections from 'Romeo and Juliet' [is this supposed to be thematic?!]

28 March 2026
Fauré Pavane
Sibelius Violin Concerto soloist Elisabeth Turmo
Dvorak Symphony no 6

27 June 2026
Emilie Mayer Overture No 2
Beethoven Piano Concerto No 4 soloist tbc
Vaughan Williams Symphony no 5

I voted for Sibelius's 5th symphony somewhere. Looks like others preferred the violin concerto.

I keep talking about sponges, but that's mainly on grounds of comfort. In fact, the instability is detrimental to learning technique. Yesterday I took delivery of an Artino Ergo shoulder rest and an Artino gelpad SR11. The shoulder rest is perfect for my viola, but the instability of the gelpad is pretty horrible.

Strangely, I can taste everything except tea!

Actually, I'm hypersensitive to vinegar, and I've been using a jar of pickle as a measuring rod for my sense of smell. I can smell the pickle, but I suspect much less than normal!