Duets

I think when you first start playing a 2^nd violin part, it is helpful to

1) Know the violin 1 part

2) See both parts at the same time as you play the 2^nd violin part

This is a good beginning level duet on YouTube that can be used as a play-along.  The person doing the video provided a copy of the sheet music in a link in the video description as well, which I just attached below.

Grandpafiddle said
Hi Sharon. 

I LOVE duets, and especially this one. Thank you for posting the sheet music.

I'm currently working on Lara's Theme from Dr Zhivago (Somewhere My Love) violin duet.

Maybe I'll get brave enough to post when it's done.

Grandpa

  

@Grandpafiddle You're welcome-- I think this is a nice sounding arrangement, too

Somewhere My Love is a good one--look forwarded to hearing it when you've got it ready

Practice

I've been working on my bowing, adjusting my bow grip. I'm improving with my piece, the Wohlfahrt, and other exercises--slow going, but it is working.

A few days ago, I changed my shoulder rest from the Bon Musica that I've been using for years, to the Fiddlerman shoulder rest (that I've been using on the 14" viola).

I think part of the reason I am adjusting everything is because I've lost weight over the last year--60lbs as of today.  So everything feels different in how I'm holding the violin & moving.  Not complaining--good problem to have

The Black Cat

Nearly every year, my county’s Animal Control (and local animal rescues) are overwhelmed with abandoned/neglected animals—

Last week, one of the rescues had someone dump off 25 adult cats (crowded into 7 carriers) at their front door at around 7pm (when no one was around, capture on security camera), and so not discovered by volunteers until 7am the next morning.

About 2 weeks ago, I had a large black cat hanging around my house (saw him on security cams). 

There are a few neighborhood cats that come through the area—this was not one of them.  Cats that belong somewhere that spend time outside move through an area with a purpose; a routine, roaming their territory.  This cat wandered, and just looked lost.  When I saw him in person, I could see that he was very underweight (hips, ribs showing), so it was clear to me that no one was feeding him, and he wasn’t having much success feeding himself. 

I called Animal Control, who told me their cages were full at the moment, and all their traps were out—they’d call me when they could come to get him. 

I put out food for him twice a day, and he took to hanging around on my front porch at varies times, including at night, when he would jump up on one of my rocking chairs and sleep. 

He kept a safe distance from me – letting me put down food & water for him, waiting for me to walk away before he’d go and eat it.

I checked some lost & found sites, messaged a few people that had a missing black cat—only got negative replies that he did not belong to them.

Animal Control brought me a trap yesterday—I decided to set it this morning so he wouldn’t have to be in it that long (I didn’t want him to be in the trap yesterday, then all night, and part of the day today waiting to be picked up).

So, this morning at about 6:45, the cat sat on my porch waiting for me to feed him.  I brought the canned food out in a disposable plate (as I had been doing) and some water to put in the container already in the trap cage.  I set up the trap on the porch close to where I had been feeding him previously, putting in the food & water, and positioning the hinged door that would drop close once he went inside.

The cat waited patiently as I did all of this, waiting for me to walk away.  Once I was done, I headed toward the other side of the patio toward my front door.  As expected, he went inside and started eating. 

But the door did not drop.  I thought oh, oh, now what?  He was faced away from me, so I thought I could get back over there fast enough, I could push the door down before he knew what was going on.  But, if I didn’t move fast enough, he would get out, and I probably wouldn’t be able to get him to go back in the trap again—he’d not make the same mistake twice.

I decided to go for it.

Yeah, I got him.  He wasn’t happy.  He thrashed around, hissing & growling.  I picked up the trap, and brought it over near my front door, & covered part of it with a towel, and went inside for a few minutes to let him calm down.  I called the police dispatch so they could notify the Animal Control guy to come get him.

The cat was on my porch for about 4 hours in the trap before Animal Control picked him up.  We’d had rain, so the temperature wasn’t high, and he was not in the sun.  Once he was done banging around trying to get out, the cat managed to somehow set upright the water container, so I poured some water into it.  He would growl occasionally, crouched down, looking both angry and afraid.   

Over the years, I’ve had to have Animal Control come get cats many times.  Twice I’ve found a mother cat & kittens in the yard/on my porch.  A couple of times an injured animal—one limping, the other with an infected wound.  And a few more times with an animal like this—undernourished and afraid.

I do wish people would be responsible with animals; not get a pet if they are not going to take care of it, spay/neuter, etc.,     

So, the music part of this?  Mr. Black Cat would sit at the window of my practice room while I practiced.  My own cat wants nothing to do with my noise when I pick up my violin, so I found this odd.  And, it would happen after he had already eaten (so it wasn’t like he was just waiting on me to feed him).  So, I’ll suppose he was intrigued by the caterwauling of my bowing exercises

Practice. . . 

Continuing my practice of Op 35 Yanshinov, Wohlfahrt op 74, #9, open bowing, scales.

Also, playing through the piece I found for Stringy’s Lament party, and drafted a viola part for half of it.  Typically, I don’t “think” in viola, so if I draft something up, I’ll likely make changes to it.  For different reasons.   After I’ve played through it, I might find it is awkward to play.  Or maybe it just doesn’t sound the way I thought it would.  Or I just plain mess it up (what was I thinking?).  

ABitRusty said

he reminds me of our new cat.   he just showed up one day and hasnt left.  weve adopted him i guess and have done the vet thing.

Yep, that's the way it happens--they pick you   One of my previous cats was a stray (and a black cat, too).

Duets – My first one – Pleyel

The first duet I worked on with my teacher years ago was Pleyel op8 no1. 

What is neat about this tune is that you can play it slow, with repeats (like he does in this video), or fast with no repeats which, of course, makes it feel much different.

There are six of these, and are available on IMSLP (I’ve attached copies below; violin1, violin2, and violin1&2):

https://imslp.org/wiki/6_Violi.....el,_Ignaz)

Practice

I finished the viola part for the Lament party tune.  Played thru it—good to go.  Plan to record it this upcoming week. 

I’ve been switching between the Bon Musica & Fiddlerman shoulder rests—not sure which I prefer now.  I guess I should just try a 3^rd one to make things more complicated.  I’m used to adjusting my shoulder to play into the G string with the Bon Musica—don’t need to move as much to do this with the FM; but the Bon Musica feels better when playing on the E string.  I’ll figure it out.

In addition to what I have been practicing, I’ve pulled some music off the internet to sight read; nothing complicated, just haven’t done it for a while, so I thought I’d do it.

Raspberry Beret/Bourée

I have a large raspberry “patch” in my yard in the area where I get hummingbirds every year.  A few years ago, I planted a few raspberry plants – 3 different varieties. 

The instructions indicated that I needed to plant the red raspberries in a different location from the unusual yellow variety that I got.  After a couple of seasons, the 2 red varieties died off.  But the yellow variety remained--although I think it crossbred with the red ones (I guess that is why it was supposed to be separated), so the color of the berries is more of an orangy-yellow.

Relating this random information to music:

The Prince song from 1985—Raspberry Beret, had string players Novi Novog (violin), David Coleman & Suzie Katayama (Cello).

An Atlanta cello quartet, called Celli (I mentioned one of its cellist, Nan Kemberling, in my blog post 40) did a mash up version of the Prince song along with Bach’s Bourée from Suite No. 3, calling it Raspberry Bourée:

@Mouse  It is a neat piece.  I was remembering that @Jim Dunleavy did that wonderful project of his (great) playing of it on both piano & violin, posted here in his blog:

https://fiddlerman.com/forum/f.....6/#p124081

I also like hearing 4 cellos playing together--not the "norm"