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Hi everyone,
This forum looks nice so I thought I'd join, even if I'm not sure yet how much I'll be posting. I'm 29 and playing viola (never violin), it's been almost 3 years in total – with a 2-year interruption in-between.
I think I'm reaching the phase where progress is slower, so I might need your advice and/or all the information available here. (I don't want to take lessons, not now anyway.) I'm already on a violin forum in the "same spirit" as here (the helpful and encouraging kind), but you can never be on too many of those, right ? 
P.S. I'm french so please excuse my sometimes poor english. I'll try my best !
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Welcome, @wtw. I bet there's more than one of us flirting with the idea of going to the "dark side" and trying viola
P.S. Your English is excellent... and if it weren't, no worries here!
Honorary advisor
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My best friend plays viola. More than once, she has tried to persuade me to go viola.
I love the viola. The deep, rich sound. Its incredible range. How it adds to the string section in an orchestra. I am so impressed and have such respect for violists.
And my friend plays so beautifully. We play duets sometimes, which is an awesome experience.
The viola is a beautiful instrument!
You are more than welcome here!
- Pete -
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mon ami, l'anglais est censé être ma langue maternelle et pourtant je le dépouille comme un agneau. Vous êtes toujours les bienvenus ici.
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hé ben!
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pas mal du tout markcobb 
Let's try to bring a few of you to the dark side, then… now that's a challenge.
Honorary advisor
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wtw said
pas mal du tout markcobb
Let's try to bring a few of you to the dark side, then… now that's a challenge.
Well I'm an american cajun, with a wicked thick southern accent, stutter and stammer, that can butcher several languages when spoken.
Not when I sing for some reason.
The violin is my new mistress, I'll stay with her.
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My violin teacher is a violist, so I won't be stuck if I want to switch.
I was going to post a link to Bashmet playing the Telemann viola concerto, but Youtube have withdrawn it due to copyright infringement. Shucks!
Andrew
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Welcome! I'm a violist. I have a violin, but I play it rarely; I switched to viola after a little over a year playing violin and I've been playing almost exclusively viola for almost 18 years now.
Unusually, I was first inspired to learn string instruments by a viola concerto -- the first concerto I ever heard for any instrument was the Walton viola concerto, played by the principal violist of the local symphony orchestra. I've been learning the Walton this year. Here's a more famous violist playing it:
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WTW,
Welcome to the forum, I do believe all string players are welcome here!
Mark
Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.
Albert Sammons
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Hello and welcome to the forum ?
Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about dancing in the rain!!
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It's been a very long time since I last saw the word "Bratsche" (German for viola).
Andrew
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Welcome @wtw ! Violin / viola - doesn't matter here !
Enjoy the forum, and best wishes for your progress !
I seriously recommend not copying my mistakes. D'oh - 
Please make your own, different mistakes, and help us all learn :-)
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Thanks for the welcome everyone.
@Gordon Shumway Big fan of Bashmet here. The Telemann concerto ? i have no trouble finding it on youtube :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?.....XM4gQQCY8E
@AndrewH : I didn't know the Walton concerto... nor this violist (but as far as violinists/violists are concerned, I don't know many). Is it me, or his viola is rather on the big side of the spectrum ?
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wtw said
@AndrewH : I didn't know the Walton concerto... nor this violist (but as far as violinists/violists are concerned, I don't know many). Is it me, or his viola is rather on the big side of the spectrum ?
The Walton concerto is the most frequently performed viola concerto, and considered one of the "big three" for viola! (All three are modern; the other two are the Bartok concerto and Hindemith's "Der Schwanendreher.")
Tamestit's viola actually isn't big. He plays the "Gustav Mahler" Stradivari, which according to Tarisio is 16-1/4", right in the middle of the size range.
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Hmm... That would be around 41 cm, right ? Mine is 41. It was only an impression then.
I don't like much modern stuff, I think. I'll stick to a few older pieces and be glad when I can manage them if only approximately (that will take ages anyway
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wtw said
The Telemann concerto ? i have no trouble finding it on youtube
Yeah, it seems that individual links go down, rather than pieces - I should have thought of that. However, I've got an RCA box set of Bashmet, and there's no baroque on it, so I'm still hunting for a CD of that one. I've ordered one by a different violist.
My Marian Anderson link had broken, but I found the recording elsewhere.
Andrew
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wtw said
Hmm... That would be around 41 cm, right ? Mine is 41. It was only an impression then.I don't like much modern stuff, I think. I'll stick to a few older pieces and be glad when I can manage them if only approximately (that will take ages anyway
It's rather unfortunate that there's so little viola solo repertoire before the 20th century. Not a problem for me from a stylistic standpoint because my favorite era happens to be the early 20th century, but it's a very steep learning curve because there are so few pieces suitable for upper-intermediate level players. Among the big three modern concertos, the Walton is still mostly in the late Romantic idiom, the other two are more modernist.
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AndrewH said
It's rather unfortunate that there's so little viola solo repertoire before the 20th century.
Transposing violin repertoire can work very well. I saw Bashmet on telly in the 80s or 90s playing the Bach sonatas and partitas transposed and demonstrating how on the violin they are dramatic, whereas on the viola they are "philosophical". Also I guess you can transpose cello repertoire up an octave.
Andrew
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