Welcome to our forum. A Message To Our New and Prospective Members . Check out our Forum Rules. Lets keep this forum an enjoyable place to visit.

Check out our 2023 Group Christmas Project HERE

AAA
Avatar
Please consider registering
guest
sp_LogInOut Log Insp_Registration Register
Register | Lost password?
Advanced Search
Forum Scope




Match



Forum Options



Minimum search word length is 3 characters - maximum search word length is 84 characters
sp_Feed Topic RSSsp_TopicIcon
Injury recovery progress
Learning Brahms Violin Sonata No. 1 while recovering from a car accident
Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 Topic Rating: 0 (0 votes) 
Avatar
AndrewH
Sacramento, California
Members

Regulars
November 29, 2020 - 4:46 am
Member Since: November 5, 2017
Forum Posts: 1692
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I haven't posted anything new in a while, so I thought I should share something.

 

As I mentioned elsewhere in the forum, I had a nasty car accident this summer (got rear-ended at a red light on a freeway offramp) and was unable to play for a while due to whiplash. While slowly easing back into playing, I'm actually mostly playing violin, which is physically easier but still feels a bit strange because it's a much less familiar instrument. I decided to learn Brahms's Violin Sonata No. 1 ("Rain") because it seemed appropriate for the season.

 

I'm now up to practicing 30-40 minutes, twice a week, and that's about my limit right now. I also haven't run through any movement yet, and won't until I can practice at least two or three hours a week, because right now playing through the first movement once would eat up about 15% of a week's practice time. I've only worked on short segments.

 

This week I started to string together longer stretches of music. Today I tried playing through the entire first two pages, and last weekend I played an entire page from the middle of the first movement. Even though I've been working on this for about a month, this is not anywhere near polished, because of how little I've been able to practice and because I'm still much more accustomed to the viola. (Also, I interrupted working on this for a week in order to record a virtual orchestra track on viola.)

 

Beginning of first movement:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mMme.....PWFGWdjKKA

 

Excerpt from middle of first movement:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/psST.....vAG8nGxLNA

Avatar
ELCBK
USA
Members

Regulars
November 29, 2020 - 8:06 am
Member Since: June 10, 2020
Forum Posts: 7718
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

WOW!  My hat's off to you, Andrew. 

You never tackle the easy stuff! 

I usually don't care for piano with violin, but this particular piece makes more sense to me with it's piano counterpart. 

I do feel references to rain, whether intended or not - otherwise, in my ignorance, it's pretty much a foreign language to me (mind-boggling how difficult this would be to practice).https://guyanachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Hatsofftoyousir_7163990b4f3a977689286e8655533874.jpg

 

Really appreciate you sharing what you've been working on - it's always nice to be reminded what a violin is capable of.

As always, I hope you feel better soon - so I get to see you smile while you're playing! 

 

giphy.gif

 

- Emily

Avatar
Mark
Members

Regulars
November 29, 2020 - 1:22 pm
Member Since: September 30, 2014
Forum Posts: 2138
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

AndrewH

 

I'm glad your on the mend and able to start playing again, 

Coming along nicely,  

Thank you for posting..

 

Mark

Master the Frog and you have mastered the bow.

Albert Sammons

Avatar
stringy
Members

Regulars
November 29, 2020 - 2:53 pm
Member Since: August 23, 2020
Forum Posts: 1977
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

great playing, if you are that good recovering from injury, Cant wait to hear you completely back on form, excellent stuff, looking forward to more vids.

Avatar
AndrewH
Sacramento, California
Members

Regulars
November 30, 2020 - 5:32 am
Member Since: November 5, 2017
Forum Posts: 1692
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Thanks, everyone. I'd like to record this with piano eventually. I've tried playing bits of it with piano accompaniment tracks I found on YouTube. But my laptop speakers aren't loud enough for me to hear the piano when I'm playing, and I haven't bothered to hook up the external speakers so far. Need more consistency first. With the violin, as you may have seen, I'm still doing beginner things like hitting other strings or squeaking on strings at the moment.

 

By the way, the choice of piece is also geared toward getting used to playing violin. Yes, there are a lot of accidentals and some difficult intervals to tune, but the first movement is mostly at a leisurely tempo, which is good for rebuilding technique.

Avatar
Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
December 18, 2020 - 11:11 am
Member Since: September 26, 2010
Forum Posts: 16429

@andrew - Sorry to hear about your accident. How much do you suffer today from the Whiplash?

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

Avatar
AndrewH
Sacramento, California
Members

Regulars
December 19, 2020 - 2:01 am
Member Since: November 5, 2017
Forum Posts: 1692
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Fiddlerman said
@andrew - Sorry to hear about your accident. How much do you suffer today from the Whiplash?

  

Thanks for asking. Right now my neck is back to normal, and I can lift my arms for a short time without pain, but my left arm and shoulder (which had a prior injury) tire very quickly and I still have occasional random flare-ups of upper back pain. I'm now up to playing violin for up to 40-50 minutes, or viola for up to 30 minutes, three times a week.

Forum Timezone: America/New_York
Most Users Ever Online: 696
Currently Online:
Guest(s) 77
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Members Birthdays
sp_BirthdayIcon
Today RCall
Upcoming Sofia Leo, TKDennis, Ms-G, FiddleDetroit, CookiesViolin, Bobby, Elaisa, Michael Browder, EBurrell, Gordon Shumway, ViolinD, dougga, MoonShadows, Astandane, JohnG
Top Posters:
ELCBK: 7717
ABitRusty: 3896
Mad_Wed: 2849
Barry: 2690
Fiddlestix: 2647
Oliver: 2439
Gordon Shumway: 2422
DanielB: 2379
Mark: 2137
damfino: 2113
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 3
Members: 31657
Moderators: 0
Admins: 7
Forum Stats:
Groups: 16
Forums: 81
Topics: 10581
Posts: 134091
Newest Members:
bittruster, fiddlecastro, jackdaniel, romanmills08, creativestringsinfo, rubble_b, mariachi, avagrey92, Alison, David
Administrators: Fiddlerman: 16429, KindaScratchy: 1760, coolpinkone: 4180, BillyG: 3744, MrsFiddlerman: 2, Jimmie Bjorling: 0, Mouse: 5296