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College repertoire "help"
Picking pieces
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trillzango

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December 25, 2019 - 7:37 pm
Member Since: December 15, 2019
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In grade six we played twinkle twinkle

Grade seven some Suzuki

Grade 8 some fairly advanced stuff from movies and such LOTR Narnia other more challenging pieces like the nacht Musik by motzart

 

Highschool was more just continuing where you left off in grade 8

Like I said I was no prodigy player nor could my family afford a private tutor which was kinda discouraging

I always kept at it, but I always struggled with certain things such as extremely high positions chords and dexterity speed and such

 

I joined a volunteer orchestra where the other members worked with me on my technique although i am still working on certain things I am more confident practicing things that I normally wouldn't of been years prior

 

Where as I at most could play the bach double with ease

 

Cause I could only ever get into third and reach the high four 

Now I can play in very high positions like 7th and 8th not very comfortably confidently with ease, but I still can I can hear if the pitch is right if the tone is scratchy and if I am in tune

 

What I am asking for y'all is to help me pick out w college repertoire stuff that will challenge me and get me better yet will not discourage me

 

Something that can challenge me with speed

Something that can challenge me with chords

Something that will challenge me with high positions

 

The problem being is even though I can play in the higher positions now I have little experience doing so, so not very sure if I should be playing something where the majority of the piece is in the high position like the Mendelssohn concerto or something that only goes into those positions a few times so I can gradually get used to them being in them going back and fourth get experience so I can get comfortable and gain confidence playing more difficult pieces because atm Mendelssohn seems a little overwhelming but if I play stuff that can get me more comfortable working into those more technical pieces over time that'd be great

 

I'm thinking of 

 

Passacaglia by biber for chords

The summer presto by Vivaldi for speed

And whatever y'all suggest to help ease me into 7th and 8th position :)

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AndrewH
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December 25, 2019 - 9:10 pm
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I'm mainly a violist so not as familiar with the violin repertoire, but here's Kurt Sassmanhaus's graded list of concertos:

 

http://violinmasterclass.com/e.....-orchestra

 

There's a giant gap between the Bach double (Sassmanshaus's level 4) and the Mendelssohn E minor concerto (level 8). Consider any of the pieces listed as levels 5-7 on that page? He has separate pages for unaccompanied violin and for violin and piano.

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wtw
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December 26, 2019 - 3:16 am
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Do you have a similar classification for viola (that you'd agree with) ?

I did find this, but I'll be glad when I reach level one :P ... But it's always good to know what pieces not to attempt, or attempt only parts of. And a few lines of a piece may well help to with speed, or with shifting, or anything else after all.

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AndrewH
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December 26, 2019 - 3:45 am
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wtw said
Do you have a similar classification for viola (that you'd agree with) ?

I did find this, but I'll be glad when I reach level one :P ... But it's always good to know what pieces not to attempt, or attempt only parts of. And a few lines of a piece may well help to with speed, or with shifting, or anything else after all.

  

I don't, unfortunately. When I was below the level of the Level One pieces, after I got through the stuff in Suzuki Book 3 I was mostly just playing in orchestras and hacking through stuff well above my level.

 

The problem with the McInnes viola rep list is that it's aimed at conservatory level students, so Level One is basically every piece in the intermediate to early advanced range that would be considered acceptable for professional performance. It really should be split into three or four levels. There's a huge gap in difficulty between the Telemann double viola concerto (lower intermediate) and the Stamitz D major Concerto (I'd consider that to be the beginning of "advanced") but somehow they're both listed as Level One.

I also don't know most of the pieces on that list, so I can't really subdivide Level One myself -- I can only say that there are at least some lower intermediate pieces in there.

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AndrewH
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December 26, 2019 - 4:01 am
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Also, I disagree with some of the McInnes classification. For example: I don't understand why he placed both the Schumann Adagio and Allegro and the Clarke sonata in Level 2; I think the Schumann Adagio and Allegro belongs in Level 1 and the Clarke sonata in Level 4.

 

Hmm, maybe I should come up with a graded list of pieces that I'm familiar with, some of which aren't in the McInnes list (probably first published after he compiled it).

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Fiddlerman
Fort Lauderdale
December 26, 2019 - 12:13 pm
Member Since: September 26, 2010
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I have a hard time making suggestions like this since I haven't studied in a very long time. You can actually practice any piece playing in high positions just by choosing to play them in a high position.
However, perhaps Montis Czardas would suit the positions and speed portion with a few chords and harmonics in there as well.

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

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wtw
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December 26, 2019 - 1:14 pm
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ok thanks @AndrewH 

Hacking through stuff well above my level, that I can certainly do. You end up making progress that way too.

I didn't much like McInnes putting the Beethoven eyeglasses duo at Level 3. I did intend to play that one someday (far off)… just beautiful… now I'm not sure I'll ever get to that point. Well, better buy some patience :) .

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AndrewH
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December 26, 2019 - 4:24 pm
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wtw said
ok thanks @AndrewH 

Hacking through stuff well above my level, that I can certainly do. You end up making progress that way too.

I didn't much like McInnes putting the Beethoven eyeglasses duo at Level 3. I did intend to play that one someday (far off)… just beautiful… now I'm not sure I'll ever get to that point. Well, better buy some patience :) .

  

That's one I took issue with too. I've performed it. Based on comparison to other pieces in the list that I'm familiar with, I'd place it in Level 2. It's easier than the Bruch Double Concerto or Schumann's Marchenbilder.

If I have time in the next couple weeks, I'll go through my library and try to classify pieces by difficulty. One caveat: violists' opinions on difficulty levels are likely to vary widely because hand size and shape affect viola technique a lot more than violin technique.

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