For the past two summers I have participated in a "String Quartet Workshop" run by my viola teacher. I am so very glad that I have gotten to go do this!
I am working with 3 other adults, I play the all important viola part. We get the piece in June and go over it a few times together before meeting with our coach. I bring it to my lesson because without that extra help I'd be pretty lost---the others have all been playing for years in the orchestra. I wonder if the others feel like she spends lots of time correcting their playing, but it's because she's already told me the same thing (usually several times) in our lesson.
Then we have 6 hours coaching all together. When we work with our coach she helps us play the music, not just the notes. For example, she told us about "Mozart quarter notes." They're not staccato, nor legato, there is just a slight breath between the notes. She tries to help us end lightly and easily and together (although by the time we are at the end I am so relieved that I forget her tips). Most of her advice boils down to, "Play the notes and markings that are written." But she helps us see on the score how pieces get passed around, which parts should shine and which should be more in the background. She tells us stories to help us play more expressively: tonight included the picture of a can of soda being shaken up, exploding, and then being sipped quietly.
The best part is that I feel like part of a family, playing this quartet. Sometimes I play with the 1st violin, or alternate with the cello or play harmony with the 2nd violin. I really get to share with all the different instruments. And sometimes I just go off and do my own thing. If any part were missing, the whole thing would be wrong.
We also help each other. There is one part that the 2nd violin has trouble coming in on, so I make sure to play my part loud. There is another part I just can't manage to count---so I watch the others. If the 1st violin has some tricky bits, we all slow down a titch just to wait for her. We all try to breathe together so we come in together. I hear all my own mistakes but I never hear the others' mistakes, which leads me to believe that maybe they aren't hearing mine either---a nice feeling, to be given that grace.
On the one hand, it is frustrating that some parts I play over and over, and whether I get them right seems like it is up to chance. But mostly it is fun to make music in a group, even if we aren't professional. It makes me wish we could go back to the days when people would get together in the evenings to play together. One thing about amateur music: it sounds much better when you are playing it than when you are listening to someone else play it, which is why I won't upload my quartet playing.
Here are two examples of the quartet we are playing. He wrote this quartet when he was about 17---to impress a girl, someone in our quartet joked. The first video is just the presto movement, played at about our tempo.
The second has the presto movement played a bit faster than we do, but it includes the Minuet starting at 8:55. We are skipping the middle movement. (Plus, it's in a beautiful church). The minuet has a trio section (where the piece turns minor) which features the viola. At least, if you play the viola it features the viola. You may feel otherwise.
I am working with 3 other adults, I play the all important viola part. We get the piece in June and go over it a few times together before meeting with our coach. I bring it to my lesson because without that extra help I'd be pretty lost---the others have all been playing for years in the orchestra. I wonder if the others feel like she spends lots of time correcting their playing, but it's because she's already told me the same thing (usually several times) in our lesson.
Then we have 6 hours coaching all together. When we work with our coach she helps us play the music, not just the notes. For example, she told us about "Mozart quarter notes." They're not staccato, nor legato, there is just a slight breath between the notes. She tries to help us end lightly and easily and together (although by the time we are at the end I am so relieved that I forget her tips). Most of her advice boils down to, "Play the notes and markings that are written." But she helps us see on the score how pieces get passed around, which parts should shine and which should be more in the background. She tells us stories to help us play more expressively: tonight included the picture of a can of soda being shaken up, exploding, and then being sipped quietly.
The best part is that I feel like part of a family, playing this quartet. Sometimes I play with the 1st violin, or alternate with the cello or play harmony with the 2nd violin. I really get to share with all the different instruments. And sometimes I just go off and do my own thing. If any part were missing, the whole thing would be wrong.
We also help each other. There is one part that the 2nd violin has trouble coming in on, so I make sure to play my part loud. There is another part I just can't manage to count---so I watch the others. If the 1st violin has some tricky bits, we all slow down a titch just to wait for her. We all try to breathe together so we come in together. I hear all my own mistakes but I never hear the others' mistakes, which leads me to believe that maybe they aren't hearing mine either---a nice feeling, to be given that grace.
On the one hand, it is frustrating that some parts I play over and over, and whether I get them right seems like it is up to chance. But mostly it is fun to make music in a group, even if we aren't professional. It makes me wish we could go back to the days when people would get together in the evenings to play together. One thing about amateur music: it sounds much better when you are playing it than when you are listening to someone else play it, which is why I won't upload my quartet playing.
Here are two examples of the quartet we are playing. He wrote this quartet when he was about 17---to impress a girl, someone in our quartet joked. The first video is just the presto movement, played at about our tempo.
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