Violin Improv

While looking through my iTunes recently, I noticed I had a couple of files of my own violin playing. I was improvising on the spot. While this example doesn't represent a very high level of playing, it will give you some kind of notion of how my violin sounds. ;-)

At the time, I was trying my little "toy", an iTalk microphone which attaches directly to my iPod.

SexRex

Here's my new favorite! Kelly's Small Bird by SexRex, a Japanese fusion group. I came across this tune while listening to a Japanese podcast I subscribe to. It's a wild and wonderful song -- "desperate" might be a good descriptive word for it. (SexRex -- don't you love the name? hahaha!)

You can see the group on YouTube

I am working on the translation, but for any who read Japanese, here it is, lol:

ケリーと小鳥

満身創痍の男たち　いつまでたっても変わらない
そんな　逃げ道ばかり
相談・愚痴の女たち　泪に埋もれて動けない
そんな　逃げ道ばかり

今夜のあなたときたらろくに口も聞いてくれないじゃない
それで？　どうするつもり？
遠い過去のページをはらりめくってさよならね
できるわけないし

「逃げ道ばかり」

木彫りのあの部屋　くだらないママゴト　積み上げたセリフ
虚ろな目の中　囁くの狼　モウキコエナイ

今だに傷跡だね　あなたはわたしを捨てるといった
それで？　いつまでこだわるの？
あさっての方角から罪だけで罪を拭おうとしてる
翼の折れた男

「いづくにやゆかむ」

木彫りのあの部屋　くだらないママゴト　積み上げたセリフ
足元見ながら　階段踏み外す

真実の道へ　陽のあたる場所へ　手の鳴るほうへ
ホントの幸せ　あなたには見えるの？

木彫りのあの部屋　くだらないママゴト　積み上げたセリフ
虚ろな目の中　囁くの狼　モウキコエナイ

Mahler's Fifth Symphony

This morning -- lying in my bed at 5 a.m. -- listening to my iPod - - amazed at the way Mahler could depict "soaring the heights of joy and happiness" and "plunging the despair and grief" - - how is such music possible, I wondered - - often so loud and wild, then tender and sweet - - thanking my lucky stars I get to study this music and play it with my orchestra - - wondering: how was it possible that Mahler could seek inside his own being to find all of this emotion and these musical ideas - - wondering: how was it possible that all of us could somehow connect with Mahler's unique vision - -

My Violin

Playing the violin has been a torturous, difficult process. I began playing at the age of 10 and I never enjoyed playing the violin as much as I loved playing the piano. On the piano, I could really express myself and it sounded good all the time. On a violin you have to find the note. Intonation is crucial and it can sound so sour if you are just a bit off. So, that was always difficult for me. Then, making a beautiful tone is very difficult on a violin. On a piano, you get what you get, but on a violin you have to create the tone quality by how you draw the bow, how much pressure you put on the bow and what kind of vibrato you will have. So, it's been one long struggle and, as much as I love playing in an orchestra, the violin itself has always been a challenge for me.

However, last Sunday, during the rehearsal for the Brahms Requiem, I began to notice how beautiful my violin was sounding! It was really the first time in my life that I felt this way! I was smiling, riding on a wave, and thinking, "Oh, how lovely my violin sounds today!" I was so happy! I hope this will continue. It has taken many years of practicing and effort to get to this point!!

Children's Creativity

Some of my faithful blog readers may not know about my little website -- The Virtual Museum of Music Inventions, http://www.musicinventions.org
I just put up a new gallery from a school in Troy, Michigan (not far from Detroit). New Gallery. I began this website in 1998 and have continued it ever since! It's a lot of fun for me and I have heard from folks around the country that it's given their students ideas for their own projects. I love this use of the Internet to share ideas!!

Liz -- Crying Again?

Ein Deutsches Requiem by Brahms -- one of the most exquisite pieces of music ever written for chorus and orchestra -- last night's rehearsal at the church -- listening to the opening movement (Selig sind, die da Lied tragen) -- since the first violins don't play at all in this movement, I took out my Japanese flash cards to review while listening to the lower strings and chorus -- I heard the familiar opening notes with the lower strings -- then the huge chorus -- almost 100 voices -- began to sing, softly and smoothly the beautiful German words -- I was suddenly overcome -- the tears rolled down my cheeks -- I put the flash cards away -- I had been transported to another shining and beautiful world.

You can hear it here: (Look under "Movements)

Amazing Orchestral Colors

I was so lucky! Wednesday evening, someone gave me a free ticket for 2 people to go to an Open Rehearsal of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. A friend and I went downtown the next day to see the orchestra rehearsing with the renowned conductor/composer Pierre Boulez, now 82 years old and going strong! We had box seats so we were practically on top of the orchestra! The rehearsal began with Berio's Quatre dédicaces. The main element in this modern composition for a very large orchestra (6 trumpets and 6 horn, for example) is Tone Color! From the sharp sounding piccolos to the groaning basses, our ears were soaked in colors!! Every moment produced a new aural experience with accompanying mental images and feelings. It was extremely exciting and wonderful!

P.S.: This is what the reviewer, John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune said about the concert, which took place that very evening, the same day as the rehearsal:

Berio compresses an amazing amount of gnarly invention in only 12 minutes of music. In Boulez's hands, the spiky jolts of massed brasses and percussion, fractured rhythms, nervous shifts of meter and Ivesian clashes of sound made for an engrossing aural adventure.