Symphony Orchestra Playing Test/District Orchestra Tryout Music

In Symphony, we have playing tests every year to determine what chair we'll be placed in. I'm dreading this year's...

First off, last year I was a second violin since I had just made it into Symphony Orchestra that year. Freshman year I was in Concert Orchestra-- first violin. So this year my teacher moved me up to first violin and it's a big jump. I'm not used to all the notes in the really high positions, so I always have to listen to everyone else first. I've improved a lot though on recognizing rhythms when I'm just looking at the sheet music. Higher positions definitely need to be worked on with my private teacher!

For our concert that's coming up, we're playing "October" again, along with the piece "Light Cavalry Overture". If you've heard it before, you know that it goes extremely fast, with many notes in 5th position and 7th position-- my weaknesses! If you haven't heard it before or can't recognize it by the title, here it is...

As you can tell, I have reason to freak out about the playing test! It's 5:14-5:50 in the video. What my teacher does is he gives each section a part of the music to be tested on and then, because we're such a large orchestra (120 people total, maybe more) and listening to each of us individually during class would take away too much time from rehearsing, he has us record ourselves playing the test and then we email it to him. They're due on Monday... I'll be practicing a lot until then!

I'm still practicing for District Orchestra tryouts. I have the first two excerpts down (G Major Scale and Die Fledermaus) and I'm still working on the third excerpt (Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy"). It has plenty of crazy high notes, so I'll be taking it extremely slow for a while. I have until November 3rd, so there's plenty of time!

That means more time to freak out about "Light Cavalry Overture".

My Favorite String Instrument Songs Right Now (Both Classical and Modern)

I have a lot of songs with string instruments filling up my iPod right now, of course, and just thought I'd share the ones I've been loving lately with you! :)

"Palladio"- Escala

I like to jam out to this song. ;) Don't be surprised if you at least nod your head to the music!


"Time is Running Out"- The Section Quartet

I love their rendition of Muse's "Time Is Running Out"!


"Come Thou Fount"- Paul Cardall

This is gorgeous... makes me want to cry.


 "Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G Major"- Bach

 Great solo piece. Tough to play... I tried it on the violin. Phew!

Tip/Trick of the Day

If you're having trouble keeping your bow near the bridge while playing, use this tip:

Take a straw and cut it in half. Place the straw halves in the f holes of your violin. Now you have little guides for your bow!

[Credit given to my private teacher :)]

Classic :)

Life Update 09/10/12

If you didn't notice, I didn't post a life update yesterday. I've decided that I'm only going to post life updates once and awhile, because:
a. I feel like I'm boring you guys! My life isn't too horribly exciting.
b. Having to post a life update every day is too much; it takes the fun out of blogging.
c. It' gets off topic from violin stuff, which is why you guys are reading my blog in the first place!

So I'm limiting myself to about once a week, or when something exciting happens. :)

Ice Cream Social was today! I stayed after school and helped set up, mainly because my orchestra teacher said pizza was the reward. ;) However, I left early because I was tired and needed to freshen up. We were supposed to stay and write down our names so my teacher knows we were there, but Erica and I just didn't want to stay that long. Pizza didn't matter that much to us after all.

Kyle was there, helping out. He gave some girl I don't know a piggy back. I just had to look away, it ticked me off so much. Apparently I still have feelings for him, which I need to get rid of... fast.

Mostly there wasn't anything for us to do, so we stood around awkwardly, waiting for instruction. That's another reason why Erica and I decided to leave for a while.We went home for about an hour and then I picked her up and we returned to the school for our performance.

We played outside, so I wore my sunglasses. Those were a God-given gift to me that day because the music was otherwise impossible to see. We used clothespins to pin our music down, but it still fluttered in the wind, occasionally folding away from view. All-in-all we sounded okay, considering the fact that we couldn't see my orchestra teacher in the bright sun, even with sunglasses, and our music had a mind of its own. It definitely wasn't our best performance though.

It was a fun night, but all I kept thinking was how I wanted to get home as fast as possible and take a long nap-- which I did! It was great.

Random Violin Stuff!

Who says you need a planned, well thought-out blog post? I'm all for randomness, how about you?

We all have those days where we just want to see what all is out there for us violinists, so I thought I'd make it easier for you and tell you a little about some of the things I found and where you can get them! The things include gadgets, accessories, instruments, art, etc. Let's get started!

• Violin jewelry- all of us female violinists could always use a violin-related necklace. www.theviolincase.com has a large variety of jewelry with violins, treble clefs, music notes, and more. They may be a little expensive, but they're worth it. I especially love the necklace below. It's a little violin bridge with a heart in the center. How cute! (Ignore the "Curb Chain" thing on the picture. They're explaining what type of necklace chain is pictured.)

 

• Violin art- everyone needs at least one violin art piece in their home. I framed the cover of a card that has a violin painting on it and put it in my room. It inspires me every day. The shown painting of a violinist (not the same painting I have) is available at www.redbubble.com, along with several other violin gifts. They even have Sherlock Holmes stuff, if you're into that!

 

• Fancy music stand- if you have a music room in your house, a beautiful music stand is a wonderful addition to the room. This one is from www.pottersviolins.com.

 

• Mouse violin mute- we all have to use mutes from time to time, and this cute little mouse mute makes the experience more enjoyable! He even has a tuxedo on. :) This is available at www.swstrings.com-- it's only $4.99!

There are probably lots more things, but that's all I'm going to do... at least for now!

Life Update 09/08/12

The football game last night went better than I predicted! Well, not for everybody... we lost 57-9...

I have to admit, it was a little awkward at first since Erica and I didn't see anyone we knew, but that's always how games start out. Eventually we saw our friends Jesus (pronounced like "hey Zeus", not like Jesus Christ!) and Gil and talked to them for a minute or two.

We then sat near where ROTC shoots the cannon for touchdowns and Erica and I talked for a bit. They shot the cannon at one point and I hadn't been paying attention so I jumped! Erica laughed so hard at me! It was hilarious.

Later on, I heard someone say, "Hey you!" from behind me, so I turned around. Some random guy had said it and he was with a friend. They appeared to be freshmen. He started talking to me and asked Erica and I for our names. He told me his name is Valentine but everyone calls him Val, and his friend's name is Garret. Val told me that I'm cute and then asked me for my number. I really didn't want to give him my number since he honestly kind of creeped me out. Luckily, a few of his friends came up to him and they started talking to him. Great! A distraction! I pulled out my phone and quickly looked up Kyle's number on my phone. I memorized it and then when Val came back I gave him "my" number. Best idea I've ever had! Cayla and Erica were talking nearby and I told them what happened. We all cracked up. :) A few other guys asked me what happened and when I told them, they laughed too. They agreed with me that Val is pretty weird.

Our friends in ROTC, Daniel and Alex, talked to us at half-time. Alex invited Erica and I to go to Buffalo Wild Wings with him and some more people from ROTC, so that's what we did after the game.

Side note: I did see Kyle of course, but I don't think he saw me. Or maybe he was trying to seem like he didn't see me.

Daniel, Alex, Colton and his sister, Erica, and I ended up being the only ones who showed up at Buffalo Wild Wings. That was fine with me! I don't really like big crowds. We were all making fun of the "Can I have yo numba?" skit and when Colton said, "Can I have yo numba?" Daniel actually gave him his! We all laughed, and then he asked me and I said, "Sure, why not." and gave him my number. He actually texted me while we were still at Buffalo Wild Wings and ended up flirting with me and asking me on a date. I don't really like him that way though, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings so I said sure. I kind of regret that...

When the waiter came by to ask us what we wanted, I said, "Do you have anything for a dollar? And Erica and I are splitting." and laughed. Daniel threw 10 bucks at me, but I said I couldn't take his money. The waiter gave us free chips and cheese, actually! He was really nice.

As I was driving off with Erica in the passenger seat, Alex called me. I told Erica to answer it and she told me that he needed to jump start his car. We returned to the Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot and parked next to Alex. He and Daniel tried to figure out my car's battery and everything but apparently Chevy's are weird (I know nothing about cars). They told me they'd find someone to jump start it so I took Erica home.

When we looked at the clock it was close to midnight. Erica called her dad and he was really upset with her that she stayed out this late. I wished her luck with her dad when we got to her house. I felt like it was my fault in a way but she assured me it wasn't. I let my mom know I was on my way home and it was midnight by the time I got there. I told her about Alex's car troubles and luckily she understood.

That was one heck of a night. It was a lot of fun, but when I fell right asleep when I got home. I've got to do that again!