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Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/25/2017 in all areas

  1. Hi Martim, Think about your narrative arc for a moment: The entire middle of the piece is a musical representation of anxiety, right? Well, in real life, once an anxiety attack has come and gone, you're not just instantly calm again. There's usually leftover nervous energy. The calm isn't complete, there's usually something still stirring under the surface. When it comes to a recap in a piece like this, where the contrast between the subject and its development is significant, there needs to be some sign that the journey the listener just went on matters.
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  2. Yes, I was already familiar with this one! Amazing!
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  3. + 10!!! Another method for learning bowing is to study the score while watching utube videos. While not perfect, you can see how the performers handle different passages, as well as see different groups who may or may not bow the same way. Now your conversation with the string player becomes even more educational.
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  4. Think about bowings in particular. There's a world of difference between the way a piece feels if you just saw back and forth, down-bow for one note, up-bow for the next note, and careful use of slurs to add small natural accents and dynamics. It's probably easiest to hear without the distraction of other things happening in a big orchestra piece, so maybe try looking at some pieces for solo violin and piano, or small chamber works. As a general rule, down-bows give the strongest natural accent, up-bows give a slightly weaker accent and anything slurred in between naturally tends to hairpin dynamics and rubato. Decide where you'll put your slurs so that when the bow turns around, it's somewhere that you want a little kick in the line anyway. But a slur with staccatos marked underneath it, so that you stop the bow for each note, and then keep going in the same direction can be really satisfying in a whole body sort of way too. Down bow followed immediately by another down bow is also immensely rewarding for strident, accented passages. (A "bow circle.") Lock yourself away from your roommates and try some air bowing. You'll find certain patterns just feel satisfying for a given line of music. It should feel a little like you're dancing. (You don't have to mark every up and down bow. String players know what makes sense. But think about them when you're deciding how to place your slurs.)
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