SYDNEY CALL-OUT FOR EX-CONS

http://www.usyd.edu.au/news/music/763.html?newscategoryid=158&newsstoryid=3906

Dear Scott Saunders,

Hello. I am contacting you in regards to the call out for "missing" musicians and teachers..

When i was a child I used to spend many years (1991 - 1998) in the young artist programme as an ambitious violinist. During that time I went onto complete...
- A.Mus.A (1998)
- Trinity college of London performers certificate.
- 8th grade piano.

In 1998 i enrolled in a double degree (science & music) bach. degree at Sydney university. I ended up leaving the music component because I had to care for my brothers mental illness. I graduated in 2003 with only a Computer Science Degree.

Since then I have been working as an IT professional.

To continue my musical passion I have spent the past few years performing with many orchestras in London. For the past 2 years I have been the chairperson of the London Charity Orchestra.

I now have hopes, at the age of 28, to rekindle my musical ability and have been working hard towards possibly doing my Bachelor of Music again.

I know that you are looking for pre1990 students, so this message may not be relevant but I thought I should send this message all the same.

Regards...

Drawing & Music

Drawing. Creating music. Recording music. Enjoying art. Enjoying music. What is the significance.

Drawing is by definition a process of documenting and recording.

Music isn't. Music is in general a real time enjoyment. Art is a pre recorded enjoyment. Music is more challenging.

What are the benefits of music given this additional challenging attribute?

Is there any significance to music being real time.

Perhaps I have been hoping that I could avoid the performance nature of music. Perhaps I have misunderstood this crucial element.

Although, I'm honestly not interested in being a performer. So what?!?

Also, us there sone significance to a drawing being a single not changing image. Quickly assessed. Music requires some patience and time to assess.

With art the subjectis visible. Illustrated. With musis the subject is effeminate and alive. ?

There is somethig more fundamental about this difference. Why do I find art so much less confrontational?

Is music more or less convenient?

tbc...

It's the music

Earlier today i was playing ping pong with some friends at work and I realised that playing harder and faster wasn't going to help me improve. I needed to slow my game down, lose a few points and an ego, let myself warm up and focus on my actions rather than my points.

Earlier today I was practicing guitar and I realised that the exercise I was working on was difficult. So I stepped back one in the book and tried to master that rather than continue to hit a wall with the current exercise.

Earlier today I was practicing piano and I realised that the exercise I was working on was difficult. So I stepped back one in the book and tried to master that rather than continue to hit a wall with the current exercise.

Just now I have been practicing the violin and wondering why I'm not up to the instrument like I might have been yesterday / previously. I thougth it was me. Instead I took the same approach and worked on something simpler. It paid dividends.

My point is: it's the musician, it's the music.

Playing music that is too difficult leads to no progress.
A technique that causes tension is invariable a technique that should be considered 'too advanced' and reattempted in days/weeks to come following the improvement of techniques that are progressive.

It's on the musician. It's the music.

It's not the body. It's the brain.

Playing suitable music is the best way to progress. Working on simpler techniques is the best way to progress.

..... days later.

My point is.
- For some reason I know my level with ping pong. I know when I am challenging someone who is too good for me at ping pong.
- For some reason I know my level with the guitar. I am keenly aware of my failures as a guitarist and can disect inabilities.
- For some reason I konw my level with the piano. I am not hanging from a cliff and fighting to climb. I accept that I am unskilled at some level.
- For some reason with the violin I am UNABLE TO correctly assess my level. For some reason I feel as though I am struggling.
- Most interestingly. I also immediately know what is beyond me with my drawing. I can accept my limitations with my art and yet share what I do achieve willingly. I take pride in my imperfect drawings.

I am in denial about my imperfections as a violinist. I am incapable of assessing my ability as a violinist.

The Music Library of Sweden

Another awesome online resource for sheet music.
http://www.muslib.se/ebibliotek/boije/

I've primarily used it for classical guitar music.

Another reference.
http://www.stormthecastle.com/classical_guitar/free-sheet-music-for-classical-guitar.htm

Violin Piano Guitar

This evening I did a few hours of violin, piano and guitar and it was all awesome.

I LOVE THE IDEA OF CHANGING INSTRUMENTS RATHER THAN continuing to try with one over and over. 3 hrs on 3 instruments is really quite fun.

Czerny, Wohlfahrt, Hanon, Sagreras, Kayser, Sevcik, Schradieck, Burgmeller, Fischer.

I can't imagine ever getting bored of all this. I can imagine exhausting myself with it all though.

I guess I should savour it all rather than try and get to the end of it and say 'i got to the end of it all'.

Too much music

Struggling to come to tersm with how to cope with all the following music I feel like I need to master in the next few hours.

Violin: See previous posts. A 10 yr project. Currently at Sevcik, Wohlfahrt, Schradieck, Kayser, Fischer, ...

Piano: Hanon, Czerny, Burgmuller, ...

Guitar: Sagreras, Barreiro, Carcassi, Carulli, Shearer, ...

Confused.

Physicality or Artistic Development?!?!?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_in_60_Exercises

Getting back into the Piano

It's been over 10 yrs and i miss the simplicity of the piano..

Going to give Czerny, Burgmüller and Hanon and shot. etc...

Burgmuller's 25 Progressive Pieces, Op. 100
http://imslp.org/wiki/25_%C3%89tudes_Faciles,_Op.100_(Burgm%C3%BCller,_Friedrich)

CZERNY Practical Method for Beginners on the Pianoforte Op. 599
http://www.4shared.com/file/60191848/8dc141cd/CZERNY_Practical_Method_for_Beginners_on_the_Pianoforte_Op_599.html?s=1

Hanon's The Virtuoso Pianist
http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Virtuoso_Pianist_(Hanon,_Charles-Louis)


http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Burgmuller,+Czerny+and+Hanon:+32+Piano+Studies+Selected+for+Technique...-a087025861

Take your violin out for a jog

This morning I woke up and went for a jog. Why?

I went out for a jog to get my body moving. I didn't try too hard. I didn't achieve very much. But with persistence I will get fit. I didn't struggle too much or think about anything in particular. I enjoyed the cool breeze and fresh air.

This process of working though the complete gamit of etudes should be the same. I am playing this music not because it is, in essense, difficult. I am playing this music to get my body and mind in order.

This is a physical and intellectual violin work out. Nothing complicated. Nothing beyond the required.

Interestly. When I went jogging this morning all I focused on was maximising my potential. Analysing my paces and pressures. Reducing tension. Reducing impact. Optimisation. Relaxation.

..........

The sound of the violin lends to a loose free flowing mellow temporament. It helps to maintain a pragrammatic approach to the sound whilst running through daily exercises. The free/magic/creative end of the spectrum can be left unrehearsed and improvised. The beauty of music is not conjured but rather enjoyed.

Just play the notes and then move onto the next etude.

All this talk about 'understanding' and 'composition' is perhaps a bit of faff. Perhaps it isn't helping.

Been looking at guitar exercises by Sagreras recently and found I'm progressing. Interestingly most of them a basically scales. Most of them are intially not overly interesting. I presume as I get further through the books they will become more interesting.

When I practice the guitar I check if i can play the notes in tune and in control. If I can then I move onto the next study. I find that easy.

When I practice the violin I try to 'gain some sense of purpose' and 'unleash some hidden quality' from the instrument... Perhaps these etudes don't have such magic to offer. Perhaps they should just be played. Perhaps the magic comes from the accumulation of these basic studies. Perhaps I should stop trying to play something magical and get on with working through these studies.

The violin seems to have an airy nature which gets in the way of progressing with this studes.

[Note; in general I am playing violin studies that are more difficult and so I should also take a step back and work through them more methodically rather than analytically. Working on a study that brings together too much technique doesn't help]

Just like with the guitar. Just play the notes and then move onto the next etude. If there be magic, let it unfold unknowingly. If it's difficult perhaps take a step back and find an etude that works on an easier challenge.

Getting the notes down is the hard part. Capture the nature of the music is easy, the instrument does most of the work.

Don't get technique mixed up with musicality.

Working on musicality is exhausting. Working on technique can be less consuming.

Scales are not magic.

Comprehension

Perhaps the only thing the audience gathers is how well the performer understands the music. Intonation and technique pale in signficance.

Nothing helps technique more than listening

Interestingly. Spending some time at the start just listening to the character of the instrument before getting into studies help the body accept what is required.


Listening to the sound & comprehending the music is a shortcut to technique. Technique without listening to the character of the sound & comprehension of the music is inhibited and easily undermined.

Physical technique without musical comprehension & an ability to listen is meaningless.

Additionally. Playing with the metronome makes it difficult to listen to play with comprehension. I think the metronome should only be deployed when checking any hiccups. Primarily used after the music has been comprehended.

I find it helps to think about the following whilst playing...
"How would this sound if someone else wasy playing and I had never seen/heard/considered or known of the instruments existence until right now? What would I hear?"

I've been playing the violin for years without actually listening to the instrument?!

Bizarre. I'm actually able to practice the violin (study the music, analyse phsyical technique) without listening to the sound of the instrument or the melody of the music.

WHAT A SHAME.


When I read a book the words come together to create some meaning. Sometimes a book is full of ideas. Sometimes a book might make me cry and laugh.

Whe I read music it is series of detailed instructions. A diagram of movement. But, perhaps there is something beyond that?

A sheet of music is rather a collection of ideas with meaning that can make me laugh and cry.

What is the meaning of this passage? What is the context?

Reading music is like reading a book. The actual words off the page have a combined meaning. They do not stand on their own. They are not interesting whilst they are analysed as individuals or dealt with as challenges. They are simply another's thoughts to be considered.

More time listening, Less time Reading

I need to find some new method of reading music and then focusing my attention on the sound of the instrument rather than reading and processing what is required.

The answer: simpler music.

Perhaps starting the phsyical exercises isn't the best idea. Maybe I should start with a focus on enjoying the sound of the instrument, whatever it is.

Putting the fingers down should be simple right?

I think I gotta spend more time on simplifying my left hand.

MY RIGHT HAND / ARM SEEMS FINE.

I am struggling with putting my fingers down a relaxed and regular fashion. My techique could be improved on but it isn't completely out of order.

I think I need to spend more on the following 2 thought processes.
- Give the brain enough time to organise the melody.
- Give the brain enough time to put the finger down before the sound is required.

All this comes naturally on a new instrument. When I play the guitar this thought process happens automatically. I enjoy the melody of the guitar. WIth the violin I don't enjoy the melody. Withe the violin I am confused by it's unpredictable temporarment. The violin catches me off guard.

The violin is not a difficult instrument. Perhaps it requires more patience.

Like all forms of art, playing any musical instrument should be effortless. The challenge should be in the purpose and expression.

A simple question: why is it that my fingers sometimes go down in the wrong place and I don't rememdy that even though I KNOW THEY ARE IN THE WRONG PLACE. Why is it that I am caught off guard by my body. Very strange.

I am trying to play rather than enjoying the music.

Oh. so the final point was.

I NEED TO SPEND MORE TIME ASSOCIATING MY LEFT HAND ACTIVITY WITH THE QUINTICENTIAL TRAITS OF THE GVEN MELODY. RATHER THAN CONSTRUCTING FORMS AND ALGORITHMS that will help me comprehend what is required. The music is not mathematical. The music is a physical creation. A simple physical creation.

The processes of placing a finger on a string over the finger board should remain easy. A process to build on.

It's as though I can't draw a distrinction between the left hand fingers and the melody. Perhaps I need to some how enable the mind to associate the sound / intonation with the finger rather than create a recognisable phsyical formation. To feel the melody. To enjoy the melody. To play slower and hear what the violin actually offers. To enjoy the melody. to enjoy the melody. To enjoy the melody.

Somehow this is much easier on a new instrument. If I were to pick up a sitar and strum it I would be captured by its sound. With the violin I do the reverse and try my hardest to capture the sound.


************ I need to spend more time listening to the sound of the violin and less time reading music.

************ I need to spend more time listening to the sound of the violin and less time studying physical technique.

There is a beauty to the sound of the violin, a key to all technique however simple, that should be maintained at all times.

Why does my guitar sound better than my violin?

I woke up this morning and picked up my guitar. Started strumming random chords. Nothing special. Groovy spanish type stuff and what I realised was that I was incontrol of the sound much more so that with my violin.

THis is strange because I've been studying the violin for 25yrs and the guitar for 3 months. But, to be honest, I do believe that at times my guitar sounds better.

What does 'better' mean. Is it that I prefer the sound? Is it that it is easier to play? Is it the music I play on the given instrument?

All this made me once again reflect on Bach quote (see previous posts) but also to notice that the purpose of these instruments:
- guitar: more earthy and relaxing.
- violin: sorrowful and intimate.

To push against these common traits is to fight the instrument.

I think it is a great help to play many instruments. Sticking to one constantly makes it difficult to distinguish what it is suited to. Difficult to see its better qualities. Difficult to remain interested in its personality. Easier to take it for granted.

Anna Goldsworthy - Piano Lessons.

A new book?!

The little school of melody

Going to perform this!

Petite Ecole de la melodie, Op. 123 By Dancla.

http://imslp.org/wiki/Petite_%C3%89cole_de_la_M%C3%A9lodie,_Op.123_(Dancla,_Charles)