Bit like the threads that are running in the woodwind section - what is everyone playing?

I'm currently practising my orchestra piece which are -
James Bond theme (love this on Viola ),
Entry of the Masters,
Finlandia,
Polka from the Bartered Bride,
The Moldau,
Dance Macabre,
and March to the Scaffold

Got strings sectional on Thursday and hope the other Viola player turns up I've only been playing like 3 months at the most and while I can get through the music it's a bit scary if no one else turns up!!

Entry of the Masters is in treble clef and I'm findind it really hard to play, for that reason, any other viola players find this? Any tips?

Also playing some out of Time Pieces for Viola

Nicia

Bach's Minuet 1

Nearly at the end of the first Suzuki violin book!

Rogues' March / Captain Lanoe's Quick March - for a long time i didn't like these two much at all, but i think i just didn't know how to play them properly - played around a bit this morning and i'm much happier with them now. i love re-learning something you thought you knew ;-)

The Bonny Breast Knot / Bonny Kate - a great set as played by Wood & Cutting.

Jenny Pluck Pears / Sweet Jenny Jones - G dorian to G major, gives a nice lift to a gentle set.

oh dear, is my traditional showing again? ;-)

oooo are you learning Suzuki method? How are you finding it?

I am fine tuning my grade 5 violin pieces

'Dance of the Snowmen'
'Cossack Dance'
'Giga'
'Tambourin' (not the Chinois/Kreisler but rather the one by Gossec)
'Sicilienne'
'Romance'

I am also, in the leisurely time learning the Nocturne in Csharp minor transcription by Milstein (violin again, only do this very occasionaly as I mainly do my grade 5 stuff and scales/exercises)

On Double Bass I am munching through the first half of the book by Keith Hartley 'Double Bass Solo', which is pieces up to grade 3 standard and scales up to grade 4
amongst the double bass solo pieces there is also a short piece from 'The Trout by Schubert' which I REALLY LOVE playing I just imagine having Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Itzhak Perlman, Jacqueline Du Pre, and Pinchas Zuckerman right next to me playing withe me whenever I practice it

I am currently practicing swing low, scarboror fayre and love me tender from Making the Grade 1 violin. I'm also praticing Call of the carousel page 35 of Abracadabra violin. We all stand together and Edelweiss from pages 36-7 I can also play the scales D maj, A maj and G maj (2 octaves) by heart as well as arpeggios D maj, a maj by heart and can stumble though G maj with 2 octaves but am still working on it. I am also praticing A:2, B:1, and C:2 from the ABRSM exam grade 1 book. I am getting there. Toodle pip is almost grade 2 level and although it is far from perfect I am getting there slowly. So hopefully will be able to progress to grade 2 standard in a few months time.

In The lambeth Orchestra:

Copland : Appalachian spring
Barber: Violin concerto
Rachmaninov: Symphonic dances

In the Thames Youth Orchestra:

Holst: The Planets Suite
Walton: Suite from Henry V

In addition t that I am learning some grade 8 pieces: Legende and Gavotte en Rondeau.

Lovely sets, River! I'm off to get me fiddle out and play variations on Bonny Kate for an hour (it might be one of my favorite tunes!)

ros -- i wonder if that's the same tune? over here, Bonny Kate is: d e f | g>f g>f | g d d B | -- i understand there's a reel of the same name that's quite different...

Ah yes - not the same tune, then. Still I'm always up for a new tune - have you got the ABC for yours?

X:1
T:Bonny Kate
M:4/4
L:1/4
K:G
d e f | \
g>f g>f | g d d B | c/d/ e d>c |B G G A | B G G A/B/ | c A A2 | B/c/ d c B |1 A |2 A4 :|
|: B G G A/B/ | c A d B | e c c e | f>e d e/f/ | g> f g f/e/ | d e/f/ g B | c/d/ e d>c |1 B G G2 |2 B :|

and to go before it...

X:1
T:The Bonny Breast Knot
M:2/2 # or 4/4... take your pick
L:1/4
K:G
d/c/ |\
B G G A/B/ | c/B/A/G/ A D | G/A/B/A/ G/A/B/A/ | G/A/ B d>c | B G G A/B/ | c/B/A/G/ A D | G/A/ B A d/c/ | B G G :|
|: c/d/ |\
d2 d>e | d/c/B/A/ G B | A/G/A/B/ c/B/c/d/ | e A A B/c/ | d2 d>e | d/c/B/A/ G B | A c D E/F/ | G B G :|

you'll need to chop the last bar off the Bonny Breast Knot the last time round since Bonny Kate has an unusually large anacrusis (or whatever we call those in trad tunes).

lovely, thanks. I really like the second one!

Well I started February and having not played any instrument before (apart from a botched 3 months self taught guitar in college) it's a bit tricky to compare it. Twinkle Twinkle litte star was actually quite tricky! Think it was 4 lessons before I could play it! The pieces do progress and jump to being more difficult as you go through which is good for keeping interest up and keeping me on my toes lol

It's cool to see progress when you jump to playing in G major towards the end although tis a bit trickier with two second fingers....

Pieces toward the end of the book do look a bit scarier though

I will accept the invitation to ask for advice. In Farnaby's "Bonny Sweet Robin" (on the grade 4 list for viola) there are several Ds with a 0 over them where you would expect the fingering to be. But this is the D above the open D string -- it is the one that you could play with the 3rd finger on the A string in 1st position. So what does the 0 mean? It is definitely a 0 rather than the little circle that means a harmonic.

it means you play it as a harmonic, I think - it's been a long time since I've played anything from a score on the fiddle, but I seem to recall that such a thing means that you gently place the third finger on the a string and make the harmonic there, in first position.

Violists - please feel free to put me right if I've got it totally wrong!

I don't much care for the Copland, but the others are all super pieces. I must ask my orchestra's conductor to consider the Barber (or "Knoxville, Summer of 1915", another of my favourites).

I am just recovering from a day rehearsing Beethoven 7, the Elgar Serenade and a new piece with chorus by our conductor's father-in-law. Much to my satisfaction, our conductor's taste in music overlaps substantially with mine. Next season we shall be playing Beethoven 3 (my favourite Classical symphony), Mozart Piano Concerto in A, K 488, Mahler 1 (I must look at the solo in the slow movement) and the Barber Adagio.

I'm doing bach gavotte en rondeau (errr ) and Grieg sonata no.2, movement 3

I'm wobbling my way through Haydn Concerto in G (it's really hard! ) but I'm enjoying it, and I'm also enjoying some pieces I learnt before like the Vivaldi concerto in A minor (1st/3rd movements). I'm not too sure what to learn next, but I think I'd like to have a go at the Allegro by Fuoco (Suzuki piece). Anyone got any suggestions? (I've been playing for less than a year, so nothing too hard please!! )
Thanks


Edit - sorry, I meant Allegro by Fiocco (Oh dear - I'm Italian as well - should know how to spell it!! )

Hi,

I'm currently trying to get back into practice after a bit of time out. I'm currently on Annie Laurie, Amazing Grace, William Tell Overture, and Mary's Spinning Wheel. I only realised the other night that I was playing the first two my own sweet way, and am thus going back over them, with the slurs etc in the right places! I got an Irish Fiddle book a while ago, and have been trying with that, but to be frank, much of it is far too hard for me right now. I'm also having tentative gos at Bill Harte's Jig. I'm going to have a crack at recording some of the pieces for Youtube soon, as I could do with constructive criticism.

Thanks

Hi, if you need advice on Irish fiddle, don't hesitate to PM me! I'll help out if I can - to be honest, it's really the style that's difficult, rather than the notes (playing a jig as it is on the page won't make it sound like a jig, but playing with the right style - even if you miss the odd note, will).

Enjoy playing the fiddle in any case!

or post in the fiddle thread ;-)

Ah yes! I'd forgotten about that - let's bring it back again!

I'm working on my Grade 8 and currently playing
Schumann 1st movement in A minor
Bach Allegro Assai

You're definietly right rosfrog. You gently place the 3rd finger on the string to make the harmonic. Got nothing else to add. You summed it up in one

In my orchestra we're playing:
Beethoven's- Overture to Egmont
Haydn's- London Symphony 104 in D major
Grieg's- Piano concerto in A minor

My string orchestra is playing:
Bach's double violin concerto and Handel's Concerti Grosso op.6, No.11

I have to admit that I'm only starting to warm to the Grieg- it's taking me a good few weeks

At the moment I just practising scales and yet to choose my grade 7 viola pieces. Scales! The bane of my life

After my exam my teacher wants to do the Bach double violin concerto with me-is it difficult?

I'm sorry bassoongirl- I can't answer that. I wouldn't have a clue. I'm a viola player not a violinist so I wouldn't know. The string parts aren't too bad though but that's probably no help to you. I'm sure this would have been played by many forum members so you'll probably get a good response to your query

[quote name='bassoongirl' date='Jun 9 2009, 08:13 PM' post='835436']


Violists - please feel free to put me right if I've got it totally wrong!
[/quote]



After my exam my teacher wants to do the Bach double violin concerto with me-is it difficult?
[/quote]


bassongirl, which movement are you referring to? if you're working on grade 8, then no, the bach double is not difficult at all. I learned the 2nd violin part of the first movement during my first year, but I haven't started the first violin part yet (they are very similar). the 2nd movement is the most beautiful melodic piece ever written! I don't know abotu the 3rd movement though.

I'm just re-learning Vitali Chaconne for about the 5th time for a concert in 1 week, and trying to get my head round some orchestral pieces for concerts (Haydn Harmonie Mass, Willcocks Riddle of the World, Handel Organ Concerto, Beethoven 7, Ravel Tombeau de Couperin and 2 other pieces that have slipped my mind - haha). My summer projects are:

-Brahms concerto (already learnt the notes for 1st mvt)
-Re-learning some of the 12 Paganini caprices I studied this year
-And either Ysaye Ballade or Bach Chaconne
And a lot of chamber music for concerts in August:
-Schoenberg Verklarte Nacht
-Mendelssohn 8tet
-Haydn-Halvorsen duo for violin + cello
-Undecided piano 5tet (probably Brahms) and string 4tet (probably Haydn)

So nice to have a lot of chamber music to learn for a change

Currently Practicing the ABRSM exam material for grade 1: Wonderous Love, Toodle Pip & Fanfare. Coming along with them ok although they still need prehaps another week because I am still making the ocational mistake.

I've started working on Gluck's Dance of the Blessed Spirits on my violin. It's totally different to the flute piece of the same name.

I'm doing some other things as well including a very pretty Mendelssohn thing - but the Mendelssohn seems to need vibrato and I haven't been taught it yet on the violin.

This is exactly what I'm doing!

I still maintain that the Bach is evil, and I can't wait until I pass the stupid exam so that I can play some music that doesn't fall to pieces if I start thinking about my dinner half way through. For some reason, even though the piece only lasts about 3 1/2 minutes, I just can NOT hold my concentration all the way through.

The Schumann is gorgeous though, especially combined with the piano part - the piano part has that lovely smooth bubbling quality similar to Saint Saens "Aquarium" (I'm not saying the pieces sound similar - they don't, but to me, there's a certain thing - forgive my lack of vocabulary: it's a Saturday afternoon - that they both possess. I'm really struggling with bars 79, 80, and 196 though! But I love bars 25, 26, 139, 140 - they're almost mocking; and the double stopping with the slide in at at bars 185-188 (yes, I am sitting here with the music in front of me) is really fun too.