Lesson 135 & 136 - Pair positions & puppy

Lesson 135 20/07/2016

Today's lesson focused on bow control and dissonance. Mostly from the Feuillard exercises which tend not to sound 'pleasant' when played. This is so that the phrases don't lull you into a false sense of familiarity, allowing to pay attention to what you're actually playing.



Lesson 136 27/07/2016

Deryn surprised me a new addition to her household - Willow! A very, very cute Alsatian puppy. We probably spent a considerable amout of time getting to know each other before lessons started :}

It's been a busy week and I didn't get much practise time. I mentioned to Deryn that I really wanted to focus on technique.

The pair position exercises helped intonation and finding notes on the upper registers.

Going through Feuillard chapters 6 & 7, although large shifts to upper registers are rarely played on lower strings, it is still good practise to go through them. The notes produced when playing in thumb position on the C string is akin to gregorian monk chanting in an echo chamber.

One should pay attention to intervals between notes until it becomes second nature under the fingers when you read the score. This applies to knowing when a phrase requires a stretch or close position so you can anticipate an efficient and comfortable hand shape to accomodate the phrase.

We went through the various variations in chapters 8 & 9, with a goal to get the entire phrase under one bow. This should hopefully, not only improve finger dexterity and make Tarantella a pleasure to play but the exercises are great for intonation and establishment of positions. Conscious repetition is key, I suppose. As long as I'm fully aware doing these exercises and not just defaulting to automated mode!

Deryn noticed that my left feet was pointing inwards and moving about during the playthrough when it should be firmly planted, outward facing for stability. This could explain my slippery finger catastrophe.

We later went through shifting exercises for 2 octave arpeggios where we discussed inversions and dominant 7ths (a chord extension where you include the 7th note in progression) before it was puppy snuggles time again. What can I say - it's my first time with a puppy!