Click here to see the introduction of the TCHAIK PROJECT and know what it is about. =)
And here is a list with all the links to the practice diaries of this PROJECT.
I haven't touched the violin for 4 days, I've been pretty messed up in general.
I read The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. It was really good to read this book. Sometimes what we need (or what I need) is not a violin trick or a miraculous way of practicing. But a general shake up in life and everything I think about, how I face everything in life. An organizing shake. Throwing away what doesn't matter, cleaning up some of the mental junk we accumulate without realizing it, clearing our focus, focusing on what really matters.
So I decided to do the 1234, the Great Ear Cleaning Exercise.
- 1234 on A string
Tchaikovsky 1st mov.
I played the entire movement, to see how the memorization is going. It's already much better than before!!! I still haven’t memorized the ending of both codetas, the middle section and some sporadic spots.
After that I had to choose what to practice: I placed the entire score on the floor, in order, so I have a view of the movement as a whole, and I chose a passage with fast scales in the end of second theme, both in the exposition and recap, and the beginning of the Coda, which I need to memorize.
- Bars 97 to 100 (remembering how it was, memorizing, accenting the beginnings of subgroups of notes; on the last round I put the metronome at 60 and then 65 = eighth note, always playing by heart)
- Bars 274 to 278 (organizing the notes in my mind, memorizing and already putting the accents in the subgroups; in the last round I played at 60 = eighth by heart)
- Bars 304 to 310 (memorizing and working on intonation)
Tchaikovsky 2nd mov.
I was going to practice the 3rd mov., but I was all stiff and tense, with a little headache. I chose to start a more consistent practice of the 2nd mov.
I practiced more the central session and after a certain moment I decided to record it to post on Instagram.
The pitfalls of this movement are two:
1) It's relatively easy to play, one can play it on the first reading, so it's harder to stop and actually practice it, refine, trim the edges. I just feel like playing (on top of all that: it's so beautiful!!!).
2) It is between two movements that are very physically demanding, so in addition to practice to sound good, I’ll have to practice to loosen the muscles and “freshen them up” for the 3rd movement, mainly because slow and emotionally intense melodies can lead to a heavier “grip” of both hands, that is, more tension.
October 6th, 2020 - Tuesday
In the last few days, those I didn't practice, I realized that slowly (it's been 7 months…) I’m reaching a very anxious state of anxiety. Super agitated thoughts showcasing all my fears kept tormenting me. The body is in this strange state of social isolation, at home all the time: restless and tired at the same time, giving several signs that things aren’t so good...
Continuing to read and increasingly concerned about my health, I had contact with Meryelle Maciente and David Cartolano in the same week.
With Meryelle it was this delicious conversation in the series Papo com Café, about nervousness and performance anxiety. Basically, if you don't take care of your body, anxiety skyrockets.
David Cartolano is a young (veeery young, 24yo!) north-american who is developing an interesting work online under the name “The Conditioned Musician”. I attended a small masterclass he gave and the same buttons were pushed: body care for a general improvement in life.
These are things we already know, actually… but we’re waiting for some magic tip or hack to appear that will allow us to skip these things and feel wonderful.
In short, basic care already covers almost all problems and the basic is this:
- enough water
- decent food
- decent sleep
- moving around (also known as exercising)
- take care of the mind (meditation is a widespread way of doing this, and there're thousands of different ways of doing it)
And for performance anxiety, there are some aspects that are covered by practically all techniques:
- body awareness
- breathing
- understanding and calming the mind
So, seeing the red light flashing on my face and feeling the several signals my body is giving me that I’m treating it real bad (I've been sleeping badly, eating lots of junk food, I barely move and I neglected my meditation), I decided to do something, to choose my suffering (as Mark Manson says in the book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck”: gotta choose what crap you'll deal with). So I chose the boring task to take care of myself over the desperation of watching myself rot.
The first thing was not setting an alarm clock for this morning, which allowed me to sleep in and now I have little time to practice, around 2 and a half hours before the live with Emmanuele Baldini!
Fast set
- Whole bow staccato at 120 bpm, 2 notes per beat
- Vibrato
- Minor scales of 2 octaves in fixed position
Tchaikovsky 3rd mov.
Maaan, this thing of placing the whole score on the ground to have an overview is pretty good!
- Upbeat of 111 to 116 (I worked left hand articulation - always by heart - first using accents on different notes, then a little left hand articulation alla Benedetti without bow, then with rhythms and finally with metronome at 100 = eighth note. It's a lot more fluid than the last time I practiced! Now begin to speed up little by little.)
- Upbeat of 189 to 196 (again I sang tapping my feet on the downbeat, then I played the melody accenting on the downbeat. I did it many times with harmonics and only in the end I worked on the intonation of the octaves note by note.)
- 2nd half of 616 to the end (I'm slowly going further and further back, starting each time a little earlier and memorizing this Coda. It's already more fluid! Even in super slow tempo I make all the phrase intentions I want when it’s up to tempo. I started slow without a metronome to remember the passage and memorize what I added today. Then I was playing with a metronome at 100 = eighth, in the end at 120 = eighth.)
Tchaikovsky 1st mov.
Continuing yesterday's work
- Bars 97 to 100 (I played a few times with the metronome at 60, 65 and then 70 = eighth note, but I always miss some sequence of notes... only at the end I had the idea of practicing this way: only start a scale when it’s entirely in my mind, so I play the first one, in the end I'm already forming the next one in my mind. I stop between the scales until the next one is ready in my mind, only then I play it.)
- Bars 274 to 278 (first I just played, remembering the note sequences, slowly. Towards the end I put the metronome at 60 = eighth note, but as I had the same problem with the similar passage, to keep tripping, in the end I practiced that same way, stopping to know the next scale before playing. The next time I practice those, it's good to do it like this)
- Bars 304 to 310 (practicing memorization and intonation. I still trip over the double stops at the end of bars 307-308-309. Does mental practice help here?)
I still had about 20 minutes left. I decided to practice the tricky triplets of the exposition (52-58) and recap (231-242) by comparing the two. It's dangerous because they have a lot of notes and micro-passages almost identical! It's very easy to start with one and finish in the other… I kept playing, slowly and by heart, interspersing them, paying close attention to the sequences of notes.
October 8th, 2020 - Thursday
Yesterday I woke up with a stiff neck so hard that it didn't go away with relieving cream, nor medicine, nor Salonpas patch. That plus with the heat made me decide to do a mental practice. I chose the tricky triplets passages, the two times they appear. How difficult it is to keep them precise and fluid in the mind! I even used the metronome… at 90 = eighth note, really slow, to try to imagine the passages in a fluid way, without stopping in the middle cause I got confused.
It’s dark now, less hot than yesterday, which helps a lot! I still feel a lot of pain on the left side in the neck and scapula area. I only have 1h30 (without practice mute…) to practice. I really want to do the 1234 on D string, I feel that I often neglect the D string and the hand shape on it in high positions gets a little messy (and I’ll need to use the hand in this part of the violin in some passages of the Concerto).
- 1234 on D string
I wanted to continue yesterday's mental practice and did the tricky triplets, both times they appear, in interleaved mode. I didn't even open the score. I started practicing without a metronome, slowly, thinking like this: always remember some trigger from the next group of notes, for example:
In bar 55, after playing the 3rd beat of the bar I think “D#-1” which would be the trigger for the entire 4th beat ligature. For the following ligature I think of the space between the 1st and 2nd fingers on the E-Fx notes, just a mental image of that, in a flash. Then I think of “E-G#”, with the image of fingers 1 and 3. Then “G#-B” with 1 and 3, then “A” 1st finger. When written like this it sounds like a lot of things to think, but it's just lightning-quick mental images that activate the whole ligature.
After yesterday's mental practice both passages became more fluid, but they have a lot of similarities and that was confusing me a lot. Then I noticed that it's easier to find my way around and get less confused if I play longer sections, starting from a few bars earlier. This gives more context. So instead of starting directly from the triplets, I started from when the orchestra plays the eighth notes in piano on the upbeats and played until the end of the passage.
I did it a few times and then set the metronome at 100 = eighth note. I had to do it at least 5 times without memory slips. Then 110 and finally 120 = eighth note, which means 60 = quarter note, which is already much closer to the tempo of the music. In the end my head was already tired and I could no longer play the second passage super fluid anymore, but I was very happy with today's practice!!! To close the practice session I played from beginning to end the fast scales passage, still without opening the score. One little slip or trip, one tension or another, but what a joy to see the exhibition taking shape! Some passages came out beautiful, others more relaxed than before, and practicing these triplets gave a good unity to the section. =)
October 12th, 2020 - Monday, national holiday
Sense of purpose. I'm facing some of the same difficulties I had the first time I studied the Tchaik: starting to practice and facing the number of repetitions. Perhaps the difference between what went right and what didn't when I was in the US was my sense of purpose. A specific, tangible goal like going to the Lucerne Academy.
There’s something that happens that I've been noticing: I give my goal this “impossible” status, I look at the big picture and think I have to do a lot more than enough, or than normal, everything looks huge and difficult, and I get tired only thinking about it, even before starting. I feel discouraged and I think, in some hidden place of me: What for?
Fast set
- Whole bow staccato at 120 bpm, with 2 notes per beat
- Vibrato
- 2 octaves major scales in fixed position
Tchaikovsky 1st mov.
- Bars 50 till head of 59, or tricky triplets of the exposition (first I practiced only the pitch of note by note, then I put 100 = eighth in the metronome, then 110)
- Bars 234 till head of 243, or tricky triplets of recap (first I practiced just the pitch of note by note, then I put it in the metronome at 100 = eighth, then at 110)
Tchaikovsky 1st mov.
- Bars 97 to 100, or exposition fast scales (first I went without a metronome to remember the notes and trigger thought for each scale, then I put the metronome at 60 = eighth note, then at 80, but the left hand articulation was starting to get dirty, so I practiced it alla Benedetti without bow. To wrap it up I played the 80 = eighth note. This exercise that Nicola Benedetti taught really works!)
- Bars 274 to 277, or recap fast scales (first I went without the metronome to remember the notes and trigger thought for each scale, then I set the metronome at 60 = eighth note. This passage is not as fluid as the previous one, I have to practice more this one, spend more time with it.)
Tchaikovsky 3rd mov.
- Bars 333 to 349 (I started with metronome at 100 = eighth, then I played at 100 = quarter note to see what I’d have to pay attention to and I saw that the left hand return from the high position to restart the phrase, in both 3 times, was a little slow, and that I tend to tense up - oh, big news... So I practiced, still with metronome, with a heavy short bow and a very light left hand. In the end I reached 140 = eighth.)
- Bars 368 to 376 (I played the passage slowly to remember, but I focused more on tuning the 1st bar.)
- upbeat of bar 111 to 116 (first I worked on left hand articulation with accents in different notes; then with metronome starting at 100 = eighth and reaching 140 = eighth)
I was proud, I only opened the score to check the bar numbers while writing the diary. During the practice, I didn't need to. =)
October 18th, 2020 - Sunday
I haven't touched the violin for nearly a week and I can't say why. I can't say what I did or what happened. And here I’m faced with the biggest challenge - by far! - of practicing the Tchaik: opening the violin and start practicing.
In the meeting I had with Renée-Paule Gauthier I spoke precisely about this: I have all the conditions in the world to practice, but I don't, I just don't start. She asked me what I think and feel when I’m in this moment when I don't practice but keep thinking that I should be practicing, and what I’d like to think and feel instead. After many observations (regarding not only the violin), I re-noticed that I set myself Herculean tasks, always wanting to do more than I need to. I do this not very consciously. So, when looking at the Project or process as a whole, it seems infinitely bigger than me and my possibilities, it seems too much, I get tired just thinking about it. Then I end up giving up on practicing that day.
In the conversation with Renee-Paule she also spoke about accountability. It means adding someone else in the story, someone to whom you have to show your results, or someone with whom you have appointments, in short, someone to whom you are accountable in some way. She uses this as a strategy for herself and suggested it to me. Well then, yesterday a friend and violinist that I respect very much agreed to hear me play in 3 weeks. Tchaikovsky is not even close to the necessary level to perform it, not even badly. So, going back to the idea of breaking my big goal into smaller tasks until I get to the week and day chunks, I thought of the following goals for this week:
- memorize the middle section and the Coda of the 1st mov.
- be able to play the 2 codetas of the 1st mov. at 60 = quarter note
I still haven't found a goal for the 3rd mov., but today I play it from beginning to end to have an idea.
Anyway, it was a week in which I thought a lot about self-care, those basic pillars (water, sleep, decent food, movement and mind) and I managed to come up with an interesting practice for a first moment, where in 1 hour I can take care of many aspects. It's 20 minutes of mind-clearing meditation, 15 minutes of physical exercise (which for now I'm doing physiotherapy exercises one day, this Qi Gong video the next day) and another 10 minutes of learning meditation. I'm feeling better in general.
Now off to practice! In 3 weeks there’s an important performance!
Maintenance Set
- Whole bow staccato at 120 bpm with 2 notes per beat
- String crossing at 60bpm, subdividing into 2 and 3 notes per beat.
- Vibrato without bow
- Whole step trills
- Staccato in the middle of the bow at 75 bpm, subdividing the beat into 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 notes
- Schradieck XVI. 4. Finally I allowed myself to say goodbye to this one. I managed to do it at 100 = quarter note.
- Open strings with 4, 3, 2, 1 and 1/2 beats per bow at 60 bpm
- Shifts on the E string starting with the 3rd finger
Tchaikovsky 1st mov.
- Exhibition codeta, bars 107 to 127 (first I played with the metronome at 60 = quarter note to see what needs more attention. Of everything I noticed, what caught my attention the most was that from 114 to 118 there was a lack of fluency and intonation. I went through this section 3 times very slowly, by heart, listening for the pitches and a better understanding of the shifts. Then I started at the beginning of the codeta, bar 107, playing slowly, watching the pitch, always avoiding looking at the score, which makes my ears more attentive. I reached bar 120, where I noticed that the shift from 3rd to 4th beat on bars 120-121-122 was very disorganized because of the trill, the next note falling each time in one place. I thought that stopping the trill a little before might help. I tested it quickly and saw that this principle helped the shift to be more calm and accurate. So I practiced it as follows: with the metronome at 60 = quarter note I played the previous note with just one round of the trill and made the shift to the next note. After a few times, I played 2 rounds of trill, and finally 3. After this process, I tried to play with the trill as it’s written and it was very easy to play and hit the shift afterwards, calmly.)
- Recap Codeta, bars 284 to 303 (I also played the entire codeta with metronome at 60 = quarter note and what came out worse was the intonation from 288 to 290 and fluency from 291 to 295, so I started with these parts. Avoiding looking at the score, I played through from 288 to 295 slowly 3 times, tuning note by note. Then I played from the beginning of the codeta, already practicing, tuning, trying to improve the memorization of 288. I went like this until bar 297, where I started to apply the same way of practicing that I used on bar 120, and I saw that here there’re many more shifts that’ll need the same kind of cleaning. The next bars are still pretty raw, I need to memorize and work hard on them.)
Tchaikovsky 1st mov., 1st part of Middle Section
Random practice
- Bars 162 to 165 (intonation note by note, and because my left shoulder is already tense and sore, I made a lot of constructive rests)
- Bars 166 and 167 (intonation note by note, also with constructive rests. I was having trouble tuning the second half of 166 and decided to test a possibility, to come to the C major chord leaving the thumb on 2nd position. The idea is to have opening space for the extension of the 4th finger so I keep the chord in tune. I'll practice this for a while and see if it works.)
- Bars 168 and 169 (I worked on left hand articulation, first alla Benedetti without bow, then with accents on different notes and finally with rhythms. I'm still not satisfied with the comfort and positioning of the left hand and the sound is still dirty in some points, now I need to work the bow distribution of this section.)
Tchaikovsky 1st mov., 2nd part of Middle Section
Random practice
I divided this part into the following excerpts:
- Bars 176 to 179 (just intonation, but I felt a lot of tension in my left shoulder, so I practiced taking breaks and asking all the time “why is my shoulder being so required?” By the end it was a lot less tense. Those are the bars that need more work in this 2nd part of the Middle Section.)
- Bars 180 to 182 (since I practiced these bars a little while ago, it wasn't too bad, but I practiced intonation note by note by watching the muscle use all the time, also taking constructive rests)
- Bars 183 to 188 (I practiced this recently, so the improvements are still here. I practiced intonation and constructive rests. I noticed that my left hand was unstable in the tenths on bars 183, 184 and 185, and I practiced keeping always the 1st finger on the D as a pivot.)
* There was one tool I used and noticed only later: in the 3 excerpts above at some point I thought “now don’t worry about intonation”, in order to play more loosely. The left hand actually became much looser, loosening the entire arm, shoulder, and upper back as a consequence. If I think about playing in tune, I use more effort and feel tension and consequently pain. But if I think about it, playing in tune doesn't require more muscular effort than when I'm loose. Tuning is about aim, not effort. The carelessness or preoccupation of my attention is what generates this extra effort. I find this association made by my body striking! I will pay attention to this, how I can use it or reverse it.
Tchaikovsky 1st mov., Coda
Random practice
Almost no strength left, I decided to practice just a little longer to see if I increase my practice stamina.
- Bars 313 to 316 (I played a few times playing the triplets as if they were appoggiaturas, very fast. In the end I played with metronome at 80 and then 90 = quarter note. This strategy of practicing the triplets only as appoggiaturas isn’t working, at least not by itself, my fingers of the left hand are heavy and not even in this part, I think I should do much more of the trio for left hand articulation: Benedetti-accents-rhythms.)
- Bars 329 to 335 (intonation and bow, playing the slurs in staccati on the same bow to organize, practicing the intonation of 333 and 334.)
- 3 last bars (intonation)
For tomorrow: play whole 3rd mov. to set a week's goal for it.
October 19th, 2020 - Monday
It rains. Which is a relief for me and the violin… the air was way too dry.
Classic Set 1
- Vibrato with bow
- 2, 3 and 4 octave scales in B major and 3 octave arpeggios
- Double stops in B major (3rds, 6ths and 8ves)
Tchaikovsky 3rd mov.
I put the score together with tape so I could turn the pages and play it through. I played the whole thing with metronome at 100 = quarter note. It's bad, very bad, I'll have to work a lot on this movement this week. The goal of the week is to be able to play the entire movement at 100 = quarter note with consciousness, calm movements and release this excessive tension that’s in my left shoulder and arm. I start today.
I could also feel that the excerpts I practiced in the last sessions, repeating that practice the next day, are more solid.
- Bars 17 to 52 (I practiced with metronome first at 80 = quarter note. What seems to be the great difficulty of this part is that it’s intense and requires weight from the left hand, to then start the fast and light part that follows practically throughout the whole movement. If I don't manage well how much weight to use and the sudden change in energy, the heavy hand is printed throughout the movement and I won't be able to play. I noticed I was having trouble vibrating on the low A, so I did the following: for now the vibrato is subdivided, 4 waves per beat. The hand loosened up much more to make this vibrato. I practiced with constructive rests, and then 100 = quarter note paying close attention to the body, to the effort used. I also practiced the chords a little, I have to be careful not to spend too much bow, otherwise the contact point disappears.)
- Bars 53 to 100 (I practiced in various ways at 80 = quarter note: with constructive rests; without the thumb; just the bow; with short heavy bow and light left hand; with all the sound making each note with a beautiful sound, with an even detaché. Then at 100 = quarter note, with heavy bow and light left hand and then “normal”, with attention to keeping the bow in the middle. Very important to say that in all these ways of practicing I did phrasing, exaggerating it, this way “making music” is entangled in technical practice, first so it comes out easily, and also so it’s not a source of tension later on.)
- Bars 101 to 145 (I practiced in the same ways as bars 53 to 100, including the metronome markings.)
In the end I played the entire passage at 100 and 105 = quarter note. It was good to practice and play such a long stretch. In the end it was much better than at the beginning of the practice session. I urgently need to memorize this, there are still spots where I get confused.
Tchaikovsky 3rd mov.
- Bars 188 to 196 (intonation of note by note, playing twice each octave, that is, even in ultra slow tempo putting the elements of the fast tempo I already can… I also noticed that the string crossings are a trap for the left hand.)
October 20th, 2020 - Tuesday
Today there's no chat in my live series, I really need to practice… In addition to this Project and writing the article on shoulders, I'm going to play a program with the Ribeirão Preto Orchestra and I need to practice the repertoire, which includes Beethoven's 9th symphony, always tricky. That's why I decided to use some of the symphony’s scales as technical warm up today.
- Open strings with 4, 3, 2 and 1 beat per bow at 60 bpm
- Vibrato without bow
- Scales of Beethoven's 9th Symphony
Tchaikovsky 3rd mov.
I wanted to continue the work, but taking the entire initial section as one single block. I played it once remembering what I did yesterday: intro with slow vibrato, big and counted, Tempo I with heavy bow and light left hand. Then I played at 120 = quarter note and then up to tempo. I noticed that my left hand gets way too tense, locking up before I reach the end of the section. From that I practiced as follows:
- Bars 53 to 145 (with constructive rests)
- Bars 17 to 145 (alla Benedetti without bow, which so far has proven to be the best tool to lighten the left hand, but it has to be done many times. I stopped several times in the middle to rest and check the placement of the violin, because I was feeling uncomfortable on the left shoulder.)
- Bars 333 to 349 (first with metronome at 120 = eighth note to remember, then I managed to play 80 = quarter without problem. I have to be careful because there's a memory trap there, the first time the line goes back to the lower register, on bar 337, I miss the fingering.)
Tchaikovsky 1st mov.
The codetas… Today it was hard to focus…
I went through the exposition codeta first, checking the intonation. Then I played 60 = quarter note to see how it was. It's bad, out of tune and with an ugly sound, but at least I can already play badly from beginning to end, victory!
I also wanted to see the recap codeta and I played it at 60 = quarter as well. I can also play poorly from beginning to end. This one is less difficult.
In both codetas there is a big problem: the shift to the F with the 1st finger in 9th position on D string. This is what I need to practice the most in both passages, also because I come to each one from a different note.
Another important thing: check out videos and see how the soloists use the bow and articulate the entire first half of the codetas.
I watched some videos on youtube, and in general the soloists (I. Perlman, J. Fisher, A. Baeve, J. Jansen and D. Oistrakh) are not on the frog, but closer to the middle of the bow.
October 21st, 2020 - Wednesday
Mixed Classic set
- Open strings with 12 to 20 beats per bow at 60 bpm
- Whole bow staccato at 60bpm, 4 staccati per beat
- Vibrato
- Scales of 2, 3 and 4 octaves in B-flat and 3 octave arpeggios
- Double stops in B flat, 3rds, 6ths, 8ves and 10ths
I was distracted and it felt like my fingers refused to fall into the right place, I felt anxiety and a tendency to “force things out” and get irritated. I stopped the scales in the middle and did the Centering. It helped a lot!!!
Tchaikovsky
Random practice
Today was a seemingly chaotic practice session, I started playing slowly the codeta of the exposition and I remembered that shift to the F in 9th position. I played a few times trying to find how to tackle this issue and went back to the basics, listening to the glissando of the shift happening on the first finger. But I didn't just practice the shift, I studied the context. I started from the previous ascending arpeggio, taking care of the shifts there as well, and continued until the end of the next arpeggio. Slow, listening to everything.
I did the same thing with the shift to the F on the 9th position of recap.
I interspersed the practice of these parts with the beginning of 3rd mov., played a few times slowly to continue with the memorization. I missed notes several times, but I didn't need to open the score at any time, I remembered right away what notes I should have played.
I also interleaved with the Middle Section memorization (without Cadenza). I played slow a few times. There is still a lot of tension and there’s no fluidity in the second part.
In the end, I decided to play everything I could from the 1st movement, by heart.
I was surprised!!! Look what's left to memorize: the two transitions to the codetas and a few moments of the Cadenza. It's not all in my hands, but it's already in the head!!! I just wasn't happier because in the end my left shoulder was hard as a rock and sore, even though I felt it loosening up several times. It's obvious that even the tension issue is infinitely better, right? 11 years ago I couldn't reach even half of what I did today, and I’m talking both about looseness and playing level. But let’s continue the work!
October 22nd, 2020 - Thursday
I taught an online class to a group of students at a federal university up north and that made me wanna practice so cool it was!
Fast set
- Whole bow staccato without metronome
- Vibrato
- 2 octaves major scales in fixed position
- Beethoven, 9th Symphony
Tchaikovsky 1st mov.
Random practice
- second half of bar 100 till 106, the transition I still need to memorize (memorizing and using it to practice intonation or practicing intonation and using it to memorize)
- 4th beat of bar 115 till top of 117 (focus on the shift between 115 and 116, for that F, but I took the opportunity to practice the whole context too, in the end I played the entire passage from 114 to 119 and I was very happy with the improvement, the passage it's already cleaner and more in tune!!!)
- 2nd half of Middle Section, comp. 176 to 188 (I practiced memorization in the following way: I played the first note and only went to the second when it was well formed in my head, both the sound and where and with which finger it should be played. I just did that.)
I had a few minutes to spare and decided to practice the same transition passage in the recap, bars 278 to 283. This one I didn't know not even by ear… I've already started the process of memorizing.
October 24th, 2020 - Saturday
Last night I watched a documentary about David Oistrakh: "David Oistrakh, Artist of the People?" by Bruno Monsaigeon. I was fascinated by it, stunned by the life story and career of one of my favorite violinists. In addition to all the events, seeing people like D. Oistrakh and Y. Menuhin talking about each other with such tenderness, love and art was very touching.
So I woke up super feeling like practicing. Today I have only a little time, after all, it would be my day off, but I WANTED to practice. And I also have to prepare Ribeirão's repertoire… But I couldn't hold myself. The first thing I did after warming up the body and tuning the violin was playing through the whole Tchaik’s 1st movement by heart. Missing notes and all. Just some spots that aren't by heart anyway, here or there in the middle of the Cadenza and a full measure in the transition to the recap codeta. It's already more memorized, despite the many chokes on the way. I was also much less tense than I expected!!! What a victory!!!
<<< TCHAIK PROJECT 23 - Starting to put pieces together
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The Tchaik Project is part of the Master’s Degree Research of Helena Piccazio, enrolled in the Master’s Program in Music at the School of Communication and Arts of the University of São Paulo (ECA-USP).
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