Summit Days 6-8

I don't have time for a proper post, so all I'm gonna say for now is that depression is a great motivator & I get to see Matt Haimovitz play in a few minutes... can't wait!!

Edit:

Ok, so now for a full post:

At this point, I've forgotten Friday... I think the gyst of it was something like this: 2 chamber rehearsals, then work...

Saturday, similar idea, except I got to watch the concert instead & there was a cello masterclass...

Concert:The first half was the junior orchestra, which played the best student orchestra performance I've ever seen... almost makes me excited to see what the senior orchestra will do... It made me miss being in orchestra in high school... it's so communal. The second half I got to hear a Brahms Quintet & Barber's Adagio for strings... I think the adagio maybe could have been done better, but it was pretty cool...

The Masterclass was with Bongshin Ko ... I really didn't get too much from it... she talks about stuff I already know and doesn't seem to speak about the mechanics of playing, which I don't think is a very good quality in a teacher... (In other words, she might say "this sections needs to be lighter" without actually explaining how to (physically) make it lighter

Sunday I wasn't there at all...

So, that brings us to today - 2 chamber reherasals:

Haydn - boring, but we got work done... I really don't find that trio inspiring at all... I also don't think we work as well as a group as we could... there's a bit more that I want to say, but won't since this is a public journal...

Emil Paul - Awesome piece, by awesome composer. The other two members of my ensemble are way better than me. One on hand, this is really inspiring... on the other, it's kind of depressing. Before, when I encountered people who were good technically, their playing usually lacked soul ... In this group (and at the festival in general), the opposite is true. It's good for me, because I've grown so much from working with them, especially the pianist, Katherine Harris, she has a very good training/understanding of things... I think she'll make a good teacher some day...

But anyway, after that rehersal, I was more than a bit depressed b/c I feel like I hold the group back & I feel like I can't progress at the rate I need to in order to work with them ... very frustrating... so that led me to practice & I had a couple of breakthroughs...

1. Every note has a shape
2. For fast passages, I need to keep my middle two fingers flexible...

I didn't care so much for the student recital, which was all violin/piano (I find it's very rare that the violin can actually inspire me - at least in classical)

I got to see Matt Haimovitz play though, which was absolutely amazing ... the printed program was completely screwed up, which I found really funny.... Anyway, he played the 3rd bach suite & he played the way I feel it should be played (by that I don't mean that I had the same interpretation, but he played it freely and in an improvisatory fashion, similar to the way Casals or Greenhouse or Mr. O [My first teacher] might approach it) ... After that it was two original works that he had commissioned some composers for... "Mark Twain Sez", which had quotes from Mark Twain in btwn. movements & "After Reading Shakespeare". I'm going to try and get a copy of the music ... anyway, it was really cool... he talked between pieces & even let his baby cry in the middle of the concert & I got to talk to him after for a bit... very neat...

His masterclass is tomorrow, so i've got a bunch of questions for him, and I'm sure I'll learn a whole lot.... can't wait... anyway, I have to get those irritating fast passages in shape...