taking violin lessons again

Old String

It's been forever--I really must do a better job at updating this blog.

As I mentioned before, Mom and I went to a concert of the Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra on Mother's Day and I decided to try my hand at joining the orchestra. Well, this past Thursday was the first rehearsal of the new program (which is really cool--they'll be performing it in August in Machias and Eastport, ME, and St. Andrews and St. Stephen, NB). I thoroughly enjoyed it--I was in the second violins, right smack in front of the French horns which turned out to be not so bad (it was actually kinda cool). I also learned some stuff about playing different notes on the horn.

However, I was also having a hard time with the music: I kept getting lost (my sight-reading isn't the greatest), and I felt like I was in over my head. In the end, the concertmaster, Alice, gave me the boot. I went over to the conductor, Trond (who's concertmaster of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra), and asked him what he thought (while trying to fight off the tears) and he agreed with Alice.

I told Malika (one of the violinists) about it and she and her mom, Lee-Anne (oboe), talked to Alice but there wasn't much they could do (the concertmaster is second-in-command).

On the way home the floodgates opened and I sobbed on Malika's shoulder. She agreed with me that it wasn't fair, that the orchestra does give the impression that anyone can play (there are no auditions for one thing), and said she'd do what she could to get me in. She also offered to teach me.

Yesterday I decided to take her up on that offer (though I had decided to not push it with the orchestra) and my first lesson in five years is a week from Saturday. We'll be working with stuff that I already have (Wholfart études, Suzuki Violin School, Royal Conservatory of Music, etc.), as well as some stuff that she has, like Kreutzer études, which are standard repertoire, but I never did them (they're mentioned in The Mozart Season). She also had me copy the music from the PBSO so that once I learn a few more things I can learn those pieces (I'll give her back the originals). I also have some questions about what some of the symbols mean.

My first lesson is on the twentieth (a Saturday), which feels weird since aside from a fiddle group I was in about seven or so years ago, I've never had lessons on the weekend (Lynn doesn't teach on weekends because that's when the BSO rehearses).

For now I view this strictly as a summer thing since I'll be going to NBCCD in the Fall and I'll probably be too busy getting used to university life to focus on music lessons (which Malika totally gets since she's just three years older than me).