Viola lesson recap: 5 Apr 2011

[shadowspar]

Viola lesson == can haz! I wasn't sure for a while there -- yesterday we got a slushy mess of late winter precip, and I, while running out the door to work and carrying my viola, slipped and fell flat on my arse hard enough to shift the viola's bridge. Fortunately it was easily fixed by someone who actually knows what they're doing with a stringed instrument (unlike me).

So, now I've got enough instruction behind me to cover all of first position with the exception of the fourth finger. This gets me from C₃ (the second space from the bottom in the bass clef) up to D₅ (the second line from the top in the treble clef). Now it's just a question of practice, practice, practice so that my fingers can get used to finding all those notes.

Didn't get a chance to use the keys to Anya's studio last week on account of a dentist's appointment on Friday and knocking my viola out of tune on Monday. Hope to rectify that in the coming week.

Still need to keep working on slurs across strings. Still have a good deal of work to do with eliciting a consistent sound -- consistent bow speed, consistent bow pressure, keeping in the correct "lane" of the "Kreisler Highway". Still need to work on planning out the bow, though this is improving. =)

Practice, practice, practice.