Mozart music style, violin

Today I heard 2 students playing Mozart concerto. 2 different ones. Both can manage the notes relatively well, but both are not playing with the correct tone color, and articulation.

In order to appreciate the Classical period style, the best way would be to listen to more recording. Mozart's music is lively and charming enough for most students to like. And to learn. At the same time, the music demands high clarity, crystal clear tone, that remains challenging even for advanced players. This is especially so when a bunch of them are going to play together, as in an orchestra music. It remains a "test", or a "measuring rod", for an orchestra to perform anything by Mozart. No doubt the structure of the music is straight-forward. Layers of phrases, melodic lines, etc. are simple. Precisely because of that, it is challenging for 70+ players to execute with identical articulation, despite difference in instruments (most prominently in the first violins).

Let's see if those 2 students can make improvements.

Ok, here is a little about the last Singapore International String Conference. It was in 2006, and was at Methodist Girls School, at Blackmore Drive. Quite a few professors were invited from the US. The "star" of the group is Terry Durbin. He was the funniest of them all. And he has tons of patience. He can conduct a class of rowdy children, and can get all of their attention.

We are inviting him this time, too. If for no other reason, I look for to attend his classes, if only to see and learn how to get and sustain the attention of the children.

What happened last time was that I learnt quite a few technique of teaching from these professors. The first few lessons after that, I was spending a lot of time and attention on the postures, violin-hold, and bow-hold. I am not sure if the students felt bored with those lessons, though. After all, they didn't get to play as much, but trying to change bow-hold, or violin positions.

Well, a few students did get to be more interested in playing the violin after attending the String Conference. However, I was not able to sustain their interest for long. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details... but details can get tedious a lot of the time. And the challenge is to sustain the interests, despite the work on details.

Singapore International String Conference 2008

Oh yes, our music school is organizing this. Anyone reading this can go to http://www.singaporestring.com to check it out.

And we are also running a concert at the Republic Cultural Centre, on 3rd May. That is when students and teachers are performing together. Mostly violin teachers and students, anyway. It is the first time we are doing this. It should be quite fun. We will see how it turns out.

Violin and Guitar

Earlier today I heard, on the radio, a short snip of violin and guitar duet. The music sounds like gypsie music, or maybe Hungarian. There is no drum, but the simple melodic line suggests a pop piece, a modern, or transcribed.

It's a nice sound. The singing quality of violin sound, combined with a blocked chords (strummed), and plucking sound. It does sound like the guitar sound is amplified, and the violin sound is closer to an electric violin. The combination was not "fighting against each other", but bring out the unique differences, and contribute to a richer whole. There should be more of this type of music around.

Singapore Flyer

The huge ferris wheel, called Singapore Flyer. I was there earlier. It was expensive, but it offered free rides for kids till 30th April. What I discovered was a rather blend experience. Sure, the scenary was nice. I went on a nice ride. Shot a few pictures, some videos. I will be posting some later.

Other than this, the experience was rather bland. The other passengers were getting a little restless, too, by about 20 minutes into the ride. So over all, a 30-minute seems just nice to test the patience of those on board.

I wonder what it is like for corporate package -- do they go around only once, have a "company annual party" in 30 minutes? Or do they go around a few more times?

Yes it is a good place to host a party, or any occasion. But the "occasion" would be the theme, and the location, the scenary, is the background.

I think more can be done to make it the other way round. Make the scenary, the location, be the central of attention. The background music can be more attuned to the mood. What I heard was just some regular "elevator music" (pun incidental). Music is a mood-setter. Day trip and night trip are different in that aspect and so need different music. There should also be "guided multimedia tour". Oh yes there are packages for VIP with a tour guide, but the price tag is more than double the regular (or basic) one.

Already there are debates on printed media about the worthiness of $29.95 ($30) for a 30-minute trip.... about $1 per minute. Why don't they tender for a multimedia package for the basic rides? It is not a very good business package as it is. It is not about catering for the rich and affluent for a luxury trip to the Flyer. It is about how enjoyable a trip around the wheel is. And right now, the level of enjoyment is worth just under $20. I would say $15 to $19.

I can easily offer a few suggestions, if anyone is willing to listen. :)

Salut d'Amour

I was just teaching this piece. Like the part when the notes go high on the A-string. Sounds soft and pliable, and sweet. Very romantic piece. If there are glides along the shifts, it can make your heart melt.

Then there is the thick and rich tone near the end, on high position G string. Ah when done well, the sound is not rough, but rich and full. Always reminds me of thick chocolate, or vibrant color, as opposed to pastel colors.

The Colorful Tones

I started to learn music when I was very young. It was an assignment. It is also a culture that one gets to grow with, to enjoy or to pick on. The wonderful thing about music is that no matter what your personality or temperament is, there is a type of music for you.

I started with violin. You? Pop? Jazz? Classical?

Violin has a huge variey of sound and tone qualities. Modern musical instruments, the electronic variety, also can generate a lot. However, if you investigate closer, you would notice that more than half of those synthesized tones actually originated from real-life (existing) sources, like drums, hand-claps, various musical instruments like piano, jazz piano, grand piano, guitar, etc. with a small minority of purely electronically originated tones. These are the really fascinating ones. Yes, they add to the overall colors of music.

But I still like the old school. Violin, orchestra music.