Kevin performed the only movement of the Telemann that he hasn’t trotted out yet (the 3rd) on Saturday at the District Solo & Ensemble event. Grades are 1 through 5; Kevin got a 2…..much to his disappointment. I was not there; Kevin says he did fine and thinks he should have gotten a 1; Suzanne doesn’t have an ‘ear’ for it and can’t tell if he’s done well or not.
But, she did tape it. And I have that uploaded here.
My ear, when I first listened to it, had me wondering why he was missing so many notes. The beauty of uploading the video is that I can send the link along to Kevin’s viola-jedi-master….and he chimes in below. I have no idea what the heck is right or wrong with the viola…but he does!
“Thanks for the link to Kevin's performance. First of all, I've heard him give a more accurate performance than this. What stood out the most (at the beginning of the piece) was that Kevin was playing consistently sharp. I wondered if his viola was in tune, but then toward the end I could tell that the open strings were in tune, and that he was playing sharp after his shifts to and from 1st and 3rd positions (we will be working a lot on that in the coming weeks with the Introducing the Positions books.)
This particular movement of this concerto is the most expressive of all of the movements. Most experienced players will agree that playing expressively and slowly, having to sustain a beautiful and consistent tone, is often more challenging than playing something fast and flashy (especially when nervous). Kevin plays fast music very well, and sometimes tends to view slow music as "easy"; only because the notes are not moving quickly. We've worked on playing scales slowly, using the mirror during lessons to keep the bow where it should be to sustain the most beautiful sound. I will continue working with Kevin on this, as I think he should be working hard in his personal practice playing slowly and expressively. He tends to lose patience with doing this.
I agree with the judge's brief remark about putting more weight in the bow. I noticed during the performance, Kevin looked uncomfortable using the lower half of his bow, and then was not putting enough weight into the bow when he was in the upper half. Since the upper half of the bow is farther from the hand and arm, more weight should be applied into the bow in the upper half to achieve a bigger sound. I think part of this was due to nerves. We'll work on that as well.
As far as the rating of a "2" goes, I think it is a fair assessment of Kevin's progress on that particular piece. It should not be viewed as a reflection of Kevin's cumulative efforts and abilities on the viola.”
For the curious, the All-State piece emphasized speed; a Kevin strength. I’ve already told Kevin that he’ll be playing this piece again at the December recital.
