just another viola blog

18 yrs old • violist • half-assed pianist • too many feelings for German composers

[myviolaisprettierthanyou]

3 + 4 + 5/100

Okay, so I slacked off a little on posting about this. I may have or may have not skipped number 3 (had a long day). As for day 4 and 5, I practiced technique mostly and yesterday I did half technique half rep.

[einstetic]

a gentle reminder: you are not lazy when you aren’t getting stuff done, you are just overwhelmed by everything you have to do and it is okay to take a step back, take a break and think things through

not so gentle reminder: stop lazying around and get your fucking shit together

[myviolaisprettierthanyou]

a big ass mood

[hjartasalt]

Who needs to practice when a cat needs your attention, anyway?

[myviolaisprettierthanyou]

if this is not how I am in 5 years I don’t want it

[yes-im-a-simple-man]

If Jascha Heifetz was alive today you know he’d be playing on a balcony somewhere every day for passers-by

[myviolaisprettierthanyou]

2/100

Today I only did an hour of practicing, which if I’m being honest had a rocky start. When I say I suck at practicing I genuinely mean it. I’m lazy. However, my girlfriend essentially bullied me (i.e. encouraged) me to practice so I did. Focused on scales and some exercises given by my teacher. Basically, technique work. Tomorrow I have a feeling I won’t be able to do much practicing either, but here’s to trying.

I’m also going to try and get some aesthetic pictures of my viola w tea in the background or something since everyone in this tag seems to be doing that lol.

[myviolaisprettierthanyou]

1/100

So today was both good and bad. In addition to practicing for 100 days I started using an online journal to sort of map out my practice sessions throughout the day and also to record how things felt, what mistakes I felt like I was making, what I worked on. 

I did about 2 hours today but am aiming for 3 hours daily (felt ultra shitty about my practicing when I saw Mr. Perlman suggests 3 hours andforoverachievingstudentnomorethan4-5). I noticed some issues I have, but I did do some exercises to work on them. I guess I’m just anxious since I know what I’m doing wrong but I’m not doing them right yet. anxiety tingz. Oh, well, I have 100 days and I’m pretty determined to becoming a not shitty musician who does indeed practice daily and for more than 1 hour.

[30-minute-memes]

[the-most-pathetic-edge-marquis]

I sent this to my choir teacher when I was his TA and he replied “you’re the one making the copies, you’re an accomplice”

[myviolaisprettierthanyou]

Website of violist Julia Bullard, Associate Professor of Viola at the University of Northern Iowa

I suck at practicing lol very useful

[myviolaisprettierthanyou]

Summer Goal

(yes I’m aware I was supposed keep posting journal entries for the bach and/or any new rep, but I got distracted what can I say)

This concludes my first year at music school and I can say it has not been easy. I’ve learned so much and I want to take this summer to transform myself as a musician. Sure, two months can’t do too much, but I want to try and make the best of it.

My teacher pointed out that I’ve been playing with an incredible amount of pressure in my left hand. Since I’ve always played like that, I never noticed. So I’m going to be focusing on my left hand techique - making it lighter, better intonation, all that jazz- and my right hand. My teacher has said that my sound is pretty good, but there’s room for improvement. I want to try and have a better sound, more even tone, and just to feel more in control of my bow hand.

I’ll be sharing any exercises I find here and am open to suggestions :)

I’m also going to try to post daily about my practice sessions key word is try

hopefullythatmotivatesme

[casualclassical]

me listening to a new recording of a certain piece after listening to one recording way too many times: okay is this too slow or is the one I’m used to too fast

[soyoumusik]

Me with every Bach cello suite recording

[yes-im-a-simple-man]

Today I made the mistake of thinking I could sight-read the finale of Tchaik 4

I could not

[myviolaisprettierthanyou]

christ I remember playing this. felt this on a different level

[myviolaisprettierthanyou]

friendly reminder Janine Janse should eat all of us jesus christ what I’d do to reincarnate as her

[barcarole]

From a conversation between Ernest Guiraud and Debussy, Debussy: Volume 1, 1862-1902: His Life and Mind (by Edward Lockspeiser)

[thewholeguacamole]

Get to know me!

Thanks @perfectly-bassic for tagging me! These are always fun

Instructions: Tag 10 followers you’d like to know better!

Name: Rochelle

Gender: f

Star sign: taurus

Height: 5'4"

Sexuality: bi

Hogwarts house: THEY CHANGED THE QUIZ AND NOW IM A GRYFFINDOR INSTEAD OF A HUFFLEPUFF AND NOW I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MY LIFE. WHAT AM I????

Average time of sleep: not enough

Currently time: lol 12:51 am

Dogs or cats: Yes

Blankets: so many

When I made my blog: October of 2016?

Why I made my Tumblr: I don’t like Facebook, and I wanted to share stuff I found funny that is not appropriate for my grandparents to view. I also don’t want people to judge me. I also found myself sharing more Tumblr post than anything, so I wanted just see them at the source

Reason for my url: I was exhausted and hungry and probably thought I could go for a whole thing of guacamole. I was super depressed and it was freshman year of college so idk

Tags: @sardonic-soprano @softboysocialist @bfuhrnerd @veradune @vibraphone1o1 @key-of-b-flat-major @adhdtrek @justanotherpiccplayer @slightly-confused-cat @musical-engineer and anyone else who’d like to participate!

[justanotherpiccplayer]

Thank you @thewholeguacamole for the tag 💖💖💖

Get to know me!

Name: Aoife

Gender: f

Star sign: pisces

Sexuality: hate to disappoint but straight

Hogwarts house: 🐍🐍🐍 slytherin

Average time of sleep: around 7, it needs be more

Current time: probably dead on 3pm when I finish this, as of typing this specific section 2:58pm

Dogs or cats: I love my doggo but I think when I move out proper I’ll get a cat before a dog

Blankets: 1 but an army of soft toys, I like my tiger best

When I made my blog, second year of sixth form so 4 (?) years ago

Why I made my tumblr: literally so I could talk to my bf when not at college tho it’s turned into way more than jus that

Reasons for my URL: there’s 2, 1 is that there is a flute YouTuber called JustAnotherFlutist but also 2 I am just another piccolo player

Tagging: @fenfalleen @nightjul @mayflower-gal @elliefluteelephant @warrior-olive @viola-bitch @happy-fifer

@someonetheelusivefangirl @bernstein-and-mao

[warrior-olive]

@justanotherpiccplayer thank you so much for tagging me! ❤️

Get to know me!

Name: Mayuri

Gender: female

Height: 5'1"

Sexuality: biromantic, but then I’m also ace

Star sign: cancer

Hogwarts house: ravenclaw

How long do I sleep for? I usually can’t get to sleep but when I do it’s for like ten hours sooo

Current time: 7.30pm

Dogs or cats: Can I choose both? And like every animal in existence? Okay I’m gonna go with that

Blankets: three minimum, currently four (I’m always freezing cold)

When I made my blog: November 2017, but I had a blog before that that was terminated

Why I made my tumblr: I guess I kept pinning so many tumblr screenshots on Pinterest that I got curious and have been here since?

Reasons for my URL: well I had a dream about this warrior olive princess thing once (literally just an olive), and my friends and I made a shitty story out of it and it’s stuck ever since

Tagging: @benedli @keef-the-otter @flutenby @thelostdivine

[thelostdivine]

@warrior-olive thank you for tagging me! I love these sort of things 😊

·        Name:  Rachel

·        Gender: female

·        Height: 5'6"

·        Sexuality: questionably somewhere on the ace/demi spectrum, but I usually call myself straight because it’s often easier

·        Star sign: Aries

·        Hogwarts house: Technically Pottermore has sorted me into Gryffindor twice, but I self-identify as Ravenclaw

·        How long do I sleep for? I can function on 5 hours, I need at least 7-9 hours to feel happy, if left unchecked I can sleep for 10+ hours

·        Current time: 7:49 PM

·        Dogs or cats: I’m more of a cat person, but both are good!

·        Blankets: yes xD I’m not exactly sure I understand the question here, but I have 8 blankets on my bed right now

·        When I made my blog: Fall 2018

·        Why I made my Tumblr: So my lovely roommate @hubcaptastrophe could more efficiently share posts and memes with me

·        Reasons for my URL:  This one is a long and personal story that I won’t publicly share many details of. But basically, in 2018 we discovered the existence, though a secret history of adoptions, of my long-lost paternal grandfather, with the last name “Devine.” That left me reeling for quite some time, so the lost divine is a play on my sense of identity at that time and a reference to what my last name would have been, had my lineage not been shrouded in secrecy. I’ve begun to use it as a pen name of sorts.

Tags: @hubcaptastrophe @composerinprogress @benevolentgentleman  @mymusicalcat​ @saxy-girl​ @pocketfullofpoesies​ @lostdog594​ @mattbear-music-nz​ are any of you interested in participating?

[composerinprogress]

Get to know me!

Thanks @thelostdivine for tagging me!

Instructions: Tag 10 followers you’d like to know better!

Name: Eric

Gender: male

Star sign: ♉️ Taurus

Height: 5'10”

Sexuality: straight

Hogwarts house: I never bothered to find out

Average time of sleep: 8 hours or so. I usually fall asleep at the same time as Rachel, and we wake up dependent on obligation

Currently time: lol 8:52pm

Dogs or cats: Cats. I like that they’re self sufficient and don’t jump all over me. I think I’d make an adequate cat

Blankets: plush/Sherpa

When I made my blog: August 2015

Why I made my Tumblr: I wanted a place to share my music with people.

Reason for my url: I’m a composer with progress ahead of me. I outgrew the-versatile-composer and also was ready to move on from a leading role to something more humble and casual.

Tagging: @shadescrawls @theclosetpianist @littletrumpetcat @secretstradivarius @benevolentgentleman @iwilltrytobereasonable @stressed-composer @that-twink-composer

[stravinsky]

This is FUN why not.

Thanks Eric (@composerinprogress) for tagging me!

Instructions: Tag 10 followers you’d like to know better!

Name: Piero

Gender: Male

Star sign: Leo (so sorry)

Height: 180cm, and google says that’s 5'9". So that's that.

Sexuality: Bisexual

Hogwarts house: Ravenclaw! i’m a feckin nerd

Average time of sleep: Anything between 4 and 6 hours. I know that’s too little.

Currently time: 22h03.

Dogs or cats: I know it’s a copout if I say both, but honestly both. I have a dog and a cat, and they get along just fine.

Blankets: Always. But then, I’m back at living in Brazil, so the weather rarely gives me the chance to make good use to it.

When I made my blog: November

Why I made my Tumblr: Honestly, I wanted classical music names and ended out really enjoying the site. I come and go usually, sometimes spend a couple of months not really logging in that much, but it’s always nice to have that opportunity.

Reason for my url: I work as a composer, and I’m pretty stressed a lot of the time. Also a big stravinsky fan.

Tagging: @onceuponamellophone @frenchhornblog @e-minor-mental-breakdowns @myviolaisprettierthanyou @quiet-viola @tuba-holy-spirit

[myviolaisprettierthanyou]

Get to know me!

Thanks @stressed-composer for tagging me! Haven’t been active in a while, so it was v unexpected :)

Instructions: Tag 10 followers you’d like to know better!

Name: Sofia

Gender: f

Star sign: Libra

Height: 5'5"

Sexuality: figured out a lot this year lol lesbian 

Hogwarts house: Slytherin (don’t know how accurate that is to how I am)

Average time of sleep: 6-7 hours

Current time: 12:55 pm

Dogs or cats: dogs imabigbigfanofcatsthough

Blankets: 7+

When I made my blog: I legitimately don’t even remember maybe 2015?

Why I made my Tumblr: in all honesty I just randomly though of my username, liked classical tumblrs, and knowing how forgetful I was I just made it thinking one day I’d actually use it 

Reason for my url: v proud of my viola. she’s pretty.

Tags: @lingling40hrs @charlieestudies @tchaikovskyfucker69 @that-one-violist @operaqueer @pianononsense and also anyone who sees this on their tl and wants to participate :)

[lingling40hrs]

am back

[yeehawmeme]

[myviolaisprettierthanyou]

Bach Suite No.2 Journal Entry #1

since the beginning of this blog, I thought it would be incredibly useful for myself to record my approach to pieces to share with my teachers, have a clearer goal, etc. however, I kinda slacked on posting here for a bit, so I’ve missed recording my approach to sonatas but I caught myself in time for the start of Bach Suite No. 2 

I’ve done a little bit of work so far, but only on the prelude. I find bow distribution as well as interpretation throughout the prelude to be difficult. Something my teacher told me that was helpful was how he viewed the prelude as a peaceful prayer. Something extremely helpful has been to think in large phrases instead of measure to measure.

Since I’ll be starting the Allemande, I’ll be working on refining the prelude as I go along. 

All the recordings I have heard of the Prelude:

Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008 (Transcr. for Viola) : I. Prelude Lillian Fuchs - https://youtu.be/JJLFAj6DPS0

Bach Suite No. 2 in d minor | Erika Gray (viola) https://youtu.be/Q0O9gFf-tiI

Bach Cello Suite No. 2 in D min. BWV 1008 Casals https://youtu.be/HhMo7320RlI

Bach, J.S.: Cello Suite No.2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: I. Prelude by Mstislav Rostropovich

 Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BMV 1008: I. Prelude by Anner Bylsma

Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BMC 1008: I. Prelude by Andre Navarra

Suite No. 2, BMV 1008, in D Minor: Prelude by Janos Starker ( cadenza is A+++)

Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1008: I. Prelude by Yo-Yo Ma

Suite No. 2 in D Minor BWV 1008.: I. Prelude by Jean-Guihen Queyras

*I might eventually make another journal entry on why I like each recording since I strongly like certain parts of each one