#viola's rule

[ray-xenolabs]

I Miss Middle School Days

I remember when we were in the middle of playing 

Deerpath Triptych - The Hunt

Our teacher would tell us that the violas and cellos are the deer and we had to run away, while the violins were the hunters trying to hunt us. When you know what the song is, it tends to boost you up to play better, and when she told us this, it actually helped.

Same with El Toro, we were supposed to imagine those people with the weird red sheet thing. Matadors, I think? I dunno. But yeah, it really helped us. Sheebeg, Sheemore, she wanted us to make her cry. Vanguard Overture, we were supposed to imagine war and soldiers in line, etc. 

Orange Jam, it's a jam. What more can I say? We weren't supposed to go too fast or too slow.

[avlegs]

If you haven't heard Anni Rossi yet, check her out. She's does a lot of interesting covers via her viola, like Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody," which you can download here, Radiohead's "Creep," and Rihanna's "Rude Boy." However, it's her own compositions that intrigue me the most. She has this quirky delivery, especially live. She gets a little more poppy on her sophomore effort, and she's now playing her viola like a guitar. Check out selections from her new album, "Heavy Meadow," as well as our interview about her process, which aired this morning on WBEZ's "Eight Forty-Eight."