Recital Is in the Bag!

It's over!

My violin recital is history.It went well. I haven't received my scores yet. I should have received them twenty minutes ago, which means the scores should  be high. My adjudication committe wouldn't violate the time limit on scores if they were giving me low scores, because I could challenge the results because the time limit was not met. The committee was  late getting the scores to me following my piano recital.

It doesn't matter tremendously in the grand scheme of things anyway, because I've already been accepted at the medical school of my choice; that was the majot reason for my tacking on a violin major in the  first place. Now it's really just the principle of the matter.

The very nature of playing violin for a solo recital is quite different than playing piano for the same. A pianist is, obviously, seated at the piano, and not facing the audience. It's really just the pianist and the piano there, and the audience is somewhat eavesdropping on the performance. A violinist, on the other hand, stands and is positioned directly facing the audience.  It doesn't need to be quite like a Jimmy Buffett concert where the performer is having a continual conversation with the audience throughout the performance, but some degree of eye contact should take place, and it's much more interactive than is a piano recital.

Scott and I opted not to go in  chronological order because i wanted to open with a more solid piece than the Telemann Sonata for Flute and Violin, which would have been first had I gone in chronological order. I instead opened with Bach's Sonata number Three in E major for violin and piano. The piano accompaniment is very solid in that one, and it was a great opener.

I went next to the Telemann (my flutist, Erin, was awesome), followed by the Copland Sonata for Violin and Piano. Both went as well as they've ever gone.  It was almost as though I could have played nothing correctly even had I tried. Though I'm not terribly superstitious by nature, I very lightly knocked with my fist on the wooden surface of my violin, trying not to be obvious as I did so.  If anyone noticed, no one said anything to me about it.

I then went into the Paganini Cantabile for Guitar and Violin, which, though  I don't like saying it about my own performance, was exquisite. My dad is a sickeningly talented guitarist.

I finished the regular program with what I consider my strongest piece, which was Mozart's  Sonata # 33 in E-Flat Major for Violin and Piano. I've never played it better.

My encore was the unaccompanied Preludio to Bach's Partita for violin. It's an impressive work if played decently, and I did it well.

I went for a second encore because a) my program was cutting it a bit close on the short side because I played many of the works up tempo, and b) Scott said that when an Irish girl plays violin, people want to hear at least one thing that is Irish. I played a quick jig, "King of the Faeries."  It's a fun piece. I hope the audience enjoiyed hearing it half as much as I enjoyed playing it. I've included someone else's video of the piece..

It was nice to have other instrumentalists because they kept the tempos steady when my nervousness might have caused me to rush. Such was the case with my flutist and guitarist, but especially with my piano acompanist. Scott is known for not following soloists and expecting them to follow him, and he's usually instinctively right when it comes to tempo. He's steady, and his heart doesn't beat faster because of nerves.  It's funny, though; he has a way of making it seem to others as though he is following even when he's dictating the tempo. He's an amazing accompanist. He made the soloist sound better than she is.

I allowed myself to rush in playing the jig, because with a jig, a fast pace is a good thing as long as it's controlled speed and the soloist and accompanist are together.  It's one of the things that makes jigs in general and this piece in particular especially fun.

I'm stuffing my face with pizza because I have an appetite now that the recital is over.

Postscript: My score was 99.0, which I've been told is the highest violin score in at least three years. I'm not really that good, but I played well tonight.

Post-postscript: My brother was accepted into my medical school. He found out today. No one told me before because they didn't want to distract me. I wondered why he was in such a great mood. I'm extremely happy for him, and I'm happy for  me as well to attend medical school with my brother. We won't have letter grades or class standing for the first two years, so there's no reason to be competitive for the first two years.  We can help each other.

Bryson, age four,  was the youngest person to attend my recital. He wore his tuxedo from a wedding he was in  seven months ago, though he didn't have the jacket on during the picture. He wants to marry me  next year after he finishes kindergarten. 

My Life an an Invalid

my new quilt -- a combo birthday/Christmas present, which makes being an invalid so much more of a pleasure

I'm bedridden, and right now I'm watching Judge Alex. .It's a case about an eviction. Thus far the most notable pice of evidence in the case is a pieceof chlid-generated artwork on the wall of the rental property, which is a large patch of cryon and pencil scribbling ll over a section of the wall. the defendant says that her grandchildren did the crayon scribbling but not the pencil scribbling because she does not allow her grandchildren to use pencils. That's certainly a credible snippet of testimony.

Tonight I will mysteriously recover from my injuries enough to emerge from my bed, get showered and dressed, and travel to a building on the university campus to play the piano at a function hosted by  the university president or provost or whatever he's taken to calling himself lately. This is an annual function, or so I'm told, and the unversity is asked to provide its top graduating senior to provide background music. The person asked to perform hasn't been told that the honor goes to the top graduating senior -- that's something I know ust because my mom is in the departemnt. My mom said they were just going to ask me, but in light of my recent injuries, my mom suggested that they have the cellist come, too, to take a little pressure off me. (I personally think the cellist should also share with me in the honors for top music performance grad for the year. he's good. the french horn player is good as well, but the cellist's playing is exquisite.We'll split the $500 stipend. I told the cellist I would accompany him only if he would agree to play my two favorite pieces of cello music in the world, which are the Bach Sonata for Viola de gamba and clavier and the Bach cello suite #1.  The sonata for viola de gamba is even more beautiful on cello as opposed to viola and  with piano as opposed to clavier or harpsichord. (I'm confident thatBach would have written the piece with piano accompanimet had the piano existed in his lifetime.) I'vei include a recording of the fourth movement -- my favorite  -- here. If I could only play one song on piano for the rest of my life, it would be this, and it's just piano acompaniment, not solo piano. That's how perfect this composition is.

I'll play one or two pieces from my recital, but mostly, in addition to accomanying the cellist,  I'll play generic Bach stuff and embellished carols, which I can do off the top of my head. The cellist and I will probably jam on the carols, because he''s not bound by printed music, either. The cellist plays piano, so I'm bringing my violin and will play a few violin pieces. My dad says it's OK as long as I stand still and play. He's seen one too many Celtic woman concerts with the fiddler dancing all over the stge. I believe that dancing is dancing and violin playing is violin playing and that the two are not meant to be done simultaneously.

After tonight's soiree, I will resume my life as an invalid. Tomorrow I at least have the privilege of convalescing on pseudoaunt's sofa and in my own bed at her house.

Bach cello suite number one: