A large audience was present in Montreal last Friday evening to hear the American violinist Hilary Hahn on tour with pianist Cory Smythe. Ms Hahn’s warm and engaging personality helped to dispel the cool and rainy weather concert goers had faced on the way to the Maison Symphonique. And then there was the music!
Ms Hahn is well-known for her championing of modern music as well as pairing modern pieces with well established parts of the repertoire. Hahn’s current tour follows the release of her latest CD, 27 Pieces: The Hilary Hahn Encores. She undertook this project to encourage contemporary composers and to increase the repertoire of encores available for classical artists. She is playing two of these compositions on tour. These contemporary works tied in well with the overall theme of the evening which was thematic development and fantasy. Read More
Photo ©2012 Stephen Fogarty
About 120 violin students and classical music fans of all ages were privileged to attend a fascinating Master Class given by the Russian violinist Maxim Vengerov in Montréal on Friday, October 26. Mr. Vengerov was in town performing in and conducting two concerts by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM). The program notes mentioned that Mr. Vengerov now divides his time equally among playing the violin, conducting, and teaching. His skills in the first two are universally acclaimed, and it was apparent only a few minutes into the Master Class that his skills as a teacher are on an equally high level.
The Master Class featured four Montréal area up-and-coming, young violinists each of whom would begin playing a work for some five to eight minutes. Mr. Vengerov would then give a general overview of their efforts, followed by a review of particular passages to work on technique. He often illustrated the points by playing on his own ex-Kreutzer 1728 Stradivari, and toward the end even played a duet with one of the students, Baptiste Rodrigues. Read More
Using counterintuitive thinking
Sometimes in life better results can be achieved by using counterintuitive thinking.
For example, when playing violin, by accident I may bow on a second string in addition to the string intended. So instead of playing F# on the D string, my bow ends up touching (and playing) the G string at the same time, resulting in the wrong note.
To improve my accuracy, Elizabeth Adams, my violin teacher at the McGill Conservatory, suggested I begin my practice sessions playing double stops—two strings at the same time—controlling my bow to ensure I avoid playing only one string while doing so. Then, she said, practice the pieces I am working on and it will be easier to hit the (single) notes I am supposed to be playing.
I have been following this recommendation for about two weeks now and my bow strokes are definitely becoming more accurate. Who would have thought that you should practice what you are supposed to be avoiding (playing two strings at once) to get better at playing one string?
Counterintuitive thinking seems to be behind new, important changes to Canada’s federal Immigrant Investor Program. Read More