keeping on…

the last few weeks have been pretty busy…

I flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where I spent three intensive days of study with Robert Uchida, the concertmaster of Symphony Nova Scotia.

That was a terrific three days, although very intense. We spent most of the time on scales with a drone (a C-drone with a C scale, etc), on Schradieck and Sevcik studies, and a bit on Kreutzer 2.

There was so much information that I gleaned from my time there, I felt as though I was going to burst when I finally collapsed into my seat on my flight back to Montreal.

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Getting home, I spent the next few days with my two younger siblings who had flown out from Alberta to spend some time with us; we drove a couple of hours to Ottawa and took in the sights of the capital, and then we drove to the Quebec Eastern Townships to pick apples and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Then it was back to the violin again.

I started with four hours the first day, and then six hours the next – I am upping it to 8 hours a day consistently in order to make the most of this time. Sevcik, Schradieck, bow exercises for hours on end.

I am also spending an hour a day reviewing my theory and harmony to ensure that everything is really solid.

In addition, I am spending whatever time I can watching Medici.tv and the Berlin Digital Philharmonic, two orchestra websites that stream live and archived concerts from the Berlin Philharmonic, Verbier Festival, as well as a smorgasbord of other orchestras and ensembles. It’s a tremendous education.

Then it’s time to chill out on the couch with the Goddess Divine and enjoy tea with rice pudding, apple crisp, rhubarb pie or whatever other goodies she has conjured up  in the kitchen.

Nothing else is really on the horizon for a while – just settled down here in Montreal, practicing, taking lessons as I can, and practicing some more.

I have chosen to forego the Vancouver audition in order to focus on my technique intensively for a couple of months and give me a greater base to work from when I (hopefully) win the Edmonton audition.

Now I’m off for a walk to the park in the crisp September air with my two beautiful girls!