some extra layers

So yesterday in rehearsal, we talked about what a "toreador" is. It is a term for a bull fighter. And we also started a new piece called "Spanish Dance" by Tchaikovsky.

In CYO concerts, I try to always have some kind of theme going on. Can anyone guess what the theme for the concert may be? Perhaps it is too early. We haven't even started working on or even talked bout the other piece we have, and I am planning on adding one more piece to this program with total of four pieces.

I believe having a theme is beneficial for it forces us to think and talk about the background of each piece, which gives us an extra layer of information and knowledge. It allows us to step back to look at a piece from distance, enabling us to see the context of the music, the world surrounding the composition, and not just the composition itself. And at the same time, gives us a more powerful magnifying glass to look deeper into the meaning of the notes that we are playing.

We must remember that notes are never about the notes. Every note that we play represents something in our, or the composers' lives. To play music well, we must understand them first.

The bowing technique required in the Tchaikovsky piece is called "ricochet", a french word that means "bounce" or "skip off the surface". And we use it in literal sense.  In this case we must bounce the bow three times, while going in one direction (down bow in this case). this means that you must LET IT (your bow) bounce. Yes, you control it but only eventually. If you have never tried this technique, it is essential to first learn how your bow bounces off the string. Let the bow drop on to the string and just observe, see what happens. And then see if you can apply changes to it's behavior by doing certain small things manually like tightening up the grip and not letting it bounce too high off the string. Once you start to see how the bow behaves and how it reacts to what you do, then the rest is practicing it so that you get three even beats in the speed you desire. We will go over this in details when we do our sectional rehearsals.

By the way, I made a rather embarrassing mistake... I wrote on your music of Spanish Dance, that it i from the Nutcracker Suite, but it is NOT! It is from another ballet, Swan Lake. I knew it, but somehow I typed in the wrong ballet... When you get a chance please cross out my mistake and write in the correct ballet please.

In the meanwhile, here's a video of the Spanish Dance performed live. Not sure who these people are but this is a very good performance. I hope this video excites you.

(In rehearsal I said to be on the upper half of the bow for the ricochet, but in this video, I noticed that the lower string play the ricochet on the upper half like I suggested, but the violins are using the lower half of the bow. Maybe that is better for the violins. I will ask my violinist friends and let you know in the next rehearsal)