Vivaldi Sonata in E minor

Started on the allegro movement (2nd) this week. Sight read the movement on November 20th and played again on the 27th. Didn't play very well. The main problems were with all the string crossings. Also I tend to play the 16th notes too staccato; need to be longer. We changed all the bowings; I am working off of both a Suzuki version and a Schirmer's version; and B has a different version from ages ago! So the bow changes threw me a bit, but am OK with them now. The Suzuki version actually has some different runs than the Schirmer version and the Schirmer version has a couple of spots where the notes don't come out. So, I am going back to Suzuki, mainly because there is a lot of white space between the lines of music and I can really mark up the page.

This past weekend I started playing the second part of the allegro movement and decided that I liked the Sonata better after all. I need to really work on getting the fingerings fixed in my mind before I can even think about upping the tempo. I also need to play with the metronome on and make sure I don't rush the 8th notes.

NOTES from Lesson of December 4, 2009

Vivaldi, Sonata in E Minor

Going measure by measure;hopefully I'll remember everything I did wrong. Everything was wrong so will be like starting from scratch.

1 Play first note in this measure (and others) solidly; also use vibrato

2 16th notes; make first note in each section slightly longer; vibrato the B 8th note

3 play the 8th notes deliberately; make sure I stay in tempo and don't rush them; don't look at the fingerboard; don't have to play the inner two notes in each phrase as loudly as the outer two notes?

7 B changed the bowing based on her copy of the sonata; will really need to work on this!

9 And opening to 9, watch the dynamics, this run is p; all other comments from 2 above apply

11 Watch dynanics; slightly longer bow stroke

14 Watch staccato; bowings--work on getting this consistent; make sure crescendo is there; there are two crescendos in this section.

Second section of the allegro

Overall vibrato 8th notes and longer; make sure pay attention to dynamics; B changed the bowings on various measures throughout this section

23 First note, E, is SF; 8th notes is downward run are slightly longer; watch the G# and F on the C string

24 8th notes have a carrot on them; play deliberately; use only 2 to 3 inches of bow with each stroke

25 Back to original theme; all same rules apply as mentioned above

29 + Only part of either section I played remoted OK was the "hard" part, but B changed the bowing on the intro to the section.

32 Changed the fingerings and bowings in this measure; can keep first finger down

34 and intro Same as previous in the previous movement; play deliberately; don't look at the fingerboard

37 and 38 Changed bowings; can ritard the last measure; would normally not repeat this section.

Would normally repeat the first section and play second section one time.

Not sure I like this piece anymore; hopefully I'll get better at it, but right now, I don't like it.