Yello!

This may come a little late for most of you, but Rina and I decided that tomorrow is a good day for a group practice. Location is still undecided, but we'll figure something out. There's always the changing room.

I think we will be basically reviewing all the pieces for the concert this Friday (yippeeday!).

We'll talk to you in class tomorrow about it anyway (: See you then.

Review on Practice Session 2

All right, so as scheduled, the second practice session took place on September 30. We managed to get more practice than the last one, and for the record, Arcee joined this one, so yay! Since we didn't want to get stuck with the tiny practice rooms, in the end we opted for the changing rooms, which thankfully, no one was using at the time.

Key points we worked on were the faster passages in Pirates of the Caribbean, Walzer and Rosas Pandan. Mr. Ibero told us to work on our intonation for Hungarian Dance no. 6, so that's what we'll be working on this week. Hmm...what else? Our spiccatos are at least more synchronized than before, which is good, but we still have a long way to go. At least the concert is in December, although if I remember correctly we have an in-class one this week.

Finally fixed my copy's bowings for Pirates...haha, sorry 'bout that, Anna. If anyone else has something to add, feel free, otherwise, ciao for now!

Any thoughts on the schedule for the third practice session?

P.S. Must work on spiccato for the next scale pass-off! G major sounded okay for the most part, but Arcee, you gotta ask when you're not sure, otherwise you'll continue to have trouble. Just tell us so we can help you!

Second Practice Session

All right, guys! We made it through A minor, and now we'll probably be having pass-offs on G major by next week. Arce, you better work on your Am!!! Bb and B are going to be the hardest ones, so even if you can't play it straight away without mistakes, it's good to know how the sound of major and minor keys generally sound, okay?

On another note, I won't be here this Friday thanks to MUN Locals, so I can't guarantee a practice session. I've talked it over with Anna and we've agreed that a practice session can take place next week (hopefully with all members present) so we can polish our viola skills. I hope you guys are available next Tuesday, since my Friday next week will be occupied with the first official Anime Club meeting, of which I'm currently vice-president. If not, let's talk it over so I know when you guys are free.

If you guys want to practice this Friday as well by yourselves after school, I encourage you to do so! Jeff and Anna can take charge, so you guys can practice Rosas Pandan, especially the measures which have Es and Bs, since the key is in E flat and B flat. The spiccato in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest can also be further improved if you guys have time.

Regardless, let's all practice hard this weekend and come back better violists for next week. Remember, Pista sa ISM is only a month away, so the two Filipino pieces have to be worked on as much as possible until then.

Editing the bowings.

Hello, fellow violists!
I'm aware that the bowings Mr. Ibero assigned are, however meant to be good for us, are not actually working. Therefore, Anna and I discussed this and came to the conclusion that we'd have to change some of them to make our lives much easier.
Anna should be able to scan the new bowings, hopefully, and we'll update you guys on the latest news.
Also, it seems we won't be able to come through with the practice session this week, so I encourage people to just practice for next week individually. Apologizing for the inconvenience, and hope you guys are enjoying the new piece, Pirates of the Caribbean. I sure am!

Thanks!
-Rina

Review on Practice Session 1

This was an interesting enough practice session, seeing that the total actual 'practice' time amounted to maybe 10 or 15 minutes. Unfortunately, it was only us three that met up, the other two head health-related issues. I'm sure we all had fun though, us the weird JAR trio.

What did we practice? Mostly the tinkly-twinkly part in Tchaikovsky's Waltz, which, I have to say, we get better at by the day. Not much else.

We definitely should do this at least once a week, even if it's just scheming about taking over the world, one instrument at a time... (:

Anna

ps.: And we drew a gigantic alto clef onto the whiteboard! That counts for something!