Life as a Musician

Late night rehearsals, concerts every weekend, biannual recitals in front of friends (and enemies), getting over nerves, meeting awesome people, sharing our gifts with others, such is the way of a musician. As I've mentioned before, I'm really into music. More specifically making music. As my first instrument I am much better at playing the viola than the cello but I enjoy them both immensely. Most people don't even know what a viola is- I guess I didn't either until I started lessons but then again, I was only five. At Wheaton College a lot of kids start young and that automatically puts you in Suzuki which is a listening based method that really works because little tikes can't read music and then when you're older it helps to be able to play by ear. I can tell you that a big pet peeve of violists is when people ask "is that like a big violin?" It's understandable yes, but no, it is nothing like a violin. Sorry if any of my readers play the violin! For one, violas are much better. Your first bias lesson against violins! Actually the only visible difference would indeed be the size of the two instruments. A full size violin is only about 14 inches whereas a full size viola can go up to four sizes larger than that. The thing that makes them truly diverse is the strings. A viola has a C string which is one string lower than the violin whereas the violin has one string higher which is an E. This is one of the main reasons we don't like violins because especially when they're smaller, the high notes are so screechy. The other reason is that they always get the melody while us violists are stuck playing the harmony which is usually not very interesting. Especially in quartets the viola is lucky if it gets any eighth notes at all. Lastly, a specific kind of person is attracted to playing the violin and, not that there aren't exceptions, but they're usually snooty and keep to themselves. 1st violins that is. 2nd violins talk way too much and don't listen enough and are therefore not any fun. Violists are the only section you would ever find say eating or playing a game together. I'd say what makes the difference is that we're all friends, not opponents fighting over first chair. We have a decent relationship with the cellos as well because they are neither stuck up nor super chatty. I was going to give a link to this awesome viola poem I have but I couldn't find it online anywhere! So I'm just going to put it below and trust no one will go complain. I take no credit whatsoever, it is entirely written by Elizabeth StuenWalker. Here it is, I hope you like it:

VEE-OH-LUH

a musical

instrument

grander

than

the

violin,

with

a rich,

royal

purple

tone, played by those of high

intelligence and musicality. Those who

play the viola (vee-oh-luh) are called violists

(vee-oh-list). A violist often performs in a 

chamber music group, orchestra, and as

a soloist. In addition, they work to educate

others to appreciate the depth and

richness of the tone of the viola.

The viola tone has been likened to

royalty, dazzling jewels and brilliant

sunsets. One who plays the viola is one

who stands alone, who is not afraid to be a non-

conformist, to be themselves. Violists are special,

unique individuals. A violist is also a team player,

ready to support others through the harmony

lines written for them.

(Stuen-Walker)

Normally it is lucky to get two violists in one area but around here there is no shortage. I think we have the biggest viola choir in the U.S. or maybe anywhere! The violas outnumber both the cellos and the violins at Community School of the Arts. It is a rare blessing for me and it's amazing to hear the viola power. Sometimes when we go on tour and meet up with other violists they are in awe of the sound we produce. Oh I forgot something really important! The official color for violas is purple. No other instrument is assigned a color but violas, and I don't mean the instrument itself, are represented as having to do with purple.

Now that we've established the order in which you should like an orchestra section, I'll get back to life as a musician. It's tough, there's no doubt about that. A lot of time for practicing and rehearsals must be sacrificed if you ever want to get anywhere. This past week I've been scrambling desperately to learn all my Elgin music for my playing check-up tomorrow. Please pray for me if you remember! Learning orchestra parts requires lots of patience, energy, and a whole bunch of dull metronome work. Once it's learned it's really great though and it's always the better idea otherwise you don't feel right just pretending to play. The summer orchestra I'm in is fun because it's not the traditional classical music everyone plays, but popular songs from musicals and movies. Our last concert we played "Harry Potter", "Lord of the Rings" and "Forest Gump" among others.

I've been up to my ears in music camps and the like all summer. This was my first year attending the Blue Lake Suzuki family camp in Michigan. I didn't go with my family rather drove up with some friends and stayed in a cabin with my private teacher. It was really great and I was able to meet a whole bunch of violists from all over who go every year and are all good friends just from being at Blue Lake together. They were nice about inviting new players like me too! The best part was that sometimes when a class was running late we were allowed to go out and play a game until we were ready. We violists stick together and aren't afraid to speak our mind and go against the norm. By the way, that poem was compliments of Blue Lake.

It was also my pleasure to attend Credo for the first time at Elmhurst college. Now this isn't the official one in Oberlin but perhaps someday I'll get the chance to be at  that one. This is a less divided camp than what I was describing before. In fact it promotes fellowship among musicians which was helped along by the fact that a lot of the classes are in quartets, quintets, or just small groups in general. Each day was started with a "Sing" all together which was where we sang a couple hymns and studied the Christian faith from a musicians perspective. It was very unique and special to me. The theme verse for the entire program is Philippians 4:8 which says:
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

It's a verse that musicians can really connect with and strive for. Next we broke off into our assigned rooms to meet the people in our group and practice our piece. The in between parts of the day were filled with other classes like technique, improv, orchestra and lunch. Though these were great fun and the kids were nice my favorite part was when the Oberlin kids joined us for the very last day to do final rehearsals of our piece with us and then we performed it later on. They brought an energy and excitement with them that our group alone had been somewhat lacking in. They were fun and joked around a lot while still managing to get things done.

Lastly, I just had my first dulcimer lesson this week and I think I'm really going to like it. It's a mountain instrument usually only played by hippies at Bluegrass festivals but I thought it sounded cool and since I already play the strings I decided it'd be fun to try.

I hope you feel enlightened with this newly acquired knowledge and not overwhelmed, I know it was long. I thought it was interesting...