Sigh... just like riding a bike?

This week, I have a little concert for the first time in about four months (since the Coronavirus restrictions) which was organised by my wife's Euritme class. It is a dance class that she plays for, of older people who are interested in the Euritme method of dance which is part of the Steiner/Waldorf education system. Anyway, they were a little concerned that we hadn't had any playing for quite some time, and they offered to organised a concert for my wife and I to play in.

Coronavirus has hit the cultural sector pretty hard, with all work completely being cancelled for four months and counting... however, my wife and I have been lucky enough to be able to weather the financial storm. That said, we are a both a bit out of practice with the performing in public side of things! Four months can be an eternity in this field!

Speaking of an eternity... I have spent the better part of the last two decades specialising in Early Music (music of the 17th, 18th centuries) but this concert will be primarily formed of works from the Romantic and Modern eras (19th and 20th centuries). This is mostly due to the fact that I will be performing with my wife, who is more at home in the later repertoire and doesn't play harpsichord continuo which would be essential for the music that I would like to play.

So, I've dragged out the modern violin and viola which haven't seen much playing time in the recent years... and tried to get reacquainted with the monsters! Compared to Baroque instruments, they are built and strung for volume and brilliance (to fill large spaces...), so it feels a bit like driving a massive truck!... and that is just the instruments... the bows are much thicker and heavier than I'm used to... the difference is probably only about 10 grams out of a weight of around 60 grams, but combined with the difference balance... it feels like I'm wielding a claymore instead of a rapier!

... and then there is the grammar and language of the music itself! The piece pictured at the top of this post is a fun show piece, so it isn't too hard to grasp. It just uses some techniques that I haven't recently had to use... but the hands and brain seem to remember! The only difficulty is the changes of harmony can be a little unexpected to my Baroque brain... plus the difference in tuning (440 vs 415/430 Hz) and temperament (equal temperament vs all manner of non-equals...) means my brain is screaming about wrong notes all the time, and the finger patterns feel a little different... that said, a few goes and I'm back in the right place! ... and vibrato is fully UNLOCKED for tone production instead of subtle ornamentation! Weird....

More problematic is this second photo... which is a Pensiero by Frank Bridge for Viola and Piano. It's piece by an English composer around the turn of the century (1900s...) and for me the harmony and musical language is completely and utterly bewildering! My wife has a good laugh that I feel completely at sea and lost... she tells me that I will start to remember what it is, but I feel like it is a brain-addled, high on meth sort of experience... somehow, you start... and two minutes later you finish... via a mind-altering fog of lost-ness and weird directions!

ARRRRRRGH... my wife tells me it is dreamy and philosophical, but to me it feels like the musical equivalent of a undergraduate weed-fueled bull session about all the "BIG THINGS" in the universe and society. Anyway, after this last rehearsal... things start to feel a bit better, I still feel lost... but I've come to accept that that is the way of the weird arse musical matrix that this music hails from! I can't wait until I return back to my own stomping grounds of Early Music!

... so, we will see if returning back to the later styles of music (and performing in general...) is like riding a bike. Actuall, it will definitely be like riding a bike... the question being whether it is like the crashing bit... or the sailing bit?

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