River Once - Roni Glaser - movement 2
It's about time I learnt to play this piece I wrote/have been writing. Maybe if I document it here I'll do better at learning it.
Here's a video of the current state of affairs.
Maybe some clear objectives might be a good idea:
- Watch this video to identify problematic bits and mark them on the score.
- Practise them till they're easy.
- ...make another video, go back to step 1....
That was easily said, let's hope the same for done.
Any tips or comments are appreciated. Wish me luck!
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That was very interesting Roni. It seems to have Balkin influence(?). It reminds me of some of Bogdanovic's improvisations. I look forward to hearing its progress - and the other movements.
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Jack Stewart Thanks for your comment! And thanks for listening! Balkan music wasn't a direct influence and didn't cross my mind at all when I wrote it, but I can definitely see what you mean; I basically wanted to make a very rhythmic piece without meter, so some of music I was more conscious of while writing were flamenco or maybe Arabic music, Ligeti and old rap music. Flamenco mostly for the melodic interval structure and some guitar techniques, Ligeti for the designing of melodic line with minimal pitch material (specifically Musica Ricercata), and old rap music for the speech-like flow.
So flamenco historically and Ligeti really are rather Balkan! And from what I've heard in the past and do like of Balkan music, it wouldn't be unreasonable to say it had an indirect influence. Curious to think about it now, makes me see my piece and Balkan music in a slightly different light...
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Ciao Roni, good work. Your piece remember to me the indian music for sitar (eg Ravi Shankar)
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ivan paolo Thank you Ivan! I can see what you mean, I do like Indian music, especially the tabla. Interesting how the similarities of the piece seem to be finding their way back along the migration Romani migration path.
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I LOVED that, Roni! Here are some of the things that strike me about it:
- The title - I'm not sure why you call it that, but it does have a sense of a flowing river to it, especially the way a river morphs and changes as it flows.
- It was longish, but it kept my interest right to the end. I kept wondering, "Where is this going to go next?"
- The dynamic changes were awesome. If anything, I'd say make them more extreme.
- It had cohesion, but also variety and surprise.
- There were obviously some flubs, but your ability to execute all those slurs was pretty amazing.
I would not dare to offer any tips. I will say that there is a video lesson on the pre-recorded side that may be of some help. It's by William Kanengiser on the piece El Rio (The River) by Ernesto Garcia de Leon. Like your piece (which also has the word "river" in the title), this piece has a lot of slurs from open strings, and I think he talks about how to execute that type of slur well (which you're already doing, but it still might prove useful). I hope that helps.
Great work, and I hope we get to hear the other movements!
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Eric Phillips Thanks for taking the time to listen and for all your kind comments!
The title is extracted from the phrase "you cannot step in the same river once". Heraclitus's version with "twice" is probably more famous though. You're right about the flowing and morphing, that's definitely something I'm trying to evoke, although the title came after the I had written it.
Thanks for the point about the dynamics, they are actually more extreme on the score! I'll need to watch out for that. I think as I gain confidence, eliminating those flubs, the dynamics will be easier to do bring out more convincingly.
Thanks for the Kanengiser video, I just watched it and it was very interesting, it's always great to see how other people—especially people like Kanengiser who I like a lot—do these techniques, and there were definitely some useful points.
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
