Group 1

Hello Christian,

I hope you enjoying LA. Thank you for putting together the intonation intensive. I look forward to learning new ways of approaching the fascinating world of intonation and feel very fortunate as a string player that we have so many varieties available to us!

I hope all my fellow intensive intoners have a fruitful and enjoyable experience, and I look forward to our discussions.

Sonia (Australia)

My video from week 1. I realized I was listening more to the metronome than to the drone. I also had a challenge getting my strings in tune as I would have liked. I live in a dryer area but it has been raining and humid all week so my pegs are not turning as smoothly as I would wish. 

Some reason when I record it even though I am playing softly the viola sounds forte and the backing track sounds piano. 

https://youtu.be/5AavEUiyKrE

HiLaura McDermott

A good submission and mostly nicely in tune to my ears.

I think perhaps your viola was nearer to the mic than your accompanying track, hence why it sounded louder. I've would've liked a better view of you and your viola too :)

Looking forward to hearing your next weeks submission.

Sonia

Here is my week 2 submission. I found this very absorbing and quite interesting. I only meant to spend an hour or so, but 3 hours later!! I found many different drones to have fun with - ones which were just pure tones, ones on violins or cellos or even bagpipes! Ones with Indian instruments and drums and ones with a rock beat! I settled on a violin drone as it was nice and pure, I could hear it well and felt my playing didn't drown it out.

1. Scale with Drone: https://youtu.be/HqSJPTeM-Xc

The scale with playing open strings does highlight the options we have available for expressive tuning and the error in tuning to 5ths (Pythagorean/Syntonic comma?), plus the choices we have depending on key, pitch position in key, harmonic or melodic intonation. I did notice a tendency to play the E on the C string sharp when ascending the scale so I will have to watch out for this.

2. Scale with open string drones: https://youtu.be/8V6Zaivf2po

I then played excerpts from Bach Cello Suite No 3 Prelude with a C drone. The Prelude does move round into other keys, so I picked a few parts where it was in C.

3. Bach Cello Suite No 3 Prelude with C drone: https://youtu.be/Mb4C1md1Q90

I also picked the beginning of the piece I am currently working on, Morpheus by Rebecca Clarke. This is a really interesting piece in 5 b's which could be Bb minor or Db major (according to the key signature). But playing with a Db drone definitely did not work. Bb drone sounded good, but on further investigation it was suggested that the first theme could be in Eb minor in Dorian mode (a raised 6th C natural, but no raised 7th). I played the excerpt with both Bb then Eb drones and I liked both.

     4. Morpheus by Rebecca Clarke with Bb & Eb drones:     

https://youtu.be/csqfG9WqWiE

Grazie Sonia, 

i tuoi video sono stimolanti e godibili all'ascolto. Mi piace tanto il tuo modo di studiare! Molto interessanti anche le tue presentazioni ai brani. 

Complimenti! 

Ecco il mio contributo per la seconda settimana di corso:
video 1: scala di do maggiore a due ottave con bordoni a corde vuote;
video 2: estratto iniziale dal preludio della suite n.2 di Bach con drone di re minore.
Le attività sono state molto stimolanti, così come i video condivisi dagli altri membri della comunità. Grazie.