Gave a house concert! And made a video of me playing a new Name Music piece!

 On Mother’s Day I gave a short house concert for 3 listeners, in our living room (where I usually compose, play, notate, etc.) — and it was very fun. Bear wanted to honor Helen with me playing her piece for her, and she invited a friend to come as well. I was focused in that way I remember from years ago on all of the setup, like seating, and where would I play, and what feels comfortable. All so that I could feel supported and free to express, and the audience would be supported and free to listen deeply.

And it all worked well! The event lasted about 45 minutes, with maybe 25-30 minutes of playing, and I got to talk about how I compose, and I even made up a piece for the other guest based on his last name to illustrate how the process works, and lo and behold a reasonable piece was coming out of my fingers. I was in the flow! Afterwards I was still elevated from the experience, and very happy that it turned out so well, and that I was able to speak easily and manage my reactions to the energies of the people and just proceed apace, making adjustments in what I said. 

The living room has pretty good acoustics because enough dampening (rugs, furniture) so the violin doesn’t resonate too much and hurt people’s ears in a confined space, but also a “true” sound I believe. And I’m finally figuring out what my wispy bow sound problem might be — I haven’t been keeping my bow parallel to the bridge because with Eric Aceto’s neck/arm strap to hold up the violin it doesn’t end up in quite the same position. So now I’ve been concentrating in getting the violin at the same angle and distance from my chin as it would be if I had to hold it up with my chin. And that is helping! I guess it is harder for me to learn to bow differently — gives me lots of empathy for Ruth Roland’s challenge after her stroke (2008?) damaged her right side abilities.

And then on the Monday morning after Mother’s Day I created a video for my young cousin Zobella of me playing her Name Music piece that I wrote over the weekend. The piece is not done, but it had enough good parts in it that I thought “Why Not?”, and just did it. Brave! But also using the web cam on my desktop computer was a better solution sound-wise and picture-wise, than using my iPhone or my iPad. I was not so distracted by how I looked! Still might totally change the piece, but for now the beginning is very strict with the pitches used in exactly the order they appear in her name. However, the piece expands out from there in a somewhat different direction, so I might change the beginning to resonate better with where the piece ended up going. If you know what I mean. Hah!

So lots of bravery all around, and I feel very proud of myself.

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