Creative Strings Concert

Creative Strings Concert - Reflection

Positives: I feel the concert was mainly a positive experience. We communicated well as a group, particularly during the section when we played in pairs or threes. The Improvisatory section was successful - I feel we created an authentic Arabian sound. The Balkan tune had a positive drive behind it, and the rhythmic pulse of Kitchen Girls was an appropriate way to end the performance

Negatives: I personally felt slightly inhibited by nerves, so didn't play with complete freedom. However I know this is a universal problem, and the way to deal with this is to accept it and use last night as an experience. There was also some lack of co-ordination between us, which I feel was probably down to nerves as well.

Creative Strings coLab project - Day 5. 17th February 2012.

Creative String - Day 5 Reflection before concert

We finished composing the final piece. This starts with an improvisatory session using the Arabic scale, followed by the Arabic piece with an accompanying rhythm. This leads into the Balkan pieces, which I initiate with the 7/8 rhythm. We will end the performance with 'Kitchen Girls', which will contain an element of risk, as we haven't decided on the number of times the melody will be played. This will present us with the challenge of applying the ensemble listening skill we have learned to a performance situation.

Creative Strings coLab project - Day 4. 16th February 2012.

Creative Strings - Day 4 Reflection.

I found this to be the most beneficial day so far. We worked on jazz harmony with Simon Purcell. This involved learning a twelve bar blues, using triads to improve and working on how to construct a solo. I found I had a slight advantage as I'm learning jazz violin with Omar Puente, but it was effective in consolidating the harmony knowledge I had already. It further proved instructive in giving the group more time to improve in a controlled setting. The creative process this week has definitely been more effective under guidance than when working as a group alone, although I feel this is partly due to the discord in the group I mentioned earlier this week.

Creative Strings CoLab project - Day 3. 15th February 2012

Creative strings - Day 3 Reflection

We worked on a new piece with Martin Speake, which he had written using Arabic scales. I found this beneficial as it introduced us to a new spectrum of sound colours. Furthermore, it again required us to learn by ear. We consolidated our work on the Balkan piece in the afternoon session, which wasn't productive to be honest. We are finding it hard to work together as a group a times, which is frustrating. This is almost exclusively because of one member of the group who needs careful management, which is a task I feel should not be imposed on us.

Creative Strings CoLab project - Day 2. 14th February 2012

Creative Strings Day 2 Reflection.

We continued working on the Balkan tune, which comprised learning melody as well as the rhythm of the chords in the accompaniment. The accompaniment a 7/8 figure which presented a challenge to the group for two reasons. Firstly, because the 7/8 rhythm is not commonly encountered in classical music and secondly because we had to learn the rhythm by ear and commit it memory. I felt I was able to learn the accompaniment and melody with relative ease because of my previous experience of playing by ear in other ensembles. However, I feel I am struggling at times to communicate my ideas within the group setting. Joe also taught us the traditional fiddle tune 'Kitchen Girls' which is simpler than the Balkan tune as far as notes are concerned, although I feel it will take a while before the more relaxed bowing style can be competently conveyed. At this stage we haven't considered how to fit both pieces of music into a coherent programme for the concert. We learnt a clapping game/dance associated with the tune which helped accustom us to the musical style. This led to Simon Purcell teaching us how to Morris Dance, which was interesting and not something I ever would have done otherwise... but I guess taking us out of our comfort zone's part of the point of coLab.

We continued working with Simon Purcell in the afternoon session which proved beneficial. He helped us to internalise the Balkan 7/8 rhythm so that we felt it with our whole body and it became second nature.

Creative Strings CoLab project - Day 1. 13th February 2012

Creative Strings - Day One reflection.

Just finished my first day of Creative Strings which was a positive experience. We learnt a Balkan folk tune and worked as a group on improvising and composing. As I have previous experience of improvisation and creativity from playing guitar/violin in bands, I didn't feel that it was as new an experience to me as some of the others in the group. I feel we need to work more as an ensemble in terms of listening to each other while improvising though.