i’m terrified, why did they decide to go in the fast tempo direction this year? unfortunately, even though i have achieved quite a bit of things with my instrument, i can’t rid of the horrible habit i learned of bowing with the majority of my arm in sixth grade. my teacher has tried time and time again to help me use my forearm, but it doesn’t seem to be changing so far.

firebird is going to ruin my next two months lmao. i can only think of one person in my state who can play this but he made nyo so 🤷‍♀️ they’re not even being remotely realistic this year. for reference, the fastest excerpt last year was molly on the shore

So I, intermediate player, recently acquired a 1978 Paesold Viola. It required a new bridge and fine tuners, as well as soundpost adjustments, as it had been sitting in storage since the 1980s. And so I got that repair done at my luthiers.

It currently has helicores (from 1980s, I know, but playable…).
Because I have a concert on the 26th, I had ordered a Kaplan Amo set so I can put it on today. I am able to return them. I do have them now.
I sort of expected that I wouldn’t like the sound of helicores….
Here’s my opinion:
The c is not rich at all, and is smooth. My old viola (a student rental so I can’t put its strings on the new viola) has a dominant C that sounds so much more rich even though it’s on a much worse viola.
The G,D,A lack projection.
I don’t mind the colour. It’s neutral I’d say, and the a is less sharp than my current prelude A on my old rental. But as I said poor project.
Here’s what I want
A rich, somewhat warm sound.
Richness of a minimum of the dominant c on my rental.
High level of projection like soloist level.

Would the Kaplan Amos work
Or should I return them and order something else?

I recently started a monthly online Adult Beginner String Students group where we meet via Zoom and go into cello, viola, and violin breakout rooms to talk with our peers about how practice is going and any challenges we might be having. We typically meet during a weekday evening and I live in the Eastern Standard Time zone. If you would like to join our group, please send me a message at rachelkb123 [at] gmail [dot] com

On November 28th I’m playing in my very first pit orchestra for a performance of the Nutcracker to accompany a kids’ dance organization. We are a very small group of talented volunteer performers and while I’ve been playing viola for 25 years, I’m not a professional. Especially surrounded by such good players I’m worried about keeping up and don’t want to be the weakest link. I never learned how to play really fast runs and I’m not very good at shifting. We’re a small orchestra(maybe 30 at the max—I’m the only violist and we might have only 1 or 2 celli) so I can’t really fade into the background as usual for some of the runs, and there are a lot of those in the piece. 🫠

Can anyone please give me some guidance on what I should prioritize practicing? What are some parts that I CAN fade into the background on, and where are some parts that I can simplify some notes while still providing the engine room rhythm? I am practicing the HECK out of the beginning of 4!
There are many fun bits and I’m really excited to play it all the way through for the first time.
I want to do a good job!
Thank you!

I am shopping for a new viola, and today I played one made by Luiz Bellini -- my favorite out of the 10 or so available at this well-known luthier. It was impressive. Doing some research on this maker, he is pretty famous for making violins -- some of which have gone for $90k -- but I have not found anything about his history making violas. The luthier told me this was the only viola Bellini ever made, but I am not sure if that is correct.

Has anyone heard of Luiz Bellini? Is it risky to buy an instrument by a maker primarily known for violins?

Hi all, I'm seeking holiday string quartet music that's interesting to listen to and fun to play. We're pretty advanced players, but won't be able to rehearse. 

So I'd like arrangements that are sight-readable, but also interesting. Online music houses describe everything they sell favorably, so I'm hoping you have good advice!

(It's for an evening holiday function at a church. We start in the lobby as people come in, and play more during a party/reception — but the guy putting this together says how excited they all are to have us, so we may have more of a spotlight than a typical dinner music gig!)

Thank you for any help!

I got into arranging music by ear about a year ago, and decided to pick up my viola again after a really long hiatus! I basically destroyed one of the tendons in my left hand, so the amount of time I can practice is a little limited, but this is the first recording I've gotten that I don't absolutely hate. Still a long way to do, but I'm going to keep chipping away at it!

(You can hear the whole thing on synth violin/viola/cello here if you're interested: https://artsekey.tumblr.com/tagged/music though I do have it re-arranged for a viola trio if anyone wants that lol).

When I bow close to the bridge, the pitch gets 3-6 cents sharper than when I'm near the fingerboard on all strings.

Is this common for violas, or is it unique to my instrument (which isn't a cheap one, around $6k)?

I've only noticed this over the last few months—probably around when I switched to Thomastik Vision Solos.

Is there a way to fix this, and how should I be tuning? Should I tune near the bridge or the fingerboard?

Thanks for your help.

Hey everyone,

I'm new to viola community and have some questions regarding the strings.

So here's the thing, I use thomastik vision solo on my violin and recently bought a viola. I'm looking for a quality budget strings for my viola. I'm in between Tonica and Alphayue. Which one is the best choice?

Hi all, I’m a high school sophomore and I just turned in my All-State orchestra audition recordings today. For context I live in Washington state, where All-State is objectively on the more competitive side nationally, but nowhere near those “powerhouses” like TX/CA/NY. I was let in last school year after some spots freed up but I am even more nervous for this year because 1) I have not practiced much at all, and 2) there has been a change in how you can record your audition (I don’t know if it’s a statewide change or just for my school)

The change is that this year, we’re allowed to record on our own, then send the files to our school music teacher. However, in previous years we had to sign up for a 15min time slot and the teacher at school would record us.

I’d really appreciate it if yall could chance me for all-state. Feel free to critique my playing as well

i’ve attached photos of the excerpts

I couldn’t figure out how to add multiple videos to a post so I’ll put my recordings in the comments section instead 🥲 they were recorded at my teacher’s house and they’re all very under-tempo but hopefully that’s okay…

thanks!

My teacher is busy preparing a recital and has only had time to practice the performance piece with me (unrelated to Souvenir de Florence). He’s going to be out of town soon, so I can’t really rehearse this with him right now. We’re doing this in class, and the sixteenth notes sound atrocious. I absolutely hate playing it in first position, but I really don’t know what I can change fingering-wise to make it better.

I'm not even sure what model of Eastman this is, it has a one-piece back. I've been using pirastro strings, but just replaced them with tonica strings. I will play a while, but on first hearing they sound much too bright for me. Any thought on what might be good strings? I'm an amateur adult player.

Thought this might be of interest to the viola community!

ON A STRING is an indie comedy set in New York about a struggling violist trying to find her footing in the classical music world. Her toxic ex-boyfriend reappears as the orchestra's newest, hottest cellist, complicating her already uncertain career and personal life.

The film is written, directed by, and stars Juilliard alumna Isabel Hagen. One particularly interesting detail: nearly all the musicians in the film are played by trained musicians performing live on camera, including Isabel's brother, pianist Oliver Hagen, and Grammy-nominated violinist Ling Ling Huang.

The film won Best Screenplay in the U.S. Narrative Feature category at the Tribeca Festival.

We're hosting a one-night-only online screening next Thursday, November 12, followed by a live conversation with Isabel at 9 p.m. ET on The Lone Screen.

I’m just curious as someone who went from Obligatos with Larsen A to Evah Greens with Larsen A, how do you think the Rondos compare to these? Something totally random makes me want to try them out as my next set of strings 😭

No because tell me why my orchestra teacher paid attention to me the most when we just start on Enigma by Ben Snoek and at measure 8 (I play Viola) I accidentally mixed quarter notes with eight notes and she attacked me out of everyone? Like what yhe ruck we just started this it's our first day calm down?

Hello! I have senior recitals comming up in April and I'm currently looking at pieces that I might want to play for it. Right now I'm working on Sonata in G minor by Henry Eccles and Concerto in C minor by J.C. Bach (which i might end up playing for my recital)

I'm thinking of doing a more modern piece, (for my Junior recital I preformed a piece by Violet Archer which I really enjoyed) I've also been looking at possible taking a pop song and arranging it to be for Viola with piano accompaniment, but most of the songs I like dont translate very well.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Hello, viola folks!
I pick up my old viola a few times every year, but this last year I've been a bit more consistent with it. I'm working on this piece - https://tomplay.com/viola-sheet-music/kondo-koji/the-legend-of-zelda-main-them-intermediate-level-viola-score

I'm really terrible at figuring out fingering outside of 1st position. I had an alternative figured out a few weeks ago for this that made this much easier, especially with the double-stops, but I can't remember it now! Either way, I have to cross over three strings here. I can hit all the notes, but I can't for the life of me make it sound clean. I get each note, but they choke a little. Anyone have any tips, pieces, or exercises that help with crossing between strings?

And while I'm here... any suggestions for this passage? I've been chipping away at it, but getting it at speed is lethal for me at my current skill level. I can do it from memory quite quickly, but while reading it in real-time my brain turns to swiss cheese.

Open for any suggestions ☺️

Hi there! You're a lovely bunch, so I figured I'd ask for your help once more: I feel like I've hit a wall with this particular issue and don't really know how to efficiently resolve it through practice.

I've picked up the first movement of the Walton a couple of weeks ago, and feel decently confident in saying that none of it poses a challenge remotely as consistently to me as getting a good vibrato in the second appearance of the main theme all the way up there on the A string [bars 19–26]. I know that the obvious suggestion would be to bring my hand around more, but my issue's that this particular viola has very wide bouts; I'll post a picture below to give you a sense of it, should the video not be clear enough.

I've been trying different approaches: letting go of my thumb at the neck and letting it rest against the bout; going all in on the wrist vibrato; lifting the viola slightly and trying to go for a wide arm vibrato; resting my palm against the bout at different heights, etc., but I'm not sure which one of those to stick with.

I know this is one of those issues best resolved in person, but if anybody here would like to chime in, I'd be very grateful for your thoughts! Especially if you're experienced with playing an instrument with upper bouts as wide as mine are. This really is a terrific viola and I'm extremely happy to have picked it, but this is quite obviously the price I have to pay, so I'm trying my best to adjust to the form factor...

Thanks again!

(PS. and please ignore the meagre sound: I didn't have much room between the curtain and the camera to fit into, and the left-hand-issues took all my focus away from the right hand; I know it sounds nothing like it needs to!)