armtuk

I am thoroughly enjoying the two bows I got. They are both very good, though right now I am preferring the Tabary over the CodaBow by a bit. It seems to produce a stronger sound, and isn't as wild on bouncing strokes. I haven't really started playing anything that's really all that demanding yet though, so time will tell. I dusted off my copies of the Mazas studies, and the Kreutzer and the Sevcek Opus 3. I will start working on those I think in the comming days. I have been working hard on my vibrato as that was one of the biggest weak points of my playing before. I am also spending some time on basic excercises to re-familiarize myself with the places my fingers need to go to be in tune too. My ear has deteriorated a bit and I have to check my notes against open strings to see if I am in tune, but I know it will come back. I hope that once I get my skill level back up, I can find a local amateur orchestra to play with, though I think the odds of finding that are slim. Maybe I'll get good enough that I can play with one of the local professional orchestras. I've also started thinking about starting an electronic string quartet. All member's instruments will be amplified, and we'll do a range of stuff, from classical works for the quartet like Mozart quartets, so quartet arrangements of The Beatles and other contemporary people. I figure we can rent our services to Weddings and Banquets and the like in the tri-county area. Maybe if [Bad username or site: firinel'/ @ livejournal.com] continues learning to play, she can come play second violin for the quartet :).

Edit: it's amazing what a nice piece of music will do for one's mood.