You reap what you sow.

 It is very, very wet in Wainuiomata, it has been raining very heavily all night. It looks like today might be another day when four hours of violin practice is possible. There's a slip on the hill road and they say to expect delays. I think I'll be staying in the Nui for a second day.

I got two comments on my last post that declares my four hours of practice (in one day). Thanks guys.

"Your expression must be really good now." says Rob. Was it not before?

Well Rob, it depends on what you practise. As I said, concentrated practice is the key. You can't be watching the clock all the time. Obviously, I always try to play with expression. For me practising expression would come at a point when you have worked on things that you need to improve your playing. If available, I would put on a backing track (this normally happens for me when working on my repertoire) and play a piece from my repertoire. Otherwise, I'd use a metronome. It would be like an imaginary performance and I would be listening for the things that make the piece come alive. 

Joseph says, "That's not too bad, but there are too many
notes." Mary says, "Well, it's better than listening to the
Rosary all bloody day!" Jesus says, "Dad, I don't want
to be nailed to a cross!" Joseph says, "I'm not
your real dad. Harden up."

The music I prefer to play is Jazz. That's what my practice was based around yesterday. I obviously practise the tunes but I put a lot of work into my improvised solos. Yes, I want them to have expression and I want them to have interesting note choices. There are 12 notes in our tempered music system. It is certainly possible to use any of these notes over a dominant 7th. chord. It is possible to use many of them over other chords as well. Thoughtful improvisation requires a lot of practice. You watch someone who hasn't really thought about the possibilities of improvisation and they use 'harmonic approximation'. This is where you take the scale that the key is in and move around looking for the best notes (or notes that sound 'right'). 

Tempered music is an interesting topic. The idea was put together in Europe sometime around 1750. In this system all 12 notes are evenly spaced. The guitar and the piano are good examples of tempered instruments. The violin is not a tempered instrument, you can put your fingers wherever you want, but it'll sound weird if you're playing with a guitar or a piano. So, violinists, and cellists (to name two instruments), have to play the tempered notes. You'll sound out of tune if you don't.

Most cultures have adopted tempering, though not all. If you see a culture using a guitar or a piano, they have been heavily influenced by what happened in Europe all those years ago. Maori music is a good example of this, as are us kiwis who play Jazz. Obviously. anyone who plays western Classical music is in the same boat. Pop and Rock are with us too. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not criticizing cultures who borrow stuff from other cultures. I think it is wise to use what is good and works for you. We are all growing in our artistic pursuits. Go for it, I say.

Well, it's pissing down outside and I have to put some bins down by the road. I'm going to get wet! I'd better go and find some old clothes to wear. If the rubbish trucks come today, it could easily be soon after 7am.

Ciao tutti.