Weidt Book 1: Week 3

[Cyndy Richardson]

Week 3

Exercises on time 4

The Fairies (Banjo 1)

[A clean copy of the notation will be posted soon.]

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It's silly, really, but having a schedule worked out in advance and posting it here every Friday is, at the moment, making it really easy for me to stay focused on working on something I've wanted to do for a long time.

I'm looking forward to adding The Fairies to the mix this week. Onward!

[Jody Stecher]

Silly or not I find it helpful and I thank you for these regular Friday postings. 

[Cyndy Richardson]

It's been a busy week, but I managed to put some effort into The Fairies even so! I attended our daughter's dissertation defense talk, then took the banjo outside while her committee met with her and deliberated. She passed and I finished memorizing the B part and made some progress wrapping my mind around the suggested fingerings in the A part. Good day! :)

The most noticeable thing this week was an awareness of how the fingers of the right hand interact with the strings. 

There are times when I feel the fingers dig in a bit and I like the feeling of the strings pushing back, resisting. And then there are times when I feel like the fingers are attacking the strings on a higher plane, still catching and feeling resistance, but closer to the tip (but not the tip).

Any comments on that?

I'll be finished with a long-term writing project in a couple of days, so next week I will catch up on recording.

Onward!

[Jody Stecher]

I found The Fairies to be simpler than the pieces practiced in the earlier weeks. And the 2nd banjo part is simpler yet, as is often the case. Looking forward, the 2nd banjo part is similarly simpler in the Marionettes Frolic. I guess it's not necessary for the music to get increasing difficult with each week. But there is a puzzle in the first banjo part of  Marionettes Frolic. The first and third measures show alternating fingering.  It looks ok to me. But then measures 5 and 7 (and continuing on in later measures) the right hand fingering is shown to be entirely with the index. Can this be what Weidt intended? If so, why?

[Cyndy Richardson]

I thought the Fairies was simpler, too. Although, I'm always aware that no tune, no matter how simple, is really simple, if I really think about it. :)

I am still writing, so the best I can do at the moment is pick up the banjo when I need a short break, but I think cleaning up the C notation with the help of the A notation book will go a long way in solving some of the mysteries. The A notation book continues the alternating fingers in measures 5 and 7, for example.

I'm looking forward to a bit more free time next week ...

[Cyndy Richardson]

But, on the topic of why might someone choose not to alternate ... I'm thinking alternating provides a quicker, smoother, approach? So, using the same finger might be a way of providing more detached emphasis in a passage?

[Jody Stecher]

Yes it might sound more detached and staccato but consecutive eighth notes with one finger might also cause injury to the fingers and/or hand. At "moderato", as indicated , I think it's safe. 

Anyway thanks for solving the mystery. I think the A notation book probably was expressing Weidt's intension.

[Cyndy Richardson]

Small step forward trying to record The Fairies this evening. I've been trying to play the chords in the second part loud -- because that's what the music says -- and in doing that, I'd totally lost the swaying waltz feel that I'd like to capture. Harder to play them loudly with an accent on the first one, but I think it adds.

Question: I find myself wanting to slightly dampen the ringing of those three chords by slightly releasing the right hand after each one. Is that sort of thing done in classic banjo style?

[Jody Stecher]

Forte is relative.

[Cyndy Richardson]

Good point.

I've actually seen the dynamics in the various pieces as a reminder to try to learn how to control the volume with the right hand so that, maybe, eventually, I will be able to choose what really works, musically speaking.