Nicole and Elise joined together to give their Book 2 recital. Having piano and violin together for this book is a special experience for the performers. Violinists learn to play Happy Farmer “piano style” – a much more difficult key for violin than the way it was learned in Book 1. Pianists learn to play Musette, which is not a piece currently in the piano repertoire. Here are the girls’ reflections on their experience:

~ from Nicole

I was really glad when I heard that my partner was going to be Elise. I felt like Elise and I collaborated exceptionally well for our book recital, demonstrating a strong partnership that enhanced our overall performance.

During joint lessons, we worked hard to practice the flow of every joint piece. For the twinkle variations, we practiced playing the twinkles at 80, having the right articulation, and remembering about the retard at the end of the twinkle theme. Musette, I felt like the first time when we played Musette together, we were challenged since Elise just started learning it and I hadn’t practiced the harmony well enough. However, as we began to focus on coordinating our parts and improving the ending, we were able to play the piece well. As for Happy Farmer, since it was the last piece of the whole recital, we were really relaxed which made us not concentrate and caused us to mess up in the beginning, but that shows how well I and Elise can collaborate. I think part of why the joint pieces were great is that we practiced them over and over during all the joint lessons and dress rehearsal. 

I think I had good energy in Two Grenadiers and I used whole bows. I also really liked how I played Waltz. I had good dynamic changes, and the last note was really good. Chorus from Judas Maccabaeus: I used my thumb and elbow to have whole bows to have a good tone. In Hunter’s Chorus, my ti tis were even, which made the notes sound even and clear.

In Lully Gavotte, my high c was not in tune so it sounded kind of messy. I could have had a better contact point when I started Gossec Gavotte. In Boccherini Minuet, I felt like sometimes my third finger A was out of tune and I could have made my trills sound clearer.

After the recital, we had lots of snacks and drinks at the reception. I want to say thank you to Ms. Diane, for teaching me all the pieces I performed and supporting me. Ms. Sonomi, for collaborating with me and also teaching me during the joint lessons. Ms. Marie Ann, for organizing everything. My family for supporting me. Elise’s parents for supporting me and Elise during the joint lessons, dress rehearsal, and book recital. Elise, for being a wonderful friend and partner!

Although I was still feeling a little sick, the whole book recital was a really fun and enjoyable experience. All the hard work paid off! 

Overall, this has been my favourite recital out of the two recitals that I’ve done. During the recital, I feel like I was able to try and not stress despite my short term memory loss on the last piece but it added humour to the whole experience. I also personally feel like I work really well with Nicole, I just feel like because we have similar personalities it was easier to communicate even without needing to speak and when making our poster we had a lot of fun. Nicole was a great partner and she was one of the very few violin friends that I ever made after I met her in orchestra. Never did I ever think when asking myself who I would be paired up with for the recital, I never even thought of Nicole. I’m so proud of both of us and we make a really good team.

Andrew and Hanson were the last of three Book Recitals on our first day of Spring Term Book Recitals. Here are their reflections on the experience:

~from Hanson

When I discovered I had an upcoming recital, I was overjoyed to be able to perform the pieces I had spent so much time practicing, as well as the learning opportunities provided by the numerous joint lessons and rehearsals on teamwork and technique. 

Before the recital, I meticulously practiced all of my solo and collaborative pieces to avoid becoming a burden to my partner. I was also looking forward to playing with my partner, Andrew, because it would allow us to get to know each other better and learn how to work with people other than our close friends and family. 

During the recital, I remembered all of the different queues, ritards, and techniques I was supposed to use, and they all worked really well with Andrew. The audience was occasionally distracting, but I gave the recital my undivided attention, and the many hours of preparation paid off.

Although I made a mistake and forgot an entire section, Ms. Sonomi and Andrew were able to follow along, demonstrating that we made an excellent team and were able to collaborate effectively. 

I felt like this was one of the best recitals I would ever give, thanks in large part to the amount of practice I put in with my mother. It was truly heartwarming at the end of the recital when the audience cheered and congratulated us, particularly those from my family.

~from Andrew

This year, I had my book 3 recital. It was quite similar to the previous two, but instead of playing lots of solos, this recital was mainly focused around duo pieces and making music with your partner. I like this way of recitals a lot because it really shows that working together can create a better tone than playing alone. 

The recital wasn’t always smooth sailing. I had lots of trouble keeping up with Hanson during Bach Bourree. I think this is because I didn’t practice much, or maybe because it was the newest piece of music I had just learned. But on the other hand, I think I did quite well during Martini Gavotte. I think this is because my part had to start 2 beats after the main melody, which caused some confusion at first.

Overall, I think this recital was a fun experience, and I wish to have more duo pieces and solo pieces in the next recital.