Suzuki Music Academy of Hong Kong

"Music Exists for the purpose of growing an admirable heart" ~Shinichi Suzuki

Reflections from the Performers: Lincoln & Miles ~ Book 2 Violin Recital

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Miles and Lincoln were excited to welcome the largest in person audience to a Book Recital since before COVID! They have some thoughts to share about their experience together:

~from Lincoln

I believe that the recital was quite successful. One of the reasons is that there were no major mistakes and I firmly believe both me and Miles played beautiful music that allowed the massive audience to clap loudly. In Twinkle, I think I should have paid a little more attention to Miles as I was completely focused on myself. I would like to thank you for helping me develop my music and Ms Sonomi for being piano accompaniment. I think that I have prepared a lot for my recital in the 20 mins of time to practise. I think that I should have practised more pieces  rather than just a few. I believe my playing with Miles of Musette has significantly improved. We were together more and we played it better than the last time. I firmly believe that overall, the recital was a success, however had some flaws such as the twinkle where I accidentally played theme instead of harmony for a few seconds in variation E. 

~from Miles

My recital went well, and I am proud of how I did. I think I worked well with my partner and have done good ques for both Ms.Sonomi and my partner while leading. Overall I did much better than last time, and hope all future recitals are as good as this. The main concerns I had when I was told the recitals’s date was me forgetting the forms of the pieces, but after getting used to the pieces again, I found the forms not too difficult. The joint lessons also helped a lot as we focused a lot on ques and how to lead, which neither me or my teammate really did well before the joint lessons.

Reflections from the Performers: Amy and Hugo ~ Book 3 Cello Recital

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Amy and Hugo performed their Book 3 cello recital together. It was Amy’s first-ever Book Recital! The two students worked together with Ms Silvia to prepare their joint pieces, as well as working on their solo repertoire. Here is what they each have to say about the experience:

~from Amy

I heard this new was on January 25. That was so challenging and exciting for me because it is the first time I have to play so much music at once. 

Initially, I played most of my time for my recital while I was free. Sometimes I was not at home, and I could not bring my cello I would take the music with me, and once I was free, I could take a look on it and played on my mind. 

There were also some difficulties to solve before the recital. For example, I often mixed up how to play accompaniment of Allegro Moderato cause there are some alto clefs in the music, and I have already remembered the cello 1 of Allegro Moderato, they are quite similar. Thus, when I was playing with Hugo, I often forgot to play my part. The bowings of Twinkle are proper. Actually, it corrects some mistakes that have been affecting me for long times. I need to put my bow closer to the bridge and use the prescribed section of the bow. These can make my tone more resounding and stronger. Fortunately, these issues were resolved with the help of Ms. Silvia. Ms. Silvia carefully taught how to solve these problems and promptly reminded me whenever they occurred.

Before the recital started, I feel so much pressure because I afraid that I would screw up the concert and there were so many people rooting for me, so I pretended I was a professional cellist who has appeared in concert many times. That is so funny.

It was surprising that I gradually feel relaxed when I was performing. I tried to show the beautiful tone as best as I can. There was a voice in my heart to remind me and said, ‘you can do it’. I hope I can do better in the future concert than this time and let them unforgettable. For the whole concert, one thing I must change was I do not wait for Hugo before I started play Minuet in G. I feel deeply regretful after the recital, and I promise this sort of things won’t happened again.

Finally, thanks to all the audiences who came to see the recital and Hugo and all the teachers who helped me to finish the concert.

~from Hugo

This was a very difficult recital to prepare for as I was not able to play cello for a week as I fractured my ankle, this not only meant that I lost one week of practice but i also forgot a lot of things that we worked on and we had to start over, so I had to practice a lot more than I intended to, but i was able to persevere through and successfully complete my recital.  I really liked working with Amy as I can tell she is really dedicated which is something I lack.  If I could do this recital again I would practice more so I feel prepared and calm before the recital, I think I played quite well but I could definitely do much better as I was very nervous and was playing faster than we practiced and probably could have played better if I was more calm.

Reflections of the Performer: Isabel Zeng, Book 6 Violin Recital

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~by Isabel Zeng

In hindsight of my book 6 recital, I am satisfied with my performance despite some of its errors. My book 6 recital was composed of 8 pieces, one of which being a sonata with 4 movements, and it was also my first solo recital, meaning that I had more freedom with the order of the pieces, but I also didn’t have the support of a friend doing the same thing with me, nor did I get a longer break in between pieces. 

One of the challenges that I faced during the performance were the more technical aspects, such as fingerings. This was especially prominent in pieces such as the 2nd and 4th movements of Handel Sonata in D major, the runs in La Folia, etc where there are multiple shifts combined with (personally) awkward fingerings, in which I need to press on two strings. This was a large challenge, since when I was playing a fast piece and I messed up a few notes, it stayed in my head and made me nervous about the next section which I know to be difficult as well, which then causes my hand to tense up and makes it even more difficult to correctly play. During the recital, there were some things that I knew were going to be issues with, whilst there were others that were completely unexpected.

Another challenge was my posture, since I have a tendency to slouch after a period of time, and that impacts my contact point on the strings and overall tone. I tried to improve this by practicing with my scroll level with a fixed point, and whenever I realised that it was too low, I would reset my violin and continue playing, trying to fix my posture before it was too late. During the recital, I did the same, except without the option of putting my violin back on my shoulder.

Something that I am proud of is my Rameau Gavotte, which I personally think was my best played piece. However, during the middle of Gavotte II, I made a mistake which really shook up my previous confidence, but since I got back on track quickly, I was able to move on. In spite of this, I feel good with my vibrato and tone in Rameau Gavotte.

I feel that my performance of the Handel Sonata in D major was the worst, despite me focusing on it the most. In the 1st movement, there was an issue with counting that although I had made the error before, it hadn’t happened in the week or so beforehand, and the 2nd and 4th movements both had areas where I got off track, but thankfully remembered where I was in the music. The 3rd movement was mostly fine.

In order to prepare for the recital, I practiced often and focused on the aspects that needed improving, whether it was more technical or musical things, or listening to the piano recording to understand how my part fitted with Ms Sonomi’s. On the day of the recital, I focused on each piece and its sections, then ran through all of the pieces how I would in the recitall, including sitting and bowing. Afterwards, I didn’t practice, instead opting to listen to the recordings in order for me to relax a bit. I think that this helped me prepare for the recital because if I made a mistake during my practice, I would teach myself how to get back on track quickly and solve the problem, and also because being tense was one of my biggest issues and also caused (and causes) most of my mistakes.

For my book 7 recital, I hope to improve my organisation and planning skills in order to schedule rehearsals with Ms Sonomi, and to better allocate time to each piece so as to anticipate and deflect problems.

To Ms Sonomi, my collaborative pianist, thank you very much for taking time out of your daily life to rehearse with me for this, as well as helping me take my mind off worrying before the recital, and in general just being amazing! Thank you to Ms Diane for all her years of tutelage and helping me gain confidence in my playing, telling me what I need to improve on and how, and complimenting me when I do something well. You make my musical journey both fun and educational, and I truly wouldn’t be where I am now without you, both as a person and as a musician! 🙂 Finally, thank you to those who watched my performance, whether it be online or in person.

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