Alice and Ayden recently performed their Book 6 violin recital in front of a large audience of friends and family. It was their last time of performing a recital with a peer partner, as well as the first time they had complete responsibility of preparing their joint pieces without input from a teacher. Here are their reflections on the experience.

~from Ayden

After completing my book 6 recital, I felt satisfied with our performance. Before the recital, I didn’t feel very nervous. Instead, I felt comfortable, which helped my performance in sounding more confident.

In the few weeks before the recital, Alice and I had to make time to practice joint pieces, and book a room at Suzuki with Ms Marie Ann. Although we had chances to experience this during the Book 4 and 5 recital, this time we didn’t get joint lessons to work on them. This meant that we were fully responsible for rehearsing until we felt confident, and working on details such as dynamics, articulation and cues. I felt like we were usually ready to practice every time, and we collaborated efficiently, continuing on where we left off in the previous rehearsal.

For the solo pieces, this recital was also a new experience. This was the first time I played an entire Sonata in a recital. Most notable was the Handel Sonata, since it is a long piece; around 18 minutes, and develops throughout its 4 movements as a story. Moreover, this was the first time I have performed with both Ms Sonomi and Ms Diane. During the performance, I felt that our parts synchronized well, and that we were able to effectively change the mood and dynamics throughout the movements. 

Additionally, I learnt a new piece for the recital; Adoration. During the piece, I felt that I was able to change the colors of each section of the piece fairly well. I also focused on bringing out the vibrato and maintaining arm and elbow energy, especially in the climax (fortississimo).

For our joint pieces, I felt that we collaborated well. When Alice was leading, I was able to follow her bow divisions, articulation and dynamics, and we mostly played with the details that we practiced in our rehearsals. 

Lastly, the most remarkable joint piece we played was La Folia. During our practices, we dedicated lots of time to solely practicing La Folia, as there are many different tempo, dynamic and articulation changes throughout the piece. I felt that our performance was expressive. For me, I was able to effectively cue to both Ms Sonomi and Alice, to change the tempo and dynamics of each phrase. At the end, we were able to slowly progress through various phrases and colors to reach the last variation. We maintained the high energy up to the last chord of the piece.

Overall, this recital was a very memorable experience for me. Whether it was practicing with Alice on rehearsals, performing the Handel Sonata, or La Folia, it was an enjoyable experience.

~ from Alice

The book 6 recital is the last recital I get to perform with a partner, so I’m happy it turned out the way it did. The preparation process was a new experience for me because Ayden and I did all the work independently, with no guidance from Ms. Diane until the dress rehearsal one week before the recital. We scheduled all the times ourselves and had to book the rooms with Ms. Marie Ann independently, which I quite enjoyed, because I felt more comfortable at the sessions to work on what we needed to. The amount of agency and responsibility that we got in the preparation of this recital actually made me feel less stressed and more in control, even though I expected the opposite. 

My previous book recital was with Stacey, who I’m friends with. We also both talk a lot and have lots of energy. Ayden and I aren’t as close, and he usually doesn’t have as much energy as I do, so coming into the preparation process, I thought it would be challenging. However, it actually turned out that Ayden and I were very productive and worked on all the pieces well. We discussed dynamics, bow divisions, and many other musical elements that made the piece genuinely enjoyable to play. We had to work on leading and following, but I also think that I improved a lot, and I was satisfied with it during the book recital. One interesting aspect of the shared pieces is that we encountered problems with an unexpected piece: Twinkle. Both of us thought that the twinkles would be easy and smooth, so we only went over them a few times and didn’t spend much time working on them. In the dress rehearsal, we learned that a seemingly simple piece like Twinkle Theme actually required a lot of communication, coordination, and tone to play well, which we neglected due to underestimating the need to practice a piece that seemed so simple compared to La Folia or the Vivaldi. We spent some more time working on the piece and were eventually able to match our tone and playing. Still, the fact that “simple and easy pieces” like Twinkle actually proved to be a challenge and required effort and skill was a very insightful takeaway.

In my own individual preparation, I didn’t do as well. I wasn’t practicing efficiently initially, and my solo pieces still needed much more work. After guidance from Ms. Diane at a private lesson and some more practicing, I could play my solo pieces better, and at the recital, I really enjoyed playing my Handel Sonata’s first movement. I played this piece with both Ms. Sonomi and Ms. Diane, and I really liked having that option because it added so much more to the music. I also used some of the skills from the book 4 & 5 recital, such as transitioning between movements and the bariolage, demonstrating that every skill is meaningful and valuable in many different pieces, and that learning carries on through different books.

Overall, the book 6 recital was a meaningful and inspiring experience that helped me learn a lot about my playing and collaboration, and I’m generally happy with how it went.

p.s. This is kind of unrelated, but Ayden’s mom brought the most delicious box of tarts to the reception, so that was another highlight from this recital.