Introducing...The AVS Pedagogy Blog!

Clearly I do not have the most active blog, namely because these days, I rarely get around to posting. But here's the good news: when I do post something, it's bound to be something really exciting!

The good news:
This year my viola studio at Juilliard has been chosen to start a new American Viola Society Pedagogy Blog. It was launched last month and, I must say, has proved itself to be an incredible resource for all musicians. There are 5 posts a week, each under a different general topic. The posts are written by Juilliard students, alum, and faculty. You can imagine that in combining brains of 40 violists, you can get a lot of information, tips and ideas. (Did that sound like a viola joke?- well it's not! It's true!)

I recently posted a video which answers my assigned question for the Teaching section: "How do you know what you're teaching is actually helping the student?". View it by clicking here:

However, I encourage you to check out all of it! www.americanviolasociety.org/studio

Below I've also posted my interview which was a part of my introduction to the "Cast" of the ACHT viola studio.

Introducing Marie Daniels!

The Cast Comments Off

What’s your name?

My name’s Marie. My internet alias is “violamad”. My full name is Marie Alise Daniels. That means my initials spell “mad”. Get it?

Where are you from?

In New York, I tell everybody that I’m from Houston, Texas. This is *mostly* true. However, I was born in College Station, TX, a college town home to Texas A&M University. Then I moved to a northern suburb of Houston when I was eleven, The Woodlands. And that’s where I fell in love with viola. 

How did you come to the viola?

Sometimes I like to call myself a “pure violist”. Yep, I started on viola in the 5th grade. Basically, we had to choose to take orchestra or art, and seeing that I liked to draw stick figures, I found orchestra to be a more appealing choice. Not such a romantic story. However, the way the story goes, when we had to choose between violin, viola, cello and bass, I decided on the viola, because I liked the way it sounded. Marie, had you ever heard a viola before? No, I liked the way it sounds: “vee-oh-la”. (source: my grandfather)

If you could perform any viola piece, what would it be?

This is a really tough question…because I have so many answers. Well, I can say that I’m very much looking forward to performing Brandenburg 6 with the wonderful Baroque violist Kyle Miller and a band of low strings!

If you could play any non-viola piece, what would it be?

I want to play all of the Vivaldi concerti for the Viola d’amore! (I’m kinda into that historical performance thing…GUT STRINGS!)

Who made your viola and how did you get to be the one playing it?

My viola is from the Robertson and Sons Violin shop, made by S.J Pique. I don’t know him, but he definitely made a pretty sounding viola 

Do you have any secret skills?

I’m not sure if this is the right kind of answer, but I just wanted to say, I LOVE food. Share recipes with me!

You are forced by the United States Government to not practice for a day.  What do you do with yourself?

Bike around New York City! All.The.Way.Around.

Do you have a website?

Good thing nobody else famous shares my name!
www.mariedaniels.com

I also have a fun shop where you can buy some viola products that I designed!
www.cafepress.com/4theloveofviola

Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

I am in Japan. I have never been to Japan. But now I am here, eight days now. I am participating in the Pacific Music Festival  and will be ending my time in Asia with a brief orchestra tour to Tokyo, Shenyang and Bejing, China.

What is Sapporo like? Well, I'm sure everybody will tell you different things, but here I will give a brief summary of things that I have noticed and discussed with others.

LAND

• I had heard there were mountains, but it has been a nice surprise to see such a variety in the landscape. The green mountains are not terribly tall, but have many peaks and account for a number of windy roads for the city.
• Sapporo was the host city of the winter Olympics in 1972. Because of that, there are various sites in the city that were built in this time. Across the street from our hotel is the ice skating rink and some other stadium. There are also tons of pathways that run along the Makomonai River and small but beautiful bridges that I suppose were constructed for this event.
• Cars drive on the left. If I don't come back from Sapporo, it's probably because I looked to the right before crossing the street.
• Does anybody jaywalk?

FOOD

• Whether it's fish, beef, pork, rice or noodles, you can bet that it has a fishy taste.
• With the exception of some soups, there are few hot foods. Cold meats, salads and noodles are common. 
• Melons are ridiculously expensive. But they are incredibly delicious and sweet. We get to enjoy them at our lunches at the Art Park (where we rehearse) restaurant.
• Most common vegetables of the US are rare. Instead you will mostly find cabbage and tomatoes. Egg also may top a salad. Vegetables, like fruit are very expensive.

OTHER

• Not a lot of trash cans. Not a lot of trash. Where does it disappear to?!
• Hotel keys are a bit weird. I have to share one metal key with my roommate and to keep the lights on in the room, you are supposed to put this keycard in a slot on the desk.
• The smallest bill in Yen is 1000, which is about 12 dollars. So this amounts to a lot of change in your pocket!

Life is busy here, but I'm managing to have some fun!

More about the festival itself later :)

What do I practice?

Recently I hosted my first chamber music festival, here at my home in Texas. Maybe I can talk about that later, but for now I just wanted to share a document that I made in lieu of the event- a sheet that I posted in each of the students practice rooms. After making the page, I realized- Hey! These are good reminders!

One is now hanging in my practice room.

What do I practice???

Find a problem à Determine why it happenedà Decide how/practice to prevent it from happening again

Intonation

·         If something is not in tune, check with your open strings for a centered pitch

·         If you notice a note is sharp, play it lower the next time. Or vice versa. Repeat until it is consistently in tune. (Example: practice a shift until you can get the shift in tune 7 times in a row)

Rhythm

·         Have I counted out difficult rhythms?

·         Have I used a metronome to find where I have a tendency to rush or slow down?

·         Do I know how my rhythm fits in with the other instruments?

Dynamics

·         Am I following all the printed dynamics? Do I understand their character?

·         Am I conscious of my dynamics throughout? Do I know who has the melody at any time?

Bow use / Articulation

·         Am I playing in the right part of the bow? Is my bow straight?

·         Am I using the correct bow stroke? Am I using the bow for the right kind of articulation?

Phrasing/Musical Direction

·         Where is the high point of the phrase? Am I giving the music a shape?

·         Use your most natural instrument (your voice) to sing the music to find direction. Sometimes technical difficulties limit our abilities to phrase; singing helps you find a musical line.

*No matter what you are practicing, you should always be making a beautiful sound!

*Listen to yourself! Your ear is your best friend!

*Don’t repeat something if it’s wrong. This is drilling the wrong information into your mind and body. Correct your mistakes, and then repeat the corrected version.

*Practice technical passages SLOWLY. Don’t just get the notes right.  Strive for cleanliness and evenness.  If you make a mistake most of the time, you are practicing at a tempo that is too fast.

*Make little goals at the beginning of each practice session, not unachievable ones. Practice for these goals and be happy when you do reach them. Keep a positive attitude.

Oh Coffee

To all my friends who make fun of me (and my family) for our love of coffee- I present you this:

Written in 1587 by Sheik Ansari Djezeri Hanball Abd-al-Kadir (<---what a name)

Oh coffee, you dispel the worries of the great,

you point the way to those who have wandered from

the path of knowledge. Coffee is the drink of the

friends of God, and of His servants who seek wisdom.

As coffee steeps in the cup it gives off a musky

aroma and turns the colour of ink. No one can under

stand the truth until he drinks of its frothy goodness.

Those who condemn coffee as causing man harm are

fools in the eyes of God.

Coffee is the common man's gold, and like gold it

brings to every man the feeling of luxury and nobility.

Coffee differs from pure, gentle milk only in its taste

and colour. Take time in your preparation of coffee and

God will be with you and bless you and your table.

Where coffee is served there is grace and splendour and

friendship and happiness.

All cares vanish as the coffee cup is raised to the

lips. Coffee flows through your body as freely as your

life's blood, refreshing all that it touches: look you at

the youth and vigour of those who drink it.

Whoever tastes coffee will forever forswear the liquor

of the grape. Oh drink of God's glory, your purity

brings man only well being and nobility. 

A conductor who keeps his word

Donuts. Krispy Kreme donuts were waiting for the Juilliard orchestra after their concert on Friday night. Why? Well, it actually goes back to November, when the orchestra had the very first reading of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.  The first time through, the Danse Sacrale provoked a series of giggles as one person after another committed the ultimate crime: playing during a rest. Though it is far from the most difficult aspect of the work, it is definitely a tricky spot and requires a high level of focus. On our second try through the section, Mr. Gilbert said “If we can get through this section without anybody playing in a rest, I’ll give the orchestra a treat…I’ll buy donuts for everyone!” Unfortunately, within a few measures, all hope was lost with an unmistakable wrong entrance from a horn. Giggles burst out again.

Laughter was not uncommon during the series of rehearsals with Mr. Gilbert, rehearsals for a program that also included Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin and Christopher Rouse’s Violin Concerto, performed by Fabiola Kim. This being my first time playing under his baton, I was pleasantly surprised with the high level of respect that he treated to us as students. I equally enjoyed the surprise visits of members of the New York Philharmonic to join in our rehearsals. I could tell from the very beginning that he expected a good concert and I felt that the orchestra wished for the same.

About a week before the concert I remember distinctly when Mr. Gilbert described feeling that the orchestra was viewing the Rite of Spring “as a mountain”. Yes, we could play the music, but rather than stare up in awe of difficulty (or awesomeness) we needed to feel as if we were sitting on top of that Rite-of-spring-mountain, conquering it. However, it would take a lot of work to get to that point. Yes, we could play the music, but it just didn’t feel quite right. Transitions were shaky and tempos were uncomfortably falling behind or forward.

I’ve always been impressed by the way that Mr. Gilbert can carry the music through his whole body, and this concert was no exception. The Ravel created a magical beginning and the Rouse was a powerful and thrilling end to the first half, with an excellent solo performance from Fabiola Kim. Then it came—Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. The first kiss of the Earth by the solo bassoon found me holding my breath. However, as principal bassoonist Brent Foster beautifully ended his first phrase, I realized we had climbed the mountain. For the next half hour, I experienced one of the most special musical moments of my life. The orchestra had finally come together to be one living, breathing organism. And that feeling is something extraordinary.

To be honest, even in the dress rehearsal I was nervous for our success. But I knew Mr. Gilbert had faith in us, and that is what brought us to the place we were at on Friday night’s concert. He treated us as true collaborators and inspired us to be great. I am so incredibly grateful to Mr. Gilbert and to my fellow colleagues at Juilliard for taking part in this concert and making this experience possible. May we all be better for it.

And then there were donuts. 

It's TAPER TIME

SOOOOOO, Saturday morning I ran the second 20 mile run of my training and it was great! Here's a clip from it:

Unfortunately, as you can see, the wind was blowing from the southwest. And...the last 6 miles of my run were also, southwest.

YES, HEAD WIND.

I had noticed before I left that it was going to be very windy, but I had already planned out where I was going to run and decided to just face the WIND. I knew that the course on marathon day won't be changing so this could be good preparation! (Though I really hope it won't be quite so windy!) The wind was at a pretty steady 12-15mph by the end of my run, which made it pretty rough! Actually, while I was on the bridge the wind was so strong I could feel it blowing me to the side and it was difficult to run in a straight line. Psh, well straight lines are overrated! It was fun!..... (in that little bit masochist sense that pain is gratifying!)
(and I forgot to mention that the miles with the tailwind were great! :)
3 weeks from TODAY- ING MARATHON SUNDAY! I'm so excited! I hope that my body won't feel too sluggy as I start tapering down to race day.

Please continue to submit your daily votes for me in the ING Featured Runner contest!
Vote Here on Facebook
YAY

Thanks!
Love,
Violamad

Why we train

On Saturday morning I ran twelve miles. Since I had run 20 miles on the previous Saturday morning, in my head, this 12 miles seemed like nothing. I didn't wake up early, I hadn't hydrated well the day before and I ate part of a bagel just 15 minutes before I left to go run. And then I ran, pretty fast. Too fast. I ran the first 6 miles in 43min, and suddenly I realized I was only half-way done.

Needless to say, by the time I got to 8 miles, I was in a lot of pain. I just simply had not properly prepared myself for this run, mentally and nutritionally.

Later that day I was having coffee with a friend and we started talking about my training and he asked about my run. So honestly, I had to say, it was a bad 12 miles. He asked me if I had learned anything. Well, yes, I shouldn't have started out so fast, I need to better monitor my pace, I should have prepared more mentally, slept more during the week...etc. But he didn't leave it at that. He didn't just mean if I had learned about my running training, but if I had learned something about myself. These mistakes that I made with training- were they the same kind of mistakes that I make in the rest of my day to day life?

Woah.

I had really yet to consider this. I've been training for months, for this thing called a marathon. But have I not also been training for life?

Well, now that I think about it, yeah, I often start out too quickly in a lot of things. Sometimes I decide to take on more things that I can handle. Sometimes I start practicing viola, just playing notes, before I'm mentally prepared. My mind isn't ready to really think about the music and what I'm trying to express through it. Sometimes I forget to drink enough water, and forget take care of myself before helping others. 

Every kind of training we do is an opportunity to learn. Every opportunity is a choice. Every choice is your future.

What did you learn today?

Love, Violamad