Reconciling with the Violin
Table of Contents
A record of me playing the violin again after a long hiatus.
↓ Previous post:
Impressions
Compared to back in the day, I definitely couldn’t play like I used to. But as I kept playing, it really felt like it was steadily coming back to me.
Compared to starting completely from scratch, it feels like I have about a 1,000x EXP gain boost applied, which is a blast. It feels like using a Time Stone (toki no ishi, an MMO item that massively speeds up relearning a past skill).
Practice Pieces
The two pieces I want to be able to play as of now are the following:
Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (Touhou Scarlet Weather Rhapsody)
As I wrote in the previous post, this is a piece I inexplicably have deep feelings for. There are no fast passages, so it feels like I can play it freely and expressively. However, it requires continuous shifting. Especially in the first half, you definitely shouldn’t use the E string or open strings. You also need to lay the vibrato on thick.
One thing that hit me while playing is that the theme of Scarlet Weather Rhapsody (the melody of the chorus) was undeniably made for the violin. And Scarlet Weather Rhapsody itself must be a piece created specifically for this theme. The highest note being E6—that is, one octave above the open E string—can only be an intentional design.
Combat Beneath the Waves (Genshin Impact)
This piece really reminded me that I love the timbre of string instruments, especially the violin. Seriously, what kind of artistic sensibility brings chamber music in as battle music for an open-world game?
My first encounter with it was through the video below, but I immediately unlocked Enkanomiya and went to listen to it legitimately in-game.
When my exploration party was nearly wiped out by three Ruin Guards, and Lumine, the last one standing, had to wage a desperate battle holding out until the cooldown on the fried egg expired—getting to hear this music then was truly awesome.
For now, I want to play the hook(?), but ideally, I want to be able to play the full piece.
The sheet music I’m referencing is below. I might want to put together a violin part score of my own, though.
Let me share my impressions from playing this one, too. True to the title “Combat Beneath the Waves,” I feel that breathing is one of the themes. That’s obvious enough from the breath-like sound that suddenly comes in during the latter half, but it feels present in the violin melody as well. You have to be conscious of where the breath points are, and figure out and execute proper bowing.
On the other hand, the left hand isn’t that difficult. Basically, you can just stay in 1st position, and to bring out that subtle pirate vibe drifting through it, you shouldn’t use high positions too much… or so it feels.
Summary
Scarlet Weather Rhapsody looks like good rehab for the left hand, while Combat Beneath the Waves is great for the right. Regaining my feel for high positions and vibrato with the former, and my feel for proper bowing with the latter—it looks like they’ll balance each other out nicely.
Back when I used to play, the very concept of post-processing audio didn’t even exist to me, but now I’m sitting on a massive hoard of VST plugins. I realized that by putting these to work and slathering on heavy reverb, the sound actually becomes reasonably listenable. So, I’ll record my current progress below.
More articles
- Violin and the End of Summer• #ViolinPracticing Scarlet Weather Rhapsody on the violin.
- Battling Beneath the Waves with a Violin• #ViolinPracticing "Combat Beneath the Waves" on the violin.
- Reconcile with the Violin• #ViolinI pulled out my violin for the first time in 10 years.
- Impressions of Genshin Impact Ver. 7.1 Snezhnaya, Up Through Act IV "A Rekviem for the Underworld"• #Genshin ImpactAfter two years, I've finally caught up with the current release.
Notes on games, radio and technology, translated from the Japanese blog.