Letter from Ms. Mary (1/5)

Happy New Year, Philharmonia West!

We had such a nice start to our new semester at our first rehearsal this week!  A special welcome to our new members joining Philharmonia West in the new Year! I look forward to us learning new music, making new friends, learning new skills, making mistakes, performing our repertoire, and having a fun time in the coming weeks.

This week, we played through much of our new repertoire.  We played Dorian Variations, African-American Air, Concerto in D Major, and Turbulence.  We started our rehearsal with some scales.  We also learned a new scale, a new mode.  Modes are scale patterns that each have their unique sound and character.  The ones we are most familiar with are the major and minor modes.  The Dorian scale is the scale that starts on D and plays all the natural notes for that octave.  Our piece, Dorian Variations will focus on this scale.

Question of the week: What are the types of scales (modes) that you know?  Send your replies to mary@gtcys.org.

Next week, we will spend much of our time on the Vivaldi Concerto, as well as Turbulence.  Before our next rehearsal, try to play through the first movement of the Vivaldi three times.  THIS SHOULD BE DONE AT A SLOW TEMPO!  There are some tricky finger patterns, as well as accidentals.  Here is a link to watch and listen to for the concerto.  I hope that you enjoy it!

Have a great week.  Work hard, play hard. Most importantly…Frog Power!

Mary Sorlie