eine kleine Nachtmusik

As I'm discovering that playing the violin is a lot easier than I thought (at least for cellists), I am now moving on from Suzuki to repertoire pieces that I have in my head because I studied them on the flute. First choice, obviously, is Mozart's famous serenade "eine kleine Nachtmusik," k525, which also was the first big thing I studied on the flute, seven years ago. Bits of it I even played on the guitar back in the 20th century!

Initially, I was a bit fearful as it requires higher positions. Then, having ventured up into third position for the first time (first finger playing A on the E string, easy to find as you can check against the A string next door), it hit me: I don't really have to come down - I could play anything across all four strings without open strings and without shifting positions.

This contrasts with the cello where all remote keys and higher positions are hard work because you have to shift all the time, which is due to the fact that the hand doesn't stretch far enough on each string to reach the note that's missing where the open string would be in first position. So, typically, in the scales without open strings, you have to go up to higher positions and drop down a position every time you cross from one string to the next. On the violin, I just realised, I can play two octaves across all four strings without moving my hand, in literally any key. I don't even have to know if I have seven flats or 13 sharps, I only have to find the base note. I'm not even sure if that is official technique, but it makes everything so much easier.

Bottom line: I guess cello is easier for the beginner in first position because every finger has a precise place where it lives, but once it comes to higher positions and remote keys the violin is miles easier. (Considering this, I find it surprising that folk fiddlers systematically refuse to use the higher positions.)

So, anyhow, I've reached the bottom of the first page of the ancient edition (below) I borrowed from the older brother of a school friend and never gave back, so I'm now fairly confident that this works. Watch out for other violin pieces in my flute repertoire, including Einstein's favourite Mozart sonata, k304, and Dvorak's sonatina, op 100.

Re. violin videos, I haven't recorded myself recently, but here is the young musician trying out the instrument with Handlarens Vals.

Christa the violin reunited with Frieda the piano. Both lived in the same flat (the violin residing on top of the piano) while Frieda the pianist was alive, as you can see on old photos eg here.

Meanwhile, on the cello, I've spotted a surprising synergy from violin-playing. I just realised that the thumb position (where the thumb rests on the middle of the string) is essentially a viola. The thumb is the open string, and you can use the first three fingers exactly like you would in first position on violin or viola. So if you add to that an E string by moving the thumb to the position at 2/3 of the string length (I use the harmonics in both thumb positions because I can't be bothered to press hard when I don't have to), you have a violin. Which means I can practice the thumb position(s) by playing all the folk tunes I've just learned on the fiddle. When the thumb is on 2/3 = E, the third finger reaches the 3/4 = A, so I can cover two octaves on one string, which is also fun and probably covers all the notes I'll ever need.

Also, playing both instruments every day now, I realise both activities scratch completely different itches. On a new instrument, with a steep learning curve, I am enjoying the rapid and often surprising progress, whereas the established instrument is more of a meditative habit, with only slow progress (although the thing with the thumb position feels like a new instrument).

PS - note that my musical education only really got going when I had children and learned with them. See my account of my musical miseducation. So I am a late beginner on all of the instruments that I play regularly today (with the exception of the soprano recorder which I don't play very often).