More Site Changes

OK, we've changed the design of the site again. I think I owe everyone an explanation.

The website that's been up for a month or two already (the one with the red background, and the floating bit in the middle) was actually a really cheap option, based on a template from Dreamweaver (a program which we use to edit some of the content on the website). A number of unforseen problems came about:

• we couldn't update the site regularly or quickly
• we couldn't update one thing on one page and have it automatically update on another
• we couldn't handle the marketing of the website properly
• various other things, including...
• It looked rubbish. Funny I didn't see that before.
  

So, the design you see before you today really is the last time we change the fundament of the site for a good couple of years. I can be really sure of this, because we now have a full marketing and development plan in place (and we've got other people to do that, so there's no chance I can hijack it and mess it up!), and behind the visible stuff that you can see when you type in www.violinmp3.com, there's a fantastic content managment system at work, which means I and the Court Lane Music people can just log in from anywhere, type in a new article, or upload new videos at the touch of a couple of buttons.

The chamber ensemble is now working regularly and we're lining up a load of MP3s. We're running trial videos on pages of the site that you can't see yet (they work great!) and of course the concert on 3rd of May will be videoed and watchable here online from 5th May.

As always, your feedback is much appreciated. You can leave a message for me or any of us through the form on the contact page.

Up The Wrong Tree

I played Bach (and Beethoven - a thrilling lesson) to Thomas Brandis (professor from Luebeck, former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra) today, and as if to hammer home the point that Bach defies everything and everyone and causes endless controversy, he logically and calmly went through the G minor Adagio, gently rubbishing every last one of Menuhin's re-phrasings and bowings. In terms of fingering, he presented a different argument too: "Bach used four strings". Therefore, he is saying, it is natural to play many first- and low-position fingerings. I guess the other side of that argument would be that a modern instrument has a far brighter tone than the gut-stringed examples of Bach's time, and consequently the resonances and tone qualities are now more of an issue when taking voicing of horizontal lines (melody line, bass line) into consideration. Hmm.

This is the kind of idea that will benefit from discussion in a forum once this site becomes highly trafficked. I read a wonderful quote today, along the lines of "the collective wisdom of an internet forum is far greater than the wisdom of its most intelligent single member".

Video

I've published the first video message on the website! It's rubbish, admittedly :) , but it's a start. So THERE to all of you who said it couldn't be done on a budget of $0! First videowebcast concert coming on 5th April (or join us for it in London on the 3rd). Onward and upward (via sideways, here and there, and inbetween).

Barking

Some interesting insights on Bach, from Mauricio Fuks (American violinist, formerly of the Menuhin School) and violist Hartmut Rohde (from the Berlin Hochschule fuer Musik), to both of whom I played some of the Bach A minor sonata this week. I'm using Menuhin's personal fingerings - incredible resources given to me by Hu Kun, who talks at length about the detail that Menuhin took in order to voice the bass and other voices correctly. Bafflingly, people often reject Menuhin's manuscripts immediately - possibly because it can seem quite idiosyncratic if taken at face value - but I do understand that people get frustrated with some of his bowings. The style of his recordings (he taped the Bachs three times during the course of his life) is too deep a subject to go into here, but it is fair to say, however, that his interpretations are markedly more strait-laced than many more modern players.

The comments therefore, both professors being acquainted with the historical Menuhin documents, are a pleasant suprise. A 'middle way' is proposed almost; an application of the fingerings and technical ideas, but in combination with total respect to the baroque school in terms of phrasing. Little gestural changes, such as bowings that hook notes together, create an onward flow that is more free-flowing, remains true to baroque style, and moves forward in a more subtle and less austere way. Combine that with modern technology of course (by which I mean the modern day violin setup), and you have something considerably more powerful than Bach's musicians would have done. It's encouraging to see the same parallel here with the philosophy upon which we are building Court Lane Music. Technology has a broad meaning.

Lots of Bach study to come. It's an endless pilgrimage which I'm still only at the beginning of, and as subjective a musical subject as you will get. Still, as Tesco would say, Every Little Helps.