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Posted

I don't know about for the other instruments, but for violin it is arguably the biggest international competition, a close second being the Queen Elisabeth. And speaking of Van Cliburn, I spent a long while watching the streaming vids of the Van Cliburn competition last year. Good stuff. I'm thinking Ysaye Ballade, Waxman Carmen Fantasy, and Prokofiev first concerto, and I need to pick out one more. For the compulsory but pieces I can somewhat choose from, probably Bach Chaconne, Paganini 15 and 17, Shostakovich sonata, and Mozart 5th concerto.

I didn't realize you can choose your compulsory pieces. On the TV coverage of it IIRC, everyone played the Tchaikovsky concerto. I figured this was required because it's the Tchaikovsky competition. Is the idea that you want to showcase your ability to play expressively, to play technically, and to play well balanced? The Chaconne and anything Paganini must be just exhausting. I can't even understand how you can remember so many damn notes! Didn't they say Paganini was reputed to have sold his soul to the devil to be able to play like he did?

Had an appointment to have a mold made for an Arizona AFO brace for my ankle. Found out that even with insurance, it would cost about $1200, and was then told I should lose 20-30 lbs and increase my calf muscle as much as possible first. I'm not liking this middle-aged stuff much today.

Sorry to hear it, Vicki. I can't stand spending money on health stuff, it's just the worst.

Posted

Repertoire

Those are the repertoire requirements. The actual Tchaik concerto is played only by the finalists, so pretty much everyone is eliminated before they get to even play it. If the TV programme had to play through 15 or 25 people it would be extremely long.:D Yeah, each person has to play over 3 hours of music, all completely by memory.

Sorry to hear, Vicki.:(

Posted

Wow, amazing! How about if you post your DVD audition here? I'd love to see it! But understand if you wouldn't want to ... :)

It must have been the 1982 competition I saw. I remember watching it with my parents, and that was the year before I left home for college. I remember a few of those names, plus remember that no one won for piano. Didn't realize it's every 4 years, and didn't know there was a voice and cello portion, either.

Definitely keep us posted - I'm very interested.

Posted

Not very sure what a brace for the ankle is, but the whole thing sucks. Sorry for you Vicki. I concur you don't seem at all having a 30 lbs overweight :palm: You need another doctor.

Grawk, it'd be much worse if they had determined that you owe those hours to the company, and you'd need to either a) return the wage, or B) work them for free. Enjoy those hours ;)

Posted
Repertoire

Those are the repertoire requirements. The actual Tchaik concerto is played only by the finalists, so pretty much everyone is eliminated before they get to even play it. If the TV programme had to play through 15 or 25 people it would be extremely long.:D Yeah, each person has to play over 3 hours of music, all completely by memory.

Sorry to hear, Vicki.:(

Typically, are there original "mods" to the Tchaik? Says with "author's edits".. Dunno how many cadenzas are floating around, but being too original seems a bit risky.

Posted

Yay Dinny. As we just finished the first week of classes, I am definitely not on vacation. Spent the week feeling like I accomplished nothing even though I was not even teaching a real class.

Posted

Taught classes, ate ice cream sunday, met a nice person from Federal Investigative Services back at home to interview about a friend, upgraded wireless antenna and bought accessories for new phone, friend came over with dinner, pregaming now before impromptu plans elsewhere.

Posted (edited)
Not very sure what a brace for the ankle is, but the whole thing sucks. Sorry for you Vicki. I concur you don't seem at all having a 30 lbs overweight :palm: You need another doctor.

Grawk, it'd be much worse if they had determined that you owe those hours to the company, and you'd need to either a) return the wage, or B) work them for free. Enjoy those hours ;)

Thanks for the sympathy, guys, but it was mostly just me whining. The brace will be a good thing when I get it. It's leather, but molded and hard so it will completely immobilize my ankle so that I'll actually be able to do some things I can't right now. I used to love to go walking for hours in the local nature preserve. Haven't been able to do that for at least five years, and I might be able to again. Right now, if things are acting up, I can pretty much get to work and that's it. I'm hurting, and not even able to do things around the house. This should give me a lot of relief, and should keep a two or three-day pain from becoming a month or more long pain. Here's a pic, though mine, the one with only the laces, is a nice shade of pink, and they give a percentage of the purchase to breast cancer research.

Arizona AFO Ankle Braces are 90 percent effective at treating Posterior Tibialis Tendon Dysfunction

As far as the poundage loss goes, that's also a good thing. If I lose 30, I'll be 130, which is a good, healthy weight for a 5'5" woman with a bum ankle. I've also lost a lot of muscle in that calf, so if I'm going to get a very expensive, custom brace, really looking at long-term benefit, dropping the weight and working on building up the muscle as much as possible while doing so, is a good plan before the mold is made. I don't want to be doing this every few months and it's good motivation to do what I keep kinda getting around to doing off and on anyway.

Anyway, I'm over the whining, and am feeling pretty good about it. Hopefully, in about three months, I'll be ready. It's good to have a goal.

Dan, sorry to hear about the forced vacation. Even if the worst happens, since you never really have any kind of vacation, maybe take a real one and enjoy as much as you can.

Edited by boomana
Posted
Wow, amazing! How about if you post your DVD audition here?

It'll be around somewhere.:) Of course, if I don't even get past the DVD round you better delete all copies while I live as a recluse for a couple years.

Typically, are there original "mods" to the Tchaik? Says with "author's edits".. Dunno how many cadenzas are floating around, but being too original seems a bit risky.

Good question, I took it to mean playing the original version (what Tchaik wrote) instead of, say, Auer's edits, which I'd say are the most famous. Funny how Auer said the piece was unplayable at first and then later made it harder with his edits.

Hope that nice FIS dude was nice.

Posted
It'll be around somewhere.:) Of course, if I don't even get past the DVD round you better delete all copies while I live as a recluse for a couple years.

No way, man! You're gonna do well! And even if you don't take a first, it's awesome anyway! :-)

I think that ankle brace looks bad-ass! Get two, and you can pass as a Mixed Martial Arts fighter!

HAY-FG-2.jpg

MMA Fight Gear Online: Hayabusa - Ashi MMA Foot Grips

Seriously though, hope that helps. My wife LOVES her nature walks and she would get one of those in a heartbeat if she needed one! :-)

Posted
Here's a pic, though mine, the one with only the laces, is a nice shade of pink

That looks real kick ass! I know of someone who, while training for a mountain challenge turned his ankle to the extent it came up like a football. Detemined not to let it get to him, he had a custom brace made to support the ankle and succeeded in hauling his ass over 63 miles. So braces work - we'll look forward to hearing how yours goes (and see some pics when you get it!)

I've also lost a lot of muscle in that calf, so if I'm going to get a very expensive, custom brace, really looking at long-term benefit, dropping the weight and working on building up the muscle as much as possible while doing so, is a good plan before the mold is made.

The muscle loss thing is a real PITA. I damaged a knee three years ago when I tripped and went flying while running down a mountain (don't ask). After a knee op to extract the floating bits of bust cartelidge, I was appalled by how quickly I lost my quads on the damaged leg - they almost withered before my eyes. Fortunately the op was a real success, so am back to running stupid distances. Maintain balance in the quads in the gym by doing leg raises on a machine with alternate legs. Gone from a 4:1 ratio of strength (really!) to less than 10% difference.

So take the loss in muscle tone seriously, and do as much as you comfortably can to correct it. Imbalanced leg strength will tend to cause referred injuries elsewhere (knee, lower spine, hips etc).

Posted

Those braces look great, solid and purposeful, if not very comfy. I wish it works and you can do again all those things you've been missing for the pain. You're really smart. Not everyone can handle that quick converting a hard task into a promising goal ;D

Posted (edited)

I found a new buddy!

I thought I would wait a while, but my friends had other ideas. Today I thought I was going to see a movie with friends. When we passed the theater I asked where we were heading, and was told "you'll see". Well a few minutes later we arrived at the animal shelter.

She caught my eye immediately, because no one was giving her any attention (there were tons of puppies getting loads of attention). She seemed so sweet and so easy going. I found out that she's about a year old, a terrier mix and she's not a barker. In that way that animals know things, she knows I chose her, and saved her from a possible bad situation. She is very mello, and very much a lap dog. She's got the sweetest disposition, and we're both enamored with each other.

Meet Susie...

susie002816x612.jpg

Edited by swt61
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