ARTARIA RESTARTS ANCIENT NEWSLETTER

Many years ago, more than I want to mention, Artaria produced a newsletter for our friends and supporters that circulated twice a year and reported on the comings and goings of the quartet. It was written for people interested in the activities of the Artaria String Quartet, with the kind of conversational tone of an after concert reception and filled with delightful anecdotes and funny stories that our quartet invariably creates or wanders into. So here goes...

"Welcome to the inaugural re-issue of the Artaria newsletter!"
~ Ray Shows, ASQ

Artaria @ Minnesota Valley Sommerfest

In July, Artaria returned for the third year in a row to the Minnesota Valley Sommarfest and the wonderful acoustics of the Jussi Bjorling Recital Hall at Gustavus Adolphus College. Every year we look forward to this wonderful Festival because of both the warm sound of the hall and the warm welcome we always receive from its dedicated subscribers. Our July 7th performance featured cellist Anna Clift and clarinetist Leslie Weber in a program of Mozart, Mozart, and...... Mozart. The following day, I received a voice mail from John McKay, Director of the Festival, proclaiming "Wow, what a program! I think it was the most beautiful playing ever done in the 16 years of the Festival -- it had an almost supernatural quality to it -- just transcendent and beautiful."

Our second appearance at MV Sommerfest, on July 21 featured more Mozart -- the marvelous viola quintet in G-minor -- along with the first string quartets by Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky. We have really grown to enjoy the Shostakovich for its fresh, informal style and written as an appeasement to the Soviet music screeners. The Tchaikovsky has also worn well this season even though its author appears more at home with larger resources than just a quartet of players. There are some supremely beautiful lines in his writing and this piece is no exception. However, there are a few thorny passages that trip quartets up in the last movement which keep us on our toes.

The centerpiece of the program was the Mozart G-minor quintet with its unique compositional shape (two Adagio movements back to back) and the astonishingly beautiful and simple musical lines. We were joined by my St. Olaf colleague Charles Gray on the viola in a performance that was blissfully easy to assemble. We all seemed to be on the same page with interpreting the work and it went together very easily. Great music will do that for you sometimes. It's a piece we could play again many times and never tire of hearing or playing.

Stringwood 2005 Roundup

Each summer after I return from Stringwood Summer Chamber Music, many parents and teachers and colleagues ask me "so how was it?" And each year I reply, "Great! Best ever." And I really mean it. What I don't often mention is that it was a great experience, but I am basically exhausted from the event and am looking forward to relaxing in my own home -- quietly. Truth is, each year is amazingly different, even when we have almost 50% returnees, and this summer was no exception.

The young musicians of Stringwood 2005 accorded themselves exceptionally well from both our perspective and the listening public. Everyone arrived well-prepared and enthusiastic. Many of the students were even organizing sight-reading soirees by the 2nd evening - a Stringwood first. They were also incredibly social and although they spent many hours preparing for their performances, they cultivated their social hours with zeal.

In past years there were numerous small circles of friends that hung out together in their own spaces. This year, although we again had several small flocks huddled in their corners, the whole group actually formed a large family of siblings, some older and wiser, some younger and more reserved, and of course the whole assortment of class clowns, alpha leaders and mavericks. Not surprisingly, most of them demonstrated a high level of maturity in their awareness and respect of each person's personal space and unique qualities. It was like one big happy family with 37 kids and 6 parents. [Sigh..]

Stringwood had its first radio broadcast this summer - KFIL featured one of our groups as the opener for their Sunday evening program "Over the Fence". It was a terrific success and we will look to repeat this next summer. The run-out concerts were also well received and our friends Doug & Marie Botcher were quoted in the Fillmore County Journal, "We thought it would be fun to host these talented musicians...it has far exceeded our expectations."

One thing I didn't expect was arriving at my home from the whole works refreshed and lucid. True, we had excellent counselors this summer in Katherine Hagen and Megan Campbell (they have been duly engaged again for '06), the weather cooperated with us and was generally very pleasant (okay, one really hot day), and the food was at least several notches up from previous years (it was very good this year). Perhaps it was all of these elements, and then maybe the kids were just very good this summer?

Well, whatever the reason, we hope to see all of you back again next year -- and tell your friends about Stringwood! If you know people whom we should contact for next summer, send us their name, phone number if you have it, and email.

Stringwood 2005 Concert CDs update...

The CDs have been sent to the manufacturing plant and they are scheduled to arrive by August 5. They will be mailed out the following week. The imprint color this year will match the official 2005 Stringwood T-shirts you have, so you won't lose the disc in your room and will know which disc to play when you are wearing the official shirt.

Artaria 2005-2006 Sundin Hall Concerts

An exciting new addition to our performing schedule this year is our Concert Series in Sundin Hall. After spending several years looking for a "home" for the quartet's performances here in the Twin Cities, we have finally secured Sundin Hall for several performances this season as resident ensemble. We are planning some special events for these concerts (see * below) so mark your calendars for these dates:

October 9th, 2005

January 15th, 2006

March 26, 2006

~> There is an additional Sundin performance on April 15th in the evening with Pianist Jeffrey Siegel of New York City. The distinguished pianist will be celebrating 20 years of Keyboard Conversations at Sundin Hall and we will be his special guests on that Gala Event. Artaria will collaborate in 2 works by Mozart for keyboard and strings.

For tickets and information to all Sundin Hall events, contact the box office at 651-523-2459.

Other Artaria Performances coming up...

We will be performing other concerts and recitals around the tri-state region in various venues. Please go to our website for full details.

www.artariaquartet.com

ACMS Sign-up

Groups are now being formed and filled at the Artaria Chamber Music School. If you are not currently in a group and would like to be, let us know. We are exploring some additional run-out concerts this year as well as the regular concerts and masterclasses we do.

There is also the 3rd annual chamber music and pizza party to consider. This event (for those who haven'y participated) is where we all sit down one evening and jam with each other in different combinations of chamber music.

We are also pleased to renew our collaboration with the Ballet Arts Minnesota troupe. Several hard working and well-prepared string quartets will be chosen to perform their quartet movements with the talented dancers of this company.

Dates for this and all ACMS events are still being worked out -- we will get them to you as soon as we can!

* As a new feature of the ASQ series @ Sundin, we are planning to feature our ACMS string quartets in Prelude Performances this year. We will have more information on this exciting new project as it develops in the next e-newsletter.

Shop Talk

SHIFTING on the violin or viola

I received an interesting email recently from a college student who was doing a dissertation on SHIFTING of all things. He asked me a series of intricate questions about this important issue and I would like to share my responses...

When shifting on a passage, where would you feel the shift? Such as where, in your hand, would you feel points of contact? Also, what movements such as push, pull, drag, slide, etc. would you feel in your fingers, hand, wrist, arm, elbow and other portions of the body? In shifting on the Violin/Viola, I would suggest that you keep your wrist relaxed and make the motion as simple and uncomplicated as possible -- no wiggling of the wrist or any other non-linear motion other than simply sliding gently along the neck. The most important element in a shift is to know beforehand just how far the shift actually is. That is determined by where the 1st finger is actually traveling.

Would these feelings be the same shifting up as well as down?  Yes, although in terms of physiology it is slightly easier to upshift than downshift.

How do you control the bow on a shift so that the shift is masked as much as possible so that it isn't noticeable to the ear? Really you shouldn't adjust the bow very much at all as that affects your tone. Occasionally you might need to lighten the contact point but only rarely in my opinion

What kind of air flow (breathing), helps the most in shifting? Do you take a breath on the shift before or after the shift or do you exhale before, during or after the shift? I don't focus on breathing here -- just the distance of the arm movement

Does feeling the shift in other parts of the body help out such as synchronizing your shifts with bending your legs to relieve tension? If there are any other techniques please do tell!  I don't believe it does -- just keep it simple

What are some fingerings you like to avoid in shifting? If there are any please explain why.  I feel that students of the violin/viola should be practicing all sensible finger combinations so that when you arrive at them in the literature, they are more easily surmounted. Take a look at a book by Simon Fischer (Sp) called "Basics". It is best to shift on the strong beats when possible especially in orchestral playing.

What is the biggest problem you face when it comes to shifting? Not preparing them well enough in the practice room and not identifying the actually problem when a missed shift occurs. Often a missed shift is the result of a misplaced finger previous to the actual shifting moment. If you are missing a particular shift in a piece

A:) check the previous note/s for a positional error, unnecessary movement in the L.H. 
B:) identify the actual distance need to shift (many times we do this incorrectly) that is, how far the 1st finger travels in the shift
C:) observe that the actual arm motion is smooth and unimpeded around the bout of the instrument (use a mirror whenever possible) 

In return for my help, Shawn, please email me a short paragraph about who you are and what are your plans after you finish college. I want to share this Q&A with my students.

Feedback

Do you have any suggestions about what should be in this newsletter? Are their topics you would like to see discussed or highlighted? Contact us.

Thank you for your present interest and past support of the Artaria String Quartet. If you would rather not receive our newsletter, send an e-mail to music@artariaquartet.com and type "no newsletter please " in the Subject line.