bigbrowncow

Manny,

My practice today is best captured by the word "Mnurfff"

I've spent most of today recording myself playing Gatti duets...with myself.

This seems to be an excellent way to expose the weaknesses in my playing. Every entry I make, the choice of tone colour, pitch and timing is hugely exposed (especially when I choose wrong).

I also find the recorded version of myself to be an extremely inflexible duet partner.

Any tips?

Steve

Manny Laureano

"Manny,
My practice today is best captured by the word "Mnurfff" I've spent most of today recording myself playing Gatti duets...with myself.
This seems to be an excellent way to expose the weaknesses in my playing. Every entry I make, the choice of tone colour, pitch and timing is hugely exposed (especially when I choose wrong).
I also find the recorded version of myself to be an extremely inflexible duet partner."

Dear BBC,

First, let me congratulate you for playing from the Gatti book. Well written duets in a musical style and varied ones, at that. Not many people in the states play from that book anymore, sadly.

Next, I won't pretend to give you any advice of a technical nature insofar as how to best record oneself playing duets. The one tip that I will give as a change of pace is to put a metronome near the mic next time if you haven't already tried that. You'll be astonished at what we get away with when we don't hear the metronome clearly and have to depend on our innate sense of pulse. We find that certain finger combinations lend us to rushing while others drag.

The intonation factor is important, as you state. The best thing to listen for is the strength of the resultant tones and how long we can maintain them.

Great idea!

ML