An interesting week

Due Corde just won the Trinity College of Music Early Music Competition.
For the first time the competition had a prelim and final round and with exam times coming up the timing was not the best. But even so we had fun and were able to bring across the passion, fun and madness of Corelli and Castrucci. Next up are finals, an audition and another competition... and of course the rest of life ;)
The last week has been really exiting and varied. In total I had the opportunity to play in two competitions this week.
The most important aspect of a competition is really the preparations which creates progress - winning can then be seen as approval of the work that has gone that has been done in the practise room.

Towards an IPS

Two years - it seems like a long time but suddenly they have almost passed by. In less than two month I have to submit my IPS towards an upgrade to 'full registration' on the DMus course. Between now and then I also have to play in 3 competitions, an audition and a friends final exam. But I have also had time for other pursuits. I recently invested in a new camera and took the opportunity to document the spring around the city. It is fantastic to have the means to do this kind of thing again. The IPS (Initial Period of Study) report is coming together well. I have had very positive comments from my tutors so now it is down to polishing the writing and adding graphics, musical examples so so on.

After a very quite April the performing side of my life is picking up again. Little by little I learn to set boundaries and manage the opportunities which come my way. I am still working on a way of managing the huge repertoire required for my final dissertation (some 36 sonatas) but I am sure that I will find a way to manage this challenge. I just need to start at one end...

A little update

For the longest time I have been without pictures of recent performance. However a good friend was able to take some pictures at a concert at the RCM Museum of Instruments. It was actually quite a fun concert to put together though hectic. I ended up really loving the trio sonata by Pugnani - he was not at all a bad composer. My life at present seems to consists of patches of calm interchanged with weeks of frentic activity. One thing is for sure - life is never boring.

At present I am preparing for another recital in the RCM Museum as well as a few other gigs and a trip home to Copenhagen in two weeks time. I will report here once all these events have taken place.

I am also quite enjoying teaching and the challenges it brings - it keeps pushing me and helps me understand myself. I hope I can keep having this good combination of teaching, performing and research. A varied life is what I have always wanted.

Due Corde

... had a successfull 2009 with many concerts in a variety of venues. The photo was taken in the spring at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.
In 2010 Due Corde will travel to Denmark to perform in August. A number of concerts are also planned for London during the spring term. Snippets from concert recordings from the past year will hopefully be up on my website before too long. Further details of our performance activities will also be available.

Welcome

Dear reader.
Welcome to my new blog. It has been some time since I began thinking that I needed a new outlet for my musings as well as a means of letting friends and colleagues know what I have am doing as a musician and research student. This is the result then. I hope you wil enjoy reading it.
Anne Marie