This is Melissa White, violinist in the Harlem Quartet. I'm excited to be here to mark our third year of coaching chamber music at SPA!
Today is day 3 of SPA, and there's already been progress which is extremely exciting!! For me I always feel like I won't know where to begin with coaching my chamber groups on the first day. It's hard to arrange chamber groups before the kids get here because we only know their ability based on repertoire they've rehearsed and prepared for an audition months in advance. Therefore, I step into my room and it's like a box of chocolates....I never know what I'm going to get. Luckily this year, I've got eight good players who seem to be eager, and ready to do things over and over again until we get them right!
One of my groups I was super picky with today and we worked on one line for about an hour! I knew they could get every eighth note together with convincing dynamics in the correct part of the bow and for their sake, I was not going to let them move on until they heard the same "togetherness" I heard in my head for them. Therefore, we dissected the first line, drilled every detail and rehearsed it for 60 minutes!! In the end, I think (and hope) it created a new standard of playing for each of them individually as well as for them collectively as a group. My goal is to make sure each player takes responsibility for their part at all times in their chamber piece, so ultimately the end performance is the result of their own thought and musical decision. That's something which they can be extremely proud of!
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