The Uninteresting Life and Times of an Antisocial Violinist: Week 19: February 2

On Tuesday I went up to Bernal Hill to look for two mystery caches I solved recently. I didn’t find either one, which means I’ll have to go back and look again eventually, but that neighbourhood is so quirky and unique that I don’t mind at all.

Fog pouring over Twin Peaks

The cherry trees are all in bloom, and so I picked up a branch that had fallen on the ground and stuck it into my backpack.

My shadow with the cherry branch

I ride the subway almost every day, and I’m starting to get used to seeing these little guys sharing the space.

Hello there

Waiting for the train

On Saturday was the baroque concerto competition. I played Vivaldi “Il Grosso Mogul” (mogul being a reference to the Great Mughal Empire in India, and the second movement having a distinctly Indian/gypsy flavour). There were only four entries in the competition, and we are all going to get to play with the orchestra! I fell in love with this piece at first hearing, and I am super excited about performing it on a REAL baroque violin, with a REAL baroque orchestra. Here is the link, so you can see how cool it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sj82EhiU-Q

Last night was Nick’s freshman recital. Among other things, he played a rarely-performed Borodin sonata, which is based on the g minor fugue subject from the first Bach sonata for solo violin. It was really cool to hear what Borodin had done with this motif. Here is a link to that as well: if you know the Bach fugue, you’ll be delighted, and even if you don’t, it’s still a pretty neat piece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVcRH5cVRF4

Today Maddy, Nick and I went to the Exploratorium because they were having a free day. This is a science-centre type place filled with really interesting exhibits demonstrating the various properties of electricity, magnetism, various forms of light, human perceptions, phenomenons of nature, physics and mechanical devices. We didn’t get to see nearly everything before closing time, but we still had a great time, and even found the “Currents Flow” cache next to the outdoor exhibit.