Exploring Excerpts: a violist’s guide to building skills for orchestral playing, Part 1, by Melissa Matson-PDF
Exploring Excerpts: a violist’s guide to building skills for orchestral playing, Part 1, by Melissa Matson-PDF
With this book Melissa Matson has prepared a guide to help violists deeply practice and understand orchestral excerpts. Matson begins each excerpt sheet with a discussion of the most important aspects of the excerpt, then shows you how to work on achieving rhythmic accuracy, good intonation, correct articulations, and appropriate sound and style that supports the music. Melissa has created etudes and exercises to help you work through tricky passages in new and creative ways. These etudes are detailed lessons for practicing excerpts with focus and intent. Some ideas are fairly standard while others are admittedly a bit wacky - but all are intended to inspire the journey towards the dexterity, reliability, and stylistic versatility of a successful orchestral player.
This document is 109 pages. The table of contents is indexed and linked allowing you quickly skip to the different excerpts. A “back to top” button allows you to return to the Table of Contents.
“Exploring Excerpts will be your new essential practice companion for tackling challenging orchestral passages, whether you are auditioning for a top-tier orchestra or new to the process. Melissa Matson uses thoughtful and detailed exercises to address all aspects of the technical demands we face. She even includes beautifully crafted viola ensemble arrangements relating to the surrounding musical context. It’s all expressed in Melissa’s joyful and enthusiastic style, overflowing with her four decades of experience as principal player and master teacher. Thank you, Melissa, for this brilliantly comprehensive guide to excerpt preparation!”
Joan DerHovsepian, Principal Viola Houston Symphony, Artist Teacher of Viola, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music