Learn Reger Viola Suite No. 3 with Me – Final Weeks!

Hi everyone! Today I’m sharing the final weeks of preparing Viola Suite No. 3 by Max Reger. I recorded it in November for my viola studio recital and I’ll be recording it again for my masters recital in the spring. For now, I’m taking a break. I don’t know if I’ll share my journey with the piece again in the spring. Let me know if that’s something you’d like to see!

WATCH THE VLOG HERE

Solidifying Each Movement

Knowing that I would be recording the entire suite, I began solidifying each movement. As I learned the suite, I would focus on one movement at a time, so the first movement was a bit rusty since I hadn’t practiced it in a while. I felt like I was back in week one when I worked on it!

I had to work on tuning the double stops again, and I found the hard sections to learn the first time around were still the hardest sections to bring back. I felt like my phrasing ideas were solid, but I had to work to bring the technique back to the level it needed to be.

I worked through the hardest technical sections of each movement the week leading up to recording the suite. With each movement, I felt like I had a solid idea of the phrasing and musical ideas I wanted to convey, but I had to continue strengthening the technique.

Run Throughs

I did probably three run throughs in anticipation for my recording, the first in my lesson. I found that my stamina was okay through the run, but mentally I had a bit of trouble remembering exactly what I had to do in each movement (like where to shift to, what string to lean on during double stops, etc.)

I did two other run throughs in my own practice, and they got easier and easier. I recorded them to help myself feel comfortable playing with a camera and microphone in front of me.

Recording the Suite

I recorded the Reger Suite on a Sunday afternoon. I knew I only really had one shot to record that day due to a few circumstances, so I really wanted to get it on the first shot. I knew I had a few days during the following week that I could use if the first recording didn’t work out, but I was hopeful I’d get it on the first try.

I got dressed up for my recording and warmed up as usual. I hit a few hard spots in the Suite so there wouldn’t be any surprises during  my recording. Once everything was set up, I began recording!

I’m happy with the footage I got that day. It looks good and it sounds good! There was just one spot at the end of the second movement that I wasn’t happy with. I looked at the music and I saw that there were double stops, and then my mind kind of freaked out and I forgot what the notes were so I just kind of played on the beats until I got back on track and then the movement was over all of a sudden. It’s not the greatest, but if you went to a live performance and that happened you’d probably think, “oh it’s just a performance, whatever, next movement.”

I’ve found that when we record something it feels so much more permanent and we feel bad if we mess up because we basically have an unlimited number of takes to get it right. When we perform it’s easier  in a sense because when we make a mistake it might feel embarrassing because there’s an audience and we’re worried about what the audience is thinking, but we only have that one shot while we’re up on stage. When we’re recording, if we make a mistake we think, “oh I should record it again because I have these unlimited number of takes and everyone’s gonna know that since it’s a recording,” but those extra number of takes can take a toll on us.

I decided to stick with the only recording I made because I was happy with the musical decisions I made. I thought my phrasings and characters came through really well. So what if I missed a few notes? I was really happy with what came across, and the quality of the recording was good.

My Recording Mindset

I want to talk about the mindset that I had when I recorded, because I felt pretty good about it! So when you go out and perform, you’re playing to an audience and it feels different from practicing: maybe you had to drive there, maybe it’s cold out and it’s warm in the building, your body doesn’t feel super comfortable; and then you have to wait backstage while other people perform. Then you go out and you see the audience, you start performing and your mind is kind of scattered.

The way I recorded the Reger Suite felt very comfortable. I was just at home, set up my tripod my camera and my mic just like I always do when I make the practice vlogs, and I played. I didn’t have to drive anywhere, I didn’t have to see anyone, it was super easy!

Recording the practice vlogs has been so helpful in making me less nervous to record because the second you used to pull out a mic and put it in front of my instrument I used to be so nervous. I’d immediately think you’ll hear every string sound and every time I move my instrument you’ll hear a little rustle, and every single mistake I make will go from microscopic to huge because the mic is right there in my face. Now I’m just used to that, and I’m used to hearing myself perform this Reger suite, so making this recording felt like no big deal. It was basically the exact same process that I go through to make my vlogs!

When I started making Youtube videos just a few months ago, I went in thinking  that if my videos were terrible and awkward, I could just delete them and forget about them forever. If we approach our performance recordings with this mentality, it feels a lot easier. Thinking this way personally makes me feel a lot freer in my playing. I can open up because I’m not focused on whether or not I’ll make mistakes and what the potential audience might be thinking.

If you’re not a Youtuber but you are a musician, the way you can decrease this recording anxiety is to just record yourself more and more! I’m sure you know this already and that you’ve heard it from your teachers and your friends, but I mean it! Making these practice vlogs has really helped me!

There are so many Instagram accounts where people just post themselves practicing every day, and I really hope it helps them when they have to record for a performance. But  you don’t have to post it anywhere–you can just record yourself for you!

Get used to setting up for a recording, record yourself, listen back to it so you can be critical but in a loving way (be nice to yourself!) and just get used to that process so that it doesn’t feel so weird and foreign when you need to record something for a performance.

Recording my practice has just helped me so much because I wasn’t very nervous for this recording! I was a little nervous sometimes when I’d realize the internet would see it, but then I remembered that the internet sees my practice vlogs, and they’ve seen how i practice this and how I dissect the music all the time. It’s really no big deal–this is a much more polished product than what I’ve been putting on the internet, so it was a little easier than the practice vlogs.

WATCH MY RECORDING OF THE FULL SUITE HERE!

I hope my thoughts on making recordings can help you in making your own! Comment down below if you have any advice for making recordings. I’d love to hear more perspectives on this topic!