The Fry Street Quartet

May I introduce you? This week I was lucky enough to spend three full days being coached by the highly acclaimed Fry Street Quartet at Juan Diego High School along with my other quartet members Alex, Calli, and Patrick. From 10:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon, we lived and breathed the second movement of Schubert's Death and the Maiden . This movement was a huge undertaking, not only because of the technicalities, and sheer length (more than fifteen minutes), but because of the deep meaning behind the piece.

Schubert's Death and the Maiden is derived from a poem by Matthias Claudius:

The Maiden:
Stay away! Oh, stay away!
Go, fierce death!
I am still young, please go!
And do not touch me.

Death:
Give me your hand, you beautiful and tender vision!
I am a friend, and come not to hurt you.
Be of good cheer! I am not cruel,
You will sleep softly in my arms!

Schubert's translation from words to music is incredible; there is such a raw plethora of emotion that comes alive in this piece, and it's amazing to create it.
As Anne the lovely cellist said,
"In this line, can't you just see the maiden getting her first glimpse of Hell as it billows out before her and attempts to drag her down?"
To put it bluntly, I fell in love with the piece.

Our main coaches were Will (first violin), and Becky (second violin), but we had a few coaching sessions with Anne and Russel as well. I was continually challenged by each musician in ways that I never expected, and my whole perspective on chamber music has been altered.
Attempting to create the perfect chamber sound was truly an experience. It was to be so close to the rest of the quartet that our breathing patterns caught together, and the slightest jerk of the shoulder set off a musical reaction. I've never been so keyed in to three different people at once.

We didn't get to that point without lots of hard work, and some excellent coaching of course. Will and Becky really helped us connect as a quartet, and create something moving and growing from a few sheets of paper covered in black notes.
I learned a lot about how breathing and moving affect the music.
From Becky I learned just how important the leading breath into a section is, as it sets the tempo, and character of the music. As we rehearsed, breathing together became natural throughout the entire piece.
From Will I was reminded of the importance of movement as a musical leadership skill. He showed me how it allows the musician to lead into the piece, to take control of the melody, to communicate the pulse, and to draw in the other players and the audience.

The members of the Fry Street are just so inspiring to me. They are so much fun to watch and listen to. They really had a way of pulling the best violinist out of me, and the best quartet out of all of us. After our performance today Anne came up and gave me a huge hug and said, "You made music". That was the biggest compliment I could have received.
I'm looking forward to six more days of violin, as Intermountain Suzuki Strings Institute comes up this week.