Sorry I didn’t update you as soon as i picked out my new bow. I have been busy with a rehearsal and a concert and I was on school vacation.

The bow I chose was the Coda Diamond GX bow. I chose this bow for many reasons. One reason I chose this bow was the weight. When choosing the right bow you have to make sure that the weight is not all at the tip of the bow. The weight of this bow is not too heavy or light so I really liked that.

Another reason I chose this bow is that it works well using many different bow techniques and still has great sound quality. When choosing a bow you also have to focus on the sound quality when using different bow techniques. I tried playing staccato, spaccato, sluring
the notes and many different rhythms.

The final reason I chose this bow is that it is very durable
and still sounds great. The Coda Bow brand has a variety of different carbon fiber bows. Carbon fiber is a material that can be in any climate, which is nice if I have to play outside. It also is going to be nice to have during the Winter when it is really dry and when I travel.
Until later… Angelina

Hey everyone. My bow broke this past Friday. Today I went to Johnson Strings located near Boston. It was so fun trying out many different bows. I was allowed to try as many as I wanted but had to limit myself to pick 3 or less to bring home and show to my teacher. I tried out different Coda Bows, which are carbon fiber, and I tried different wooden bows within my agreed price range my parents gave me. After about one and a half hours I was able to choose two of my favorite bows to take home and try out for a week.  I could have brought three home but I was sure I would choose one of the two for my new bow.  I chose the Coda Bow Gx, the Gold model in the Diamond series a carbon fiber, and a German factory wooden bow, which is very similar to my bow that broke but it has a better hand hold and is slightly lighter than my broken bow.  Both bows are really nice. Usually the wooden bows have a history to resonate better and the carbon fiber is more consistent and very durable no matter the weather, so lots of violinists will use a carbon bow for outside performances.  It is going to be a tough decision, but an exciting one. I have a week with lots of practice time scheduled to make my decision.  I will play all types of music; soft, load, fast, slow, staccato etc…I  will update you by Saturday morning with my final decision and why I made the choice.
Until Later…. Angelina

Guess what? Never mind I’m to excited! Last Saturday I saw an a-cappella competition with my mother, sister and cousin.  It was a fundraiser for Worcester Education Collaborative.  It was AMAZING! I felt like I was in the movie Pitch Perfect. As some of you know I have a slight obsession to musicals and the two television series Glee and Pitch Slapped, so you can kind of see that I like stuff like that. The competition was so much fun to watch. They had three high school’s competing and five colleges competing.  All the groups were amazing. The college level competition was really close between two groups, The Clark Bars from Clark University, and The Fools on the Hill from Holy Cross College. The Fools on the hill performed two mashups which reminded me of Glee because Mr. Schuster always made his Glee club create and sing mashups. Mashups are just two or more songs combined to make one song. The Fools on the Hill won first place. They had some fancy moves, went last and had great as t song choices. The team I think should have won would have been the Clark Bars. They had so much passion in there singing and dancing. One singer was so memorable, his voice,his feelings that he shared and his great mohawk.  Maybe they will come back next year and blow it out of the park. I heard next year is going to be bigger and better than this year. I can’t wait to go, if I could I would reserve my seat now.
Until Later…. Angelina

Yesterday we had our first annual four orchestra concert. The concert took place at Mechanics Hall in Worcester MA.  The orchestra’s that attended this event included the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Worcester Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, Worcester Youth Symphony Orchestra, Shrewsbury High School’s Chamber Orchestra, and Burncoat High School Orchestra. The Worcester Youth Philharmonic Orchestra performed two pieces with the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra. Both groups also performed one or two pieces alone. The Worcester Youth Symphony Orchestra performed two pieces alone. The Burncoat Orchestra and  the Shrewsbury Chamber performed one piece alone each then WYSO combined with the Burncoat and Shrewsbury Orchestra and performed three pieces. The song that opened up the concert was the Star Spangled Banner. This piece was epic. This piece was performed by the Worcester Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Worcester Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. I think the next time we perform this piece that we should have a singer sing this piece even though it already was a sing along because I could not hear anyone in the audience singing, although my mother said people were singing.  The acoustics in Mechanics Hall are always amazing but it is even more enjoyable to play in Mechanics Hall, knowing that I am joining some of the famous people that have performed before me on the same stage. Just amazing.  It is always a treat. 

This concert was a great experience for me. There were so many people on the stage but we all still sounded amazing. I loved how when we combined groups that I got to sit next to a player from another group. We didn’t have much time to talk but it was nice to meet someone from another school with the same interest and talent.  We played three different pieces with them and only practiced together three times including the dress rehearsal. 

We also were able to get excited about next year, because in the program there was a insert with all of next year’s highlights. Next year we have 3 concerts at Mechanics Hall and one of them Neighborhood Strings is also performing.  I am so excited to share my music and my friends with the children I help teach at Neighborhood Strings.  It will definitely be a day to remember.  The schedule also said we are performing 6 concerts in 7 days during our big tour to Canada during April vacation, which makes me really excited. 

So after the big weekend of practicing and performing we ended up having a snow day today! April 4th, crazy but the day of rest is greatly appreciated. My mom was able to download some of the amazing pieces we performed yesterday to my YouTube page, pinkpaganini so  don’t forget to go check them out and let me know what you think.

Until later… Angelina

Yesterday we had our first annual four orchestra concert. The concert took place at Mechanics Hall in Worcester MA.  The orchestra’s that attended this event included the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra, the Worcester Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, Worcester Youth Symphony Orchestra, Shrewsbury High School’s Chamber Orchestra, and Burncoat High School Orchestra. The Worcester Youth Philharmonic Orchestra performed two pieces with the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra. Both groups also performed one or two pieces alone. The Worcester Youth Symphony Orchestra performed two pieces alone. The Burncoat Orchestra and  the Shrewsbury Chamber performed one piece alone each then WYSO combined with the Burncoat and Shrewsbury Orchestra and performed three pieces. The song that opened up the concert was the Star Spangled Banner. This piece was epic. This piece was performed by the Worcester Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Worcester Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. I think the next time we perform this piece that we should have a singer sing this piece even though it already was a sing along because I could not hear anyone in the audience singing, although my mother said people were singing.  The acoustics in Mechanics Hall are always amazing but it is even more enjoyable to play in Mechanics Hall, knowing that I am joining some of the famous people that have performed before me on the same stage. Just amazing.  It is always a treat. 

This concert was a great experience for me. There were so many people on the stage but we all still sounded amazing. I loved how when we combined groups that I got to sit next to a player from another group. We didn’t have much time to talk but it was nice to meet someone from another school with the same interest and talent.  We played three different pieces with them and only practiced together three times including the dress rehearsal. 

We also were able to get excited about next year, because in the program there was a insert with all of next year’s highlights. Next year we have 3 concerts at Mechanics Hall and one of them Neighborhood Strings is also performing.  I am so excited to share my music and my friends with the children I help teach at Neighborhood Strings.  It will definitely be a day to remember.  The schedule also said we are performing 6 concerts in 7 days during our big tour to Canada during April vacation, which makes me really excited. 

So after the big weekend of practicing and performing we ended up having a snow day today! April 4th, crazy but the day of rest is greatly appreciated. My mom was able to download some of the amazing pieces we performed yesterday to my YouTube page, pinkpaganini so  don’t forget to go check them out and let me know what you think.

Until later… Angelina