Guest Speaker Andrew Beer - Concert Master with the APO

We were very fortunate to have a wonderful presentation by Andrew Beer who is the Concert Master with the APO.  Andrew is from Vancouver and has travelled and played extensively around the world.  Andrew started to learn to play the violin at the age of 5 using the Suzuki method.  The first song he learned to play was Twinkle, twinkle.  As a child Andrew was very shy but thankfully, his violin teacher saw his talent and encouraged Andrew to overcome his shyness to become the wonderful player he is today.

 

We listened to examples of Baroque music.  The violin hasn't changed much since the Baroque era when  the best violins were made in Italy between 1710 and 1740.  This is sometimes referred to as the 'golden era' of violin making . 

 

Andrew demonstrated the different methods of playing the violin and how to use all four strings at once by rolling the bow.  We listened to examples of Baroque music.  Andrew played parts of music pieces from:

 

- Mozart's 5th Concerto which is a long flowing melody.  By shaking his left hand while playing, Andrew was able to provide quite a different sound.

 

 - Beethoven's Spring Sonata, another long flowing melody which was lovely to listen to as was Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

 

- Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto from the 1880's demonstrates the sliding of the bow.

 

The violin is the closest instrument to the human voice.

 

We heard the solid sound when the bow is played close to the bridge of the violin.  By lightening up your hand while holding the neck of the violin, the violin emulates the sound of the flute.

20th Century Russian music requires very aggressive playing of the violin.

 

Hungarian folk songs have their energy at the beginning of the notes being played. 

 

Before playing in a concert, a lot of time is spent by violin players individually and then about 12 hours is spent rehearsing as a group.

 

The role of a Concert Master is to lead the violinists and also to make sure that bows are always going in the same direction.

 

The use of i-pads instead of sheet music means that you don't have to stop to turn the page.

 

Andrew concluded with a wonderful recital of Vivaldi's Four Seasons.  

 

Bob Elliott thanked Andrew for his entertaining and informative presentation of the beautiful violin instrument.