It was fun, indeed, but I haven’t worked that hard since I retired. Rehearsing a lengthy piece is work. The end-of-the-week concert was a breeze comparatively. And the workshop’s classes were a bit long, though the subjects were useful:
Intonation, expressive performance and bow variations, the bow being 90 percent of the fiddle as my teacher likes to say. The old joke goes: it’s not true the devil invented the fiddle but it is true that he invented the bow. And how.
Nevertheless I am going to try and get in the UTexas adult orchestra to continue this classical adventure a little longer. Only snag would be if I had to audition. I doubt I could get through that. Stay tuned, as the fiddlers say. Ha, ha.
UPDATE: The UTexas Strings Project “parent” orchestra runs an hour a week from September to May and doesn’t require an audition (or a child in the Strings Project), so I’m going to plan on it.
MORE: Meanwhile I signed up for a summer version of the above—five rehearsals and a performance—paid my $100 fee, got my 3 charts via PDF and am practicing them for the start on July 14.