Susanne Hou
Glazounov Violin Concerto hand-written by my father in China…
Notes Archive
Wind Factor
November, 2007
Have you ever wondered how fine our muscle memory must be in order to control the delicate balance in our bows for techniques such as spiccato or ricochet? How about staccato...or better yet, flying staccato...? ;) I recently came to a grand realization of just how delicate our bow equilibrium and control must be in order to perfectly execute all of these techniques. It all happened one beautiful mid-summer night.
On a perfect evening to be walking along Toronto’s shores, I was performing at the "Dim Sum Festival" at the Harbourfront Centre. The festival offered music, food, and drinks, and no one could have imagine a better setting for all the festivities! I arrived to do a sound check and discovered that I would have some distraction that evening. Standing on the stage gazing at the water, I was drawn into the beautiful harmony of nature...sailboats floating by...the sun descending upon the roaring waves...
However, something else was in play that night; it was rather windy. So what’s a little wind, I thought? I finished my sound check, spoke with the media, and prepared for my concert. (To my delight, there was a wonderful stage crew and backstage facilities!)
8:00pm: Concert
As the dim sum steam wafted onto stage, I welcomed my audience and opened the concert with a ’suite of popular folk songs and dances’ by Yang Bo Zhi. Immediately I noticed there was a considerable breeze making my bow feather-light in my fingers. I constantly adjusted my bow pressure to keep my tone consistent. After finishing the suite, I continued the program with Debussy’s Sonata for Violin & Piano, which was perfectly suited for our waterfront view...in fact, my flautando bowing was facilitated by the occasional gust of wind! ;) My pianist, Li Wang, on the other hand, did not have it so easy; several times during the 3rd movement I glanced over with worry, because his music was on the verge of lifting off! Thankfully, his talented page turner was highly skilled in the craft of catching airborne sheets of music...(of course, we only hire the best!) :)
I made some jokes with my audience about being in an outdoor environment with a $4 million dollar instrument...especially with high winds...and asked them to keep sharp and catch my violin & bow in case they went flying into the audience...
I spoke too soon.
The next piece on my program was Tang Kang Nian’s "New Face of My Motherland", a piece he wrote for me, which is all spiccato and rapid flying staccato. I knew I was in for a tough time because flying staccato requires extreme control of the bow, and with the wind gusting the way it had been, it would be a challenge! I demonstrated to my audience how flying staccato worked and again joked with them that if my bow continued the flying motion...I’d require some assistance and quick reflexes from them.
Li Wang broke into the grand musical introduction and so began my battle against nature! Not 2 seconds into my rapid spiccati, a very strong gust of wind blew my hair into my face and onto my strings. Still fiercely playing all the spiccati, I quickly threw my hair back, turning my head to try to catch the wind again to blow the hair out of my face and away from my violin. This, of course changed all the balance of my bow...as the wind blew from behind me, my bow became lighter...as I turned towards it, my bow wanted to fly up, and as I continued to turn, it suddenly became heavier...with hardly a moment to think, I fought all these drastic changes in weight. As I broke into the flying staccato portion of the music, it was futile to try to think and rationalize the best strategy; there were too many variables! The only thing I could do was close my eyes, and hope for the best! With wild gusts of wind blowing through my hair, lifting my bow, and nearly blowing my Del Gesu out of my hand, I tackled the flying staccato and held on for dear life! Behind me, my pianists’ music flew off and landed amidst some fish and chips on a dining table just next to the stage. (That got their attention! If nothing else, I gained 3 more audience members after that stunt!) I cannot tell you how hard I fought to hold only my violin and bow. And flying staccato is difficult enough without factoring in the unknown forces of nature...! Thankfully, years and years of training, practising, and working on staccato and flying staccato left me with some quick reflexes and I managed to hold onto my precious instruments, while twisting and turning to find equilibrium no matter what the wind threw at me!
I felt a wave of relief after finishing the twist and fly. The rest of the concert seemed to breeze by, and as the sun set over the beautiful Toronto Harbourfront, I closed the evening with Sarasate Faust Fantasy. I had a blast, so did Li Wang, and by the sounds of it, so did the rest of our audience! A Kreisler encore for dessert, followed by a CD signing, and I was browsing the Dim Sum offerings in the tents. What a thrilling night!!
For photos from my windy concert as well as an audience blog entry, visit: