I recently had to lead an orchestra to accompany a choir... and one of the pieces was a familiar Handel piece, right down my alley of specialisation! But the other was an Arvo Part piece that was also programmed was quite a different matter... lots of different meters and constantly changing. So, I recommended that everyone read off a score so that they wouldn't get crazily lost...

Of course, I always prefer the old dead tree variant of reading music... I love having paper, even though I rarely write anything down on it. But for this, when reading off a score... and especially the faster movements, it would be impossible to turn the pages fast enough whilst playing violin and leading the ensemble. Sure, I would normally have a desk partner to handle all the page turns... but when reading off the score, we all had our own parts... the music was small enough!

So, a week or so of training myself to be able to read the music, play the violin, direct an ensemble... and most difficult... use the iRig foot pedal to turn the pages on the A4 sized Boox e-reader! Honestly, that was the most difficult thing... I've used this set up for some pop gigs, but generally the page turns weren't that difficult, and the music wasn't crazily brain taxing either...

... in this case, the music was fast and in complex time signatures... so, it all had to be pretty well-oiled. So, lots of playing in real time with a decent recording to make sure that I knew it back to front musically... and foot-pedal-wise! And come the rehearsal... I had it all down... well oiled machine...

... and with that project completed, I'm more than ready to return back to the dead trees.... and the music of 300 years ago.

Now... I know that many violinists aren't fond of wearing ties when they play... especially the Early Music ones that don't use shoulder rests. But I like having ties... possibly due living in Europe where I would rather wear a tie to keep warm and just deal with the slight technical difference in where the violin was placed and balanced. Or... it just didn't bother me really that much, and I think that most musicians need something to complain about!

Anyway, I have a large collection of ties... but some of the nicer ones were starting fray or just get a bit threadbare... and so, during a recent factory outlet trip I saw that a menswear shop were selling off last season's ties for a hefty discount... letting me stock up on a batch of interesting colourful silk ties for the coming future years! Never can have too many of these!

Handy Crypto Tools

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Coinbase: If you need a regulated and safe environment to trade, this is the first exchange for most newcomers!
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CoinList: Access to early investor and crowdsale of vetted and reserached projects.
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ByBit: Leverage and spot trading, next Binance?
OkX: Again, another Binance contender?