Okay guys!
WIsh me luck, in one week from saturday, I have all-state tryouts. The exceprts this year is from tchaikovsky's 5th symphony (the actual thing) and they are pretty wild. 2 of the expertps are HALF note=132. =P so yea, I'm hoping to make at least last chair, it's be an honor as a sophmore.

Wow... good luck! :D

oh i'm so late, but i wish you luck anyways. tell us if you make it!

Hey! okay, the all state got canceled because of snow.. It was today though! And omg! Im a sophomore right? Well, I made 5th chair! FIFTH! That means im 5th best violist (in highschool) in the state. ANyway. I called my private teacher and she was in tears.. Im excited.

Awesome!!! :D I'm really happy for you!!! I really want to get around to doing viola but I recently bought an antique violin that has a really rich quality sound, so I dunno...

Violin is an awesome instrument. But I love viola.. It can almost do all of the stuff a violin can, except it can also go lower.. The only thing that it cant very easily is some of the finger stretches. I recently bought the Paganini 24 caprices for viola, and its originally for violin, so the stretches are outrageous! They are doable, but very hard..

Do you struggle with stretching your fourth finger in first position sometimes (like on a 16-inch viola)?

Not at all,I use a 16.5 inch viola, and I actually often stretch past normal fourth finger and use my fourth finger on a note that would normally be in 3rd position. This saves me an unneeded shift. Your hands and finger muscles will get used to it, and become a lot more flexible. The only time we have the impossible stretches are on chords that have an extremely low not and a really high note together. Then you have to stretch an incredible amount. A great example is Paganini's 24th caprice. Its for violin as you know, but I have the viola transposed one. Its VERY difficult to play that on the viola since it's originally for the tiny little violin. :'(