All violists out there (violinists and cellists too -.-), open your eyes wide! Have you ever wondered what you are supposed to do when you don't know what to do? Have you ever wondered about how you are going to play when you can't play it? The list goes on but the problems have to be fixed. So catch your horses and glue your eyes to your computer screen. (P.S not literally of course. Unless you want to try it)

Faking? What is it?Answers.com says faking is "To improvise (a passage)" in Music. (Don't you just love the way they make it sound so nice and innocent!) But I prefer this version: "To take on a false or misleading appearance" Henceforth, faking is to mislead the audience, in which case refers to Mr Chan or you stand partner. (The latter should be the more difficult one to deceive, provided he is listening to you) So now that we know what faking is really about, let's get on to business.

A Step-to-Step Guide to Faking!As with all things, preparation is required to ensure success. The same applies for faking. If you're getting the score for the first time, briefly scan through the score so that you know which part you are probably going to fake through.
(Hint: Look for bars containing over 16 running notes.
Bigger Hint: Rutter 1st Mvmt, Last 2 lines)
Of course, if you're not touching the score for the 1st time, meaning you have already left your fingerprints on it, you are legally b0und to fulfilling the commitment you have to the Orchestra. SO PRACTISE.

Anyway let's continue with our guide to faking. After garnering a broad idea of where you're not supposed to fake but have to fake, you need to mentally prepare yourself. Done? Good. On Ahead.

1. 1 Line Before the Faking Part: By now, you should know you're approaching D' Day. Lol, just kidding. Anyway, you should have listened to the other sections playing and get a rough idea about the tempo, theme, tone of the piece. **Important: What you can't play might have been played by other sections in a different manner. Get a rough idea of the speed that it's supposed to be before you continue with Step 2.
2. 1 Bar Before the PART: There are logically no more mental preparation you can give yourself. So tell yourself "Good Luck!", "All the Best!", "You Can Do It!", "It's EASY", "I Will Do It" and mentally cut a piece of cake for yourself.
3. Execution of Faking:
4. Tell Yourself "Nobody is Looking At You"
5. Look at the score if you just got it. Look up if you got it for 2 months already.
6. Stop yourself from tapping your feet, it's not going to help.
7. MOVE YOUR FINGERS. I mean, come on, it's common sense?!!
8. MOVE YOUR BOW. *yawn* How easy can this be?
9. Look at Bjorn/First Stand, make sure you're playing at the same part of bow and ... direction with him. Unless, of course, you know he's faking, but he should still be the best candidate.
10. Make sure you are on the correct string
11. Technical details (Easy so far? Read on!): Turn your bow 45 degrees until you're playing with 1, ONE, UNE, SATU, 一个 bow hair. Please try not to air-bow. I find that after the first few swings of your bow, you actions tend to become rather unnatural: Imagine someone chopping wood and you've got it.
12. Move to the fingerboard, not too far, not too little either. This is an exceptional case -.-
13. If you've got a mute, slide it on STEALTHILY.
14. Don't press on the string with your bow please.
15. No extravagant movements. Bjorn was kidding... Right?
16. Look CONFIDENTLY at the conductor but don't smile.
17. Don't look at your stand partner and stick out your tongue.

Okay... That's all I have for now. Faking might seem easy, but doing it perfectly is astoundingly difficult. Furthermore, that's like 15 things you have to remember and do in like 1 second? More importantly, that's 15 things you have to memorise. I think you would rather spend your time practising than mugging this.

Copyrighted. All Rights Reserved. 30 June 2007, 00.30.20 a.m.