Matthias McIntire 🎻🎵

Good evening, Nostr! 💜 I hope you’re all doing well. I just wanted to post a little update, since I haven’t been posting my regular music content recently. The last couple weeks have been very busy irl! I had to finish my violin concerto, which was a ton of work. The premiere performance for that piece, entitled “lost child”, is taking place on November 29th in the evening. Phew! Between that and my regular concert and teaching schedules sort of ramping up at this time of year, it has just been a very busy stretch! I hope to start posting my regular videos to Nostr again soon. Hopefully next week! Thanks for your understanding and thank you to nostr:nprofile1qqswkee53cffl9lms0mzq4myxskkzj6r602yp7cc9g0q7pqsmtpkpyspzemhxue69uhky6t5vdhkjmn9wgh8xmmrd9skcqgewaehxw309ac82unpwe5kgcfwdehhxarj9ekxzmny45z4x8 for the little nudge. Happy holidays to all 🦃🎄

Good morning, Nostr 🌅 Still on viola today in preparation before my recording gig tomorrow. This morning I was listening to Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2, one of my favorite orchestral works. In the opening, “Lever du Jour” (“Daybreak”), Ravel paints the sunrise so beautifully, with everything slowly waking up, light spreading. I couldn’t resist improvising a viola line over it, just for fun. Hope you enjoy this little morning sunrise duet with Ravel 😊 #musicstr https://blossom.primal.net/db7c0c40c5af53d8ca680d6f69d2870fca725334dcaefbe2e8df035814311e58.mov

Good morning, Nostr ☀️ Hope you’re having a great day. This week I’m on viola duty, getting my chops back in shape for a recording session on Saturday. This morning I started with a little Bach, the Prelude from the C major Cello Suite, just as a warm-up. Then I drifted into some improvising in C minor, but still carrying that Bach energy with me. I recorded a little bit of that improv session and you’ll hear those Bach inspired descending scales and flowing lines, but filtered through my own semi-fiddly, semi-jazzy style on viola. It’s funny…. when I listened back, I realized it sounds nothing like Bach, and yet I can feel his influence everywhere in it! Somehow it’s all connected on a subconscious level. Hope you enjoy, and have a great day. #musicstr https://blossom.primal.net/8ab7d8e74f20ffe7250b119272390cf98440b49c19ed7b9fe0bd2fb28a392b69.mov

Good afternoon, Nostr ☀️🎻 Just a fun little pizzicato improv on the viola today! I was running out the door but wanted to share something quick before the day got away. Inspired by the sunshine and my lovely green houseplant. 🌿 Hope you enjoy! #musicstr https://blossom.primal.net/cc87be0ac5237a140a182b676cf8b28013c9811bd5b311f71f0fc013c869ed0b.mov

Good afternoon, Nostr ⚾️🎻 Hope you’re having a good day. I last posted on the day of Game 7 of the World Series… and I was personally rooting for those who lost. It was a heartbreaking night. So today’s little improv is an ode to the Blue Jays… and what might have been 😭💙 It’s always fun to improvise a melody like this. I feel like the internal logic kind of works itself out as I play. By the end, some ideas start to feel more set, if I were to write this down for a composition, I would be finding ways for it to continue “making sense” like it’s starting to at the end of this improv. But for now, it’s just a little musical reflection of heartbreak. Hope you enjoy, and have a great day, and a great November so far! #musicstr https://blossom.primal.net/f5023f1d4502ea89085aa4f9afedbc06e0ec849658330ae654e9d32f5f2bb2d5.mov

Good afternoon, Nostr 🎻 This week I am deeeeep in crunch time, orchestrating like mad to finish my new piece. So I’ve decided: it’s St. Anne’s Reel week! Here’s another progress update. Today I’m playing it noticeably faster, trying to get into that boppy, up-tempo feel… and it’s allllmost there. The tricky part is the start of each new section. My bow’s just not totally organized yet, and I keep flubbing those first gestures a little. The A and B sections begin so similarly, but they’re rhythmically just different enough to throw me off. Still, that’s the process… play through, keep the rhythm, don’t stop, and it gets tighter over time. Here we go: St. Anne’s Reel, progress update #3! #musicstr https://blossom.primal.net/d2f6b448b38941251e393d1f77a177860448c9c8e7d37d8cf2fa56f84c189bd4.mov

Good morning, Nostr ☀️ Hope you’re having a great day. This is just a little St. Anne’s Reel progress update! Today I’m off book, no sheet music! Also playing a bit faster than yesterday. I’ve dropped that slight swing I had before, and now I’m playing the rhythm more straight, just with a touch of bounce. God, I love this tune. It’s so fun and beautiful. I still have to think a bit as I go, but a few more days of practice… and a few more years of playing it… and it’ll be totally in my bones. I love this process. Hope you enjoy. 🎻 #musicstr https://blossom.primal.net/544728687efb4edc5e21e50d0bf016d68ef3f82461c5676fedccf0dd884cde30.mov

Good afternoon, Nostr 🎻 I hope you’re all doing well. Today I thought I’d get back to my fiddly roots here on Nostr. I’ve been hearing this tune pop up in a few corners of the internet lately: St. Anne’s Reel. It’s a really popular one with French-Canadian origins, but I’ve also heard people like American mandolinist Chris Thile play it. It’s just been stuck in my head the past few days, so I decided to finally learn it. Here I’m reading it from the sheet music (the fast way to learn!) and adding some of my own ornamentations while trying to keep the rhythm steady. There are a few little stumbles, but I just try to get right back on track. It’s such a great tune. Hope you enjoy St. Anne’s Reel! #musicstr https://blossom.primal.net/e82864fdf0088dc9853df7f55f4a840f1bb4dcf3e20478ff4c332fdd6330c74e.mov

Good afternoon, Nostr 🌬️ Coming at you today from the university where I teach. I found a few quiet minutes and an upright piano in a practice room… or at least, it’s almost quiet. There’s a fan going in here that I can’t turn off!! I tried a few other rooms, and it’s the same everywhere, a constant pfffffffffffff 😮 So rather than let it stop me, I thought: what does this sound remind me of? Well, it feels a bit like the wind or like weather blowing through. So here’s a little improvisation inspired by that. I imagined a misty seaside island town at night. Wind, rain, something mysterious in the air. Maybe it’s the score to a video game that doesn’t exist yet?? I think I caught a mood. Hope you enjoy my seaside, misty, windblown town for piano. 🌫️🎹 #musicstr https://blossom.primal.net/12d8684418ea95e3d37356132c3645c79d2df58bd7981b5c7d101f12c283d793.mov

Good afternoon, Nostr ☀️ It’s been a few days since I’ve posted. I’ve been in crunch time finishing a new piece I’m composing! It’s nearly done, but I’m deep in the orchestration phase right now, so things are full on. I thought today I’d share something I haven’t done yet on Nostr: a real “work-in-progress”. I’ve actually been working on this piece since I started posting on Nostr at the beginning of August!! So I’m excited and nervous to share a bit of it. It’s called “lost child” and it’s written for solo violin (that’s me) with live electronics and full orchestra. The piece explores two ideas. On one hand, it’s a reflection on childhood… that part of life that feels lost once you’ve grown up. On the other, it ties into the concert’s theme of “finding home”. The story of the music follows a child lost in a strange, sometimes frightening world, and they’re trying to find their way home. Guided by the sound of a family whistle (something my own family has to find each other in crowds or across distances), eventually the child finds their way home. And home for me in this piece is the love and safety one feels with family. The clip I’m sharing today is the opening of the piece. It begins with electronics (which you won’t hear in this version), then the orchestra enters, and finally the solo violin. You’ll see me playing along with a “virtual instrument playback” from my score, and later I show a bit of the score itself with the green playback line moving through it!! So stay to the end to see that :) It’s a longer video, but I hope you’ll stick around for a glimpse into this project that’s been a major part of my life these past few months. The premiere’s at the end of November — almost there! I hope you enjoy this little window into “lost child”🎻 I’d love to hear your questions and comments! #musicstr https://blossom.primal.net/9414212a9b75a7e854c82e7065151924489bcf54b933f1593a74721d21d66674.mov