Cello Centered

iPad Fiddlers

2012-01-09T11:40:00.000-05:00

I was delighted to receive the very generous gift of an iPad from my daughter this Christmas. I wanted one primarily to store sheet music. One of the women in the women's fiddle group I play with already had one. She plays the tin whistle, so it is a little easier for her to position the iPad close enough for her to see it when she plays, but it is, I have found, quite possible to use a iPad for cello music too.

So, I walked into the women's fiddle group this past Saturday, with my new iPad (still very few songs in my sheet musica library, and not yet ready to play from it,) I was amazed to see three other women with iPads--and actually using them!

I haven't seen anyone locally using the iPad for classical music, but the fiddleers have really embraced it. In part, this is because, I think, that fiddle tunes are short and more easily viewed on an iPad than more complex classsical musc, and because there is an abundance of online fiddle music libraries already formatted for iPad. Fewer for cello--I have to transpose a lot of the fiddle music for cello or otherwise convert the music to PDF.

The Borromeo String Quartet uses laptop computers to store and play from their sheet music, but such use of digital devices is still apparently rare in the classical world.

I am currently using a program called Scorecerer to store PDF files. It also allows you to ddfingerings, bowings, and other markings, just as you might with a pencil, except you mark with your finger. There are some other programs I might also try, but for now, I think I need to focus on getting my music into PDF files so I can actually use this wonderful little device in sessions.

Orchestra Music

2012-01-06T01:52:00.000-05:00

It was nice to get back to orchestra this week, though the music is challenging. We (the cello section) received an e-mail the day before the rehearsal with fingerings for Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings." It is in five flats, with bass, tenor, and treble clef--goes up to a high G flat, but only briefly. The rest remains more playable, no higher than a high D, thumb-positiony.

After going over it a bit, myself, in orchestra, and with my teacher today, I think that it is going to be as horrendous as I though it would be.

It is, at least, adagio. The hard part might be remember which clef I am in.

Here is a fine version of the piece, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich:

There are eight other pieces, all with their own challenges.

I am very happy to be playing Bach's Fugue in G Minor (the Lesser), which I used to play with my flute quartet. Playing it fast enough will be the issue.

We are also playing "The Stars and Stripes Forever," which I know well from playing it on flute every week in the summer during our Town Band concerts. It is fun taking the lower part for a change.

Our pops tune is Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Symphonic Reflections," a medley of Jesus Christ Superstar, Don't Cry for Me Argentina, King Herod's Song, and Memory. That one seems pretty doable.

Unfamiliar to me is "Tatarian Dances" by Elena Roussanova Lucas. We don't have much in the way of melody, but I really like these dances.

"Band of Brothers" by Michael Kamen has an unrelenting section of triplets that will require some focused playing, and counting.

We are also playing "Variations on a Theme by Handel," by Maurice Whitney, "Legend" by Merle Isaac, "Poem Symphonique 'Les Preludes,'" by Franz Liszt.

It will keep us busy for a while.

Cello Resolution!

2012-01-01T18:17:00.001-05:00

I am in my 12th year as an adult beginner. Sometime I think I am making excellent progress and am clearly an adult intermediate! Other times, such as when I record myself, I am distressed at the sound I make, Not music at all. Funny how the ear seems to correct pitches and rhythms and emotive content when one is listening to oneself play; yet the ear is not tricked by a recording. Yikes. Suddenly one can really hear how one sounds.

At least this is the case for me. But, something about the cello pulls me onward. A good practice session makes me think, yes, I can do this. The trouble is that the good practice sessions are not so frequent as they ought to be.

So, here is my simple resolution for the new year, bright, hopeful 2012: to practice every day, even those jam-packed days when work consumes my every waking minute.

I want to improve pitch, vibrato, dynamics, and musicality.

Orchestra starts this week, and I want to, for once, feel really confident of my playing. This means more time spent on practicing the pieces than I have in the past.

Fiddle music is ongoing, and I want to improve my ability to play by ear, to increase my repertoire of fiddle tunes (by memory/ear) by one a month. My favorite fiddle tunes for cello are still those by Abby Newton.

I hope to play cello duets or trios with others this year, depending on everyone's busy schedules.

Finally, I need to spend more time on scales and etudes. I know they are important, but I tend to skip over them to quickly.

I started on the resolution early, since I had the time off around the holidays. I have now practiced 2 hours a day for four days in a row. I don't expect to be able to continue that, but, as they say, even 10 minutes on those busy days is better than skipping a day.

Happy New Year to all!

Concert Tomorrow!

2011-11-12T14:28:00.001-05:00

Our first orchestra concert is tomorrow, Sunday, 3 PM in Brewster. We are playing:

Brandenburg Sinfonia by J. S. Bach/Isaac
Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens/Isaac
First Essay for Orchestra by Samuel Barber
Sea Song by Vaughn Williams (just the winds)
Jazz Pizzicato by Leroy Anderson/Applebaum (just the strings)
South of the Border (5 dances) by Jerry Neil Smith
Remembering the Beatles arr. Bob Lowden
Hungarian Dance No. 6 by Brahms/Isaac
Skaters Waltz by Emil Waldteufel/Pfortner

We do it all again on Friday, November 18, in Centerville

I meant to spend yesterday and today practicing, but things came up.... Still time today, but I am off to play cello in the fiddle group now. The fiddle group performs frequently, and I join them occasionally. I do hope to join them on a holiday concert in December.

Orchestra

2011-10-10T21:27:00.000-04:00

We are about halfway through the orchestra rehearsal season (concerts are in mid-November), and I still haven't managed a regular practice time. Fortunately this music is much more doable than last season's array of difficult music, so it is easier to manage on my minimal practicing, but there is still a lot of work to do. My work schedule remains overwhelming, so it is hard to squeeze in the time, but I really need to do it.

In other news, a group of about nine cellists have agreed to get together after orchestra ends to play Christmas carols at nursing homes. We will only have a couple of weeks of rehearsal for this, but we've got some easy music, and some music that we've played together before in smaller groups. The nine cellists have played together in several cello quartets over the past 8 or 10 years. I'm really looking forward to this!

Fiddling through the Earthquake

2011-08-25T12:47:00.000-04:00

As the members of the fiddle group (2 fiddles, guitar, tin whistle, bodhran, cello) readied ourselves to play at 2 PM on Tuesday, outside in the ArtMarket, the Washington DC-based earthquake struck the town. I wish I could say that the earth moved when we started to play, but, honestly, none of us felt a thing.

We were probably too engrosed in our first "public" concert. We had performed twice before, both for large family parties hosted by the leader of our group, but this was the first time we were out in public. It wasn't really a concert--there were no chairs set up for people to sit down and listen, but our music was amplified and sent throughout the art fair, so everyone could hear. There is a grassy area in front of the musicians so that people could sit there (some did), but music at the fair is mostly background music.

We had prepared (to varying degrees) lots of music for this 2 and a half hour concert, and for the most part it went well. I probably made a mistake in every tune though. Some more than others. Some because I knew the "hard part" was coming up and froze, some because I was thinking, "This is going well...."

Our list of music did not last the full 2 and a half hours, and when we started at the top of the list again, I felt I was playing better, more relaxed, less inclined to give in to the "hard parts." A friend in the group assured me that no one heard my mistakes. Maybe. But I knew they were there.

Initially we got no response from the audience. No applause, no one looking and smiling, no one coming over to say something nice, as had happened the previous week with the classical group. Then, midway through, people started show some interest (in part families and friends of the players). But a man asked if he could videotape us ("My mother would love this!"), promising he would not put it on YouTube. We said sure, and played our best "Over the Waterfall" for him. I noticed someone else videotaping too. I tried to look pleasant, as I am frequently scowling in photos of my playing the cello.

All in all, it was fun and the weather was gorgeous. I am looking forward to the next time, hoping to weed out a few more errors.

Where Did the Summer Go?

2011-08-21T10:48:00.000-04:00

Ok, we still have a couple of weeks of summer, but it has slipped by so quickly. Our end-of-summer performance that was so far in the future is this Tuesday. This will be the fiddling group concert. The classical music quartet performed last Tuesday.

Both performances were/are at an outdoor art fair, where people do not actually sit down and listen to us, but get to hear us amplified throughout the entire craft fair. There's no escape for them. I have pretty much gotten over my "don't mike me" attitude, having been convinced by the "when in doubt, play out" school of performing that a strong, resonant, robust wrong note is better than a scratchy, tentative, wimpy right note. That, and we have improved.

Our recent quartet performance, a 2-and-a-half-hour gig, was much better than our June concert. We did have a few breakdowns, but nothing terribly dramatic, and some pieces we played better than ever. Pachelbel's Canon, for instance. As you may know, the cello part for this is the same 8 notes over and over and over and over again. And, even though I have them memorized, I read from the sheet music so I know where we are, even though I admit this is silly.

One of our flute players has had problems with the piece, and we omitted it from our June performance. This time we decided to go for it. The flutists played perfectly. My mind wandered and I got lost, briefly. The viola player also got lost, but she is a great improviser, and found her way to the end.

Because there wasn't really an audience, there was no formal applause after each piece, though we did get intermittent applause and yells of appreciation, and some people came over to tell us they enjoyed our playing, pleased to hear chamber music outside.

I don't remember if Pachelbel's Canon got any applause, but more important for me was our satisfaction in playing a mostly intact version of it. In addition, we played Haydn's London Trio, no. 1; a long-time favorite, Handel's Water Music excerpts, a new favorite; Ash Grove, Simple Gifts, Sellinger's Round, works by Boismortier, Wiseman, some Rodgers and Hammerstein show tunes, and more. We prepared a lot of music for this event, given its length. We only had to repead a couple of short pieces to round out the 2 1/2 hours.

This Tuesday, it's 2 1/2 hours of fiddle tunes! This is a women's fiddle group with fiddles, guitar, tin whistle, mandolin, and me on cello. We use sheet music, which I love because it is hard for me to memorize so many fiddle tunes and harmony parts. But I have probably spent more time transposing fiddle parts and working out playable arrangements (simplifying the fast runs, figuring out which octave works best, etc.) than I have practicing.

Practicing--a good idea! I will do it now!

Two Concerts

2011-07-28T03:02:00.000-04:00

This summer I am playing in two ensembles, the M&M's group (2 flutes, violin/viola, cello) which plays mostly classical music, and Ladies' Choice, a fiddle group of varying numbers of women playing varying instruments: fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bodhran, tin whistle, and me on cello.

Both groups will play at a weekly arts market (different weeks in the second half of August), so both groups are practicing. Again, I am hoping both groups pull it together in time!

I love playing outside in the summertime, but it is still hard to find the time to practice. Two performances are a good motivation though.

Still playing....

2011-06-30T17:34:00.000-04:00

Periodically, I like to return to this blog, and, yes, indeed, I am still playing the cello! It is just that life is so busy, or, more truthfully, that I am not making enough progress to report it here.

Of course, that is because I am so busy. Still struggling to find time to practice.

My quartet is still meeting weekly for a 2-hour rehearsal. We love this opportunity to play together, and we do occasionally sound good. The mid-June concert did not go well though. No matter, it was at an outdoor art festival, and there were very few people in the audience: a fellow cellist, and the family of one of the flutists. And the people scheduled to perform next. There may have been a couple of others, but attendance was slim.

No matter. I just like playing outside on a beautiful summer day.

We had some problems staying together on a couple of the pieces. Maybe the acoustics affected our ability to hear each other. Maybe we were not quite prepared. But we did stop a couple of times. It was not as humiliating as it might have been, given the sparsity of the audience, but it was disappointing.

We did not record it. :-)

Personally, I am working on some intonation issues and making some progress. I am still trying to find time to practice every day. I managed about every other day last week, and hoping to keep to that, at least.

My teacher suggested practicing first thing in the morning, coffee cup at hand. Oddly, that is what I had done that very day, deadlines hanging over my head and all. A very nice start to the day!

2 Flutes, Violin, and Cello

2011-01-29T20:42:00.000-05:00

We have added a violinist (who also plays the viola a little) to our chamber group (now respelled as M&M's), and are looking for appropriate repertoire. Not much is written for 2 flutes, a violin, and a cello. We are working on a piece now by Boismortier, arranged for 1 flute, 2 oboes, and piano. I am playing the left-hand piano on cello, and the flutes and violin are divying up the flute and oboe parts. It sounds surprisingly good.

We also have some four-part recorder music, some standard quartet music (with either 3 violins or 2 violins and viola), though some of it is more violin-y than flute-y, but it is fun to explore what we have and see if it will work, for us, and for our instruments.

We have a another performance, too, though not until mid-June. About 45 to 50 minutes this time. A nice goal!

Meanwhile, the fiddling group is coming along. There were 9 people at the rehearsal today: tin whistle, mandolin, bodhran, guitar, 4 fiddles, and me, on cello. We have a performance in March.

And the orchestra is playing February 9 at a local school, and again in May (2 concerts).

That should keep me busy.

The Em & M's

2011-01-24T15:12:00.001-05:00

Ok, I've been busy. Work, work, work, but lots of music too. I am playing in orchestra, in the fiddle group, in the women's fiddle group, and now with a new trio, made up of remnants of the flute choir, after it dwindled down to a precious few.

We call the new group the Em & M's because of our names: Emma, Marilyn, and Marilyn. We all play flute. Marilyn and I play cello, and Emma has expressed interest in learning the cello. She also plays piano and guitar.

We got together just before Christmas to put together a 10-12 minute performance for a benefit concert for a group that collects care package items to send to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The flute choir has always participated (as has the fiddle group), so we gathered what was left of it and created a 2 flute/cello trio. I randomly selected a piece from my stack of mostly unperformed trio music: Trio for 2 Flutes and Cello, by Carlo Wiseman, written about 1750, and a folk song, "The Ash Grove."

The cello parts were not difficult (mostly first position--I would recommend both pieces for an adult beginner), but it did take us a while to get it all together. We performed it this past Saturday, and my husband videotaped it (and missed the first few measures of each piece; the Wiseman has 3 movements).

I am not entirely please with my performance--you can hardly hear me! I really thought I was playing louder than it sounds on the video, and my husband thought the instruments were well-balanced during the performance. On the other hand, I was worried about pitch and sound (the cello sounded scratchy to me), and may have deliberately played softly. I felt good about "The Ash Grove" though, and thought that was louder. But it isn't.

Oh well. I will post them anyway. I am hoping we will perform again in June (again taking the flute choir's regular slot at an outdoor arts fair), and we can see the progress!

The bowl in front of us is not for donations--it is full of M&Ms for the audience to munch on.

(All the videos are cut off in my view of this blog. You can see more on the right side on Youtube.)

Wiseman, movement 1

Wiseman, movement 2

Wiseman, movement 3

The Ash Grove

Oh, I also played with the Falmouth Fiddlers:

And later, Marilyn and I played flute to accompany the Mashpee Singing Seniors, but we were drowned out by the trumpets, the piano, and the chorus, so I won't post that here!

Cape Community Orchestra

2010-11-19T16:42:00.000-05:00

Excerpts from the Cape Community Orchestra performance on Sunday, November 14, 2010, in Brewster, MA. This was taken by a friend and fellow cellist; I am playing seventh cello. Well, someone had to do it!

It was great fun, and we are going to do it again all over again in Centerville tonight.

Too busy!

2010-09-16T22:46:00.000-04:00

This is not going well, this effort to post every day in September. I am inundated by work and obligations, trying to do a major decluttering of the house, staying up too late, and, generally, forgetting to post. This morning I slept late, missing my 10:30 AM cello lesson. I was also late to orchestra yesterday, missing the first piece. This because I was late getting my work done at the office. It just snowballs. I persist.

Orchestra was fun, nevertheless, and the tricky parts are becoming clearly identified. There is one section in the Bacchus where the fingering is baffling. I really could have used that lesson this morning. The whole cello section had trouble with it, when the conductor singled us out to play it up to speed. There was more or less silence from the six cellos. Then he slowed it down for us, and we managed to get through it. He said he would play it slow for a couple of weeks, but we needed to woodshed it. In a way, it is kind of nice to have that little challenge to focus on.

Ooops.

2010-09-14T02:17:00.000-04:00

Well, I missed in a day in my every-day-for-the-month-of-September blogging effort. I have been quite busy with work and stayed up very late last night workg, maybe 5 AM. I went into work today, but was kind of wiped out this evening. It is 2 AM now, and I am taking a break from practicing to write this.

I start lessons again this week after about three weeks of teacher vacation. I thought I would make great progress in certain areas, but, in part because I am going in so many areas at once, I can't really point to great strides anywhere.

For orchestra, I am working on the March of Bacchus because its 3 and 4 flats make it the most challenging. I record the rehearsals so I can listen and play along at home, but I can't say I have happily gotten through this whole piece yet. As our kindly conductor said at the first rehearsal, if we could all play it perfectly we would not have to have rehearsals. We would just show up at the appointed hour of the concert.

I talked to a jazz saxophone/flute player today who said he does not rehearse with his fellow band members before doing a show. He likes to keep the music fresh. He travels all over the world, playing with different musicians. They might talk a little before the concert, if they speak the same language, but the concert is "in the moment," and they all understand the language of music. (This is not just going with the flow, but having an thorough understanding of music theory and how to play together.)

It would be great to be able to play that way, but I don't think it is in the cards for me, without a lot more study. For me, though, fiddling fills that desire to just get together and play, and that is why I keep trying!

String Bass Gymnastics

2010-09-12T18:12:00.000-04:00

I went to see the Simon Sinfonietta concert last night, featuring string bass player, Richard Fredrickon performing Paul Ramsier's (b. 1937) Divertimento Concertante for Double Bass and Giovanni Bottesini's (1821-1889) Grand Duo for Violin and Double Bass. Charles Sherba played violin.

Fredrickson is not only a highly accomplished bass player, but he also exudes warmth and good feeling, cracking jokes about an out-of-tune string and imitating a fog horn while tuning. Stephen Simon offered a few humorous comments of his own: "no one should play an instrument that large." The two have been friends for many years.

The two pieces offered a rare opportunity to see and hear a solo string bass player, and the Grand Duo seemed to take both instruments through every possible style and technique of playing, each instrument showing off and then coming together, from the lowest possible notes on each instrument to the highest. Simon had arrange the piano part of the Grand Duo for orchestra. It was an amazing piece,and the audience leapt to its collective feet at the end of it.

The Grand Duo is considered to be a very difficult piece. Usually I would say here, but the soloists made it look easy, effortlessly gliding from one note to the next. Sherba did make it look easy. But Fredrickson did not, and I say this with the best possible intentions. He is a tall man, but his double bass seemed enormous, and when he reached his long arms down to play at the very end of the fingerboard, you could feel his effort. I was in the fourth row (it is a small concert hall, actually a private school gym with risers), and you could see the energy it took to produce such music on the bass, and he called attention to it himself, wiping his brow with a handkerchief after every movement. A good honest performance. He made it look hard, but played it magnificently nevertheless.

Fiddling, Again

2010-09-11T18:17:00.000-04:00

I hesitate to mention this, again, but, once again, I have made a concerted effort to learn fiddle tunes on the cello. I have been working on learning fiddle tunes for years. I learn a few. I stop. I forget. I decide to try a tune again an octave up or an octave down, trying to make it more playable. I learn a few more tunes. I play with other people. I have memory lapses when I am playing with other people. They play the tunes differently from the way I play them. They play them too fast. They know a lot more tunes than I do.

But, I persist because I like playing fiddle tunes and I like playing them with other people. Eventually, I will stop trying to memorize and focus on learning/playing by ear. I will learn how to accompany. I have lots of fiddling books, lots of information about how to play the tunes and the backup. It is just a matter of finding the time to practice. Well, mostly a matter of finding the time to practice. But no matter what I do, I am still going to have problems with the speed of some of these tunes. I need to simplify these tunes or figure out accompaniments.

This fall, I have orchestra pieces, the cello trio pieces, and my regular lesson work, in addition to the fiddle tunes. So, I am just picking a few tunes ("Irish Washerwoman," "Coleraine," "Red Wing," "Liberty," and "Flowers of Edinburgh"), and a couple of Scottish ones that I "learned" at Scotttish Fiddle Camp from Abby Newton a few years ago. No one plays these in sessions, but I like them, and eventually I will find a group to go with them: "Willie's Auld Trewes" and "The Corbie and the Crow."

I am planning on attending a fiddle weekend in November: one day of workshops and 2 days of playing together. So, that's my goal, to be able to play the handful of tunes I know, these, and, hopefully another batch, by the time mid-November rolls around in two months.

There will be a CD provided, for learning-by-ear purposes, but it won't be available until the end of September. And, of course it is a violin CD. There was only one other cellist when I attended last year. I do have a list of tunes, and it is similar to the list of tunes played by our local fiddle group. Unfortunately, I keep missing those sessions, in part because I just need to learn more tunes to feel like I am contributing. I know, most people go to sessions to learn the tunes. It is a little different when you are the only cellist, but I should just go. The people are supportive.

I do plan to play with the local fiddle group on Halloween, for the Cape Cod Marathon. We play along the route to encourage the runners every year, and it is lots of fun, if sometimes a bit cold. In exchange for playing, we get sweatshirts or jackets, so, except for our fingers, we should be warm.

Stand Up To Cancer

2010-09-10T20:57:00.000-04:00

After orchestra rehearsal, I was blathering on to a friend about minor family problems; I finally asked her how she was, and she told me she was traveling to see her daughter the next day because her daughter was having a double mastectomy. That puts things in perspective.

I'm watching "Stand Up to Cancer" now, very moving. Earlier this afternoon, I got a call from another cancer organization, or so they said. I asked how much of my donation would go toward research. They said 20 percent. Amazing they would even admit it. In contrast, 100 percent of donations to Stand Up to Cancer go to research. I'll donate to Stand Up to Cancer, just as soon as I can get through by phone or on the web site!

Cello Trio pieces

2010-09-09T15:59:00.001-04:00

Carol, Marilyn B, and I (my name is also Marilyn, as I may have mentioned) play together in a cello trio.I met Marilyn in my flute group. She started out on cello in school, but switched to flute. When my flute was in need of repair, she loaned me her flute, a very good flute, for over a year, while I scraped together the money to have my flute repaired. (The original estimate was $800, but it finally got down to $550 or so.)

So, I found it easy to loan her my second cello for an unspecified amount of time so she could play with us. She is a good flutist, and you would not know, to hear her play the cello, that she has not played in 40 or 50 years. She is doing well, and happily content to play the lower parts, while Carol and I argue about who should play first. ("You!" "No, you!")

We have worked out an easy system: we take three pieces at a time, each of us selecting one on which to play first. It has been hard to get the three of us together at the same time this summer, what with work, travel, and longing to spend a day at the beach. We are currently focused on three pieces and will have a coaching session in October with my and Carol's teacher, after MB returns from a month away. We will wait until she has had an opportunity for a lesson with our teacher so we will all go into the coaching session with a pre-coaching lesson.

We are using Suzuki music for our first set of trios. I am playing "Chanson Triste" by Tchaikovsky using the Suzuki arrangement in which I play the entire melody line and parts 2 and 3 play supportive roles. I have this for memory now, and my teacher thinks it sounds great, full of expression. I agree, most of the time, when I am playing it, but when I record it and listen back, I am dismayed. Horrified. (no, I can't blame this on the quality of recording. My teacher's cello playing sounds great.)

It sounds like I am anticipating the beat, not letting the notes linger long enough. I am working on expressiveness. This is a good piece for it.

It has been interesting to play this piece as ensemble--helped to point out to me two spots where I was lingering too long on a note. Yes, my teacher had pointed out these spots, but playing in an ensemble helps to make the point. (This is in tenor clef, if the fingerings look odd. The circled note in measure 33 is one I hang on to.)

Carol is playing Marie's "La Cinquantaine," choosing an arrangement for cello quartet in which the melody moves around among the parts. She has re-arranged it to take back some of the melody from MB because it is beyond her comfort zone right now. Both Carol and I use Coda Finale a lot to transpose, arrange, or otherwise manipulate music. Carol's work is often a great help, putting three parts into a score, for instance, so we can see what is happening in the other parts as we play. And in this case, making a quartet into a trio.

I am enjoying revisiting "La Cinquantaine," and it has inspired me to revisit all the pieces in books 1 to 4 (I am in book 5 at the moment), re-memorizing, re-understanding fingerings, improving intonation, and working on improving my vibrato. Very helpful. More on this later. (I really don't know what book Carol is in, but she is ahead of me. Our teacher does through books 5 through 8 out of order, so we each have all three of those books.)

MarilynB is playing "Berceuse" by Shubert and it sounds good. Carol and I have simple parts (this is the Suzuki arrangement), and the emphasis is on intonation and harmony.

I am hopeful we can eventually sound good enough to perform somewhere, perhaps at the nursing home where both the flute group and the cello trio rehearse. I think a combined flute and cello recital would be best, and more interesting for the audience. We shall see!

Orchestra Tonight!

2010-09-08T22:35:00.002-04:00

My cello folder, in a Cape Cod setting (my back yard).
Note provided pencil, a heartwarming touch.

I am just home from orchestra rehearsal, the first rehearsal of the fall season. I am playing with the Cape Community Orchestra, which meets in Harwich, about an hour's drive from where I live. There is another orchestra in town, but that orchestra, which I played with for a year, a couple of years ago, now has auditions and seems to need only three cellists. I am not one of them.

The Harwich orchestra had six cellists tonight, and one or two more may come later. There are no auditions, no fees, and the music comes in a nice black orchestra folder, complete with pencil! I played with this orchestra last fall, but found it difficult to maintain the schedule.

Wednesday is a very busy work day for me, and I have to finish or I just can't leave (I work at a newspaper--you have to respect the deadlines). So, I am going to make a concerted effort to get everything done by 5 PM so I can arrive on time this year. I did tonight. Last fall, I regularly missed the first piece of each rehearsal. (When I am not rushing off to orchestra, I might linger til 7 or 8 PM).

The music is easier this fall than last. (Possibly I am better, too.) Just challenging enough to make me think that I can do a good job with it with the practice time I have available.

Here is what we are playing:

Die Fledermaus Overture, by Johann Strauss, Jr., edited by Tom A. Kennedy

Two Gymnopedies, by Erick Satie, orchestrated by Claude Debussy

March and Procession of Bacchus, by Leo Delibes, arranged by Merle J. Isaac

Two by Berlin, by Irving Berlin, arranged by Edmund J. Siennicki

Theme from Schindler's List, by John Williams, arranged by Robert Longfield

In a Monastery Garden, by A. W. Ketelbey, arranged by C. Paul Herfurth

Magic Melodies (Falling in Love with Love, Strange Music, I'll Follow My Secret Heart)

Hatikvah, by Nikola Ovanin

Tarentelle in E Minor, by Stephen Heller

The March and Procession of Bacchus, Die Fledermaus, and Two By Berlin have some passages that will need extra practice, but generally I think this is all doable. I will keep you posted. It felt great to be playing in the orchestra again, among friends.

Comments

2010-09-07T23:50:00.000-04:00

Blogger has changed a lot in the past year, most of which I have not been actively contributing to my blog. I still haven't figured it all out. Right now I am dealing with comments. When I returned, I found about a dozen comments to be moderated. Not a whole lot, but it has taken me a little time to post them and respond to them.

I am not going to post two of them. Both seemed to be from kids. They were critical of one of the other commenters who had admitted that it has taken her a long time to learn the cello. As I recall, they said, more or less, give up the cello if it is so hard for you. (I am not not posting them because they were negative, so much as because they are old and it is unlikely that the original commenter would see them or respond to them.)

The comments reminded me of many YouTube comments by what appear to be 7th graders who are studying the same piece. No matter what virtuoso is playing, they find something to criticize, often by minute-second count. As in, at 1:32, he or she is playing way too fast. Or is out of tune, or missed a note. It is even worse when students critique other students. The criticism is occasionally constructive, but often not.

I have not put any of my own cello playing on YouTube, but I did put a piece by my flute group online, as we were part of a larger festival, and I was putting everyone else online. True, we playing the piece a too slow, but the sole comment: "If you can't play this piece up to tempo, don't play it at all," or words to that effect, seemed a little harsh.

I left that comment up, though I find it embarrassing. But, we are going to keep playing that piece, and one of these days we will get it up to speed. Then--maybe--I will upload another video.

Local Television, Cellos, and Me

2010-09-06T21:58:00.000-04:00

I am watching one of my TV shows as I write this. It is a concert featuring a local women's chorus and a children's theater production, both directed by the same woman. I produced the show, ran the camera, edited video and sound, added graphics--everything but sing in the chorus.

It's in focus, that much I can say, and there are a variety of different types of shots (close-up and distance). The quality of the sound could be better.

When my kids were 8 and 10, my husband answered an ad looking for children to be in a locally produced cable TV show. I distrusted the ad. It was not grammatically correct. It seemed to play into parents' desires to make their child a star.

I didn't trust the producer of the show, but I found her very intriguing. Insane, might be a better word, just short of evil. The kids enjoyed being in the show. They got to sing and act and play the saxophone. I helped on the show, but, at the same time, investigated the woman and decided to do my own show, in which the kids would be the hosts. My show went on the air a couple of months later, just as hers went off the air. It wasn't much of a victory for me: she died of ovarian cancer. (There is a much longer story here--I have tried to write it as a novel. Someday I will finish that tale.)

And I had a tv show. I kept it on the air for about two years, but it was a grueling schedule. I should mention that our local cable access station has wonderful staff and classes. Anyone who wants to can put on a show. There is a lot of support from staff and other volunteers.

Eventually, though, I ran out of time, energy, and ideas, and the kids entered junior high. We ended the show about 12 years ago. I continued taping school concerts for a while, but moved on to other things (like playing the cello).

Last spring, though, I heard about a new local show that would include short (5 to 7 minute) segments produced by various people. "I could do that!" I thought.

As it turns out, in TV production, as in writing, it often takes longer to produce a shorter piece. My segments, 4 so far, have been about 10 minutes; the last one ran 13 minutes and 49 seconds, though I did give the overall producer permission to cut it, after I finished editing it as tightly as I could.

I soon started taping concerts by local singers and musicians, and have also produced four more-or-less hour-long concert shows. The first was a cello master class with Wendy Warner. She played with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra in May, and, in coordination with that performance, gave a master class to four local cello students (three are students of my own cello teacher). I love that show--I could watch it over and over again--and have!

Ah, the women's chorus show just ended, and the cello show is airing again. It makes me happy, though I do wonder who is watching it. No matter. That is one of the reasons I love local cable access television production. It gives you creative freedom to fill television screens with cello music.

Town Band Encore

2010-09-05T12:12:00.000-04:00

I started playing the flute when I was 9. I was never really any good at it. For a long time, I could only play pieces I knew, because of my inability to count.

Then, my children started showing an interest in music. They were very, very good, and it inspired me to take up flute again, and at various intervals, oboe, tin whistle, piano, cello, fiddle, dulcimer, octave mandolin, and guitar. (Cello is my true calling, thus the name of this blog.)

My children's enjoyment of school band inspired me to join the Town Band, and though I still wasn't very good, I persevered. It helped that I have two friends who are very good flutists. I sit next to them. It helps a lot.

My children joined Town Band too. My son played saxophone--at 12, he was immediately selected for a solo, and my daughter played clarinet and oboe. My husband became the Town Band announcer. I spent 9 years in Town Band, then 3 playing only sporadically. My children stopped playing or after high school. (It is a commitment--10 rehearsals and 10 performances, from the end of April through, this year, the first week in September.)

I rejoined the band for the last two concerts of the season, and my son returned for the final concert. He played his old solo again, after several years of completely avoiding his saxophone. He had practiced maybe once or twice in the week prior to the concert. I really didn't know what to expect.

He was absolutely amazing, full of depth and feeling. I have never heard him play that solo so well. Brought tears to my eyes. How is this possible? I can't play anywhere near that well, after years of practicing.

I hope he continues playing--he has such power! I will continue practicing, hopefully more inspired than discouraged!

Fall Cello

2010-09-04T23:59:00.001-04:00

Well, Hurricane Earl was a washout, thank goodness. We got a lot of rain, but not much wind, and all was sunny and bright when I woke up this morning.

Cellistically, I am getting ready for fall. I start community orchestra on Wednesday of this week, I am working on memorizing fiddle tunes in preparation for attending Fiddle Hell again this year, and I am playing with a cello trio (we are each playing 1st on a piece--mine is Chanson Triste from Suzuki, book 4). I am also working on my regular etudes and Suzuki (Vivaldi, Book 5, at the moment). Trying to find enough time to practice!

Waiting for Earl

2010-09-03T23:59:00.000-04:00

Fortunately, Hurricane Earl has weakened to a tropical storm. We have had a lot of rain, throughout the day, but not much wind. If all goes well, we will wake up to sunshine--and less humidity!

I have spent most of the evening trying to replace the screen in one of my two laptop computers (the one I use for the newspaper work). I got the old screen out, and the new one in, but just can't get the the last couple of screws back in. Frustrating.

Time to practice.

Reviewing Art

2010-09-02T22:52:00.000-04:00

I met with a local artist this morning to discuss guidelines for artists and others who want to write art reviews. She brought some reviews that had run in the paper, and I brought some guidelines that I had found online.

Here are some thoughts we had:

1. Reviews should support the local arts.
2. Reviews should be honest and served the readers' needs for information about the show.
3. Reviews should contain constructive criticism.
4. Reviews should be educational for the reader (and probably for the writer).
5. Reviews might include interviews with the artist(s) about their methods, intent, process, and background; thoughts on other issues like framing, hanging arrangement, and setting; and personal opinion, so long as it is supported.
6. Descriptions of art should use art terms and concepts--rather than simply saying it was a lovely painting of a beautiful sunset.
7. I suggested 700 words, though longer or shorter could be fine. When I first started writing music reviews, they were 1200 words, but now I try to keep them under 900, aiming at 600 or 700.

It's a start.

Busy Summer!

2010-09-01T23:56:00.000-04:00

I just noticed that NaBloPoMo's theme for September is "art." I haven't posted in ages, but art and the arts is a theme I can relate to. So, I will try to resume this cello blog.

It has been a busy summer. I have been to countless plays, concerts, and art exhibits. Well, I could probably count them. Probably 2 or 3 a week. Not so overwhelming, except that I review them for the newspaper, and that does tend to take longer than the actual event.

Reviewing the local art scene, as a person without a specific education in the arts, can be challenging. One wants to support the arts, yet, at the same time, provide reliable information to those who spend money on tickets to plays and concerts. Art gallery receptions are free, and there are usually refreshments.

Sometimes the music is great, but way too loud. Sometimes the acting is great, but the play is insipid or hopelessly dated. Sometimes the audience loves it, and I don't. Sometimes, I am completely awed, but at a loss for words.

I sometimes ask others to write reviews for me--if there are multiple events on the same night, or if I feel another person is better qualified. So, I am in the process of putting together some guidelines for other reviewers, and will share my thoughts on writing reviews over the month of September.

(NaBloPoMo is National Blog Posting Month, which used to be only in November, but has been every month, with themes, for a couple of years now.)

I am still playing the cello, still taking lessons, still playing with several groups: a trio of cellists, a group of fiddlers, and a community orchestra. More on all of this another time. Orchestra starts a week from today.

There's a Cello App for That!

2010-05-23T19:03:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to change my cell phone service. I really didn't use my cell phone much. For one thing, I didn't have service at home, so my cell phone number wasn't a reliable communication device. I liked the GPS that I paid $25 extra per month for, and finally came to the realization that I should get a separate GPS device, and cut my cell phone service down to the bare minimum.

Still, I was intrigued by what my son and daughter could do with their cell phones, including connect to Facebook and e-mail. So I asked the helpful young man in Radioshack to show me what other options I had, since I really couldn't made head or tail of the multitudes of different kinds of phones listed on my cell phone provider's website.

He showed me his iPhone, and, after I realized that it was actually cheaper than my old cell phone service, I switched to AT&T. I have only had the phone a short time, so I am no expert, but there are a multitude of apps that are particularly useful for cellists (and other musicians).

I bought a tuner app to have one on hand in case I forgot to bring my tuner to a rehearsal. At $4, this is one of the most expensive apps I have purchased. Most of the ones I use are free. It is an amazing device, and very sensitive. I prefer it to my $60 tuner.

You can also get a metronome. I chose a free one. Last week, we timed our concert pieces with the stop watch app that comes with the iPhone. You can record audio or video with the phone. At my lesson, last week, I recorded my teacher demonstrating how to practice a tricky passage, and I can play it back any time I want, right from my phone. The audio quality is very good.

You keep track of your rehearsals, lessons, concerts, and other events with the built-in calendar, which is very useful for me, because I go to a lot of concerts, plays, and art shows at different locations (I review them for the paper). It is much better than my former system of writing events, times, and addresses down on scraps of paper. There are also GPS systems built in. The free ones are not as fancy as the one I had on my other phone, but such systems are available for purchase. There seem to be a zillion of them, so I haven't figured out which one is best yet, and the free ones are just fine for local use.

You can get apps that turn your iPhone into a cello (at least three, all functioning differently) so you can make music wherever you are. Here is an example of ThumbJam's cello from YouTube. It seems best for New Age, jazz and improvisation, though I have been working on "French Folk Song," and will post it if I can. (You can get different effects on this app, like staccato.) This video shows cello (sound by Zoe Keating) along with several other instruments, including the flute, which has a nice sound quality on ThumbJam.

Here is another amazing app called String Trio that turns your phone into a stringed instrument. I haven't tried this one yet. Looks interesting!

You can buy sheet music apps which display sheet music on your phone. I have not seen any sheet music specifically for cello, but have seen it for flute and piano. I don't know how one is supposed to read the sheet music. It is quite tiny on an iPhone, but I'll bet it looks good on an iPad!

There are music tutorials and learning games, including flashcard-like programs to teach the tenor clef, rhythm, chords, or whatever you need to learn. There are record-keeping and list-making apps that could be used to track your practicing, or your gigs, or your sheet music or CD collection.

The iPhone has a built-in iPod. I had an iPod-type device a few years ago, but could not figure out how to find music on it. It was a little too touch-sensitive for me. This one is great and I am gladdened and amazed by it and by other music services like Pandora Radio (which, if you have not found it on the Internet or your phone, is just wonderful, and you should stop everything and try it out. You type in the name of a favorite artist or composer or composition and it plays an endless stream of music by that artist or composer or like that composition, and related music that you will probably also like).

It reminds me of that day, long, long ago, when I bought my first transistor radio, for $10, I think (which was a lot of money way back then), and suddenly could have music everywhere. But, as I was perhaps the last person on the planet to get an iPod, you probably know how wonderful an iPod can be.

I wondered if there might be a music stand light app, and found flashlight apps. I downloaded a free one, which is kind of dim, but can help you find your way in the dark, and looks like it would be great for those times I have to take notes in a pitch-black theater. I have used a regular cell phone to light my way, but the advantage to these flashlight apps is that they stay on; you don't have to keep closing and opening your phone.

Some of the items that could be replaced by my iPhone: clockwise, camera, tuner, metronome, stopwatch, audio recorder, and video recorder. This photo was take with my iPhone.

About the only thing I haven't found is a music stand app, but the way things are going, I am sure there will be a levitation app before long that will allow your iPhone to float in front of your eyes, hands free.

An extra bonus, for me, is that my new iPhone actually works in my house so I can actually use it as a phone too.

Still Playing Cello

2010-04-02T21:08:00.000-04:00

I haven't written in months, but thought I would check back in to confirm that yes, I am still playing cello. Life has been busy though, and I don't have much real cello progress to report.

I am focusing on improving intonation, vibrato, and general cello technique, rather than trying to keep up with cello orchestra music for now. I do love to play with others though and several of us have gotten together to play cello. The composition of the group has changed a bit since we started in the fall, but now we seem to have a stable cello trio, and lots of music to explore: classical, folk, fiddle, and Irish arrangements at the moment. We established the group with the idea that we would have regular coaching from a cello teacher, but we haven't brought the coach in yet.

As sort of a substitute for coaching, I have been videotaping the group with my new FlipVideo camera. Watching (and listening to) the tape is a real eye-opener (and ear-opener). And, no, I am not going to post any of the videos here yet!

As always, I need more time to practice, but the trio has been great fun, and wonderful motivation.

Catching Up with Orchestra and More....

2009-12-22T21:10:00.011-05:00

It has been a long time since I have written a post, and a lot to catch up on.

When I last wrote, I was in the Cape Community Orchestra, preparing for a concert. I was one of seven cellists, because the CCO is not an auditioned group and seems happy to take anyone. Even with seven of us, we seemed dwarfed by the brass section.

We had a couple of easy pieces, a couple of challenging pieces, and one nearly impossible piece (The Hebrides, by Mendelssohn). At first I concentrated on the Hebrides, learning a couple of measures at each lesson. That part was fun, seeing an impossible section suddenly become playable with the proper fingering. But, in between lessons, I did not find time to practice, so the work was for naught, or next-to-naught, because even if I could play those sections, I couldn't play most of them fast enough. I loved the music, and with sufficient time to practice, might have become more proficient, but "sufficient" time was not at hand.

Some weeks I didn't practice at all. I didn't even think about practicing. It is not like I though, gee, I should practice, right after I finish this pressing project. It just didn't even occur to me to practice, until I suddenly realized that orchestra rehearsal was the next day.

After a while, when I realized the concert was almost upon us, I changed my strategy and decided to work on the easy and intermediate pieces so I would be able to play most of the concert relatively fluently. For the Hebrides, I did what I could, often playing the first note of a 4-note run, rather than all of them. For me, this was a good idea, to focus on focusing: riveting my attention to counting, and getting the first note of each group of four 16th notes, so that, at least, I would know where we were. I didn't get lost, and that is a good thing, even if I didn't play every note.

I wavered for a while, but finally decided not to continue with the orchestra in the spring season. My work schedule just won't allow it at this time. But, more than that, I have found orchestra playing not to be conducive to working on a beautiful tone, or to getting every note, two priorities for me. It is too easy in orchestra to fake it during certain passages. With seven cellos overwhelmed by several trumpets, saxophones, and tubas, how beautifully one might play a particular passage is not really a concern (at least in the back row of cellos).

I think my focus, for the next "semester," will be on myself, my own playing. I haven't given up on ensembles though. I love ensembles. I will continue to play in the fiddle group (more on that in another post) and am seeking to establish a cello choir here, perhaps with a stray flute or violin (more on that later too--we are playing tomorrow at an informal concert at an assisted living center: 3 cellos, a violin, a flute, and an alto flute. We haven't really rehearsed. The concert is sort of an open rehearsal, but I expect it to be just dandy!)

Meanwhile, I am still playing with the beginning/intermediate piano students, to give them experience in playing accompaniment, and to give me practice in playing with a pianist. I noticed one time that one of the pianists complimented one of the students for being able to follow me when I stumbled, or words to that effect. I refrained from telling her that it was me who was trying to follow the pianist.

When I first started playing with a pianist, for my Suzuki book recitals, I had to memorize my Suzuki pieces and perform with the pianist. This was too much for me, to play from memory and know the piano part as well, and know how it all fit in together. I managed to get by, at least in the beginning, by blotting out the piano, and just playing, trusting the pianist to follow me. And she did. Now, it is nice to have a sense of the pianist and how a piece should sound when we play together.

Listening to the piano recitals has encouraged me to try piano again, and I am happy to say I learned "Joy to the World" on piano and played it at the recital last week at a nursing home. I play it incessantly now and am even thinking of learning another Christmas piece on the piano, before the holidays are over.

Have a joyful and musical holiday!

Seylan Baxter and Cheyenne Brown

2009-11-01T20:11:00.012-05:00

I "met" Scottish folk cellist Seylan Baxter through this blog a couple of years ago when she commented on my posts about attending Scottish fiddle camp. She sent me a copy of her cello and harp CD, "2:40" (with harpist Cheyenne Brown, originally from Alaska, but now living in Scotland), and I was an immediate fan. The name of the CD refers to the 2 performers, and the 40 strings they play.

So, when I learned they would be relatively close, at the Blackstone River Theatre in Cumberland, Rhode Island, on their first U.S. tour, I drove the 70 miles to see them. It was a dark and stormy night, and I could barely find my way home through the torrential rains after the show, but it was a concert well worth seeing; I loved every minute of it.

I find it hard to describe Scottish folk music; it is fiddle music, Celtic music, but with an earthiness to it (perhaps the cello), a solidness and rustic flavor that appeals to me. The cello and harp are not a traditional instrumental duo, and the cello is not traditionally a solo instrument in Scottish music, but Seylan and Cheyenne make you believe that these two instruments, and Scottish music, belong together, and that the cello clearly deserves a starring role. The two instruments, the two young women, share the musical spotlight, and they were quite amiable and congenial as performers. In addition to playing the cello, Seylan sings; she has a wonderful voice, especially good for ballads.

I talked to them both after the show, and they said they hope to return next year for another U.S. tour. The Cumberland audience was wildly enthusiastic about their playing, and I think U.S. audiences will be very happy to see them again.

Seylan uses many contemporary techniques in her cello playing, chopping, rhythmic slapping of the wood, sliding up and down the string, pizzicato, and more. Seylan started out as a classical cellist, switching to Scottish folk music while in college. She did not learn by ear immediately, and had to work on that skill. She encouraged me in my continuing efforts to learn by ear. She was doing a cello workshop the day after the concert in Arlington, MA, and I wish that I had been able to attend (I had a fiddling commitment of my own and another concert to attend). Maybe next year!

The first think you notice about her playing is, of course, that she plays standing up, her cello balanced on a chair. Cheyenne stands as well, her harp elevated a few inches to make this possible. I talked to Seylan about the standing, and asked why she played that way, and whether it was difficult. She said she started doing it because she was often the only one sitting. She experimented with different methods, including strapping on an electric cello, but using a chair turned out to be the easiest thing to do. Some other fiddlers use a longer end-pin or other methods.

Not believing her, I gave it a try at home. It is easy to play this way, and I think the sound is more voluminous. Could be just from where I was in relationship to the cello, but I asked my husband for his opinion, and he agreed that I had a bigger sound when I was standing. I might have to explore this further.

It was a great concert; it was wonderful to see and hear Seylan and Cheyenne, and I hope they expand their tour next year to include a Cape Cod venue and cello workshop. There was one cellist (me) and one harpist in the audience in Rhode Island, and I think there would be many more of each on the Cape.

I am glad to have discovered the Blackstone River Theatre, a small 100-seat theater that offers a folk concert series, mostly Celtic music. I hope to go back again on December 5, when the Jeremy Kittel Band is playing. I have actually never heard of them, but cellist Tristan Clarridge plays with this group. (He is also in Crooked Still, another alternative folk, bluegrass group I enjoy.)

Orchestra semi-progress

2009-10-17T20:36:00.005-04:00

It has been a busy summer and fall, and I have not written much here. Nor have I practiced much. For several weeks I continued to go to my lesson and orchestra rehearsal with NO practicing in between. Appalling. Especially given how much I need to practice. Now, in the last few days (I am on vacation from one of my jobs), I have found a little time to practice, and to blog again.

I am playing with a community orchestra, which I mentioned in an earlier post. Most of the music is easy, though a couple of pieces have challenging sections, and one, "The Hebrides," by Mendelssohn, does require a lot of practice. I have, thus far, concentrated my itty bitty practice time on "The Hebrides," as it is a beautiful piece and I would like to contribute to some of that beauty. But, it has been frustrating, as some of the fingerings are quite awkward, and the music flies by. One could spend one's entire practice time on a couple of measures.

So, my new strategy is to practice the easy pieces, to build my confidence. And then sneak in a few measures of the Hebrides. So far (two practice days), it is helping, and it is certainly a better approach than avoiding practicing altogether. Concerts are in November, all too soon.

Also in November I am going to a weekend fiddle camp. I haven't been practicing fiddle music either. But that's another blog post for another day.

09-09-09

2009-09-09T16:58:00.003-04:00

Since today seems to be a lucky day, I thought I would visit my poor neglected blog and write a thing or two. I only have time for one thing, and that is that orchestra starts tonight, and if I am going to get there on time, I need to leave very soon.

So, briefly--it is a new orchestra for me, but one that has been around 20 years or so, the Cape Community Orchestra. It rehearses in Harwich, about an hour's drive from here. They play a mix of classical and pop music, and I think they already have quite a few cellists. Nevertheless, they are welcoming, and I am looking forward to tonight.

Have a fortunate day!

Arts Alive

2009-07-12T00:41:00.011-04:00

A belated update on a couple of June concerts. I played cello and flute with the flute choir on a Saturday, three weeks ago. All went reasonably well, though I was thrown off balance when a piece we had been playing in 4 was counted off in 2, and went along faster than we had previously played it.

We had six flutists and me, playing mostly cello, sometimes flute.

It was a gorgeous sunny day, rare in these parts in June, and we had a great time. I spent most of the rest of the day listening to other performers.

On Sunday, it was overcast. I performed with the fiddlers in the morning, though did not get a photo. Playing with the fiddlers is always fun, in part because there is no sheet music, and always, for me, a bit intimidating, for the same reason, because there is no sheet music. People do not necessarily play the same versions of each tune, so there is a certain freedom, and, as the sole cellist, I can choose to play melody (if I know it) or some form of accompaniment.

After the fiddlers, my friend Laura and I hosted an instrument petting zoo, giving kids the opportunity to try out violins, violas, and a cello. One of the moms told us that her daughter had her first encounter with a cello at an instrument petting zoo three years earlier, and had been taking cello lessons ever since. It is always nice to hear that these events have some impact.

Getting ready for the chamber concert.

After the petting zoo, Laura and I joined Marv and Joyce to play chamber music. By this time it was sprinkling. Laura and Marvin, on violins, and Joyce, on keyboard began the concert with a trio:

Laura and Avis.

Then I joined them for Pieces en Trio by Marin Marais (1656-1728).

The Marais suite is easy and has a good cello part, as Marais was a viola da gamba player. It is also in the key of C, mostly first position, and the cello part doubles the keyboard left hand. The only problem was the way the keyboard was miked. Unless the speakers were turned toward us, we could not hear the keyboard. And if the speakers were turned toward us, the audience couldn't hear the keyboard.

So since the audience, by this time, because of the increasingly heavy rain, consisted mainly of our spouses, we opted to turn the speakers toward ourselves. Even so, the keyboard played as a harpsichord, when amplified, takes on the sound of breaking dishes, at least to me, and it was difficult to be sure I was always with the keyboardist.

We had two hours of music planned, but, after a piece by Marv and Joyce, we called it quits and headed home, through the raindrops. It might have been better with sunshine and an audience, but I enjoyed it nevetheless.

Waltzing Frenzy!

2009-06-15T01:11:00.011-04:00

Our big waltz event was last night. Our little band (4 fiddles, guitar, cello, drum, and tin whistle) played five waltzes and kept the dance floor crowded (until another band took over for the contradances). It was somewhat terrifying, but we all noticed that it was easier to play, and we played better, when there were people happily moving to the music.

I took this photo from the stage, during a tin whistle guitar solo. Beyond the dancers are tables; there were about 200 people, and they all loved to dance. It was a wonderful first performance for our group, a great alternative to either being background music or a concert performance, with all eyes on us. At the dance, we knew people were listening--they were twirling about--but we were not the focus of attention.

These were fast fiddle waltzes, not "slow dances," though still relatively slow for fiddle music. I did bring my sheet music, but I did try to play without looking at it. Sometimes, I completely forgot what note was next, but often I it was easier to just go with the flow, without the music.

The party celebrated the 88th birthday of the father of our tin whistle player. An enthusiastic contra-dancer and all-around good person, he was awe-inspiring, and I was happy to be part of the celebration.

A table centerpiece.

Fiddle-dee-dee

2009-06-07T22:14:00.003-04:00

The fiddle performance is next Saturday, and, while I can play the tunes, I still do not have them reliably memorized enough to play them without the music though. I am fine alone--but sometimes fall apart when playing with the others. And we added two tunes, making a total of 6. One is Ashokan Farewell, which I can play from memory (and I am playing the melody in this one, not a harmony part), but I am not familiar enough with the other new one, Midnight on the Water, to even attempt memorizing it in a week.

So, I will play with sheet music. All the others will play from memory. In my defense, the cello parts are harder than the fiddle parts, which are all played in first position, and the fiddlers are all playing melody parts. I am disappointed to have to use sheet music, but my practice time has been so limited that I am quite happy to be playing at all!

End of May progress report

2009-05-31T14:16:00.009-04:00

Though it seems as though May began only yesterday, it is coming to an end and June is about to burst out all over. A progress report seems in order.

I had an ambitious plan for May and June cello practicing and performance and started out in a frenzy (for me) of practicing. Everything, every day. For one reason or another, I missed a couple of cello lessons and a few practice sessions.

I started to concentrate on the first performance, the fiddle group performance on June 13. I am making progress on that. I have the four tunes mostly memorized, but there are still a few spots where I hesitate, there are a few intonation issues, and there is one tune that is just going by awfully fast.

Yesterday, at rehearsal, I used sheet music because I did not feel secure without it (I tried not to look at it), and the others (who do not use sheet music) said it would be fine, if I used it during the performance. I have two more weeks, though, and am really going to try to get to the point where I am ok without it.

The fiddlers were more complimentary about my playing than my intonation called for, and, when we were listening to a tape of our session, and I was thinking, gosh, I need to play softer, one of the fiddlers said, "we need to mike the cello." I don't think this is in our best interests.

I am playing with the adult piano students on June 12, and have a rehearsal with them this week. The music is easy (including the Berceuse from Suzuki, book 3), so I am just working on making it sound expressive and musical.

I have not done much on the cello duets or Marcello in the last two weeks (very busy work weeks for me), but for a time there I was feeling competent.

The Haydn trios are coming along for the June 20 performance. Still a couple of fast parts to bring up to speed.

Tomorrow, I plan to attend a performance of a string orchestra that I am considering joining for the summer. It starts June 8, and runs for 10 weeks, which is a little more of a commitment than I wanted to make this summer. But, the conductor is an excellent cellist, and I might learn a lot (if I practice).

The Plan for May and June

2009-05-10T21:48:00.009-04:00

After our orchestra concert the first week in April, I focused on non-cello things for a few weeks, maybe a month, and though I continued weekly lessons, there were some weeks when I didn't practice at all between lessons. One of those times. But my cello teacher was understanding, supportive, and encouraging.

I think I am mostly back on track now, or at least edging toward it. I have several performances coming up in June, so really need to buckle down and find time to practice every day. Well, most days.

The first event is a fiddle performance in mid-June. The group I play with (women fiddlers) is performing four waltzes, and I have written harmony (second) parts to three of them, to accompany the fiddles. The music is easy enough, but it has to be played from memory, which tends to take time, and it will be tricky playing the harmony, with everyone else playing melody. I will have to focus! This is in mid-June.

The following weekend, I am playing with three groups during the arts festival: the larger fiddle group, the flute choir, and a flute, string, and keyboard group.

The larger fiddle group plays many tunes that I still do not have memorized, but I can usually play some sort of improvised pizzicato accompaniment.

In the other groups, we can use sheet music, and I am grateful for that!

The flute choir is playing trio 1 and 4 of the Haydn London Trios and Vivaldi's Goldfinch concerto (plus others in which I play flute), and we have not yet determined the program for the string group, but it may be a piece by Marais, Purcell (Golden Sonata), and/or flute sonatas by Marcello, in which I play the continuo. I have also played these on flute and enjoy them, particularly the first one, which I played recently (on flute) at church. In another context a flute-playing friend of mine remarked that she had played them when she was 10 years old. Ah, well.

In addition to that, I am working on a DeFesch sonata with another cellist, and, because it and the Marcello flute sonatas, reminded me of the Marcello piece in Suzuki book 4, I decided to go back and learn/polish that too. (I abandoned Suzuki about a year ago, to work on other things.)

Then, for intonation and related issues, I am working in the Piatti cello method. My teacher mentioned trying another duet with another of her students, and there is always something that looks interesting, so I am sure the list will grow.

But I am trying to focus.

The Soloist, review

2009-05-08T11:30:00.010-04:00

I wrote this review of "The Soloist" for the Falmouth Enterprise, which no longer publishes articles online. I could have written my own book about "The Soloist," but compressed it here.

Because I read the book first (and because my sister graduated from Juilliard), I was interested in how accurately the movie represented the book. (There is also the question of how accurately the book represented the true story, but I can't answer that).

I searched the web for reactions from musicians, mental health people (those with schizophrenia and those expert in schizophrenia), homeless people and experts, and newspaper columnists, for other views, but found very little. The book/movie raises many interesting discussions about music, mental health, homelessness, and the current state of the newspaper industry, so I do think it worthy of discussion.

‘The Soloist,’ In Praise Of Friendship, Music

“The Soloist” is the mostly true story of the real-life relationship between Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) and Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless, schizophrenic musician whom he befriends, initially for a story, and, ultimately, because he cares about him and values his friendship. Mr. Ayers, in turn, accepts Mr. Lopez’s friendship and is transformed by it, as both are transformed by the healing power of music.

It deals not only with mental illness, homelessness, and music, but also with the financially crumbling newspaper industry, urban politics, work and family issues, and the attack of aggressive raccoons. I thought the latter had been thrown in for comic effect, but in fact, Mr. Lopez has also written columns about these mangy creatures, so there was some logic to this otherwise irrelevant subtheme.

Steve Lopez knows a story when he sees one, and did some research, discovering that Nathaniel had once been a promising scholarship student at Juilliard, but had to drop out when the pressure became too much for him and he had a nervous breakdown. His bad experiences with multiple forms of therapy led him to a homeless existence, practicing in noisy traffic tunnels, or in a downtown park, under a statue of Beethoven, and sleeping on the streets at night, scaring off rats with sticks.

His series of columns on Nathaniel convince the mayor to prioritize homeless-assistance programs (there are 90,000 homeless people in Los Angeles). More importantly (to the plot of the movie), the reporter strives to get Nathaniel off the street for his own safety, partly to continue to have something to write about, but also, increasingly, because of his growing friendship and respect for him.

Both Foxx and Downey are excellent in this movie. Foxx is particularly convincing as Ayers, in part because he is an excellent actor, a fine musician, and spent hours observing the real Nathaniel Ayers to better capture his vulnerability, anger, confusion, and his passion for music.

But Foxx also had a personal connection with the role. According to The Los Angeles Times, when he was 18, and in music school himself, someone slipped a psychotropic drug in his drink, and he came close to losing his mind. Flashbacks continued for almost a year, and he spent hours and hours playing the piano in an effort to escape, an experience very similar to Mr. Ayers’s, but without the devastating lasting impacts. He did have panic attacks and bouts of paranoia during the filming of “The Soloist,” though, fearing his own madness could return.

“The Soloist” was directed by Joe Wright, who also directed “Atonement,” a movie that I thought was better than the book. This was not the case with the “Soloist.” I might have enjoyed “The Soloist” more, if I had not read the book first.

Mr. Lopez’s book, whose full title is “The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music,” tells a slightly different story, and the arbitrary changing of, for the most part, minor details in the story was unnecessary and sometimes annoying.

In the movie, Nathaniel Ayers is a cellist at Juilliard, and, when a kindly arthritic woman gives him the valuable cello that she has played for 50 years, he plays magnificent, ethereal music on it without the use of vibrato and without stopping to tune it. He fills the tunnel, and all of Los Angeles, with exquisite, uplifting music.

In the book, he was a string bass player at Juilliard, and taught himself cello and violin later. Though he is clearly uniquely gifted, the book makes it clear that his playing, like his personality, is a bit disconnected and rough around the edges. He forgets notes; he adds unwritten flourishes, playing the way he talks, sometimes making sense, sometimes off on poetic or incomprehensible tangents. In the book, the donated cello is a student cello provided by a businessman, and Nathaniel sometimes tunes it endlessly, as a nervous activity. And he overuses vibrato, rather than avoiding it.

These are many more examples, including changes in Mr. Lopez’s life. Sometimes these detract from the movie, making it seem that the only mentally ill people worth caring about are those with extraordinary talent.

In a recent “60 Minutes” interview, Mr. Ayers was asked why he played in a tunnel, where the traffic almost drowns him out. He said, “It seemed orchestral: the commotion, the calamity.”

And it is “the commotion, the calamity” of Mr. Ayers’s life that makes the book so compelling. The flawless playing in the movie (actually the work of Los Angeles Philharmonic cellist Ben Hong) is unnecessary, and hokey.

To its credit, though, the movie does remain true to the book in that Mr. Ayers is not “cured” of his schizophrenia in the end. Music is healing, but it is not a miracle drug.

It should also be noted that considerable effort was made to make other aspects of the film accurate. A “character artist” was hired to duplicate the style of Ayers’s ubiquitous graffiti, and to replicate his shopping cart and clothing. Real homeless people were hired to play themselves, and the real Los Angeles Philharmonic performed in the movie.

“The Soloist” is a visually appealing film, if occasionally overly lyrical, and the subject matter, and the performances by Foxx and Downey, make the film well worth seeing. I also recommend the book, and the original columns and supplemental articles, which are online on The Los Angeles Times website. Also worth taking a look at is the foundation set up by Mr. Ayers’s sister to aid the artistically gifted mentally ill, at www.naayers.org.

"The Soloist," this weekend, finally.

2009-04-24T13:59:00.005-04:00

"The Soloist," the movie about Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, the homeless cellist and Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez, is finally coming out this weekend. I am still only halfway through the book, but looking forward to seeing the movie. After watching this 60 Minutes segment, I am thinking a full-length documentary might be even better than a movie.

I love the quotes by Mr. Ayers in the clip. When asked why he played in a tunnel, where the traffic almost drowns him out, he said, "It seemed orchestral: the commotion, the calamity."

He also says, "Music is saying, 'Life isn't that bad.'"

Elsewhere I have read that one of Mr. Ayers' goals is to play in a community orchestra. (More commotion and calamity!) And another is to teach music therapy. Though he, himself, still suffers from mental illness, the music helps bring him peace.

Rethinking the orchestra

2009-04-11T18:59:00.006-04:00

Last weekend's performances were fun, though it may not have been wise to play in all four in the same weekend. The two "minor" concerts, one with piano students and the other as a soloist in church, went well, though I did not spend much time preparing the music.

I enjoyed the two orchestra concerts, but, in truth, I had not really mastered the music. I played most of it, but "self-edited" myself out in the places where I could not yet play up to speed. We had a very enthusiastic response to the performances, and I wish I could have take more credit for how well we sounded, but, in truth, we had six cellists when two or three would have been fine, given the total of only 31 players in the orchestra. As I am the fourth cellist, I am feeling a little unnecessary.

There are two other community orchestras in the area, one all strings, and one with a fairly similar make-up to ours. Both play "easier" music and have a more welcoming attitude toward "extra" cellists, so I think I will try one of these other groups in the fall.

For now, I am working on cello duets and small ensembles, and I have to say I am enjoying having the time to work on music other than orchestra music. I learned a lot during orchestra season about using various fingerings and improving my speed (not quite enough), and glad to have the time to slow down a bit and integrate it with the rest of my playing.

Music, Music, Everywhere

2009-03-27T09:19:00.002-04:00

It is coming down to the wire on our spring orchestra concert, and I missed last night's rehearsal due to work obligations. The concert is next weekend, Friday, April 3, in the evening and Sunday, April 5, in the afternoon. I am not ready.

In addition, I am playing cello with group of piano students (to give them practice playing with soloists) on the morning of April 3, and performing both flute and cello at a church on the morning of April 5. All this music is easy and do-able. Then, there is a women's fiddle group session on Saturday afternoon (music is mostly do-able, but I have yet to memorize it), and I am reviewing an orchestra concert that evening.

This weekend, in preparation, I have a rehearsal with the pianists today, a rehearsal with the church organist tomorrow, and an orchestra rehearsal on Sunday. And I am reviewing another orchestra concert Saturday night. And, sometime, during the weekend, writing up a few articles about local music activities, events, etc.

Hope this explains why I haven't been blogging much. I think I am going to go practice now.

Early Spring

2009-03-19T17:56:00.005-04:00

I drove out to Brewster today, the other end of the Cape from where we live, to pick up my cello. The bridge had warped badly, and I had taken it to a luthier out there on Tuesday to have it straightened out.

The luthier has a wonderful studio on the edge of the wetlands, perhaps surrounded by wetlands. The property used to be an aquarium. He has large windows looking out at the marshes. It was raining, perhaps a cross between rain and snow, and I said, "Well, you will be the first to know when spring comes, when things start greening up, with this wonderful view."

He said that he considered spring to be the return of the ospreys. There is a nest on a post in the marshes, not very far from his studio. Last year, he said, the ospreys returned on March 23. He told me about how the male is expected to tidy up the nest for the female, and other interesting tales about these birds, their migratory habits, territorial defenses, and care of their young.

Almost immediately after I got on the road headed home, I was confronted with a large bird, sitting squarely on the telephone wire stretched across the road, no more than six feet from me. I imagined it was the female of the pair, waiting for the male to arrive and fix up the place.

I had my camera with me, but did not have time to turn around and go back for a shot. I wish I had. After I got home, I searched for osprey images to post with this story, but could not find one in the right position--they were angled more than my bird.

After a while I decided it was a red-tailed hawk instead. They are rounder, less angular than the osprey. The photo on the left is an osprey; the one on the right is a red-tailed hawk.)

But the hawks are migratory birds too, and I do think that bird was telling me spring is here!

Orchestra update

2009-03-06T09:26:00.008-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, the first-stand cellists were both planning on being absent on the same night, moving me and my stand-mate up to first position. We were struggling with the music, and I was not looking forward to struggling publicly. Last season, there was a night when the first two cellists were both out on the same night, but it was further into the season, and I think we second-stand cellists did pretty well. This was too soon in the season, though; the music has many challenging sections, and it is flying by at a rapid pace!

Miracle of miracles, a new cellist showed up that night, a really good cellist--a teacher of cello and other strings who had performed all our piece in the past. It was great playing with her, and, instead of a disaster, the evening was fun, though still challenging. She is a boon all of us.

I am still practicing, both slowly and for speed, and making progress, though still having weeks, like this one, when impending deadlines reduce my practice time to 10 or 15 minutes a day. There are other times, like Thursdays, when I have an hour and 45 minute lesson (a "group" hour shared with a friend, followed by my 45 minute lesson), an hour's practice in the afternoon, and a 2 and a half hour orchestra rehearsal. That will dent your fingers.

The concert is in a month, and I am still not where I would like to be, but I am learning a lot, and that is a good thing!

Typealyzer

2009-02-15T14:28:00.004-05:00

A friend shared this link: The Typealyzer, which will analyze your personality by reading your blog.

I tried both my blogs, and my business website, and got the same answer:

ESTP - The Doers

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

I have never thought of myself as an extrovert, and I have no problem sitting still (so long as I am working or playing the cello or knitting, or drawing...). Well, maybe I am active in that sense.

I am curious to know what others get. I tried one fellow-cello-blogger who had the same result, and one who had a different result.

Speed

2009-02-06T10:18:00.005-05:00

The orchestra music is not particularly hard, but it is too fast for me in many places. My stand partner (though we have separate stands because I couldn't otherwise see the music!) and I talked about this last night at rehearsal.

I said I would continue slow(er) practice at home and hope to be eventually able to bring it up to speed. She said there were two schools of thought on this and the other one was to work on a few measures at a time and bring them up to speed.

This second method is making sense to me today. I am too slow in fiddle music too, so it would make sense to work specifically on speed in all areas of playing. I'll try this, this week, and would love any comments or advice as to how to increase speed.

Winter/Spring Orchestra Season music

2009-01-25T23:27:00.003-05:00

Community orchestra rehearsals begin next week. We plan to play Rossini's Overture to the Barber of Seville, Haydn's Symphony No. 101, the Clock, and Mozart's Symphony No. 28. I am nowhere near prepared, in terms of practicing, but have, at least, been listening to YouTube versions. I am posting them here for easy reference by me, and, as always, for anyone else who is interested:

Rossini, Overture from the Barber of Seville (this is the most challenging, in E major and E minor, and quite fast. There are multiple versions of this online, including a guitar orchestra version, and several vocal chorus versions.):

Haydn's Symphony No. 101, The Clock. (This one seems more do-able.)

First movement, Adagio/Allegro

Second movement, Andante

Third movement, Minuetto/Allegro

Fourth movement, Finale, Spirituoso

Mozart, Symphony No. 28. This is the first movement, Allegro Spiritoso. There are three other movements, Andante, Menuetto, and Presto, but I haven't found them on YouTube yet.

And a version to discourage an adult cellist entirely--or give hope! A seven-year-old cellist plays this in a quartet--his family, I think.

Air and Simple Gifts

2009-01-20T22:05:00.001-05:00

A beautiful interlude in an outstanding day.

Hope and Inspiration

2009-01-18T16:29:00.006-05:00

The dramatic survival of 155 passengers and crew after their plane crash-landed in the Hudson River seems to have filled the nation with hope, a nation already jubilant over the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama.

I look at these amazing photos of people standing calmly (well, probably not really calmly) on the wings of the momentarily floating airplane, ice cold water rushing around their feet, as the ferry boats race toward them, and it just fills my heart with joy and wonder at it all.

Another splendid image that brought tears to my eyes, though for an entirely different reason, was a tape, played on television, of Yo-Yo Ma in 1961, at the age of 7, playing the cello with his sister for then-president John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie. Ma went on to play for five sitting presidents and will, of course, be playing at Obama's inauguration on Tuesday, which I am looking forward to: both the inauguration and the music, a work composed for the occasion called "Air and Simple Gifts." ("Simple Gifts" is one of my favorite melodies.)

I was talking to a poet yesterday, who was equally excited about the inaugural poet, Elizabeth Alexander. I asked her if she had any thoughts about poetry and the present dismal state of the economy, expecting she might say something about the healing value of poetry and the arts.

She talked about Obama as the embodiment of the merger of poetry and politics, the importance of eloquence, of words, of verbal expression as a means of inspiring and leading, the lasting impacts of people like Abraham Lincoln, Kennedy, and Obama, that words are not "just words," but have the ability to inspire and to find solutions, not merely to heal, though that is valuable too.

I have worked as an urban and environmental planner and have a degree in international relations and have some idea of the problems we are up against, but it is as a lover of words, music, and art, that I am feeling hopeful, and inspired, today.

Cello Resolutions

2009-01-01T10:29:00.011-05:00

Happy New Year to all!

In a hopeful mood, I plan to really improve my cello-playing this year! (and lose weight, prosper during the recession, and, finally, declutter.)

Here are a few thoughts on the cello resolutions:

1. Practice more, and more consistently. Let's say at least five days a week, at least an hour. And focus on the things my teacher [repeatedly] brings up in lessons (I sometimes forget to even look at the notes I make during lessons.) Consistent practice has been a problem for me because my work is so deadline-oriented, and not restricted to regular "office hours," so it often fills the day, and the night, and the early-morning hours. But, there are ways to find the time.

2. Focus on intonation. There's no point in playing the cello if it is not in tune. For this, I am going back to scales, etudes, and easy pieces and duets, playing with a tuner, with recordings, and with others.

3. Prioritize music for ensembles: cello duets, orchestra, fiddling groups, flute choir. These all used to come after Suzuki music, but I have put Suzuki on hold for the time being. I love playing with others, but I also want others to enjoy playing with me! I haven't entirely ditched Suzuki (though I am not memorizing it, as I used to), but there is also much to learn from the ensemble music. And, there is only so much I can do at one time.

4. Keep working on the Messiah throughout the year so I can play it brilliantly, or at least competently, next year.

Have a warm and happy, healthy and prosperous, and fulfilling and creative 2009!

Musical Fish

2008-12-27T15:10:00.001-05:00

Scientists have found the music in fish, though, of course, the whales have been singing for some time.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T18:37:00.006-05:00

Merry Christmas! Here's a cartoony dog ornament I drew/painted (watercolor and ink) for a Secret Santa exchange on Drawspace. You ask for various specifics gifts for Christmas, and another artist draws or paints it, then you guess who it was.

Below is the exquisite parrot that a woman named Carol painted for me (acrylics) on a turkey feather. She is an amazing artist, and I am so pleased with this!

Merry Christmas and/or Happy Hanukkah to all!

Playing the Messiah

2008-12-23T00:46:00.015-05:00

I played in the sing-in/play-in Messiah yesterday. Because of the overwhelming amount of music, and the short period of time I had to work on it, I had decided, with my teacher, to choose a few of the choruses and play them well, rather than try to play them all. I chose the easier, more well-known pieces, and threw in a couple of 4-sharp pieces, just for the learning experience.

I was sure the other cellists could pick up the slack, especially since a lot of the music is marked "Senza rip," or without most of the orchestra (only first stand players, and I did not expect to be first stand).

So, the first rehearsal was December 18, and I was the only cellist. The conductor decided to jump around, skipping the easy, well-known pieces, and concentrating on the more difficult pieces, some of which which, for some reason, tended to start with a cello solo, or have a extended cello solo, and several of which I had never even attempted to play. I was not prepared, and, rather than admit that, attempted to sightread. To sightread music that I had decided I didn't have time to learn. Insane.

My bow arm felt rigid, moving only from the shoulder joint, completely paralyzed otherwise. The notes sounded squawky, as if I were playing with the side of the bow hair very close to the bridge (my general tendency is to play too close to the fingerboard). The French horn player came and sat next to me to help, transposing clefs, even tenor clef, and key signatures on the fly, and we managed to get few a few choruses in unison. It was nice being about to matching pitches with the French horn. Or at least try to match pitches; I have no idea how it actually sounded.

So, I'm thinking, as I am churning out these barely audible, imperfect notes, probaby a half-measure behind or ahead, that these people will never want to play with me again; I'll have to find another orchestra, maybe another town in which to reside.

The conductor was kind to me (I had told him I wasn't really ready to play, and was thinking maybe I could do it as a reporter), and the first violin player (who has played the Messiah for years) sent me an e-mail later about how brave I was to play, and that there should be 2 more cellists on Sunday.

There was some question about the performance, given the predicted huge snowstorm, but I was actually hoping to play, hoping to do a little better.

So, on Sunday, rehearsal started at 2 PM, and the performance at 3:30, after only a slight break. There was one other cellist on Sunday, and things went much better because of that, though by no means perfectly. I felt reasonably good about a fair number of the pieces and people were kind.

The photo above (which shows only a section of the orchestra--there were first violins, flute, and oboe on the other side) was taken during one of those cello solo sections. The bass voices are singing, and the pianist is playing, but, neither were there for the rehearsal. I am so pleased to see that we two cellists seem to be playing the same note at the same time. :-)

I have decided to play again next year, but to work on the pieces intermittently during the year and ask a violinist or two to practice it with me, so I won't be unprepared for rehearsals.

All in all, believe it or not, I am glad I did it. The music is magnificent and it is wonderful to be a part of it.

So much music, so little time

2008-12-12T10:29:00.002-05:00

I am inspired and challenged by working on the "Messiah" music. The cello part sounds magnificent (not necessarily when I am playing it) even by itself. I am learning some new positions for playing in four sharps, and that is very valuable. Kind of like puzzle-solving. But, it is still a lot of music for me to learn in a short and busy time period.

Today, my friend Carol and are are playing three simple cello Christmas duets with beginning piano students at a nursing home. I have yet to decorate, buy presents, or otherwise get involved in the seasonal festivities (except for attending a fair number of holiday concerts and fairs), so this will be my season opener.

Then, it is back to work. :-)

Handel's Messiah practice

2008-12-06T11:45:00.004-05:00

I've been working on Handel's Messiah for a community Sing-in/Play-in on Sunday, December 21. This is a lot of music to learn in a short, but it is wonderful music, and I am having a good time. Whether I can actually play it, at the required tempos, is yet to be determined, but it is a great learning experience. (We are playing selections from the Carl Fisher version.)

I have spent a lot of time trying to find YouTube performances to listen to and play along with (our first official group rehearsal is not until December 18), and am posting them here primarily for my own convenience. There are lots of versions of each section online; I have generally chosen those where I can hear or see the cellists best. If you have other suggestions, do let me know.

Sinfonia

Comfort Ye

Comfort Ye/Every Valley

Every Valley

And the Glory of the Lord

Thus Saith the Lord

But Who May Abide

And he shall purify

And he shall purify, O thou tellest

Behold a Virgin Shall Conceive

O Thou That Tellest

Unto us a child is born:

Pastoral Symphony, There were shepherds, Glory to God

There were shepherds and Lo the Angel of the Lord

And Lo the angel of the lord

And the Angel Said unto them

And suddenly there was with the angel

Glory to God

Rejoice Greatly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ZrG-4Kbls
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ZrG-4Kbls
and

Then Shall the eyes of the blind

He shall feed his flocks

His yoke is easy

He trusted in God

Lift up your heads

The lord gave the word

Hallelujah chorus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iXmIjpGsGc
and

Why I didn't write my novel

2008-11-30T10:55:00.008-05:00

It is the last day of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, and I am still at just over 5,000 words, just one tenth of the 50,000 words required to "win." Obviously I didn't try too hard. The reasons why:

I concentrated the first half of the month on practicing for our orchestra concerts, which took place November 14 and16. I figured I could double my efforts after the concerts and still finish in time. After all, my writing speed has improved somewhat since I began working for the paper, and there are NaNoWriMo participants who have written 50,000 words in a single day. One of the winners wrote over 1.8 million words. I find this hard to imagine. As another NaNoWriMo member commented: Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past had nearly 1.5 million words, and was published in 13 volumes between 1913 and 1927. Or, for more contemporary readers, the biggest Harry Potter book had a quarter of a million words, and all seven of them together are about 1 million words (I think.)

Just before the concert, I came down with a bad cold and sniffled and coughed my way through the next 2 weeks. I didn't feel like writing, or doing much of anything.

My writing for work has to come first.

I wasted time on the Internet. :-)

I blogged every day in November, thus "winning" NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. I knew at the beginning of this month that it might be too much to take on both, as I did last year, but I am glad I at least attempted both. I did do a lot of thinking about noveling, and read some interesting books about writing, as well as some novels, so it was, at least, a month of thinking about writing.

I never really came up with a decent plot. I had ideas, but was not clear where I was heading. And, I was trying to fit too much of my life experience into the novel, rather than imagining what could have, might have been, could or might yet happen. Perhaps I ought to work on a memoir first, or, maybe a fictionalized memoir, just to explore these ideas from my own life, without the expectation of writing a novel incorporating them, and then moving on from there.

My friend Neva, on the other hand, had a very detailed plot outline, and a creative point of view and structure--and she finished her novel with days to spare. I applaud her, and all the others who finished.

Festive Fiddling

2008-11-29T19:32:00.005-05:00

My fiddle group played at today at a festively decorated cultural center, a former mansion, made elegant again by a community group. It is a wonderful place, full of music, art, and Christmas spirit. I really haven't been practicing fiddle tunes lately (focusing more on orchestra and Messiah music), but the group is very welcoming, and love playing this music, or what I can of it. The photo above is the first tune ("Old Joe Clark," the tune we traditionally start with), before a friend found me a chair.

Buy Nothing Day

2008-11-28T14:35:00.004-05:00

Today is Buy Nothing Day, to counteract the consumer craziness that happens on the Friday after Thanksgiving, when stores open a 4 am with big sales, and stampedes occur at Wal-mart and elsewhere. The idea is to encourage people to live more simply, give their credit cards a rest, and, in general, not partake in the "culture of excess and meaningless consumption."

I'm all for that. Shopping and spending has gotten way out of hand, to the point where people think they can cure cultural malaise or economic problems by rushing to the mall. Especially for those of us who live in the U.S., it's time to change our ways. Stay home (or go out) and play music.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T16:54:00.001-05:00

They may not be the most artistic pies you have ever seen, but they're the best ones I've made in many years, since I rarely make pies. Have a virtual slice, and enjoy the day!

Thanksgiving Eve

2008-11-26T10:50:00.000-05:00

I find myself with a relatively free day, meaning no deadlines, and Thanksgiving, tomorrow, takes precedence over my Thursday lesson. There is, of course, work to catch up on. I do much of my work from home, and is its always here, to remind me. There is pie-making to attend to, and cleaning, that I feel even cheerful about doing.

But, for a few moments, I am alone in the house, and I am going to spend that time playing the cello.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Cellos and immortality

2008-11-25T00:49:00.001-05:00

I read a book review of a new book featuring a cellist. José Saramago’s new novel, Death With Interruptions is about a period of time in which death does not occur. Then, death, in the form of a woman, decides death must continue, as the consequences of the absence of death are overwhelming. She picks a cellist as her first victim, but is apparently, attracted to the cello and to the cellist. Here is the New York Times review of the book. I haven't read the book yet, but it sounds intriguing.

Short week

2008-11-24T00:15:00.003-05:00

I only have two days this week to do the work I normally have a hard time doing in four, so will be brief here today. I love my work, but would like a few more hours in each day, a few more days in each week, to get it all done, and to find time to relax, and, yes, even to clean the house. For now, though, sleep is a priority, if only to beat this cold into submission.

The flute choir concert went reasonably well, though I did notice two retirement home residents leave the concert early; both used to be professional musicians. We were probably hard on their ears, and it must be hard for them to be no longer able to play. Others, with less refined musical sensibilities, seemed to enjoy the concert and even sang along when appropriate.

Flute concert today

2008-11-23T08:52:00.001-05:00

Today's musical event is a flute choir concert at the retirement home which has been so generous in providing space for our weekly rehearsals. Our flute choir is actually a quintet, consisting of four C flutes and an alto flute. Occasionally, I play cello instead of flute, to approximate a bass flute, but today I am playing only flute. We are playing an assortment of folk and traditional music, and a Thanksgiving medley. None of it is difficult, but intonation, even on the flute, can be a challenge sometimes.

After that, I will check out the Messiah vocal rehearsal; it starts at the same time as the flute concert, but will go longer. The singers have more rehearsals than the instrumentalists. We rehearse only on Dec. 18 and 2 hours before the performance on Dec. 21. I have been practicing, and feeling optimistic.

Fiddle time

2008-11-22T11:42:00.004-05:00

I haven't been fiddling in ages, but plan to attend the women's fiddle group today, to try to get back into the spirit. I enjoy the women's group. We play relatively slowly and sheet music is allowed, at least initially. The goal is always to play by ear or from memory.

We are working on a waltz today, Gold and Silver, which gives me half a chance to keep up. But, then, again, it is a long waltz, and the A and B parts don't really repeat, so one has to learn (by which I mean memorize) 32 measures in each part, rather 16, repeated. There are also a couple of those little tricky parts.

I might spend the rest of the day in bed, though, to rid myself of this lingering cold, catch up on some reading, and even get some writing done. Or sleep accomplished.

Duo cellos and piano

2008-11-21T18:02:00.002-05:00

My friend Carol and I are playing cello duets with three different piano students and went to rehearse with them today. (Thus the pieces are actually trios.) The students are, like us, people who started lessons as adults, in retirement or approaching retirement. We will do one performance with and for all the piano students, and another one at a nursing home.

All seems to be going well, though, at today my ears are clogged from my relentless cold and/or from the cold medication I am taking, and my cello sounded twangy to me. I could barely hear the other cello, and didn't want to hear my own, but played on anyway. Everyone loved it, or said they did. Hopefully my ears will unclog by the performance, two weeks hence, so I can enjoy it too.

G.F. Handel - Messiah (01 - Sinfonia)

2008-11-20T17:52:00.001-05:00

I started working on the Messiah in my cello lesson this morning. My teacher was enthusiastic and agreed with my plan to play only those movements I can play well by performance time. And she will play too. I am excited. She said to listen to a recording of Messiah every day, score in hand. I am not entirely sure where my Messiah CD is, but, YouTube is right here at hand, and this is the opening movement, so I will start here.

Christmas is almost over

2008-11-19T01:33:00.004-05:00

Working for a local newspaper, I have been beset with announcements of holiday activities for the past couple of weeks. Not Thanksgiving (the harvest fairs were in September and October), but Christmas. There were a round of holiday fairs this past weekend, and more coming up this weekend and next.

Not to mention holiday performances. Like other groups, our orchestra has to schedule its concert carefully so as not to get lost in the deluge of Christmas/Holiday concerts. Events seem to peak the last weekend in November and the first weekend in December. After that, I guess, we're all too busy shopping.

The Messiah sing-in/play-in is different, taking place the Sunday before Christmas. I went last year as an audience member (one of the few as everyone else was singing or playing) and as a reporter. It was a peaceful respite from the busy-ness of the season. I'm going to attempt to play this year. Anyone can show up to play; there are only a couple of rehearsals. Last year there were about seven string players; this year we expect a lot more, as the orchestra has finished its season, and members seem to want to keep playing. It probably won't be as serene an experience for me this year, as it was last year, but it should be fun, provided I find some time to practice between now and then.

Second Concert

2008-11-18T00:16:00.006-05:00

This is a view of the Falmouth Chamber Players orchestra from the upper balcony, taken prior to the concert. Not shown are brass and timpani off to the left. If you look closely (click on the photo to enlarge it), you can see there are two groups of cellos, the first cellos in about the middle of this photo, facing the audience, and the second cellos, to the right, in front of the harpsichord. I am the cellist turned away from the camera in that second cello grouping. This playing position was a little disconcerting to me because I couldn't see any of the other cellists, and couldn't confirm that I was bowing in the proper direction, but, if I was off, I don't think anyone noticed. The performances were great fun, the setting was warm and festive, and it was thrilling to be on the receiving side of an enthusiastic standing ovation.

New strings, and sad news

2008-11-17T03:17:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to buying new strings. It has been a year and a half, at least, and I usually change strings once a year. Cello strings have really gone up in price since my last purchase. I worked at the string shop Saturday afternoon, but spent quite a bit more than I earned. In addition to the strings, I bought a soft cello case for my old cello to replace the large and unwieldy case it is now stored in. Also for those times when I have to carry my other cello relatively long distances; the soft case is definitely lighter than my hard case.

I am sad to say the string shop is closing. The last day will be Christmas Eve. The "mother store" in the Boston area will remain open, two of the shop personnel will remain as local consultants, and purchases can still be made online, but the Cape store will be gone. Not only will I miss the convenience of being able to buy strings, sheet music, and miscellaneous stuff from the shop, but I will miss the camaraderie, the classical, folk, and fiddle concerts we have had there, the parties, the recitals, the special events. The shop was open for seven years. I started working there in its second year, on my birthday, and worked about 10 hours a week for four years. The last few years I have worked less and less often, on an as-needed basis, when others were on vacation, traveling, performing, or otherwise unable to come in.

I will miss the shop, not as an employer, but as a cultural center, as will the local music community.

Sore throat blues

2008-11-16T09:46:00.003-05:00

I got a flu shot this year (for the first time ever, only because they happened to be conveniently offering at the mall when I was in Atlanta), but nevertheless feel achey and sore-throaty today, and our final concert is this afternoon. It's been coming on for a few days (I coughed through our first concert on Friday), but seems to have settled in today. I have no time to be sick. At least I am not playing flute, which would be hard on a sore throat.

Success!

2008-11-15T10:46:00.003-05:00

The church was full to the rafters (there is a balcony), the orchestra played beautifully, and we got an enthusiastic standing ovation at the end. It was a great night, even if I, personally did not play every note. Our program:

Overture to Water Music by Handel
Concerto in E minor for Recorder and Flute by Telemann, with flute and recorder soloists
Scherzo from Symphony in C by Bizet
(intermission)
Andante Cantabile by Tchaikovsky
Kamarinskaja by Glinka
Overture to Rosamunde by Schubert

The Telemann and the Tchaikovsky were performed by smaller groupings of musicians, and I did not play in either one. It was nice to be able to sit back and enjoy the music, in the midst of our concert.

We will do it all again in Sunday afternoon.

Dress Rehearsal

2008-11-14T10:41:00.007-05:00

Last night was dress rehearsal--our first orchestra concert is tonight; there is another one on Sunday.

We played for the first time at the church where we will perform. Because the performance area is small, the cellos are awkwardly arranged. For the first half of the program, I was actually more in the audience looking back at the orchestra, facing the principal cellist, rather than behind her. It was disconcerting. In the second half, when the harpsichord is moved off-stage, we moved back to a more reasonable location. Perhaps a better arrangement of cellos and harpsichord can be found by tonight.

Incredibly, I forgot my nicely arranged, heavily marked up music, in my well-organized notebook. I had been practicing before the dress rehearsal, and put it on my cello chair, to remind me to remember to bring my stand, which was with my flute music (I have different stands for travel and home use). I remembered the stand, but not the music.

Fortunately, the four other cellists were able to help. As I said, we were awkwardly arranged, so it was not possible to share stands, but each of them gave me a full or partial copy of a piece or two, and I was able to reconstruct the program. They were mostly out-dated copies (we are constantly changing fingerings and bowings, and some of the music is in Finale form, so multiple copies are floating around), but I was very grateful that they hadn't cleaned out their notebooks of extraneous papers, as I had.

It wasn't in a notebook, though, and some of the page turns were clumsy. And, in the move from the front of the stage area to the back, I left the two middle pages of a four-page piece at the front. I ended up improvising for two pages, mostly air bowing, but it was ok (especially from the back of the stage).

Other than that, and several spots that are still too fast for me, all went reasonably well, and orchestra sounded good, to me.

Teaching and learing

2008-11-13T00:49:00.001-05:00

Emily Wright at Stark Raving Cello Blog had a very interesting post recently about Teaching Your First Lesson. I read it, thinking, wow, my cello teacher would never recommend that. And I thought of another teacher who was appalled by "instrument petting zoos," in which someone (like me, specifically me) lets others, usually children, try out a violin, viola, or cello, seeing what it feels like to hold a bow and play some notes. She (the other teacher, not mine) thought the danger of my teaching the child something inappropriate was far greater than the benefits to be gained by the nonmusician or prospective musician experimenting with an instrument.

In other words, only a music teacher should be teaching, and technique must be proper from the beginning. You should hold the bow for a week before applying it to the strings, and you should spend another week pizzing. Something like that. Meanwhile, I would teach "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or "Old Joe Clark" to interested attendees at instrument petting zoos, in a half hour or so.

I am happy to see that my teacher is now encouraging "practicing buddies"--pairs of students who practice together between lessons. The less experienced one pays the more experienced one for his or her time, so it is similar to having the more experienced student teach, though still with the training wheels of her lessons for both. It's a nice idea for those lessonless times: summer vaction, Christmas vacation, etc., too. The more experienced student can be any age, even middle school.

In a way, our orchestra sectional rehearsals have been like group practice buddies this fall, except no one is paying each other. It builds self-confidence too, as we offer suggestions to each other and figure out bowings and fingerings, rather than just follow along. I will miss the sectionals and the rehearsals, but could use a little break after the concerts!

Fiddling?

2008-11-12T01:59:00.008-05:00

I haven't played any fiddle music in ages, yet there are a couple of fiddle performances coming up that I would like to participate in, and the women's fiddling group is starting to meet again, after a summer-long hiatus, so I am starting to think about getting back into playing fiddle music.

I was talking to a fiddler (violin) about playing Celtic music with a small group, which might be more satisfying than playing old-time music at top speed. I have a hard time keeping up, as I have mentioned countless times, but I like the camaraderie of fiddling, and, when I know the tune, I love knowing it, playing it from the heart.

Some Celtic music is slower, or more melodic to my ears, than the old time music we usually play, and I think it might be fun to work out some arrangements with a small grouping of four instruments, maybe a cello, fiddle, flute, and guitar. Someday when I have time.

For the time being, right after the upcoming classical concert (Friday and Sunday), I plan to refocus on fiddle music, well, for at least a week. Then I'll need to work on the music for Handel's Messiah. Our town does a community sing-in, play-in every year, the Sunday before Christmas. I attended last year and was overwhelmed by the intensity, the relentlessness of the cello playing. Still, you know, it might be fun to give it a try.... (forgetting for the moment how long it takes to really learn the music)

Why Things Sometimes Fall Apart

2008-11-11T00:24:00.001-05:00

Not that I haven't tricked this fix-it technique myself.

Just think what this cat could do with a piano, or a set of drums.

Practice makes better

2008-11-10T00:36:00.003-05:00

Ok, since Thursday or so, I have been practicing two hours a day, in an effort to perform adequately at our orchestra's upcoming concert (after failing to practice regularly for several weeks). Today, we had the rehearsal I was dreading, without the two "good" cellists, and I was feeling gloomy going into it, thinking that I would miss entrances (I had been depending on the principal cellist a lot) and, in general, stand out as incompetent.

Oddly enough, I didn't miss entrances--for two reasons. I counted, and the conductor, for the first time, possibly sensing our need, cued us on every entrance. Yes, there are a few passages that are still too fast for me, but I had a better sense of them, and stayed with the music, though not playing every note. And I understood the entrances better, especially on the one piece for which I do have the score.

We, the remaining three cellists, were not singled out for ineptness, as I had feared. It all went pretty well, or, at least, the conductor was kind. :-) He did mention intonation as an issue (repeatedly), but not singling out any particular section. Intonation is a constant concern of mine, but it is harder to obtain good intonation at high speeds.

Monday through Wednesday are long days for me, work-wise, but I hope to continue this practice routine. Who knows? It might work. And it was a good thing, in the end, to play without the two "good" cellists, a confidence builder, just when we needed it.

Arts and the Economy

2008-11-09T12:01:00.009-05:00

There were a couple of good articles in the Cape Cod Times this week about the arts and the collapsing economy: Economy Gives Art Lovers the Blues, and Finding New Ways to Make Art Pay the Bills, both by Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll.

They address both the negative effects of the recession (or worse) on the arts (fewer ticket sales and art purchases, less willingness to drive long distances for art, theater, and musical events, higher costs and less income for artists and performers, etc.), as well as the spiritual need for art in times of distress.

Driscoll quotes Jerome Karter, executive director of the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra: "In difficult times, it's always been the case that people do want to continue to hear great performances and great music. This is a crisis. People do look for refuge sometimes, and we certainly remain a spiritual refuge."

She also quotes Andrew Polk, artistic director of the Cape Cod Theatre Project in Falmouth, who said, "I think that people turn to theater, in times of crisis and uncertainty. This is a time when people come together--for solace, wisdom and transformation. There is no better place to find these things---than in the theater."

I am in agreement, and hopeful that sold-out performances at several concerts I recently attended are indicative of people's interest in, and willingness to support, the arts, even now. Here on the Cape, the arts are an important aspect of the local economy, benefiting the tourist industry as well as the arts. But, the role of the arts in nurturing the soul, whether one is creator or audience, is crucial, in today's economy, and always.

25 Hours a Week

2008-11-08T10:44:00.006-05:00

My cello teacher is disappointed in my progress on my orchestra pieces, and our concerts are next week (Friday and Sunday). She said, when she was in orchestra (she was principal), she practiced the orchestra music as soon as she got it, 25 hours a week, bought scores, recordings, etc. She wonders why I am not practicing 25 hours a week. In a nice way, of course, though discounting that she was a cello major at the time, and I am committed to work and family.

Not only am I not practicing 25 hours a week, I took several weeks off from practicing almost entirely, the first to finish up work projects to go to Atlanta, the second to be in Atlanta, and the third to catch up with work, after being in Atlanta. Not so good in a short rehearsal season!

25 hours a week is more than 3 and a half hours a day. I will aim for 14 hours this week, 2 hours a day, not counting rehearsals. I did about 2 and a half yesterday, and, not surprisingly, found it very fruitful. I am not sure I can fully catch up this week, but I do hope to continue to make progress. We have rehearsals tomorrow and Thursday, which should help. Except that the first two cellists will not be at tomorrow's rehearsal. I am third (though the fourth is equivalent to me, and has been practicing. The fifth is having trouble keeping up). I have been counting on them for entrances. I am more than a trifle worried about tomorrow, so will go practice now.

The Music Teacher

2008-11-07T13:49:00.004-05:00

One of the reasons I decided to write a NaNoWriMo novel this year is because I received a review copy of a small novel about a "failed" violinist (she didn't become a classical star) who teaches at a more-folky-than-classical music store in California. Having worked at a small violin shop myself, it sounded appealing, and the promise that one of her students was going to change her life was intriguing. I figured if someone else could write a music-related novel about a music shop (or musical ensemble), so could I.

It started out good, but as I continued to read, I felt more and more that The Music Teacher by Barbara Hall actually was her NaNoWriMo novel and needed a bit of editing and rethinking. From the interesting perspective of a music teacher's relationship with her talented, but needy, student, the novel drifts off into the more mundane world of "which of the shop's eligible men will the protagonist sleep with?"

But, before it got to that point, I was heartened to see that someone would dare to set a novel in a small violin shop, a world I understand--except there were no affairs going on in our shop--that I knew of , at least!

It's a pleasant little book, at best, but not earth-shattering. The musical tale seems to get lost in the relationships tale, but perhaps that is real life. There is some discussion of the playing of the violin, and though the author is a guitar-player, not a violinist, it sounds good.

The publication date on this book is February 10, 2009.

NaNoWriMo, Again

2008-11-06T08:49:00.005-05:00

I have officially signed up to write a novel (50,000 words) this month as part of National Novel Writing Month. I did this last year by writing 2,000 words a day, every day, and, when I finished 50,000 words on November 25, I stopped writing, even though the novel was not finished and still needed plenty of work. Still, it was satisfying and, I think, improved my ability to write something.

I started off this year, on November 1, by writing 2,000 words. Now, on November 6, I have about 4,400 words. I am way behind, but there is still plenty of time to catch up, especially after my mid-month concert. Last year I had a very clear idea of my plot; this year it is less clear and my concept may not even be novel-worthy, but it is of interest to me. It is about clutter, things, stuff in the lives of various people with tangential relationships. It is based on a real event, as was my earlier attempt. It is fun to explore, but I do need to have more of a plot than I do at the moment.

I bought a bunch of "how to write a novel" books last year, but had no time to read them, as I was busy writing. This year, I am reading one of the books, on plot development. NaNoWriMo's book on writing is called "No Plot, No Problem," which is another approach to writing, but one that may leave the writer and the reader less satisfied.

Oh well, I will deal with this later, as it is time for cello lesson, one of my favorite parts of the week.

Lovely Day

2008-11-05T00:30:00.002-05:00

It was a lovely election day. The weather was sunny and mild, and of course I was pleased with the national election results. Here in Massachusetts, we decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, banned banned greyhound racing, and voted against repealing our state income tax. Really. We do see some value in taxes here.

My sister worked for Obama in the important state of Ohio, and my brother voted for Obama in the key state of Pennsylvania. My husband worked for Obama here. (I read all the breaking news on the Internet.) It felt like a great family effort, even though Georgia decided to stay red.

I was happy to be mentioned in a blog on Paste magazine about election day blogging. Paste is a magazine about music, film, and culture, and it is nice to see someone there equally consumed by the election. As for me, I worked all day in the newsroom at the paper where I am arts and entertainment editor. It was hard to concentrate on entertainment today, knowing what profound changes were about to happen, and I checked Google news fairly often. We are a local paper, so no one was covering the election, except to take photos of the lines of people waiting to vote. They were quite short, though, especially compared to Georgia's lines.

Now I can stop reading every single political news story and turn a little more attention to practicing. Our orchestra concert is coming up on November 14 and 16, and I do have a bit of work yet to do on my parts. I have, thus far, been practicing every day in November, but not always for the extended periods required. More on orchestra later, as the concert rapidly approaches.

Vote!

2008-11-04T00:38:00.000-05:00

I can't think of anything more important to do today than vote, if you live in the U.S., of course, and if you haven't voted already.

I live in Massachusetts, where early voting can be done only through absentee ballot, so it was quite an eye-opener to spend the last week in Georgia, where people, including my daughter and her friends, stood in line for hours (in weather far colder than I expected, for the South) to vote. Early voting went on for weeks, and record turnouts are expected. The line in the photograph above extends from the voter registration building far out into the parking lot and then doubles back toward the building and continues inside the building. (There are only 12 voting booths inside, which must be part of the problem. I have not found any explanation of why they haven't added more machines.) You probably have seen this scene on CNN; I did, before I traveled to Atlanta, but it was amazing and inspiring to see it in person. People of all ages, all races, standing together to make their voices heard. It restores one's faith in democracy. 90% of registered voters are expected to vote in the election. Extraordinary.

We went to see "Secret Life of the Bees," which, in addition to featuring a cellist, takes place in 1964, after the passage of the Voting Rights Act. The contrast was deeply moving.

I will be voting in the very blue state Massachusetts, where the outcome is not in question. It will be interesting to see what happens in the red, lately pink, state of Georgia. At the very least, you can get lots of free stuff for voting in Georgia (and other parts of the U.S.): Starbucks coffee, Ben and Jerry's ice cream, Krispy Kreme donuts, reduced admission to Zoo Atlanta, a free meal at Shane's Rib Shack, a party at P. Diddy's restaurant in Atlanta, and, undoubtedly, more.

Thank you, Huthmakers

2008-11-03T01:19:00.004-05:00

Cellist Anna Huthmaker of Huthmaker Violin

I was in the Atlanta, Georgia, area recently, Duluth, to be exact, visiting my daughter. Shortly before I arrived, my daughter had stumbled across the Huthmaker Violin shop in the lovely "Old Main Street" area of Duluth, and stopped in to check it out for me. She knew I would be interested, not only because I play the cello, but also because I worked, for about four years, at Johnson String Instrument on Cape Cod.

I immediately checked out the Huthmaker web site and discovered that not only did they rent instruments, but they had their own community string ensemble, the Main Street Orchestra which meets once a week. The orchestra is open to "amateur string players who love music and love making music. There is no audition. Just come to a rehearsal, take out your instrument and join the fun."

It sounded great to me, so I immediately called to see if they would rent me a cello for a week, and whether I could drop in and play with the orchestra. They were very friendly, though, at the time did not have a full-size cello, and told me to call when I arrived. And, yes, I was welcome to play in the string ensemble.

What a treat, I thought! I hated the idea of not being able to practice for a week (especially given that our orchestra concert is coming up in two weeks, now), and thought it woud be fun to connect with another string shop. I decided to rent a 3/4 size if that was all they had. There are numerous passages in the orchestra music that I really need to work on.

Huthmakers was great. Not only did they have a full-size cello for me, but they (it is for the most part a family business, like Johnson String) were all so friendly. Roland Huthmaker (the father) was asked by another customer to play "Devil Goes Down to Georgia," and he complied, much to our delight; Anna (the daughter) and I discovered we had a mutual acquaintance at Johnson's, and we all knew cellist Eugene Friesen who has done workshops for both shops. They also had a photo of Yo-Yo Ma on their wall, though I can't say he has ever visited Johnson String's Cape shop.

Violist Dixie Huthmaker has written a children's book called Trapped in Half Position about a 12-year-old girl who has trouble moving out of half position, and Anna, her daughter, who plays both classical and Celtic music, and both cello and string bass, is in a group called Border Collies, which has a CD called Sticks and Stones. (More later on both the book and CD.)

Dixie autographed my copy of the book, "Practice every day," and I did, while I was in Georgia, though not for very long, as there were places to go and things to do, but it was great having a cello with me, and it was a delight to meet the Huthmakers.

Huthmaker Violin in Duluth, Georgia, above. Below is Johnson String on Cape Cod. I found the similarity between the two buildings striking.

Spread Peace and Joy with Yo-Yo Ma

2008-11-02T01:56:00.009-04:00

A friend sent me information about a contest in which the prize is an opportunity to play with Yo-Yo Ma. Details are on the Indaba Music web site (or click on the photo above).

In celebration of the release of his latest album, Songs of Joy & Peace, which includes contributions by many other artists, such as James Taylor, Alison Krauss, Diana Krall, Chris Botti, and Renée Fleming, Ma has invited amateur and professional musicians to compete for the opportunity to collaborate with him on "Dona Nobis Pacem (Give Us Peace)."

On the Indaba website, there are recordings of Ma playing "Dona Nobis Pacem" as a cello solo, as well as a sample counterpoint melody and variations. And the downloadable sheet music to get you going. (It's in treble clef because you don't have to be a cellist to enter.) Participants are encouraged to write their "own counter-melody or record an entirely new set of variations."

It sounds like fun, as well as a nice collaboration of traditional and improvisational music. And, for those of us who don't stand much of a chance of winning, we can use Ma's recording of "Dona Nobis Pacem" as inspiration for our own playing.

Blog posting

2008-11-01T00:17:00.004-04:00

I posted every day last November, as part of National Blog Posting Month, but after that my posts have been less frequent, and connections with other people seem have diminished, though my blog stats have been increasing. What I liked best about NaBloPoMo was the camaraderie of fellow bloggers and finding a wonderful array of new blogs to frequent. I am hoping to find 29 scintillating cello-related things to say this month. Yes, that's right, this wimpy post counts as my first post of the month. :-)

NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo

2008-10-31T11:32:00.003-04:00

I have no time for this, but, yes, I have signed up for both again this year, as well as my own personal PracticeCelloEveryDayMonth. I would love to hear from others involved in either event, or two or more.

Secret Life of the Cellists

2008-10-27T12:35:00.004-04:00

We saw "Secret Life of the Bees" last night. Alicia Keys plays cello in it, not, in my opinion, entirely convincingly, but a cello is enough to get me to any movie.

I loved the book of the same name, and the movie is the best movie adaptation of a book that I have seen in a long time. It really captures the book, and the era (1964, as the civil rights movement was growing).

But, for now, just the cello part. Zoe Keating is the actual cellist in the movie, and, as the credits flipped by, I noticed that Alicia Keys had two cello coaches, one in New York and one in North Carolina, where, apparently, the movie was filmed. I didn't catch their names, and was checking the Internet for additional information, when I came across a query: "Was that cello piece the same one as the one in that commercial?"

Yes, it was the prelude to Bach's first suite for solo cello, the same one featured in numerous commercials from dog food to automobiles, apparently the identifying cello piece. Amazing Grace was also played, quite beautifully, I thought.

Just found an article about the North Carolina cello teacher. There is a video too, but I am in a motel in the Atlanta, Georgia area right now, one with a very slow Internet connection, so I can't watch it.

Here's another video, maybe the same one; it's hard to tell without being able to see them. It starts off by saying she learned the cello in 4 weeks. I guess she looks pretty good for four weeks!

I loved the fact that there was a cellist in this movie and there were quite a few scenes in which the cello played a supporting role. Alicia, however, played a character who was a bit unfeeling and unwilling to take a chance on love, perhaps someone who focuses all her emotions on the cello. So, you kind of want her to lighten up, put the cello aside, and go outside and play.

Oh, one other tiny complaint. This movie features Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah, and only gives us little snippets of singing. Ok, you can't make this book into a musical, but it would have been nice to hear more.

Still, in all, a great little movie, even the non-cello, non-musical parts.

Russian Animation-Камаринская-Kamarinskaja

2008-10-20T00:09:00.001-04:00

Laura found this wonderful animated version of Glinka's Kamarinskaja on Youtube; we are playing it in our newly founded orchestra. We are giving two concerts on November 14 and 16.

I love this piece, which is based on two Russian folk songs, and the cellos have lots of great lines.

"The Soloist" Release Delayed

2008-10-19T12:19:00.006-04:00

I was disappointed to read today that "The Soloist," the Jamie Foxx movie in which he plays a homeless, schizophrenic cellist, will not be released on November 21 as planned. The release has been delayed until March 9, 2009.

A story in the Los Angeles Times provides more information on the politics of the decision. Click on the movie poster image above for that story, which says, in part, that the movie is of "particular interest to those of us here at the L.A. Times, since it is based on a series of gripping columns by our own Steve Lopez about his relationship with a homeless musician grappling with schizophrenia." One of the concerns is that this change eliminates the movie from Oscar contention. Hard to figure why they would make that decision.

Maybe a novel, maybe not

2008-10-16T22:25:00.007-04:00

I participated in National Novel Writing Month last year, and actually wrote a 50,000 page novel, some words of which are memorable. But, honestly, I haven't even looked at it since I finished it last year. This was partly because, almost immediately after writing it, I applied for a job as a editor/writer with the local paper, and have since been up to my ears in writing, not only for the paper, but for another blog.

Do I have time to write a novel this year? Probably not. But I visited the nanowrimo site, just to see what was happening, and I seem to have accidentally signed up.

The first web badge simply calls attention to the event, the second one indicates I am a participant. I shall ponder, over the next two weeks, which one to keep.

Last year I also participated in the blog-every-day-for-the-month-of-November event, NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). I am pondering that one too. It was a lot of fun last year, and I met a lot of great bloggers. But this is also a huge time commitment, especially when you do both at the same time. There is a NaBloPoMo every month now, actually, but November still seems to be the official month.

Neither one of these endeavors really promotes quality in writing or blog posting, but sometimes quantity is better than nothing. And nothing promotes writing like a deadline.

I shall ponder for a little while longer.

All You Need Is Love - The Beatles

2008-10-12T12:20:00.001-04:00

Now, this is the way it should be done--complete with cellos!

Beatlemania

2008-10-12T12:04:00.002-04:00

I saw the Beatlemania Classical Mystery Tour last night with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra. The audience loved it. The singers looked somewhat like the Beatles, and the various costumes (changing over the years) were fun.

I was not enchanted though, wanting the Beatlemania people to be more like Beatles: sound more like them, move like them, be quirkier, and call each other John, Paul, George, and Ringo, not their real names, to heighten the fantasy. I also wanted the sound to be more balanced, as in this video. Live, the amplified guitars seemed too amplified for me (a common complaint of mine), and the orchestra's contributions were sometimes obscured. Jung-Ho Pak looked great in his Sgt. Pepper jacket, though.

A fun night (the crowd went wild, responding with three enthusiastic standing ovations), but not exhilarating, at least for me.

Two Steps Back can be useful

2008-10-09T17:06:00.003-04:00

Dissatisfied with my intonation, tone, expression, musicality, you-name-it, I decided to go back to the beginning, cello-wise. More than two steps back, really. I wanted to play simple scales and exercises really well and be more confident about shifting, positions, bowing, etc.

My teacher suggested we start with Piatti, book one. After initial distress (why not book two, at least?), I calmed down and have been serene about cello playing and cello progress ever since.

Still, finding time to practice is not always easy. I have two very demanding, deadline-based, but otherwise unstructured jobs, family, friends, rehearsals, and "occasional" Internet time.

I was thinking of Marisa today when I went in for my lesson, trying to think of an excuse for not practicing that sounded different from previous excuses. My last-minute practice session late last night must have helped though, because all went well. I had a great lesson, and more important than that, I had a great time playing and loved playing those simple, now very musical duets with my teacher.

Isn't the cello lovely! (Maybe I will manage a little more practice time this week.)

Denise Djokic, Again

2008-09-29T18:57:00.005-04:00

The concert started in an unusual way, with applause for the banks who sponsor the concerts, not so much for sponsoring the concerts, as for simply not going belly up yet. We're grateful for small things. Well, I guess that is a big thing.

Cellist Denise Djokic was the soloist with the Cape Cod Symphony this weekend, playing Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rocco Theme for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 33. An outstanding cellist (said to be one of the best classical musicians in Canada, or in the world, depending on whom you listen to) and an incredible piece of music, lots of variety for sure, and very demanding on the cellist. Yet, she was graceful and fluid, from grumbling low sounds to delicate high notes that you not think a cello capable of making.

I was glad to be able to see her. She was here, playing with the Simon Sinfonietta in February 2007, but I was unable to attend. It was nice of her to return. :-)

Here's a link to her playing Handel Halvorsen Passacaglia with Jasper Wood.

And another, part of a documentary done on her, called "Seven Days and Seven Nights."

Rain, Cello, Piano, and Chopin, Twice

2008-09-27T10:18:00.007-04:00

Yesterday morning, I drove, slowly, through the heavy rain, to Sandwich to play a couple of easy pieces with two pianists, both adult beginners, at their piano recital. All went well and the pianists all sounded great. I agreed to come back again for the next recital, and bring some other musicians. Pianists, at least at the early level, don't get to play with others that often, and they appreciated the opportunity to play with me. Makes me feel good too. :-)

Then, last night, I attended a cello/piano concert featuring Savely Schuster on cello and Sharon Mann on piano. They are both virtuoso musicians and played brilliantly, and I hate to even mention them in the same post as our little recital in the morning, but there were many similarities.

Both concerts were affected by the rain (turnout was light in the morning concert, and though the evening concert was sold out, many did not attend, for fear of torrential rains, which did not materialize). I did benefit from this by getting a great seat with an unobstructed view of the cellist, but was sorry so many people missed the big event. Both concerts very satisfying in their own way: great music, warm and friendly people, exceptional refreshments afterwards, and, both concerts included the same piece, Chopin's Nocturne in E Flat Major. Of course the piece from the morning concert was from a book called "Simply Chopin" and left out quite a few notes that were included in the evening version, but I enjoyed them both.

A great day, all in all.

Cello Thursday

2008-09-25T22:53:00.005-04:00

I am now committed to 4 (or more) hours of cello-playing on Thursday. Orchestra rehearsal is 2 hours, maybe 2 hours 15 minutes in the evening. My lesson is 45 minutes at 10:30, and we have just added a "duet lesson" for a friend and me, in the hour before my lesson. Today, I also practiced in the afternoon.

I am still having a hard time finding time to practice on a regular basis, but, at least, I will be playing a lot. At least on Thursday.

I loved our first duo lesson today. Carol and I are basically on the same level and we have been friends for a few years, playing together in a coached cello quartet for a while. I dropped out for various reasons, but we like to play together on occasion. It has been on rare occasion because we are both so busy. This way, we know we will be working together every week. And maybe it will motivate me to practice more. We have a duo performance scheduled for Saturday, but the remnants of a hurricane threatens the performance, at an outdoor harvest festival, so that may not actually happen. There's another (indoor) performance next week though.

Cellists for Obama

2008-09-20T11:35:00.004-04:00

Barack Obama's favorite classical music, according to his Facebook page, is Bach's suites for solo cello.

Orchestra!

2008-09-19T00:38:00.004-04:00

We have spent all summer getting ready for orchestra season, after a series of three preliminary rehearsals this summer. There were endless e-mails over all sorts of things, publicity, music selection and distribution, negotiating with our conductor, fundraising events, etc. Finally, tonight, we had our first rehearsal. It was all worth it.

We have about 35 members--a great turnout; a few days ago we were expecting only 22. We have five cellists. I am sitting in the second chair, but only because the cellist who should be there preferred to sit farther back, and the other two cellists had already picked chairs in the back.

The first chair cellist is a friend, a professional flutist who also plays the cello. She was the one who got me interested in the cello in the first place, when she got some of her adult flute students together with adult student of a cello teacher and a violin teacher. I loved the sound of the flute and cello together and wanted to enhance our flute choir with a cello. (At the same time, my daughter independently decided she wanted to play the cello after we visited my sister and her family, and was intrigued with the cello one of her cousins was playing. So we, my daughter and I, started cello together.)

Our orchestra program for the fall is:

Handel, Overture to Agrappina
Vaughn Williams, Fantasia of Greensleeves
Tchaikovsky, Andante Cantabile
Telemann, Concerto in e minor
Bizet, Symphony in C

We worked on the Bizet tonight. This is a four-movement, 30-minute piece, and we only got through the first three movements in two hours. It sounded good to me though, and it not too difficult on the cello. The Greensleeves, which I haven't even tried yet, looks to be the most challenging, as most of it is in four flats, and there a lots of triple stops and some tenor clef. I will have to try it out this week, should I find the time to practice!

Cello, Trumpet, and Piano

2008-09-14T20:46:00.003-04:00

We went to see Tre Corda this afternoon, a jazz trio with Tim Ray on piano, Greg Hopkins on trumpet, and Eugene Friesen on cello. Not exactly your typical jazz instrumentation, and the music they play draws on African rhythms, especially with the cello, classical music, jazz classics, and a healthy dose of improvisation. All three instrumentals are virtuoso players, creative, innovative, whimsical, and full of vitality. Just the antidote for an overcast afternoon.

Here is a link to their CD Baby site where you can hear their music: Tre Corda. Most of the pieces sound a bit more mellow than they did in person though, where their sound filled the room and rattled the walls. In a good way, of course.

Cello and Piano

2008-09-12T23:43:00.003-04:00

Last spring I met a piano teacher who specializes in teaching older adults. I was impressed. Some of her students had played when they were kids, but most of them had taken up the piano in retirement, had played for a year or two, or more, and sounded pretty good. I mentioned that I played the cello and had started as an older adult (though not quite in retirement). The teacher though it would be a great idea for some of the students to play duets with me at the next concert. I said sure, as I almost never turn down an invitation to play.

The concert is in two weeks, and we rehearsed today. The pieces are pretty easy for me (a "song" by Beethoven and "Amazing Grace") so I can concentrate on tone and intonation and sounding good, but I can tell they are a little more complicated for the pianists. Most had not played with others (except some piano duets) and were struggling a little to keep the tempo constant. It was great fun to rehearse with them, though, and to listen to their other pieces. A lot of them were serene, contemplative pieces, very relaxing. Just what I needed today, after yet another busy week.

September!

2008-09-01T17:15:00.009-04:00

Along about this time every year, I realize I didn't do enough "summer things" during the quickly fading summer. I'm always so busy working or involved in musical activities of one kind or another.

We did manage to get out on a sailboat over the weekend. And though it was a little misty, we enjoyed the serenity of Vineyard Sound. The quiet was intense, and, for me, was even more powerful than the other voices on the boat. (This was a "tourist boat," with about 20 adults and children on board. The parents were noisier than their kids, with their efforts to keep them safe and amused.)

Tonight we are going to a play in Dennis (the other end of the Cape), and my husband called the town to see if there would be a town band concert there tonight, as there has been on other Monday nights when we went to the theater. "Summer's over!" was the response. A little abrupt, I think!

Hopefully, we will still find time to go kayaking, biking along the rail trail, etc. At least I can always just take my work out on the deck and enjoy the weather there.

And my cello. I didn't practice every day in August, and didn't actually keep records after I started skipping days in the second half of the month. But it was a whole lot better than July. I will try again in September.