Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Summit Days x-y - the super condensed version!

I learnt something very important today ... in order to prepare for a performance (or a masterclass in my case), you have to practice something in as many different ways as possible (interpretationally, dynamically, with your eyes closed, with a story line or mono/dialogue running through your head & any other way you can think of!). Playing with your eyes closed is easily the most revealing of technical insecurities ... playing everything at full volume helps with that too.

In other news, today I:

Had orchestra
Practiced for 2.5 hours
Ate
Attended Emanuel Gruber's Masterclass
Practiced for a half hour
Had a 2 chamber coachings
ate
went to the concert (first half Julian Milkis, second half, Beethoven Septet!)
Improv'd outside (this was nice - despite the humidity - full moon & I ended up w/ a very small audience)
Practied for an hour

So, 4 hours of progress ... I had some absolutely amazing musical experiences in the last couple of days, including: getting to play for Emmanuel Feldman in a masterclass (He told me to open up my shoulder when bowing & to move around a bit & to not hold extensions); getting to see Alma play her Liszt piece (Transcendental Etude 10) on one of the Student Galas (she played with so much energy & force that it really reminded me of Jacqueline DuPre, except on piano ... but anyway, I had no clue that one could get that much sound out of a piano); getting to see Eugene Osadchy & the rest of his trio play Tchaickovsky ... I'm sure there's other stuff ... I'm going to try really hard to do some full posts about the previous days by the end of the week...

So far Summit has been an incredibly transforming and inspiring experience ... I've generally been tremendously happy in a way that I haven't been in longer than I can remember. I'm smiling & learning & spending time with people & it's all been so great! Been getting some great stuff from the masterclasses too...

Now I have to go to sleep...

3 comments:

CelloGirl said...

Just wanted to tell you that I've been following your blog. Very envious of your Summit week. Sounds awesome!

I'm only studying cello as a hobby but I envy your 'journey' with the cello. One day, I would love to be completely immersed in it.

Keep writing!

Mike Lunapiena said...

Well - it is actually 3 weeks - and Summit has an adult program for folks like you (which is one week) if you're ever interested ... it's of course in New York & not Georgia...

Anyway, that's cool that you're following my blog - how did you come across it?

I've actually been even more immersed in music lately (when I'm not at work) - been working on cello/keys/songwriting & transcription & it's all very exciting ... my brain is on its way back to thinking in music, so to speak ...

I'll definitely be writing some more soon.

Thanks for reading & commenting!

-Mike

Mike Lunapiena said...

Oh, also, you've got some cool stuff in your blog - so I added it to my list of recommended reading