Lessons From Bronxville

I had what I would call a good, pleasurable show earlier in Bronxville. I also learned a few things.

1. I still have a lot to learn about how to promote my shows. Of the people there, 3 were old friends who I reached through facebook. (one of the primary self-promotion tools...). I am currently compiling a New York list for publications/blogs/calendars, etc. I can submit event listings to. This list will become doubly important when I finally get to releasing my solo album, as I'll have to get it reviewed and talked about in order to get it anywhere.

2. I need to know my material cold & be able to play it in my sleep. I've been doing a lot of work. I played generally well & a friend commented that my intonation had improved greatly since the last time he heard me play. Despite that, I had a lot of moments of missed notes or faulty intonation or memory slips, etc. There is only so much time I can practice in any given day. Since I don't have another solo show for almost a month, I'm going to really hone in on everything here. The thing I played best (from a purely technical/ease standpoint) was my Pirates of the Caribbean Medley. This is because I've been doing it in some form for years and I've just internalized it enough to be able to perform it.

3. I need to be able to play without looking at the cello (this has been such a common theme in my practice - I really need to pay attention to this!!). This allows me to connect visually with the audience instead of having my head buried in the cello.

4. I need to talk less (I had a good balance of it last gig ... this one, not so much). It may be worth it to find a way to engage the audience more (though I had some people talking back on their own at this, so that counts for something).

5. I still have lots of work to do on correcting my hand position and freeing my vibrato (vibrating with the arm instead of the forearm)

6. Don't leave the recorder at home - I was really hoping to get some video of this ... now I'll have to wait for April :(

I plan from now on to keep a practice log again and set practice goals ... the last time I did this, it did wonders ... I'm reading to make the next leap ...

I think that's all for now. I had most of my plans cancelled for tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to a full day of practicing and hopefully getting some flyers hung up as well!

I need to start booking more of these sorts of gigs ... if you can recommend a place I can play, please let me know!