Journeys of a Cellist

Experiences at the Cello Madness Congress NYC Pt.1

2012-02-09T10:51:00.007-05:00

2 nights of the last 2 weeks were really special for me. Cello Joe hosted an event known as the Cello Madness Congress in NYC. First in Brooklyn, then in Manhattan.

Basically, the way I describe it to people is: "take all the cellists who do really weird stuff in New York & put them all in a room together for 4 hours" ... and that's basically what it was ... but so much more.

Brooklyn:

The Brooklyn event was held in a loft apartment with a nice open space. I think about 13 cellists showed up & maybe 20-30 people or so to watch us. There were snacks & beer & it was an awesome night. I was the first cellist there (besides Joe) & one by one, people wandered in, we introduced ourselves to each other, chatted it up with the audience, figured out how to arrange the room, etc.

Eventually, we got started & began with a group twist on the C scale. Each person started at a different part of the scale (Root, 3rd or 5th) .. it made for a very cool sound. After that, we did a bit of group improv & the rest of the night, alternated group improvisation games with solo sets. The solo sets were really amazing & eye opening in a lot of ways. It was great to see such a high level of playing, as well as such a variety of different kinds of original music. Here's a glimpse of who did what:

CelloJoe (Joey Chang) - beatboxing cellist
http://CelloJoe.com/

Valerie Kuehne - cross-polinating sundry genres
http://www.myspace.com/valeriekuehne

Cosmo D (Greg Heffernan) - electro cello techno loop genius
http://cosmod.net/

Michael Lunapeina - the wandering cellist - rock/metal
http://cellomike.com/

Elizabeth Glushko - electronics and looping.
http://www.myspace.com/egcello

Nick Jozwiak - fascinating composer, throat sings while he plays
soundcloud.com/nicholas-jozwiak

Jacob Cohen - melodic improv inspired by hip hop
http://soundcloud.com/jacob-cello

Meaghan Burke - songstress
http://www.reverbnation.com/meaghanburke

There was also a guest appearance by Quetzacoatl via the form of a Giant Puppet & courtesy of http://GiantPuppetsSaveTheWorld.com

I sadly didn't get any video, but here are some pictures (Taken by Sean Hagerty)...

Stay tuned for part 2!

How to Fit Myself Into A Box

2012-01-18T21:16:00.004-05:00

I hate the Bio/Resume that I have right now ... I feel like it doesn't represent me/the me I want to be... but I also don't know how to write Me ... I'm messy and confusing... and I don't really fit into the traditional or non-traditional box...

I/I'm:
Classically Trained (but much less than classical people)
Play in Community Orchestras (but not a lot)
Have done a crapton of musical theatre
Improvise & write music like a songwriter
Play in the Subways
Play in as many as 4 or 5 rock bands that are somewhat successful that most people have never heard of & are not a part of any mainstream music genres
Have little to no interest in being more "in the box" or going to grad school or taking lessons, because I want to make my own path creating music that I really love that is deeply meaningful to me.
Play a live set that involves half covers & half original music
Do everything from playing weddings to pits to religious services to rock bands to (very occasional) classical gigs to recording sessions
I started cello at age 16 (but does that matter?)
I write cool music in GarageBand on keyboard & sort of just have no clue what to do with it...

I guess really what I'm torn between is I want to represent myself as the Cellist/Songwriter, but most of my work is in the teaching & freelance musician world & I feel like it's talking to two different sets of people with completely different interests ... It's another stupid tug of war inside...

This post has given me some ideas...

Edit: I've now got a different bio up .. I don't think it's done yet ... I realized part of the problem is that I'm trying to serve 2 different masters with this bio ... I need a Me bio & a teaching bio & a resume ... 1 down, 2 to go...

Playing at the Bean Runner Cafe

2012-01-09T12:26:00.003-05:00

Last night I played for the 12th Artist Appreciation Show at Bean Runner Cafe. It was a really cool experience!!

I live in Brooklyn/NYC & absolutely love it! Because of that, one of my favorite things is getting out of NYC. No matter where I've gone, every time I get out of NYC, people seem a bit happier & more wholesome, less stressed and jaded. It's really encouraging.

Peekskill was no exception. What a charming little town (at least the part I got to explore was). Everyone's friendly & there's lots of book stores & cafes & antique stores & all in a small area. My favorite part of it was exploring Bruised Apple Books - a very awesome used books store! I picked up a copy of The Complete Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne & of "Gig" - a book with firsthand accounts of jobs across the entire spectrum of America.

Anyway, on to Bean Runner ... Bean Runner is a nice cafe ... a little fancy, but not in an off-putting way (just in an everything looks pleasing sort of way) with nice staff. I had the pleasure of performing to a full Cafe of people who were there for & actively paying attention to the music. I also had the pleasure of playing with other artists who were original & whose art was very awesome in their own way.

In NYC this sort of thing doesn't happen a lot ... music almost always feels like a secondary focus, even when people come to shows ... there is little sense of community, or artists supporting each other, of people sticking around for other bands' sets because they actively are pleased to do so. I think it's a result of oversaturation & stressful, busy lives.

Whatever it is, it's always beautiful to get away from that.

For me the most beautiful moment was unexpectedly joining motivational spoken word artist Christ Is during his set. Playing the melody from Tool's Parabol, along with my own "beats" behind his spoken art that dealt with some of the grittier, harder aspects of life while still being uplifting was really truly inspirational & powerful.

It's amazing what happens when you put two things together that you wouldn't normally expect to go together. Words & Music compliment each other in a really deep way.

An Update From the Studio

2011-08-28T03:43:00.004-04:00

So I've been in the studio for a little over a week now ... Finished tracking for 6 and a half songs & eaten way too much pizza.

I'd orignally been intending to do some more updating, include some cool photos & vid. & all that, but honestly, I've had my hands completely full with trying to record everything as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

We lost our first day to technical issues, which was a real drag & I've had a few days where I've had to go back into NYC for gigs (including for the Steampunk Anachronism, which was tremendous fun & awesome), but otherwise, I've basically been recording from wake to sleep most days.

There have been some fun moments, some tense moments, some stupid moments (lots of stupid moments) & lots of exhausted moments ... I've learned about how I can better prepare for next time I go in the studio (the obvious way is learning all parts before hand, but also having a map/notes of how many times things repeat, where they line up w/ each other, etc, helps too).

I've had periods where I've been flying solo, but mostly Sean Harty has been engineering this ... it's a tremendous help having an engineer ... it's just too much to manage recording & engineering (not to mention, having someone with an instantaneous knowledge of mics & setup & all that is tremendously helpful) ... I've learned a bit more on the engineering side from doing this.

I've encountered lots of weird things like loops not quite lining up, like having to put my cello out of tune to make open strings work with a pre-recorded part, like there are certain 1/4 inch cables you don't put into a DI...

Mid-way through recording, we discovered that Sean actually had the original Garage Band files from when I wrote the album (which I lost due to partial Hard Drive failure) ... that has been both exciting and tremendously helpful ... moral of the story - always back things up ...

Anyway, so that's where I'm at ... really looking forward to getting to editing & mixing (and not working against a clock)

It's probably gonna be a bit before I write again ...

Humility

2011-07-07T23:54:00.002-04:00

I mentioned in my last post that there had been some success in addition to the failures ... perhaps the most significant effect of that success has been finding a new sense of Humility.

I need to clarify, I DO NOT MEAN SELF-DEPRECATION or any other similar destructive thinking.

I just mean that I've got a better sense of where I fit ... I've met/befriended/been complimented by people who are better than me, who I admire... I've met cellists my age or younger who are better ... I've met cellists who are worse. I've had some more success as a performer & like everything else in life, the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.

That humility is enabling me to grow (as a person and as a cellist). I've also gained self-confidence to go along with it & some level of security that I didn't have before.

It's cool :)

Failure & Success

2011-07-07T21:48:00.002-04:00

It's been about 5 months since I moved to New York City ... I've had some serious failures, but also some cool successes ... if that's not bloody confusing, I don't know what is... Having a series of successes, and then failing at something can be a tremendous confidence-blow ...

The biggest failure has been my inability to financially support myself in a secure way. Every month, I've been barely paying my bills & every month, the margin has gotten smaller and smaller. Some of this could have been solved by more frugality or better planning, but honestly that seems like a short-sighted/growth-deterring solution.

Honestly, the solution is having a higher income. For a long time (despite the advice of a cellist-friend who I have immense respect for), I thought busking could be the solution to that. It seemed like a nice way to balance things - flexible, only required a few hours a day, involved getting to talk to people & get my music "out there" and network/get gig offers ... but there's been less and less of all of that lately, and the money is just not there. Despite my stubbornness and determination, I finally have to accept that this isn't the way I get to write my ticket to a better life. It's not going to get me there. On the other hand, it's immensely improved my playing & performing abilities & helped me develop some of my acoustic repertoire. I even managed to get into MUNY - an accomplishment for sure (I get to book my first performance through them very soon & am definitely looking forward to it!).

So busking has failed in that regard ... I've also failed at generating enough performance gigs to really provide good income. I've had some success doing solo or chamber performances at coffee houses or stuff like that (but I also had one absolutely terrible depressing & hurtful experience too). But I've stalled on where else I can start to play at or how to build up more of those. Also, my following is only so big .. I can only bug people to come see me play so often ... I guess in a way, I'm a little afraid from trying out a place cold, because of my failure at the previously mentioned gig ...

I've barely been able to get into the classical world of gigging at all ... it's sorta been like the really attractive & intelligent and amazing girl/guy that you see everyday from a distance and really wish you could get to know, but have no way of doing so ... the truth is though, I think deep inside, I've never really wanted to be a part of the classical world. I feel part of that is because I never felt invited & often, when around classical people I didn't really feel like I clicked with them ... I felt like they were very uptight or very narrow-minded & I just felt like I wasn't in that box (now to be fair, I've met & even been friends with some really awesome classical people) ... I also felt like I was at the bottom of the totem pole so to speak & I'm sure some of that has to do with my being a lesser cello player than most of the other people doing it professionally & some of it has to do with me going to a less connected, less prestigious school than most of the other people doing it professionally (and there may even be other factors I'm not aware of). For a while I thought going to a prestigious grad school and studying with an amazing cello teacher there would be the solution (and I think in some alternate universe, there must be a Mike who started cello at age 8 or something and became a really amazing cellist & went to a really famous school, etc, etc)... In this universe, I realized that I want to build a career based off of creating and performing my own original music in the rock/heavy metal vein? Can we say cool????!!! Can we also say Crappy Way to Pay the Bills?? Anyway, whatever the reasons, I've generated a small amount of performance work for myself & I'm really grateful for it & for everyone who's worked with me or told me they admired my playing or asked me back or whatever ... but still, it's small ...

I knew it was going to be fucking hard when I made the decision to be a professional musician (and kept re-making that decision) ... hell, hard was mostly what I knew, so it didn't really seem like a big deal ... just more of the same ... I knew that I'd have to build my own career ... I've even read up on how to do this ... but honestly, I've failed so far at it ... I am a good cellist, I am a good teacher, I'm not a good freelancer/business person. I don't have that skill set ... the inroads I've made have been just from general enthusiasm & sharing and persistence ... I feel because I have that, in the long-term I'll be successful, but in the short term it's not working ...

Another area I've failed hardcore in is building up a private student base. I didn't realize when I started teaching that I just really didn't have a good setup to do it. My first teaching experience was through an In-Home Lessons company (that later turned out to be sketchy and got investigated by the FBI) & some students I found through craigslist. In the time since then, I've never had more than 5 or 6 students at a time. I couldn't really teach out of home ... home was just hell in a lot of ways (and I mean that more than emotionally) and it was just a really unsuitable teaching space. I didn't have an internet connection that could handle doing skype lessons & I didn't live in the right area of westchester where driving for lessons made sense. So then I got a job at a music school 10 minutes away from where I lived - exciting, but not many students just yet ... definitely seemed hopeful. Unexpectedly, I had to move from home & even more unexpectedly (after having given up the dream of doing this for the time being), I ended up moving to New York City. All of a sudden this music school was really far away ... I stuck out the year, but decided to quit after that, because the money for the time just didn't make sense. In retrospect, I should have reached out to the local school teachers & tried to recruit students. I gained a lot of confidence as a teacher from the last year of teaching (at that music school and otherwise), which is something I didn't have. But still, I have not developed studio-building skills ...

There''s been a lot of successes over the last 5 months too (and the fact that I've even managed to keep paying my bills doing this is one of them) ... but right now I need to focus on the failures and bringing myself to the next level before things really get out of control. I've come to terms with the fact that right now I can not support myself just on a musical income. What must be balanced with that though is that music is still the most important thing in my life & I need the time to continue to develop my skills & to perform. I need the flexibility to be able to do local gigs, to go away to weekend gigs/events & network & hopefully at some point, tour.

I think temping is going to be the avenue ... temping and some small goal setting so that I keep building the career things that are going on for me, so maybe in another year or two I can actually have an income just based on music ...

I think one thing I have to learn to control is my amount of leisure time ... I've taken some very generous amounts right now (and sometimes I'll use that for networking, etc.) & that's been very important/useful to me in a lot of ways, but I think I have to learn that being an adult means that sometimes I just need to work more & be happy less, so at the end of the day, the ship is still floating.

This is where I am right now ... I know that where I am right now is worlds better than where I was 5 months ago ... I'm a fool, but a brave one ... I've had so many things to knock my confidence down & point me to pick something more sensible to do with my life ... but I love doing music too much ... I love reaching deep into someone's soul/psyche/whatever and causing them to smile or bob their head or move a bit or stare and watch in awe ... I love sharing with them, I love the feeling I get, I love the feedback they give ... I will make this work

But first, I will get some financial security, because this ship can't run on empty...

Ghosts of Greyhame - The Journey Has Just Begun

2011-05-26T12:41:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Morning, Ghosts of Greyhame reached full funding!

Needless to say, this is one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me in my life!

The support I got from friends, family, fans & people I met over the internet is absolutely incredible.

Recording is tentatively set to begin on June 1st & there's a ton of work to do between now and then.

I learned a lot about creating an album & making it a reality from this & I'm sure I've got a ton more to learn about recording over the next few months.

I have recently started re-reading The Lord of the Rings (something I used to do every year). I have reached the point where Frodo & company have finished the journey to Rivendell, sat through the council of Elrond & are now about to begin the true journey to Mordor to destroy the ring.

I feel that I am largely in the same place (though my journey is a much happier one) ... I feel like everything I've done until now in my life has only been leading up to the true journey ...

I'm so honored & excited to share it with all of you!

Ghosts of Greyhame - My first solo album

2011-03-28T13:41:00.000-04:00

Life has been a complete whirlwind lately. I've been living in Queens for 2 months now & have been busy every second of it, which has been absolutely amazing ... I wish I had the time and energy to write about all of the amazing things I've gotten to do and see and be involved in ...

I'm going to have even less time pretty soon ...

The stars have finally aligned and I have solid plans to get into the recording studio in mid-June to record my solo album ... the album that I wrote a year and a half ago and have been telling people about ever since!

In order to do this, I am funding the album through Kickstarter, which is amazing, but scary at the same time. For anyone not familiar with Kickstarter, it's a crowd-sourcing/fundraising site that works on an all or nothing model. So I have to raise my total amount or I don't get a penny ...

Talk about incentive!!

I wrote once or twice in this blog about my solo album, but never went into much detail about it ...

"Ghosts of Greyhame" is a concept/story album that fuses most of my different musical influences ... heavy metal, rock, classical, film music, folk music, improvisation, etc & puts them together in a way that tells a story through music ... It's almost exclusively layered/solo cello & even involves some electric cello (and who knows what else by the end) ... it's my way of making a movie or writing a novel through music... I want to go into the concept a bit more, but I think that's going to take another blog post...

It's going to take a huge push to get the album funded (sometime in the future, I'm going to write up a post about the financial side of making an album as a solo artist ... it is not a pretty picture! I think I eventually need to make a book or a class "Things they don't tell you in Music School") ... but this is easily the biggest thing in my creative life and career (or at least I think it will be) ...

As Mr. Lundie says in Brigadoon: "It's the hardest thing in the world to give everything; even though it's usually the only way to get everything"

So over the next two months, on top of the extra cello work/gigs that I've got, I'll be pouring energy in every second to re-familiarizing myself with/perfecting all of these parts, and to telling everybody about this project. I need to make this album a reality & I want to share it with as many people as possible.

I'm going to put together a small CD release tour once the album's done, and I've already got plans for a second album, but those things can't happen without this CD ...

It's my first Do or Die moment ... I plan to Live...

(My next blog post in this series will talk about some of my specific influences)

By the way, Here's that Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/764802108/ghosts-of-greyhame-a-debut-recording-by-mike-lunap

Please consider a donation (or if you don't have money, clicking the "Like" button helps tremendously!!)

What place does classical music have in my life?

2011-03-22T12:18:00.003-04:00

This seems to be the nagging question that won't stop following me or leave me alone...

Classical music is inherently anachronistic ... for a while I hated that anacrhonism and wanted nothing to do with it ... It's not my world. Since then I've grown a bit and am able to appreciate this world where the focus is all about following an out-dated ettiquete where, even in live performance, the sounds are overwhelmingly more important than the visual. I'm able to accept that the genius of this music lies in subtleties that are probably actually just imagined/created by the observer/listener/writer rather than intended by the creator. ... Another way to put it: That rock is beautiful and I could probably find a million different ways to describe its beauties and magic ... at the end of the day it's just a rock. I'm willing to accept that going to see classical concerts & listening to classical music is an important part of my musical education - there is always something to learn ... often a lot to learn & it's nice to have a venue where you can just observe and be completely academic about the experience. I think it's crucially important for music students too. That's not what this post is about.

In a way, I guess I should have titled this post "What place does learning and performing Classical Music have in my life". I can answer the second part easily ... as long as I can get a gig and network and meet people and learn from playing it, performing classical music always has a place in my life. It's part of a freelancer's life in the same way the doing recording sessions or musical theater pits or whatever else is.

The first part of the question however is what I can't seem to figure out. By classical standards I have achieved a very low level of study. I know very little of the classical standard repertoire - I've only ever learned 3 bach suites to completion and have not even fully learned 2 concertos. There is a part of me that really loves working on this material. Especially everytime I watch Steven Isserlis or Jacqueline DuPre. I also know that practicing it makes me a better cellist & it is a path to technical development (not the only one). But at the same time I need to focus on something in life. It is hard to play all the music I do and do classical music on top of that. So I wonder, is classical music the thread that lies beneath all of this ... do I keep it going for the sake of socializing myself? For the sake of technical and musical development? Because I love it? If so, how much time do I devote to it. What do I do with it.

Yesterday 3/21, I participated in Bach in the Subways Day in honor of Bach's 326th Birthday (maybe we could do this for modern composers as well??). It was a real treat, especially because I felt stressed out and tired and exhausted all day. In my spare moments throughout the day, I practiced to try and get these pieces back under my fingers ... I don't even remember when the last time I played Bach was. I know that the maybe hour of practicing and the hour and a half of performing I did worked wonders for my Left & Right Hand technique. But more importantly, it inspired me to become better and to practice more. It also really cheered me up. The real treat though was when Eric Edberg came along ... playing in the subways gets a bit lonely sometimes - particularly in the spot I was in, so it was great to have some company & then to go around and get to watch and meet Dale Henderson (who is the originator of Bach in the Subways) & Lindsey Horner (a Jazz Bassist with a very different take on Bach - much more focused on improvisation). I wish I had had a chance to see the earlier performances as well, but I was teaching.

When I first started playing the cello, I fell in love with classical music. I loved listening to Yo-Yo Ma & Rostropovich & the Bach Suites & the Haydn Concerto & The Swan, etc. I loved playing them. My first teacher was one of those people who basically only did classical music (and some freelancing, but basically just classical). He really inspired me and made me love it though. I kept feeding that attachment as I went through college (I mean how do you go through music school without doing that??)

As a result, I've always got this tug of war inside between doing classical and doing everything else. I'm disinterested in classical, but at the same time I love playing it ...

So the question is... what place does classical music have in my life?

I wonder if I'll ever find the answer.

Are You Going to Scarborough Fair

2011-03-16T01:42:00.002-04:00

Last night I had one of the most magical experiences of my entire life. I went to my very first Irish Session at the Landmark Tavern on 11th Ave. I came in very nervously and not wanting to be disruptive. I know a few Irish Tunes, but I knew I'd be way out of my league in this circle. Everybody in the circle was very friendly/welcoming and they made space for me to join them. I didn't know most of the tunes that were played, so it was a real treat for me to get to watch and listen a lot of the time and try to figure things out as people played them.

I was invited to start Road to Lisdonvarnia at one point, which was really cool! I also got to play some of my favorite fiddle tunes from Master & Commander throughout the night (which are of course originally not from the movie). There was tin whistle, pipes, flute, guitar, banjo, some small diaphragm instrument I've never seen/heard and violins. There was just this absolute magic in everybody coming together during the tunes. Most people playing the melody ... there was just this joy and power that I've never felt in playing with other people ... even with jamming or chamber music. It's almost as if the tunes had their own magic because of their age & because of the sounds of all the instruments.

One thing I found really interesting was that tunes often went from one to the other in a segue kind of fashion & people seemed to always know when it was going to happen (despite not knowing in advance what the tune would be). Throughout the night, I cautiously began to add in some accompaniment and harmony lines. About an hour and a half into the session, this Irish Band from Australia showed up and started adding in some tunes ... everything just went up a whole level from there ... it was a good deal of fun ... before they arrived I had started Road to Lisdonvarnia, Swallow Tail Jig & Moorlough Shore (which only a few people knew, but was really nice ... I was incredibly nervous). They played for at least another few hours. At one point, after improvising along with one of their tunes, they asked me to play a tune (which I was really honored by) ... so I played Scarborough Fair and people loved it (I also discovered that I didn't have a very good sense of the timing with it) ... I played some more with the group, but the original group began to pack up and so did I ..

I stayed to watch the band play for another hour or so & got to witness one of the members wet his tin whistle (finish half a pint of beer with it before playing The Lonesome Boatman) & got to witness one of their gang tap dance something crazy fast (which was so cool!!!) & in general just had a ton of fun! The whole thing really felt like musical home to me. I've got some serious tune learning to do now & good reason to do it. I'm going to another session tonight & it will be a while before I can go to another monday session, but I can't wait to go back!

Lessons From Bronxville

2011-03-12T05:36:00.005-05:00

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!

A Lesson Every Time I Practice

2011-03-11T01:32:00.002-05:00

Right now I do not have the money to afford cello lessons. I have not had the money for a long time and unless things change, I won't. What I do have are years of training and skill and professional experience as a performer and teacher. This means that to a certain extent I can teach myself. A good private lesson is about raising awareness while pushing the student further & being supportive at the same time.

Some people set goals before they practice. I usually look for something that's wrong or not working and then try to fix it. At previous points I've set goals and used practice routines. It may be helpful to start doing that again.

Today my practice focused very heavily on the alignment of my left arm to the cello & keeping it consistent (particularly when playing on the 4th finger or shifting) & on using the whole arm for vibrato instead of just the forearm.

I started out watching and trying to imitate Amit Peled's video of the prayer. I learned a ton from this ... it led me to work on the alignment and vibrato. This has in turn helped my shifting, intonation & connecting notes. A lot of the work I did was slow & step by step (going at the speed of thought) & a lot of it involved going back and checking and re-checking (because the whole aim of this is consistency & the ability to do anything on command).

Some general tips and thoughts that came out of this lesson:
-Vibrato with the Arm, not the wrist
-Vibrato with forearm for quieter passages (generally requires more tension)
-Always play with a big sound/project
-Don't get stuck
-Every practice has to be a lesson
-I have to be my own teacher
-Left Hand has to down before the right hand can act

I have a list of cello technical exercises that I've kept for a while (mostly areas I want to work on or skills I want to develop), I'm going to make sure to refer in future lessons.

Technical Talk

2011-03-09T23:04:00.005-05:00

As a result of video myself, I discovered something pretty interesting that explains some of the trouble and insecurity I have with playing the cello:

I break the alignment of my arm to the cello a lot. Particularly when I play on my 4th finger or shift. This is something I had pointed out to me very quickly a while ago, but recently I discovered vampyresonata (http://www.youtube.com/vampyresonata) girl & after watching her & every other cellist out there & notice that they all had this consistent position and ease/strength/directness of playing, I finally put 2 & 2 together ...

I love the way Vampyre Sonata plays, especially with her left hand - it's so direct and structured and accurate & it produces a great sound

Teaching advice for Masterclasses or private lessons: Mirrors are great tools. What I think I'm doing from behind the cello and what I'm actually doing are often different. A mirror shows me what I'm actually doing. Had somebody explained this to me with a mirror and taken 5 minutes to go over it with me, it would have stuck much, much more.

Some other things I've noticed are that my left hand thumb is often unbalanced or behind the first finger - particularly after shifting, my bow hand fingers are not bending enough. I'm also learning that there are times to tense more and times to relax more (particularl with the left hand).

Also, playing a piano dynamic still requires a firm left hand that fully stops the string ... this is what Irene Sharp means by left hand doesn't do dynamics (I think) ... What the left hand does alter is the tone.

I've discovered part of the secret to playing in tune (and this is something I was taught long ago) ... I need to hear/sing the part in my head *before* I'm playing it. This means I'm constantly thinking ahead (something I was telling a student in a lesson the other day & something Amit Peled talks about in his ICS interview)

Also, I have to start thinking about bow distribution as a means of expression a lot more & start mimicking other cellist's bow distribution, as well as their left hand.

Today I tried a new method of practicing, which basically meant that when learning a new piece, I stopped after sections and wrote down the problems and then continued (I would have then worked on them, but I only had an hour for this particular session & lots of tunes to get through).

I'm going to make it a point to blog regularly & discover new Youtube regularly and start reading peoples' blogs again (because I have to confess, Emily's is really the only one I've been reading regularly).

I am very stressed out (compared to my usual level of complete non-stressiness), but it's the kind that comes from working hard ... I need that right now!

Is There No Standard Anymore?

2011-03-09T20:49:00.005-05:00

I've been learning a lot over the past month or so since I've moved to New York.

A lot about people, about music, about myself, life, etc. Many of those lessons have come in the past 2 weeks through financial difficulty.

One of the most important ones came a few nights ago after seeing Zoe Keating & Todd Reynolds play. This lesson has actually been coming for a while & it started with me actually practicing again & actually recording some of my practice. However, the LPR show was really the catalyst of it. Meeting a lot of buskers has also been essential to this change.

I've learned that I need to hold myself to a higher standard - musically and as a person. I've accomplished a lot in the almost 7 years I've been playing cello. I have a lot to be proud of and a lot to value. I've affected and inspired and moved people in all sorts of settings. I've created music, I've learned to improvise and play different styles, I've written a solo album, which I'm going to record soon, played in orchestras, musicals, etc, etc. BUT there's a lot I haven't done ... there's still a ton I have to learn. I've met and watched so many talented people recently and there is a level of musicality and technical proficiency I have not achieved yet. I've met a lot of "amateurs" who actually have a better technique than me or are better sight-readers or whatever. They arent' quite so boasty about what they do.

So I've realized, I need to hold myself to a higher standard. I need to practice more, I need to practice better, I need to record myself all the time & all in all I need to output higher than I do now. This includes things like always showing up early & being prepared for gigs a week or two in advance (and having played my show or at least recorded it before getting up to play it). This means being able to play everything I'm doing in my sleep, with fluency and perfection. This includes developing serious chops.

On a non-musical level, this also includes aggressively booking myself at venues (open mics, coffee houses, libraries, concert halls whatever) and aggressively looking for students & aggressively promoting shows and aggressively networking & communicating with the people who communicate with me.

I've been doing a good job about some of that over the last few weeks, but I have much more. I'm taking all the right steps, but I need to take more of them & take them better. I want to have a world-class technique some day ... I want to be exceptional & push the limits ... I have many hours of practicing before I can do that. I have to push my own limits.

My ultimate goal is to reach as many people in a meaningful way with my music as possible.

Time to get to work.

Maybe I don't need to be the same ...

2011-03-08T03:55:00.002-05:00

I realized something in between the time I watched Zoe Keating play & now ...

Maybe I don't need to play cello the same as everybody else. I've always been really frustrated because my left hand technique barely looks anything like the really exceptional cellists I know ...

On the other hand, I'm able to play very expressively & able to move people (whether it's through my videos or live in a coffee house or at an Edensong show, etc.) ...

I also am progressively developing more and more precision/accuracy.

It's particularly when I improv that my technique goes kind of wonky ... it's also particularly when I improv that I feel free and able to be expressive (though at times I feel like I say the same thing over) ...

maybe it's ok to have a different technique ...

I'm not sure. What I do know is that I'm starting to improve & I'm really happy about that!

Going to sleep now so I can busk in the morning!

Out of the Box & Future Plans

2011-03-08T02:32:00.003-05:00

This blog post is a bit overdue ...

I put together a demo cd a few weeks called Out of the Box (available here: http://cellomike.bandcamp.com/) ... It's a combination of songs I've written over the last few years, 2 Irish tunes, 1 song from my upcoming solo album & 1 guitar/cello duet from a short-lived ensemble called Pejoratively Yours.

It's called Out of the Box, because I've never really fit into any box as a cellist, as a creator, as a person ... I always don't quite fit the mold/I always march to my own drum.

Some of the songs on it are part of a "Mythology Suite", which I'll some day complete ... the 2 irish tunes are two of my favorite tunes to play (I only heard The Moorlough Shore for the first time last month ... Sinead O'Connor's performance is incredibly inspiring)...

Anyway, if you record a cd it makes sense to tell people ... so here I am telling all of you!

I'm also planning on recording a few more demo cds to represent the different things that define me as a solo cellist.

These will be:
Single Track Acoustic/Electric Improvisations
Irish Tunes
Guitar/Chapman Stick & Cello Duets
Maybe other stuff ...

The point of these all is to start to get my music out there (and also to have some merch to sell at shows & have something to show to people for booking purposes)

Any money I make from these will go towards affording recording equipment, FX pedals, lessons, etc.

Any support is appreciated :)

Zoe Keating & Todd Reynolds at Le Poisson Rouge

2011-03-07T23:59:00.003-05:00

So first of all, it was raining ... second of all, there was a gigantic line that stretched all the way around the corner ... I've *never* seen like that before at LPR ... Thankfully the show started sufficiently late that I didn't miss anything.

LPR is one of my favorite venues, but the way they set things up was frustrating ... the tables in the middle were awesome, but that forces people to stand *behind* the tables ... no problem .. until you put couches behind the standing area. I spent most of the show moving out of the waitresses' ways or moving out of the couches way, it was annoying (also a result of combining two wildly different concert cultures ... rock music & classical). Besides that, it was really the perfect venue for this concert.

Let me start with Todd Reynolds. Todd's set really blew me away. The guy has a real virtuosic technique (but not in a show-off sort of way) & his music fused classical & blues & gypsyish styles & mixed looping with different FX, which really created a great result ... I've seen a ton of players play with a loop station & mostly, it's cool, but not thrilling ... this was thrilling ... not to mention, the lighting was amazing! I wish I could make it for his cd release at Issue Project Room next week, but I've got rehearsal. I really felt like he went beyond the loop station & really, truly created music. One thing that was really interesting to me was that in addition to using the loop station, he was triggering samples.

This was particularly interesting to me, because I have this solo album of music that I've demo'd and will record within the next 6 months (that is a promise) ... a lot of it is loop based or has multiple cello parts & I've debated whether I'd want to try to perform the songs live using sampling ... still not sure how I feel ... I'm going to start work on a 3rd solo cello piece in the very near future.

The lighting was also really amazing for his set!

Zoe Keating was a treat to get to see (and meet) ... it was cool to see her watching Todd play during his set ... it was also interesting to watching a performer who communicates with the audience, but doesn't necessarily have an extroverted stage presence. Zoe's music has been a big influence on me ... particularly on that album that I am going to be recording & I know most of her backstory that she's expressed in interviews, because I've read 'em all. It's really incredibly cool stuff & I'm long overdue to purchase a good loop station. it was also interesting to see the contrast in sound ... Zoe's sound was a straight-ahead pure cello sound while Todd used FX ... I think the use of FX may have something to do with why Todd's music grabbed me so much.

Still, there's something about a cello that reaches a deep part of me in a way that nothing else does ... especially about layered, harmonizing cello. It was also interesting seeing the parallels between Zoe's music & Break of Reality (who are also a big influence of mine) ... I have to say, it really impressed me a lot to see Zoe create some very similar music despite being one person.

A piece of her backstory I didn't know was that Zoe always wanted to be in an orchestra & that she always wanted to conduct. Also, when she worked an IT job and lived in a warehouse, she'd stay up really late playing cello and experimenting & developing her style. One of the things I find most intriguing is that Zoe plays into microphones live, she does not use a pickup. This results in really great cello sound (and is of course impossible to do in a rock band setting).

One of the most intriguing aspects of the show (and this is true anytime I go to see a cellist) was watching the way Zoe plays cello. The first thing that's apparent is the control and accuracy/solidness/fluidity of her playing ... a solidness that every cellist I see seems to have ... largely what separates the pros from the not-quite-pros (As Janos Starker once said, the thing that defines a professional is consistency). The next thing that caught my interest is that there are some parallels in our technique. First is that neither of us really plays terribly advanced thumb position stuff or incredibly complex fast stuff. Instead, we both make use of what the lower positions have to offer. Second is that both of us lift our fingers somewhat high off the fingerboard (though she has an accuracy with them that I can only dream of).

I think that's where the parallels end ... it's interesting to see the way she uses vibrato and the often lack of a legato melody in her compositions ... her playing and improvisation has definitely been tempered by the use of looping & it's amazing to see all the different ideas and motives she can put together in one song. In a way, she uses a very narrow (minimalist?) palette, yet she uses all the tools of that palette in a way that creates her completely unique style. It might be interesting to see her really tear into/wail on the cello one day, but she expresses herself in a much more refined way than that.

As I mentioned above, cellos really move me in a very deep way and Zoe's playing really stirred up a lot of deep emotions (some positive and some negative) ... it inspired me & reminded me that this is what I want to be doing, this is what I want to be: a performer & a writer ... it called my shortcomings and failings to mind and inspired me to try harder ... it also showed me new things that could be done that I hadn't considered ... mostly though, it uncovered the deep ugly, depressive stuff that's been holding me back and brought it to the top ... (which is great - music is supposed to do that ... that's where its healing power comes from ... it's also why it's so important to our world and society)

In a way, for me, Zoe's success is a beacon of hope ... all of my favorite performers had careers by now ... Metallica, Jackie DuPre, Steven Isserlis, Epica, so many others ... it's often hard to watch where I am and compare it to where my musical gods were at this time ... It's hard to accept that my path is different while simultaneously believing that it leads to the same place ... but here's Zoe, her career took a lot of time to develop & become what it is now ... she's in her 40s and it's just taking off in a big way... but more than that, she's been incredibly DIY about all of it (out of necessity) ... she's just gotten a booking agent for the first time (after 2 cds and a small US tour) ... she's had hard times, she's had good times, etc ... it makes me think that I can still achieve some sort of greatness and I can still build a career like this ...

Most of all, it inspired me to create and practice & this is what I need to feed myself on a regular basis ... I need to be a sponge & a hard-working sponge just like I was a few years ago.

(By the way, you should stop over at: http://ericedberg.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/we-drove-eight-hours-to-hear-zoe/ & read Eric Edberg's take on the whole night ... he has some really great, interesting & important things to say ... the thing that stuck with me most out of his post was:

" And that the lesson for us is that we cello teachers, and those of other instruments, need to spend more time developing our students’ imaginations and sense of possibility and less time pressuring them to learn concertos they will never perform."

I believe the same thing.

So, thank you Zoe Keating for the inspiration :)

Nowhere To Set My Aim .. So I'm Everywhere

2011-03-07T02:33:00.004-05:00

It's time to set some things straight with myself:

I am a performer/creator first! This is what really matters to me in my heart ... I like teaching a lot ... I'd even say I love it, but there is *nothing* like getting up and playing in front of people & writing songs & playing gigs & doing sessions & improvising, etc., etc.

I feel very stuck and frustrated about 2 things right now:
1. I'm poor! Maybe poor is the wrong word ... but I'm damn low-income ...
2. I have a solo cd that is the most important thing of my life. It needs to be recorded and released ... right now, there is a big damn read light in front of it ... it's been put on a shelf in a closet that's blocked by storage bins ... it's long overdue & it hasn't gone anywhere ... I don't have the money or the equipment right now

I need that cd to happen ... I need it in order to build a career as a performer/creator playing original music ... I need that cd to start booking and selling and doing the things I really want to do and believe in.

Right now, I'm just stalling & trying to survive ... my cello playing is barely progressing at all ... I play frequently, but rarely get to practice. I am working on changing this. Along with this change needs to come creation ... I need to write new songs, new pieces, I need to stretch the limits of the cello

I have some really deep important things I want to say and some worlds I want to create & that needs to happen ... but I need to make some very substantial technical progress or I know I have no hope making a career out of this - as a teacher or as a performer ...

I've had the privilege of seeing some great players over the last week or so ... I need to achieve what they've achieved & I used to work damn hard at achieving it ... ever since my dad died though, ever since I've needed to really pay my own bills & now having my own rent, I have been utterly directionless with cello (except in some small, meaningful ways) ... it's time to move past that now.

I put a lot of time into networking and promoting my music/playing, but that's meaningless if I don't have solid music to start with ... and by solid I mean high-level (because everything professional is high-level), well put-together music that blows people away.

That's all for now ... I need to blog about Zoe Keating/Todd Reynolds soon ... that show was *amazing* ...

Edit:
I've started forming a cello plan ... long overdue.

Also, this means I need to really push myself to network and book as hard as I can ...

I have a demo cd up at http://cellomike.bandcamp.com ... and it sorta represents me, but I don't feel like it really does ... maybe I'm crazy!

Also, I think from now on, I'm going to call myself a Cellist/Songwriter/Teacher ... I think that covers what I do... I'm not really a composer.

Inertia regarding Dotzauer

2011-02-13T04:30:00.002-05:00

So, for almost a year I have struggled with a cellistic goal ...

The Dotzauer Etude vids. I posted have received an unbelievable (from my perspective) amount of attention ... I really don't know what to make of it ... but obviously there's some power to them ... I stopped after problems with tendinitis & then after my father died ...

I think I'd like to restart them ... but it's so hard to go backwards ... I need to find a way to go forwards to them & incorporate them into my busy life and studies ...

Also, I think there's value in me making vids. of Bach ... I've had some people comment that my vid. of the Bach 2 prelude has helped them in some way ... My playing in the vid. really isn't even that developed (technically or musically) ... I'm worlds better now ... If I was able to affect people from a vid. that poorly recorded, I know I can do so much more if I make them now ...

Food for thought ... but I also think it's the beginning of a plan ...

I need to build a career and this may be one way to help myself do so ...

So I think goals for the next week:

1. Record a demo cd
2. Record the Bach 2 Allemande vid.
3. Pull out the Dotzauer Etudes again ...

Part of the problem is that initially I was doing this 1-2 weeks thing ... I wonder if that's what attracted people or if it's just that it was a vid. of the Dotzauer Etude ...

Irish/Celtic Fiddle Music

2011-02-10T22:19:00.003-05:00

Now that I'm all moved to Queens and have regularly functioning internet, one of the things I'm making it a point to do is always learn ... musically, I'm pursuing one of my oldest and deepest passions: Celtic Fiddle Music ...

I love this stuff like no other!

I feel really connected to it for some reason (I guess in part b/c I'm half Irish) ... but I love the reptition & variation nature of it & just the sound and feel of it all, especially with the ornaments and little stylistic quirks... there's so many great resources on YouTube & the internet for learning this stuff...

There's also a bar right next to me that has an Irish Music night on Fridays ... I'm going to go check it out ...

It's so cool becoming a part of an underground tradition of music that really resonates with me ...

that's what I'm going to do ... it's going to define my musical style in a very strong way & I will record a cd of Celtic music one day!

Cello/Guitar/Piano Lessons in Westchester & NYC

2011-01-07T00:09:00.002-05:00

So, to go along with some busking, I've decided that I'm going to start expanding my teaching into NYC as well ... Particularly Manhattan ... I figure if I can combine the two, then I'm really making the most out of my city trips & just generally improving my income & making my name known more & more ... I hope someday that somebody will upload a vid. of me busking onto YouTube & it will get popular ... that would be so cool ...

Niche Markets...

2011-01-07T00:06:00.003-05:00

I think I've discovered two things I can start to carve myself into:

1. Coffee Houses, Cafes, etc. I think I can start to do these like once a month ... already have 1 or 2 set up & it's totally my kind of setting ...

2. Ren Faires & the like ... I feel like the universe is pointing me in this direction & all I need to do is write a few medieval-y/folky tunes & then take a few cool photos in a forest or something and throw together a demo cd ... but anyway, I feel like I'd fit in very much with this kinda crowd/thing ...

Also, just started with 2 new students (piano & cello) & the lesson went awesomely well ... it's amazing what comes out of being able to teach people how to learn!

I'm tired...

Edit:

3. Library Concert Series ... I've already done one of these with Trio, must get on this!

Busking Take 2!

2010-12-30T22:12:00.002-05:00

This was *much* more successful than my first attempt ... I made a little over $60 for 4 hours of work/playing (how awesome is that for a day job?) ... I started off in GCT only to discover that I had taken someone's spot by arriving before them ... I was nice enough to move on out and relocate to another spot in GCT ... did alright, though I think I might have done better in the original spot ...

From there I took a break & went over to Times Square & played in the Hallway btwn. the Shuttle and the rest of it ... while it was chilly, that was probably my best in terms of draw ...

From there I took a break & got lunch with a friend, and then spent a few hours with another friend ... afterwards, I headed to Union Square ...

Some things I learned:

1. Remember Rosin!
2. People respond well to Drones, Indian Ragas, Gladiator Theme Song, Star Wars (occassionally), Irish Folk Music, Grooving Jams with myself
3. There are battery-powered amps that sound good ...
4. After Peak Trains end in morning is a good time
5. Union Square is kind of Challenging
6. Little kids are godsends
7. In order to make this work, I need to bring lunch so I lose as little money as possible.
8. Playing standing up is very demanding on the knees...

May go do it tomorrow for a while depending on my schedule ...

I hope the next few times are as successful

YTSO Audition - What I learned (Technically)

2010-11-30T00:49:00.002-05:00

Here's some technical stuff I learned:

1. The slow it down method really does work very effectively.
2. Tackle the hardest bits first & always keep in mind the way things are connected/relate to each other.
3. Practice the relative scales in at least 2 different fingerings is immensely helpful
4. I tend to use the wrong muscle groups a lot, or go horribly out of alignment when trying to hit something tricky - this is a downward spiral, because going out of alignment generally makes things tricky.
5. I am trying to figure out what exactly the other cellists' (who are all waaaay more advanced than me) have that I don't. One thing I'm noticing relates to the giant mess of my left hand technique. It seems like the other cellists are commonly keeping the general weight of the arm down into the string, and it also seems like they are keeping there fingers generally close to the string. All their movements are very efficient.

I tend to release my weight a lot and use some very ineffective movements to try to accomplish things. This would explain in part why playing Haydn C is still a major struggle for me/why a lot of my technique doesn't seem to work on any long-lasting level.

I think the next key in my practice is to constantly look for the most efficient movements possible & to consciously work on keeping my weight down (so that I can at least have control over when I use it and when I don't. I feel like it's very important to a general tonal/expressive palette to be able to do both.

One of my goals is to learn to be more imaginative in my playing and to be able to play the same riffs in many different feels/ways.

That's what occurs to me for now ... the YTSO audition really pushed my technique a lot & is giving me tons of food for thought with watching other cellists...

So glad I did it, even if the vid's a bit embarassing (for non-technical reasons): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ea9HrKNdQQ

YTSO Audition - What I learned (Psychological)

2010-11-30T00:38:00.003-05:00

I learned quite a few things from doing the Youtube Symphony Orchestra Audition

1. Be Prepared. Underpreparedness is something I'm really fighting ... it's been a constant in my life & one of the things I'm really good at is making things work that I am not prepared for or don't already have skills for. It's a double-edged sword though. Anyway, what I learned is that I need to start preparing earlier & I need to start preparing with a better general awareness of what I'm trying to achieve. Part of the way I will achieve this is by listening to classical music more often.
2. When Auditioning, set an earlier deadline to have the rep. playable by. Then work on having them playable consistently. Too often when I prepare things, they are not thoroughly prepared enough & they are too at the edge of my technique. In order to have a successful audition, the pieces need to be somewhat easy.
3. Do not wait until the deadline day to do the takes and then also try and put together the video the same day ... this results in disasterous, embarassing video ... not to mention leaves you with a narrow selection of takes & possible technical failure
4. Set goals prior to playing - this is super important! It's so easy to just waste time ... yet a minute or two's thought/reflection prior to practice does an amazing amount to focus one's attention. The results are drastically different.

Strengths & Weaknesses: A New Level

2010-11-18T01:01:00.004-05:00

Tonight I was made keenly aware of some of my weaknesses (as well as the progress I've made as a cellist, and the progress I still have to make) ... in a specific sense, I got knocked over by sight-reading Dvorak 8 ... in a general sense, I'm very ignorant of classical music ... I want to change that. I'm really going to make it a point to really learn classical repertoire (as a listener & as a cellist) ... particularly, the orchestra rep. It's so connected to what I do and what I want to do ...

Anyway, this post isn't meant to focus on this ... it's mean to focus on my strengths ... because normally, I'm not one to (intentionally) focus on them. In conversation a while ago with a friend, it came out that though I'm not a very good/advanced classical cellist & I can't play with the control/sophistication of other people my age who've been playing since they were teeny ... I'm really good at non-traditional cello ... at heavy metal cello & writing cool pieces and improvising ...

I've been thinking a lot about how I'm going to actually make money doing this cello thing lately & I've been watching others and learning and trying to figure out how they get gigs & how I can get gigs (because I want to earn some money from performing and some from teaching) ... anyway, I LOVE to improvise - even if I'm not necessarily very sophisticated at it - you ask me to play you something on cello, without thinking I start playing some D minor pentatonic creation that nobody's ever heard before, or you need some awkward silence at a wedding/gig covered & I just make something up that captures the mood ... whatever it is, I'm pretty decent at improv'ing and I really, really love it ...

Earlier, when writing to Jesse Ahmann on facebook, I realized that I want it to be my trademark ... this is what I want to become known for (one thing anyway) ... but more importantly ... I'm going to make it my mission to help spread cello improv to as many people as possible - cellists and non-cellists.

I'm also going to make my improvisations a vehicle for my technical development ...

So here's my plan:

Step 1: Constantly Improv & keep really honing and developing my skills
Step 2: Busk in the NYC Subway with a big sign doing nothing but improv to try and make some cash
Step 3: Put together a cello duo to play duets and primarily focus on improv. Then take this busking and booking some gigs
Step 4: Youtube, Youtube, Youtube (I sort of already do this)
Step 5: If this all gets attention and becomes something I really actively do, find a way to make workshops out of this and get paid for it ...

So anyway, that's the general plan ... If anyone has specific advice for how to go about doing these things, I'd love to hear it ... I need all the help I can get right now ...

Edit:

Also, I've had some amazing cello experiences lately that I plan to blog about very soon!

Something New to Pay Attention To: Vibrato

2010-11-10T23:13:00.002-05:00

So one of the things that came up in my little lesson the other day was that my vibrato could use some refinement. I use a really wide vibrato, intense all the time & it was pointed out to me that I could use a narrower vibrato & that I could do different things in terms of when I start the vibrato, or in terms of varying the note.

This is the sort of thing that I bet I do instinctively on occasion & I've definitely read various interviews with master cellists complaining about students just doing "on/off" with vibrato... I've got this sort of "everything as intense as possible all the time" mentality to making music ... it's an integral part of my style, but I've finally realized that I lack the ability to do more refined or quiet styles with ease (for example, playing mournful middle-eastern music or the "tea & scones" sort of classical/baroque music).

Part of this comes from being obsessed with the way Jacqueline DuPre plays, part of it comes from wanting to project/be loud & generally being enamoured with loud cellists (like Rostropovich), part of it comes from David Finckel's 80, 90, 103 Vibrato vid & practicing that only with a wide vibrato, and part of it comes from not really feeling like the narrow vibrato is a real vibrato.

On the other hand, watching the vid. of Steven Isserlis playing the Tchaick Rococo Theme Variations at the proms, the amount of things he is able to do just from vibrato is mind-blowing. The expressiveness and the uniqueness to what he's playing largely comes from this.

So now I've got something new to really pay attention to when I wath other peoples' playing ... and also something to work on in my own...

The Biggest Cello Revelation of My Life

2010-11-09T23:56:00.003-05:00

Earlier today I had a quasi-lesson with a cellist friend of mine who gave me some useful tips and thoughts on things I could do to refine my technique. While we were discussing things, it came out that he was reading this article: (http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/natural.htm) by Nicholas Anderson.

So let me interrupt myself right here and say you *need* to read this article. Yes, really you do - whether you're a professional, an absolute beginner, a teacher an advanced student, somebody with tension problems/tendinitis/carpal tunnel, or whoever you are, you need to read this.

I'm not going to tell you what the article talks about, because I don't want you to summary judge and go "oh, I don't need to read this". Instead, I'm going to tell you about the effect it had on my playing over the course of *one* day.

In the last week, I'd been practicing lots more and making some substantial technical improvement. Sunday, I went to a cello festival, which was both incredibly fun, and incredibly educational. I also went to orchestra & read the music almost the best I've ever read. Anyway, suffice to say, I played a lot sunday, played a lot yesterday and played a lot today. I was on the early stages of what becomes tendinitis and was trying to figure out where I can possibly fit in some time off (because I'm of course, behind in the music I need to learn).

So anyway, earlier today I started practicing for a few hours & reading this article, as well as trying out the method mentioned in the article. It's very clear from the article that Nicholas Anderson is a teacher - he teaches you very effectively through writing ... and that's not easy. Anyway, I'm not going to describe the actual process of going through the article, but I am going to tell you the net effect. Over the course of 3-4 hours of practice, I went from very tense playing that required a ton of energy to almost effortless, meditative playing with a complete sense of freedom and power while still retaining musical control. More specifically, I was able to play through the Haydn C 1st mov. and the Elgar 1st mov and Kol Nidrei & all sorts of other stuff, and maintain a sound and feeling I've never been able to achieve on the cello before, even with all the tons of weight and energy I put into my playing. What's more, the technical passages and all the stuff were easy ... I'm talking about the fast runs, the upper thumb positions, all that stuff ... effortless. I played in a way that I've only ever dreamed of playing. The only time I've ever come close to playing like this was in an Alexander Technique masterclass for a few seconds, and I wasn't in control of it. Tonight I was ... I was able to create the feeling of simplicity and ease, and I know I can do it again and again and that it will become a permanent part of my playing.

Everyday, I'm going to make this article and its method the focus of my cello playing/practice until it become intuitive. Right now, it requires concentration & it requires me to focus on the particular side of my body that I'm trying to improve. Over time, it will become the way I play the cello without even realizing it.

I've had various amazing teachers try to work with me on the things I managed to learn in just a few hours from this article. This was the first time I've ever really gotten them or been in control of it.

I really recommend you go print this article and work through it until you really understand and feel what it's talking about. It will make worlds of difference in your playing.

Oh, I should also add that by the end of the practice session, the signs of approaching tendinitis were all gone.

The World Is Built On Feelings...

2010-11-05T01:38:00.002-04:00

I feel like I've betrayed the things that are truly important to me and put up false gods in their place ...

I've replaced creative and being progressive and exploring new creative boundaries musically and technically with fitting into a model and playing a certain way and becoming popular/making my music popular ... and those are all good things ... particularly trying to play well ...

But sometimes you just need to let go of all of that & just pour out your soul onto the cello or the keyboard and just create and not put yourself in a box of musical and social protocol ... classical music is awful for that ... rock music can be too ... but improvising and writing ... there's no rules for that - except the ones I want to follow ...

I just jammed out some pretty cool keyboard riffs for the first time in longer than I can remember & it felt soo great ... (to be fair, had I not been doing all the technical work, this wouldn't have been possible)

I've also started rereading my blog from the beginning, because as I wrote to somebody else (who was talking about a musical god) ... I still have my gods, but I've lost my religion ... so I'm going back to my gods.

There were other times when I was learning more and progressing more (even though I play the cello betteer now than I've ever played it in my life) & really expanding my mind more ... and thankfully I've written a lot of it down ... I've chronicled a lot of the inspiration and experience ... I'm not stopping until I've gotten it all back .

That's all for now ...

(oh, the title is a quote from Tuomas Holopainen)

My first mini-tour with Edensong

2010-10-17T21:26:00.003-04:00

I just got back from my first mini-tour with Edensong. We did 3 shows in 3 days - travelled to Bennington, VT; Brighton, MA; and Lowell, MA.

It was a really neat weekend and experience. We didn't really get to explore the towns too much (at least not my group of people). Friday we left a bit later than we wanted & the weather was just awful (there was even snow up in Vermont where we stayed later that night). The car ride was quite a challenge, I was rather car-sick (but thankfully not to the point of vomiting). The South Side Cafe was very cool, friendly and very welcoming. There were probably about 10 folks (the weather was really not on our side for this), but they all seemed to really enjoy it and be genuinely interested. It was a complete contrast from New York where everything is constricted and stressed and everyone is jaded ... this was very peaceful and at ease. Most importantly, they had *great* hot chocolate :-P ... Friday night was just James & I. That was the first time we've ever done the music in that setting & we hadn't had a chance to rehearse it at all beforehand, but it worked very well, and I've got some definite ideas on things to improve.

So that was Friday ... Saturday we travelled to Brighton & got to our host's house a few hours before the show ... we took the time to relax & eat. James had a meeting ... eventually we got to the venue and loaded everything in. The Magic Room was a *very* cool place ... it's this really awesome, fantastical art venue with a ton of cool paintings. It had the neatest vibe, though the room was a bit small for our sound. Kangaralien (an amazing acoustic guitar duo) opened up the night (http://www.kangaralien.com). Our Magic Room set was electric & it was the first time we'd done an hour and a half set (basically every single Edensong tune except The Baptism). There were definitely some kinks, but the energy was there & I think the stuff we did well came off really well ... of course, I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet ... I have no idea what it sounded like out in the audience (well, I have some idea ... but no real idea). By the time that was all done & we were unloaded, all we could really do was head back to our host and get some sleep!

Then it was sunday ... Sunday we got some great breakfast at The Mirror Cafe in Brighton (check it out if you ever go up there - good food!). After breakfast, we headed over to the Brew'd Awakening Coffeehaus in Lowell. It's a really nice independent coffee shop & we had the privilege of getting to watch Rob Martino (http://www.robmartino.com) play a solo Chapman Stick set, which was really, really cool. It was amazing to watch him in action & he's an incredibly friendly guy. Our set this time was the standard acoustic version with me, James, Tony & Barry (that's cello, guitar, flute & drums) & really came across very well. There's something of a purity in playing in an acoustic setup that is completely missing from playing electric (but there's also an energy and intensity from playing electric that doesn't make its way into playing acoustic). It was nice to be able to do both in one weekend.

I've forgotten to share one of the most important parts of my weekend, which is that I got to play a Harp for the first time!!! It was amazing and beautiful and I've fallen in love with it & it will make its way to the next Edensong album. I really wish I could buy one of these things ... until then, I guess I'll just have to really work on my piano skills & on developing a good ability to handle multiple unique voices at once.

So that's it for my weekend ... we listened to some Dream Theater & Symphony-X & Blackfield during the car rides & all in all it was a great experience! I learned a lot from a playing stand-point & started to develop a closer relationship with the music, as well as gaining a better sense of the balance between technique & rocking out. It was a challenge to play 3 days in a row completely unwarmed up (one of the most important things a musician has to be able to do).

Can't wait to do it all again in December when we hit Baltimore/DC in early December!!!

Music Teaching Resources - A Review

2010-08-23T11:04:00.002-04:00

So, recently, Rob of http://www.musicteachingresources.com & http://www.teachwombat.com invited me to check out some materials he's put together to help make the music teacher's life easier!

Essentially what he's got is an organized set of worksheets covering the fundamentals of scales and chords that can be printed out or easily transferred to a thumb drive at your leisure.

Some of the sheets are explanatory in nature, illustrating things such as major scale construction or diatonic harmony (which chords are minor/major within the scale). Some of them are worksheets that require the student to construct a scale or chords or to go through the chords within a scale. Some of those worksheets have a diagram of a keyboard on them, some don't.

The files all come in labeled folders, and some of them even allow the teacher to fill in the blank to determine what scale or chord the student will build. Essentially, it's like having a portable music theory workbook, which you can draw from as needed.

My favorite thing about the set is the inclusion of the blues scale, minor/major pentatonic scales. My only criticisms would be that the chords don't go beyond 7th chords & that the Dorian mode is included, but not any of the other modes, making the set not overly helpful for jazz students.

All in all, I think this is a pretty neat/handy set of resources, especially for $18 - can't go wrong with that. I can see myself getting a lot of use out of this with students on any instrument. Head over to http://www.musicteachingresources.com and check out what he's got.

Visualize First

2010-08-14T02:56:00.002-04:00

I learned something important this week as a result of band practice and the Steven Isserlis concert:

Visualize *first*, then play.

The key to playing well is to come up with a definite concept of what you want the next thing you're going to play to sound & feel like. The next important thing is to not accept exceptions to that vision while practicing. One thing that goes with this is having no excess - every movement, every note is directly, immediately, linked to the note.

Watching Steven Isserlis, one of the things I realized is that part of his technique is a freedom that comes from dexterity/agility ... nothing is slow for him ... it is all very quickly connected and well planned. He is one of the only classical musicians who I feel is telling a story when I watch, as opposed to playing a piece. I also think that a lot of his freedom comes from never looking down when he plays, allowing him to listen and think ahead rather than be stuck in the present.

It was interesting to see him from the front row and to see how much he sways/moves (reminding me a lot of Jacqueline DuPre), and also to see the similarity (and differences) of his left hand techinque to hers, as well as to hear how the tapping of the notes with his left hand (on just about every note).

In other news, I am really struggling to regain my musical drive (ever since my father died) ... when I play the cello, it's the only thing I want to do, but when I'm not playing, I have almost no desire to pick it up. I think the one reason for this is that I'm not in multiple ensembles with music that is incredibly difficult - just my band right now & I feel pretty comfortable with our music.

That being said, the level of my playing has increased incredibly and my practice is now generally oriented around analytical imitation of a great cellist or analytical practicing of solo rep. Both are very helpful.

In general, I am doing things right ... I just need to push myself to do more of them and to go further with them. I need to start really chewing through the standard rep. or at the very least the student rep, so I can develop a really reliable & proficient technique.

That's all for now ... so happy that I just wrote a blog entry for once...

A goal

2010-08-10T13:00:00.002-04:00

Ok,

My goal is to regularly start blogging about cello (now that I've actually started practicing regularly again) in the very near future ... I'm also considering starting up the Dotzauer challenge again...

Sometimes A Dream Turns Into A Dream

2010-08-01T00:11:00.002-04:00

I think it's time to end my freelance career. What do I mean by that? I don't mean it's time to stop playing cello or quit my band or anything like that. But ... I think it's time to stop playing with random rock/folk/singer-songwriter/whatever groups for barely any pay & I think it's time to stop taking random gigs that again barely pay. More particularly, I need to stop going into NYC for barely any money ... It's all good and well to get experience, but I've got plenty of that, and I'm even developing the technique & level that goes along with that. However, I need to pay bills ... and I don't mean leisure/pleasure bills, I mean I need to keep a roof over my head & have enough money to get food, etc. Taking these gigs has messed with this in two ways: 1. I'm never really making any notable money & 2. It clogs up my availability to work, which is just not something I can keep doing. I need to set clear guidelines with myself for what the minimum I'm willing to do a gig for is & I need to come up with times that I just can't fuck with, because either I need to actually take care of things around my house, or I need to not skip work.

That being said, I'm in a band, I'm sort of in a (currently) inactive piano trio (that I can make active again by freeing the time) ... I think if anything I'm doing as a performer is going to pay (short of weddings & musicals) it's one of those two ... why should I put my time into other things that I don't even necessarily believe in & that won't pay my bills?

As far as I can tell, these are the only things that pay reasonably in terms of performance (or have paid reasonably so far)

Weddings - usually $125 to $200 per gig
Musicals - usually $50 per show or something like that ... not a lot, but not horrible if it's not too far of a commute (ie, not in NYC)
Solo or Ensemble Performances as part of a music series - usually about $150, sometimes more.

Here's what doesn't pay well:
Playing with bands - if I'm *lucky* I make $50 per show (commute costs $17 round trip) ... after rehearsals, next to nothing

Here's what I haven't even touched into:
Subbing for an orchestra - I just don't have the contacts for this ... I don't know the people doing these things

So I guess I'm not really saying I have to stop freelancing, what I am saying is that I have to stop taking gigs that don't make financial sense & that don't work with my schedule.

I want/need to make teaching my main income. It's one of the only things that will give me flexibility and pay well. As a performer, I need to concentrate my efforts into Edensong & into the trio & my own solo stuff (which I hope to make a financial asset within the next few years) ...

Ok, needed to get that all off my shoulders ... I wish this wasn't the first blog post I'd done in months, but things have been so unbelievably busy & I just haven't had the energy/inclination to write...

In other news, I've started doing the real recording for my solo album & am planning to have it out in November (or earlier if possible).

Quebec/Terra Incognita

2010-05-24T02:36:00.003-04:00

I had my first real international musical experience last weekend ...

Edensong went up to Quebec to play for the Terra Incognita Festival. It was a very cool experience ... very long drive (about 8-10 hrs. total) ... we stopped in Vermont on Thursday night & got some *amazing* French Toast at Stellas (2nd only to a cafe in Brooklyn of which I can not remember the name). James, Tony, Sarah & I rode up together & did a combination of chatting, filming and listening to cool music on the way up. When we got there, the customs folks were pretty nice & the guy who interviewed us was actually a prog. fan & asked us if we sounded like Porcupine Tree - talk about unexpected (on the flip side, the American customs folks on the way back weren't nice at all)!

So customs went ok - we had no merch in the car with us & it was packed to hell anyway (I really don't know how we fit so much in there!), so I think they decided not to bother inspecting it.

Anyway, eventually we got to Quebec (on Friday) & were all very tired. We went out to meet James' family (who drove up to see the band play) for dinner & had our first experience with Quebec food (it was pretty bad). Then we walked around a little bit & headed back to the hotel where we got settled in and waited for the rest of the band to make it up & settle in so that we could do a vocal sectional.

Then it was saturday. We were the 2nd band on saturday & had probably the best slot of the whole festival! Saturday was a lot of time spent running around getting equipment together & getting the merch table set up & eventually even practicing a bit ... we got an hour sound check early in the day (so cool/helpful!) & spent the whole day at the venue pretty much.

The venue itself was a nicely-sized chapel with a concert hall that fit about 200 ppl & an outside room where everyone was set up. I also later discovered that there was in fact a green room - very helpful for warming up and running through the set (which was essential, because I had barely practiced in 2 days).

By the time we were on stage, I was physically exhausted/just not feeling well & we took everything *fast* ... despite that, there was a lot of energy btwn. the band and the crowd & it was the first time I had played a show with Barry (our flute player) ... he's awesome to play with ... he sort of ... dances? ... on stage while playing flute & rocking out & he's a great person to feed energy off of & to try to one up ...

One of the things that I love about this band is that we're really a live band & we all put 100% into the show... afterwards it was the usual rush of "get everything off the stage" & then I actually had a beer! And there was a rush of people many of whom wanted my autograph on the cd they just bought & many of whom were very excited about the set they saw. Some of them had seen Edensong multiple times & were very complimentary about my cello playing & stage presence ... it was really lots of fun & enjoyment ... also a nice surprise, I got to see John, Paul & Greg from IZZ (who played on night two)... John was the only one I really knew at that point...

The other bands to play that night were: Claire Vezina (whose set I missed, but the other band members said was awesome!) & Galahad. Claire was incredibly nice & friendly and a pleasure to meet & talk to. Galahad were all fun guys & their music was pretty neat too! The keyboardist had some amazingly realistic/great sounding choir patches ... we saw them at the bar/restaurant later that night & they were good fun. (Actually, I met Stuart - their singer - at the hotel earlier & he said that he had seen me the night before & thought "Either that guy's in a rock band or he should be").

Speaking of that bar restaurant ... I've never had so much trouble ordering a cheeseburger in my life! (And it wasn't even good... though it was appreciated nevertheless). At some point earlier in the evening I had had quiznos (oh wait, that was actually day 2...) ... that was ok...

Then on to Sunday ... On sunday we ran into Galahad at the hotel during breakfast & it made for a lively and fun breakfast - they're all a pleasure to talk to & great guys! Hopefully we'll get to play with them again sometime ... Afterwards, James & Sarah & I headed to the city to meet up with James' family again & to do some exploring/eating (again, food was disappointing). The street musicians their played piano, harp & accordion. They played classical & improvisational music. The old city is incredibly beautiful - a must see for anyone who can ... a great example of what we can do/be...

Most of the rest of the band had gone home at this point (except Stefan, who was also with his folks). So we hung out in the city a bit & got to do lots of walking and talking before heading back to the venue for a full day at the merch table (with a bit of watching the bands) ... I really enjoyed doing this & was surprised at how much we sold on day 2!

The highlight of Day 2 for me was getting to see Izz & to hang out/chat with them after their set. I got to meet Tom earlier in the set & got to chat with the rest of the band more afterwards ... I discovered Greg was also a Mville graduate (guess we should have all sent an email to the music department & let them know what we were up to, but oh well, next time) ... on top of Izz, there was Atreal (whose set I missed) & Discipline (who were very nice & cool folks) ... James & Stefan are huge Discipline fans ... it was my first time hearing them, though I was really too wiped out at that point to give them a fair judgement (I had been struggling to stay awake during Izz's set just from the exhaustion). Discipline did really well considering some technical difficulties they'd been having with the festival's keyboard controller earlier in the day.

I think we went straight to bed after the festival ... can't quite remember ... we had decided to stay an extra night at that point (it made more sense & James had gotten a clue to the origins of his hat from one of the Izz folks earlier in the day).

So, Monday was a nice, enjoyable day off that involved just going through the city on our own. We drove to the address listed on the card James had, only to discover that it was an Atelier (which I believe means factory/workshop?). James told him the story of his hat (worthy of a blog entry for sure) & he offered to have us follow him to the boutique ... once there, James re-told his story to the folks working there & bought another (much cooler) hat! On the way out, I decided that it would really pain me not to have a souveneir of Quebec. So, I got a hand-made leather bracelet there that I now wear all the time (though I have found that it interferes with my cello playing, so I often take it off for that). Then we picked up Subway (the only good food we had the entire time!) and started the journey home.

On the way, we stopped in a place that could only be described as Hick's ville (not meant in any derogatory way) & got some great food for really cheap! It was quite impressive ... Sarah ordered a whole pizza pie (that was not entirely intentional) & we worked on french on the drive home (a little late huh?)

All in all, it was a cool, incredible experience & though I was less awe-struck than when I traveled to Baltimore, it is definitely something that will stick with me. It was generally very relaxing & helped lift the weight of the world off my shoulders a bit ... I'm going to really love it when Edensong becomes more successful & we can travel even more ... I definitely think lots of traveling is something I'm meant to do, and it seems like Edensong will be my venue for that...

Ok, time to go to sleep ... I'll try to write about something technical soon ... I've been practicing a lot lately & will be teaching my first guitar lesson tomorrow (which has caused me to start learning the blues, which is just *so fulfilling*) ... it's funny how life sort of has its own timetable/way of filling in the pieces...

Tonight's Lesson

2010-05-24T02:17:00.002-04:00

Tonight I had a horrible experience - I was playing along to some music for a hip-hop fashion show ... which was all cool and fun ... BUT I had not thought about amplification/it just never got brought up ... the result? Somebody was holding a mic to my cello when I already had inadequate space

What would have solved the problem? Having a quarter inch on me ...

The Resolution: Always carry a Quarter Inch in the car ...

The show was good otherwise, but that really put a damper on it for me :(

Bow Technique

2010-05-05T09:55:00.003-04:00

I learned two things from watching Nevarra's bow technique vids:

1. The index finger & pinky are the most important fingers ... the pinky is for balance ... it is important to concentrate on both of these fingers.
2. I was doing my bow changes wrong ... I was doing them with the fingers and not with the upper arm ... he had an excellent point: you can tell if you're doing the change motion correctly, because the angle of the tip will remain the same. That was a valuable lesson & I'm playing better already ... coordinating bow changes was always something I had trouble with. ... It's amazing how much of playing the cello well really just comes down to have a concretely & correctly defined technique

Caveat: Anybody reading the above should go watch the actual videos, because it's easy to misunderstand what I'm saying since it's out of context (and I don't think I'm explaining it well):

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ber93Z85eA&feature=related
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiNhZrMhD6I

An Update & A Reflection

2010-05-05T09:29:00.003-04:00

So, first I want to start off by saying that all is well in the land of tendons and body-injuries & sickness ... I'm all better & playing a lot better too! (Partially from time off, and partially from watching a lot of Jacqueline DuPre & Greenhouse vids and trying to understand what they're doing with their left hand ... also, Nevarra's bow vids ... maybe someday someone will translate the rest of those into english!)

So what happened? I increased my practice time from non-existent (I was still playing in 3 or 4 ensembles regularly) to 3-6 hours a day in the span of a week and a half ... as Emily of http://starkravingcello.blogspot.com/ put it *Hits head with frying pan* What did you expect?! ... or, as the saying goes, hindsight is always 20-20. Seems painfully obvious in retrospect... I had lots of accumulated tension in my upper arms & pecs and lower back and so that manifested itself in my tendons. Emily was kind enough to chat with me about some preventative strategies last night - definitely helpful!

There were some good things to come of this all:

1. I built up muscles/strength
2. I re-evaluated my technique (always a good thing)
3. I started stretching again (For a good series of stretches, I recommend finding John Petrucci's Rock Discipline video ... I use a few of those, but mostly use stretches I learned in Karate, years ago)

So, last week was a bit of a panic ... on top of all this tension stuff, I was pretty sick, taking about 4-6 ibuprofen a day & had 3 concerts and a ton of rehearsals!

I actually cancelled one of the concerts, because on top of all this I really hadn't worked out what I was going to play (it was my own solo show) ... I learned something from this: Decide rep/program *first* then book the show. I have a bad procrastination habit that I reinforced in college and that I am trying to break. One of the biggest keys to not injuring myself is that I have to keep the amounts of work I put into things consistent, which means I have to do more earlier. The other things is that I have to build my workload up in small increments & not giant leaps!

The other two concerts were a marathon to get through ... Friday I had dress rehearsals for both, and then saturday I had both concerts. The first concert was with my Piano Trio & involved playing Beethoven, Gade & Haydn in a hall where the sound on stage gave the impression that I was being buried by the piano (which was not actually the case) ... this was a real challenge to get through (mostly because of a fever and not being able to breathe clearly) & it really messed up a lot of my intonation & some of my entrances. Despite that, in the end, it had a lot of great moments & a very good energy & the people who were there really loved it.

The second concert was the St. Thomas Orchestra concert. This was also an endurance test (SS Cello Concerto, Schubert 4 & Coriolanus Overture). However, there were some *very* cool things about this concert. First was that we were doing the SS Concerto ... the soloist was really amazing & only in her late 20s. She really enjoyed the actual act of playing & there was this very singing quality to her playing - it was very cool. It was also interesting to note how toned her upper arm muscles were from playing cello - very much reinforcing the idea that the only way you get better at this thing is to put a tremendous amount of time into practicing. However, the thing that struck me most about Zhou Yi was that she really loved playing (and playing with us) - she was so excited in a completely sincere way & stayed along afterwards to tell the orchestra players good job & to stand around and chat with everybody. She really loved what she was doing & that was so great to see! (She also was part of what inspired me to get my butt in gear and start practicing more again ... it's so essential to watch - and really tune in to - great playing of your instrument as much as possible).

The other cool thing about orchestra was that we had two ringers (Our cello section is normally 5, but our principal was horribly sick), so there were 6 of us in total. Michael Meade - my teacher from college - came & sat principal & it was so great to actually work with him in orchestra & Viviane Penham also joined in & was a pleasure to get to work with.

On top of that, I think I played the best as an orchestral player that I've played so far ... still have a lot to go towards actually learning the music fully, but for once, I didn't feel like I was taking away from the group by playing

Tendiitis

2010-04-27T15:02:00.003-04:00

Having tendinitis yet again is really making me question the viability of doing this as a career ... I don't think there is anything that I'm doing wrong technically/posturally (if... it appears to just be from over-practicing & demanding too high of a standard of playing from myself (relative to my ability level) & also from increasing my practice time dramatically in the span of about a week and a half (from almost not practicing daily to 3-6 hours per day)

It's just very frustrating, because everytime I seem to be making substantial improvement I run into this roadblock ... it's also frustrating, because before that first time I got tendinitis in college (from doing yoga) - I never had a problem with this (and I used to play 3-6 hours every day then too)

I know I'll find a way to get through the concerts I have this week & all the way through the Quebec gig in the middle of may (assuming this even lasts that long, which I doubt it will) ... but I'm really scared that I'm going to keep running into this & I just don't know what to do about it ...

Maybe part of the solution is mandating 2 days a week where I don't physically practice no matter what ... or setting some other cap on my practice time ... but on the other hand, I know there are people who practice 4+ hours daily who don't seem to have this issue, so why do I??? And more importantly, how do I overcome it?

The Recording Session That Changed My Life (Recording With Richard Martin)

2010-04-11T10:46:00.001-04:00

Every so often in life, something happens that completely alters our course or perspective in a very substantial/meaningful way.

I had one of those today ...

For the very first time, I did a recording session in a completely analog studio. I also worked with a producer who was very calm about taking as much time as necessary to get something done properly.

But anyway, working with analog was completely eye-opening... I record myself pretty frequently, because I'm frequently jamming or improv'ing or writing music & garage band is essentially my musical notepad (after all, it's much easier to record to jot something down than it is to transcribe it). In Garageband (or ProTools/DP/Audacity or any other DAW), I can look at what I'm doing visually. I can also record take after take after take & replace individual notes with relative ease & have an unlimited amount of tracks and data manipulation within instant control.

Recording straight to tape is a whole different story. First of all, this recording setup did not go through a computer, and that's a revelation in itself. It went straight to tape - meaning the visual aspect of editing is just about non-existent. This was a completely different world for me, considering the most recent session gig I did before this involved a *ton* of editing & looking at waves & matching stuff, etc., etc. (as does my current editing project). The second thing was that there were very few remaining tracks to use for each song, and the producer did not like punching in/out. What this meant is that I had to get a really great whole take.

This was a revelation for 3 reasons: One, this is how bands like Metallica (and everyone else) used to have to record. Two, it makes a *huge* difference in the outputted track ... it forces you to take more time to work on a track & the track really develops a character of its own .. something often missing in modern recorded music. Three, It forces you to actually play well, which led me to realize that (in addition to just not accepting mediocrity in my playing), I need to look at The Whole, instead of pieces when I'm practicing (and aim to play the whole perfectly, instead of just the parts). Some people have this rule that you have to play something x times perfectly in a row before moving on (where x is a number 10 or higher) ... I think this is a good rule, and plan to apply this in my practice from now on.

I also learned about some things I need to work on technically - for one having spot on pitch (I have decent pitch, but it does not cut it for recording ... One method I'm going to work on is shifting/doing scales without vibrato). Two, playing every note in the left hand like I really mean it (meaning having my full weight down into the night). Three, being able to shift with ease from any note to any other note (I also remembered that the way to develop this is to start with shifting so that you hear the entire gliss. This means that all your weight is down & helps you develop the proper motion/method of shifting). Four, remembering to shift with the upper arm first. Five, being able to consciously choose whether I'm playing flat-fingered or curved-fingered and being able to do both with ease. Five, counting/feeling syncopations with ease.

On top of all that, I actually had to play to a track that wasn't metrically perfect/consistent. I am sad to say that that was actually a challenge! I'm so used to striving for rhythmic/metric consistency that (like playing with vibrato) it actually became a challenge to turn this off & to really feel the track.

In general, I feel like I have a pretty good/developed innate sense of music/musicality (at least in rock music), I have lots of ideas & feelings, etc. ... But, I often lack the technique to really put them into use. This session took substantially longer than it needed to (about 9 hours), and there were a variety of reasons for them, but one of them was that I was underprepared. You hear stories about session players who come in and just nail the tracks on their first or second take. That's what I want to be ... not what I am.

So, Final Lesson: I need to consistently practice more ... more as in 4 hours everyday ... It's time. Because if I don't do it now, I won't ever be that good.

I love Random

2010-04-03T11:42:00.002-04:00

So, Yesterday I was pretty burnt out and depressed as a result of some bad home stuff that had happened throughout the week and just not having had any kind of break since tuesday (going straight from work to rehearsals (Newbeard & Edensong) & having late nights working on other stuff) ...

Then I had to go into the city to check out The Duplex (b/c I'm organizing a concert with a few friends & that is a place we're considering booking & while there, I ran into Phil Smith (the bass player from Sweeney Todd). It was great to see him & get to chat a bit, etc., etc.

If that wasn't cool enough ... after leaving Duplex, on my way to the subway, I ran into this cool-looking cellist & singer-songwriter. So I chat up with them & find out they're playing a gig 3 blocks away at Cafe Vivaldi & decide to go check it out ... well, first of all, turns out that they're very friendly folks, and I got to meet a bunch of other cool folks they're friends with & second, it turns out that they are both amazing musicians & amazing songwriters (I mean seriously, I've heard so much singer-songwriter stuff that I'm really desensitized to much of it & they did some amazing stuff). They played cello/piano together & sang together and it was just so beautiful.

They were: Martha Colby (http://marthacolby.com/) & Anna Dagmar (http://www.annadagmar.com/) & you should check them out ... Martha (the cellist) writes this very jazz-influenced, yet very organic music with lots of focus on nature/natural images & it was a real treat to get to see/hear this ... plus, she has a BLUE cello from Grace Music ... cool ... Anna's stuff is also really beautiful, and she is an amazing pianist (and balances the instrument amazingly well with her singing ... never overpowering or being lost)

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to see them ... also learned that Cafe Vivaldi is somewhere I want to book a show!

After that, I ran into an old friend on Metro North ... cool night!

That's all for now ... so much work to do & I have a sorta day off (meaning I can practice!!!!)

2010-03-22T23:00:00.002-04:00

So, it's 11PM and I'm tired, exhausted, depressed, smiling, happy, amazed and lacking energy to do anything that doesn't involve writing or reading. So, it occurred to me that I have this blog ... and you know, I haven't really updated it in a very long time (though apparently not as long as I thought) ... and well, here I am ...

So, the musical world of Me has been a challenge lately & a damn cool one at that!

It has involved:
-Being a fulltime member of Edensong (http://www.edensongtheband.com) - which includes a variety of musical and extramusical tasks
-Playing in a Piano Trio & Orchestra with upcoming concerts
-Singing in a chorus with multiple concerts
-Recording tracks for a couple of different bands
-Being broke time & time again & just when I think I'm getting out of it, being broke again
-Teaching & losing students (for reasons unrelated to my teaching)
-Writing lots of music
-Spending lots of time on Twitter (@cellomike)
-Planning out my solo show (4/29) and solo album
-Giving up on the Dotzauer Challenge (sadly I just don't have time write now)
-Organizing a composers' concert that will be really unique & amazing

It will also involve:
-Playing in Quebec with Edensong for the Terra Incognita Festival
-Playing with Newbeard on 4/21
-Amazingness
-Hopefully finding more students & not being broke (2 things I'm very bad at)
-Other things I have forgotten or not imagined yet...

I am doing improv. vids in place of the Dotzauers & those are starting to get a little better ... I also have some other cool & soon to come vid. ideas planned ... I just need to fit in more practice time ... it's so hard lately

I will try to write more regularly about what I'm doing ... I really want to get back to the technical work and innovation I've been going through with my cello technique ... I've learned a lot & am really for the first time beginning to feel like I can play the instrument (though still such a long way to go!)

Also, we are playing the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto in Orchestra ... it's awesome!

Finding Myself

2010-03-07T02:22:00.003-05:00

I came to a revelation today - well the other day really ... I don't think Harmonically. This is why I don't get jazz on an emotional and intuitive level. I just do not do it. I think rhythmically, melodically, moodily & I think about articulation, but I do not think about harmony as a guiding force ... I get patterns and chords & stuff - they just aren't what speaks to me & I don't immediately identify them ... this is an inherent limitation of mine (which is good and bad) ... it's just interesting to realize...

I'm also finally starting to find myself musically for what I feel is really the first time. I'm realizing how to combine all the different things I love and make that into who I am. I'm realizing I need to songwrite & sing & writer lyrics & play the cello, etc., etc.

I was at a classical cello recital earlier & the music put me into a meditative state ... it's so rare that any other instrument/ensemble/sound does that - but cello does it right away ... particularly cello playing bach. It just takes me to a different world ... I have no rational explanation for it, but it is such an integral part of me and I really like it, even if I think a lot of classical music is boring.

You Practice When You're Sick?

2010-03-03T23:06:00.002-05:00

Yes, I practice when I'm sick! ... *Especially* when I'm sick.

Why?

1. Because me being sick doesn't mean I have less music to learn or less things to accomplish
2. Because it makes me feel generally better (even though it's a struggle)
3. Because it gives me a good idea of what my limits are and makes me really push myself to concentrate & achieve
4. Because I've played enough gigs where I'm sleep-deprived/exhausted/sick/whatever. The more practice I have doing this, the better those future gigs will go.

So besides that, here's what's up in my musical world:

1. Improv & Dotzauer vids running on off-weeks with each other
2. Edensong Rehearsals - we've started rehearsing for our festival in Quebec City in May - Can't wait! (Also need to get my EDL, which means money!)
3. I made up a facebook group called The Westchester Music Scene: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=328073353810 ... It's been less than a week, but already we've managed to get up to 80 people - really exciting!
4. Composers' Concert - I am organizing this really cool concert of original music (featuring my & 3 other composers' music). We mostly write classical-rock fusion sort of material (for lack of a good pre-determined way to describe it) & are probably going to do 1 in westchester & 1 in nyc

On a different note:

Reality has finally caught up with me & I need to start making more money. I'm stuck though, because I really don't know how to do it. Gigs are cool and awesome, but they are not often enough or well-paying enough for me to rely on them. They are "spending money" at best. Teaching should be the money making option, but I just do not know how to find students. I finally printed up some flyers & posted 2 at the local library. I'm going to drive around to other places and post them there too, but what if that doesn't work?? I already have a day job. It involves 15 hours of work a week (and literally is in the middle of the day). I really need private teaching to become my second job, because it gives me relatively few additional hours, good money & the ability to keep my practice up & have something of a life. I'm scared that if I get something else as a second job that my practicing will go down. I suppose I could also tutor or teach beginner piano or do who knows what else, but I just really don't know how to get into these things. I am really scared/worried that what's going to happen is music will become the thing I do on the side ... I really want to do this professionally ... I just have no experience in how to do that & no guidelines to follow & am not doing a good job of getting gigs or students ... I know I have to put myself out there ... I'm just not sure where or how.

Anyway, that's my world for now ... I think there's other stuff too, but I'm sick and exhausted, so can't think of it now...

Dotzauer #5

2010-02-24T00:41:00.002-05:00

The short version:

I'm really dissatisfied with the result of this, but have been stretched a bit thin lately & it's really challenging to pick up in the middle of something ... so this is what emerged ... I'm not gonna do a rubric for this vid. b/c it's way overdue & I really don't think there's anything to be gained from it. I just needed to upload something so I can move past this & get the whole project running again.

On a good note, I've learned from the whole experience & I think I'm just starting to get the staccato thing (or at least how to do whatever I'm doing in a more relaxed fashion) ... I also learned about memorizing & what I need to do in the future to practice these.

I've decided to change the schedule to once every 2 weeks, because there are all these other things I'm working on and need to memorize (like Edensong material) ... that's all I care to write for now ... I'm hoping to start blogging a bit more regularly soon...

Resuming Dotzauer

2010-02-10T14:22:00.003-05:00

There's a ton of stuff I want/need to blog about - just haven't had the time lately ...

Anyway, I'm starting up the Dotzauer Etudes again, but I'm changing the schedule ... I'm going to do one video every 2 weeks (and on the other week, I'm going to do an improv. video). This will give me more time to learn the etudes properly & reduce risk of physical injury (from trying to push myself too quickly)

Other recently past events include:
Epica Concert - was amazing
Edensong Audition - I'm now part of an awesome prog. rock band ... more on this soon
Finished writing solo album (now I have to record it)
Haiti Benefit - Brahms German Requiem & Barber's Adagio for Strings!!!
Concert at Beth El

Upcoming concert w/ December's Fall this weekend ... will write more on all this stuff soon...

Dotzauer Series on hold...

2010-01-18T19:15:00.001-05:00

Dotzauer vids are on hold for now due to some tendon issues I'm having ... and on that note, computer use is too!!

Peter And The Wolf, Neil Gaiman, And Bold to Fall Withal and Gary Fagin

2010-01-17T22:33:00.003-05:00

So last night (saturday), I went to a free performance of the Knickerbocker Orchestra ... the features were Peter & The Wolf, and "And Bold to Fall Withal" - a newly commissioned piece...

It was down in the World Financial Center, which would have been great, except this was the one weekend that the subway was all kinds of screwed up & it took a bit of extra finding (as did locating a seat) ... I was a bit surprised at how dismal that area of New York seemed ... really seemed like something out of a comic book (and perhaps it was, but if so, I've never read it)...

Anyway, so I got there at 6:45, (it started at 7) & discovered there were no seats left, so I had to sit on the stairs like many of the rest of the folks (which had a decent view). The downside to this was the sound. I *hate* the "back of the hall" sound ... I don't understand why it's so appealing to so many people who like classical music ... to me it's disconnecting & impersonal - especially when I can barely see the orchestra (who I know are all working hard & doing a great job, because I play one of these instruments!).

So 7:00 comes, the Orchestra starts with Tchaikovsky's Polonaise from Eugene Onegin - sounds exactly like the sort of stuff I played (and detested) in orchestra in college ... but then again, Tchaikovsky has never been my favorite composer. Either way, it was interesting to hear a piece in this style as an audience member (because I so rarely actually get to listen to any orchestral music, since I'm generally playing it) ... can't say it was my idea of exciting.

Next was Up and Down, Up and Down by Duke Ellington (orchestrated by Gary Fagin) ... this also failed to really capture my interest ... I think had I been able to hear it better, it might have caught it a bit more ... I'm really not turned on by a lot of jazz though ... especially when it becomes jazz for orchestra ... just not my thing ...

Then came the moment I had actually come for. Peter and the Wolf narrated by Neil Gaiman. Neil's banter with Gary Fagin when he first came on stage was incredibly hard to hear (because the mic was adjusted for Neil to be sitting), but it was interesting to discover that he and Gary Fagin were cousins.

Peter & The Wolf itself was interesting & you could clearly see its influence on film music ... looking at it historically, it's an incredibly significant and cool accomplishment. However, hearing it now, it felt a bit dated. It really would have worked great with some sort of animation (I was picturing a disney version ... and in fact they have done that!). Otherwise, it was occasionally hard to hear Neil Gaiman, but otherwise pretty cool. The other thing that would really have made this was a film crew & screen setup that could zoom in on instruments that had solos or melodies ... rock bands use them to great effect (Dream Theater is the #1 example) ... no reason an orchestra or a concert hall can't - it would do wonders for them... In general, this was a pretty cool experience ... Neil's narration was great

Afterwards, the concert actually got better! (talk about good programming order) ... the next piece was Charles Ives "The Unanswered Question" ... I studied it in music school, so it was great to get to hear a performance of it ... awesome piece - period. They did a great job with it.

Still, it got even better ... the next piece was the World Premier of "And Bold To Fall Withal - Henry Hudson in the New World". It was commissioned for the Orchestra & their conductor (Gary Fagin). Very cool piece ... I would love (and might actually even listen to) a recording of it ... the only weak spot was occasionally the lyrics (and this is something that classical music and musical theatre are plagued by) ... monologue is monologue and there's nothing that can fix it ... except maybe narration + monologue or dialogue ... either way, very cool piece, vocal part was awesome (I love the tenor range in general) & the orchestral part was very grand/Wagner-ish/awesome (I wish I had better words for it, but unfortunately, I don't, and I was not feeling too great at the time, so things didn't get stored so well...)

The final part of the concert was a Tchaikovsky waltz from Eugene Onegin (substantially better than the first piece!) ... the conductor invited the audience to dance & they did - it was quite awesome ... I think more groups ought to do this ...

In general, I liked the event ... am glad it was free though, not sure I would have paid money for it (because orchestra is generally not what makes my eyes light up, and my income is all kinds of very low right now) ... if there was a concerto or some amazingly cool piece, that might change my mind...

Pros:
General Admission
Neat Venue (on the edge of the water)
Programming
Neil Gaiman
Lots of very different people
Lots of kids
New piece = awesome

Cons:
FOH Engineer didn't have the sound loud enough
No Video Screens
The conductor's speeches in between felt more like lectures than genuinely connecting with audiences (something rock bands do real well)
I didn't have any friends to go with

Overall, cool event.

New Years Resolutions

2010-01-06T12:57:00.003-05:00

I just realized, I posted this on my LJ, but not here, so here are the musical ones:

1. To practice cello more than 3 hours a day whenever possible (it's after that 3rd hour that visible progress really starts to occur)
2. To practice piano an hour a day or more whenever possible
3. To release my very first cd (I've been working hard at this since september and have written 9. To give concerts with my own music and to start playing nursing homes and any other possible area in the community

Dotzauer #4

2010-01-05T19:54:00.002-05:00

Youtube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXCeIQBIXJ8
Grade: D
Comments: Tempo inconsistent, could be faster. RH & LH Articulation could be cleaner/more synchronized.

This is a fun etude, and unfortunately I spent not enough time on it (what else is new?). I really didn't account for New Years, but I didn't get started on this etude until Saturday or Sunday... needless to say, not enough time to prepare, and the video has me rushing in parts ... I did gain a lot from doing it though ... there's a lot of hidden techniques in this.

What do I mean by that? Well for one thing, this etude makes you switch between flat & curved fingers (b/c of the open strings and the broken 5ths) ... you also have to have thirds prepared, you have to be able to do staccato triplets at whatever given tempo you're doing, you have to be able to do triplet staccato string crossings fluidly, etc.

Every single piece of music we ever work on has something of this sort - technical aspects that aren't immediately observable on the surface. This is why we do technique - so when we encounter these hidden bits, we can automatically tackle them.

I tried to differentiate between on-string & off-string staccato this time (based on a comment I got on Dotzauer #3) ... I was starting to get it by then end ... I literally spent all my practice time today on this etude ...

In terms of memorization, I worked backwards about 3/4 of the way & then did the rest forwards - psychologically, this was a great way to approach it, because there's this feeling of relief that comes from working on the last quarter forward.

I've added a criteria to the rubric for tempo.

I'm so glad I don't have to make another one of these vids for a week!

Rubric:
F - Failed to memorize notes and bowings within one week.
D - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable).
C - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable). Correct Bow Distribution is present. Tempo is steady.
B - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable). Correct Bow Distribution and Articulation & Dynamics are present. Tempo is stead.
A - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes on First Try. Correct Bow Distribution and Articulation & Dynamics are present. Tempo is steady.

Uploaded Songs

2010-01-04T17:06:00.003-05:00

Normally I use this blog to talk about the cello specifically, however recently I've been putting sometime into web presence and social networking and all that, so I wanted to share the following:

1. I've uploaded some original compositions to my website: http://cellomike.com/compositions.html

2. I've uploaded a track from the solo album that I've been working hard at writing onto myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mlunapiena

3. I've finally joined Reverb Nation & Twitter ... and apparently I can link all these things (which is just great, because i need to spend *less* time in front of my computer ... anyway, if you're on twitter, feel free to follow me at: http://www.twitter.com/cellomike

I think that's it for right now ... I'm hoping to be done writing this album in the next 2 weeks!!

Dear 1999

2009-12-30T23:04:00.005-05:00

This is in response to the public blogging event that http://www.musicanswages.com is doing: "If you could go back to 1999 and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?"

I'm hesitant to write this, because I feel every moment in our lives is important & we each follow our own path in getting to wherever we were today (and wherever we're going). Changing one event or one path really changes everything in so many ways that we couldn't begin to conceive ... In general, I'm very happy with where I've wound up in life & what I've made out of it ... I really value the choices I've made - even the mistakes!

So, anyway, in 1999, I was 12 and about to enter the 9th grade (or in 8th grade, depending on what point in the year). Here's the advice I would give myself

Dear Mike in 1999,

There is an instrument you've never heard of and don't know anything about, called the cello. Along with discovering heavy metal music, the cello will be the single biggest defining factor of your life. You have the potential to become an amazing cellist & a successful professional musician, though you will have a lot of work ahead of you and not a lot of time to accomplish it. You are already behind a lot of people who are on the same track as you, but if you put the time into it, you have the power to catch up & maybe even one day (in the far off future) to pass some of them. The cello is going to become the closest thing to you in your life & you are going to find new things to do with it that very few have done before. But you can only do this if you become really amazing ... don't get distracted & learn from everyone around you and from all the different music you can take in.

So drop the trumpet and go ask the orchestra teacher if you can play cello (you'll even get to use one over the summer) & become an amazing musician...

Good luck!

----------

Now I suppose that at 12, this may not have been the advice I needed & maybe I wouldn't have loved the cello so much if I had started it then ... I had a lot of family problems & went through some pretty bad depression for the next year or two & failed classes in high school & stuff of that sort ... but as I said, these all helped me form into the person I was today ... 12 was a very special year for me ... it was the year I discovered heavy metal for the first time and the year I became an atheist... it had a lot of other things in it too, many of them not so positive... Discovering heavy metal music was probably the most influential thing in my life because of the musical sophistication, energy & intellectual depth that I found in that tradition & because of the world it opened up for me & the values I formed based on it...

I also suppose that advice like "do well in high school so you can go to any college you want to go to" & "don't cut gym in high school, because it will cause you to form some terrible academic habits" might be more practical ... but I would have missed out on quite a bit of life experience

For those who don't already know my history ... I started cello at the age of 16 and became completely obsessed with it & went on to study music in college & now am in the process of trying to do it professionally. I also compose & improvise & make videos/recordings & play through FX Pedals/amp & blog as well...

So that's my piece I suppose ...

Edit: if you go here: http://www.musicianwages.com/the-working-musician/dear-1999/ you can read everyone else's responses ... they're quite fascinating!

Dotzauer #3

2009-12-29T21:21:00.003-05:00

Youtube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvfahXeM3_g
Grade: D
Specific Comments: Bow distribution/speed/pressure was considered, but not achieved. Would benefit from slow practice, as well as more bow work. Dynamics were sometimes present. Only 1 attempt was necessary to record. Tempo is still on the slower side of Allegro.

This was a very different experience from the last one. To start with, this etude is a lot shorter and a lot more redundant & a lot more scalar (as opposed to 3rds and 6ths) - what a relief! I didn't quite get to spend as much time with it as I would have liked unfortunately. I definitely benefited from #2 though, because the LH part was easily within my grasp from the very beginning. This had some good consequences (namely that I was able to work with within larger groups/sections and that I wasn't as stressed), but also some bad consequences (I really didn't do much slow work, which I think could have benefited both of my hands).

I also approached this one a bit differently than #2 by working backwards in larger phrases and by relying on the music more (as opposed to trying to play from memory right away). I found this to be beneficial, because it meant that there was less room for error in the initial learning process. I also found that looking at the music helped me be more considerate of the dynamics, which I failed to memorize (and in general, fail to pay attention to - it's a huge flaw in my playing, but this etude got me to start considering it a bit more) ... I still think it's really important to perform from memory, but I think it will generally be worth it to work with the music more in the future. I also think in general when working on music, I could benefit from being more analytical (though there obviously has to be a balance between analysis and physical performance, since playing cello is ultimately about the latter).

Generally, I feel good about the progress I'm making & am really looking forward to #4. I'm going to try to put more time into cello in general so I can put more time into this...

Rubric:
F - Failed to memorize notes and bowings within one week.
D - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable).
C - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable). Correct Bow Distribution is present.
B - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable). Correct Bow Distribution and Articulation & Dynamics are present.
A - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes on First Try. Correct Bow Distribution and Articulation & Dynamics are present.

Dotzauer #2

2009-12-22T21:15:00.004-05:00

Youtube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL54AXSB4TQ
Grade: F
Specific Comments: Failed to memorize within one week due to sickness. Bow is very stiff & the Upper Half/Middle of the bow direction is ignored, partially defeating the point of the Etude. Left hand fingers still do not move as a unit.

Alright, so to start with, I got a horrible ear infection the weekend after Dotzauer #1 ... so horrible that I was often in pain, couldn't hear properly for about 2 weeks & actually went to a doctor & got antibiotics for the first time in 3 years!

Having already played this Etude, I mostly remembered the first section (of the 3 larger sections), but I still had to work it in to shape & then up to tempo. This time around, I really worked in larger sections/phrases/patterns, as opposed to so much measure by measure work (though I would sometimes go by measure or by note within the larger sections). The third section was really the only section I hadn't gone over much before, and at that point I went note by note, which I found really helpful. This has to be done while repeating the note names to oneself for full effect.

I think in general, I should have forced myself to always practice this further up the bow, and to think about the left finger groupings from very start. I found myself very able to hone in on patterns & harmonic rhythm. One thing this etude is great for is very subtle pattern variations, and those were a big challenge. I also needed to practice the tempos in between mm 144-184 more. As a final note, I really discounted the endurance factor of playing this at full speed. It's really at the edge of my technique (at 184), which means I needed to have it memorized by about the halfway point, so I could just repeat & develop the muscles for playing it straight-through. Not achieving my goal tempo is ok, because the act of preparing this has upped my general technical ability and I will be more likely to achieve those tempos in the future.

Rubric:
F - Failed to memorize notes and bowings within one week.
D - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable).
C - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable). Correct Bow Distribution is present.
B - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable). Correct Bow Distribution and Articulation & Dynamics are present.
A - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes on First Try. Correct Bow Distribution and Articulation & Dynamics are present.

In Sickness & In Health

2009-12-13T14:56:00.003-05:00

So, I've had a horrible ear infection for a little over a week now ... I've barely touched my cello at all during this time, which of course has thrown off my Dotzauer Project, which Brian so kindly referenced here: http://celloetudes.tumblr.com/

I'm going to be picking this up again on tuesday & just starting fresh w/ #2 ... in the future, I will try to hold myself more stringently to this schedule ... this is something I need to work on professionally in general.

Dotzauer Etude #1

2009-12-01T02:24:00.003-05:00

My approach to memorizing was essentially:

-Play the piece few a through times to get it in my ear
-Start at the beginning and go measure by measure, adding one each time
-Work on solidifying sections/phrases before moving on
-Assess for trouble spots
-Fix trouble spots
-Repeat Larger section
-Run from beginning again
-Repeat the last few steps until whole piece is memorized

Observations:
-After a while I started memorizing 2 measures at a time (because the harmonic rhythm changed)
-I memorize the Etude very quickly (I also have read through it in the past), but it takes longer to play the Etude from memory
-I tend to rely mostly on Aural Memory and Kinesthetic/Muscle Memory. Initially I visualized the notes as I played them, and this was in some ways helpful, but I'm not sure how directly helpful it was.
-I find that saying the note names to myself, as I play them, really makes me thing about each note and the intervals & this helps me memorize the entire sequence
-It may be more useful to do Add-A-Note instead of Add-A-Measure - this ensures that each part of the "Dance" has been practiced and connected. It should mean that all motions are more efficient and solidified
-It may also be worth it to do it from the End, backwards with the same method
-I barely managed to memorize this etude in time, but I also did not work on it every day.
-Initially, I did not pay attention to bow distribution/dynamics, but soon realized that I needed to. I think the earlier I do this, the better
-It is easier to memorize notes with full/on-the-string strokes than it is to memorize staccato strokes. Of course, memorizing with the wrong bowing means that I'll need to go back and re-memorize with the right bowing.
-My memory gets affected when I'm hungry or exhausted & often the best way to recall things is to not think about them ... essentially, to quiet one's mind ... it's very meditative & simultaneously very risky, because if it's broken, then one has to rely on conscious thinking or muscle memory. This same meditative state is where one wants to be when performing.

So that's it for now ... Dotzauer #2 starts tomorrow. It will be really interesting to see how I do once I start getting to the Etudes I've never played through before...

The Dotzauer Challenge Introduction

2009-12-01T02:13:00.005-05:00

This is in response to: http://celloetudes.tumblr.com/

I loved the idea of what he's doing, because I love working on Etudes (and technique in general) & I love memorizing, so introducing some structure to these activities is great & beneficial to me, because it forces me to focus on one thing for an extended period of time!

I'm doing it slightly differently than his Popper Project though ... I'm memorizing 1 Etude a week (after all, this is Dotzauer, not Popper we're talking about), I'm not limiting myself to 45 minutes a day & I have come up with a rubric to grade myself each week. I am also recording a video of me playing each memorized Etude at the end of the week.

I've already gone through week one.

Youtube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocS227zehQ0
Grade: D
Specific Comments: Open A string very clunky, Bow distribution not always correct, Contact point should be reconsidered at times. Left hand fingers could use improvement in the areas of staying in alignment & moving as a unit.

Rubric:
F - Failed to memorize notes and bowings within one week.
D - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable).
C - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable). Correct Bow Distribution is present.
B - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes (multiple attempts are acceptable). Correct Bow Distribution and Articulation & Dynamics are present.
A - Notes and bowings are memorized, and piece is performed completely through without any stops or wrong notes on First Try. Correct Bow Distribution and Articulation & Dynamics are present.

Discovering Secrets

2009-11-23T23:55:00.003-05:00

I learned 4 very important things in the last 2 days of cello playing

1. I needed to "let go" of the bow & stop using so much downward pressure/trying to force the bow & use my upper arm muscles to increase the bow speed instead. I had had this pointed out to me before & had lessened the pressure from what it was then, but I didn't really understand it until now.
2. Which leades me to my next point - Cello is a physical task & no matter how important the mental side of things is, the body has to learn & feel how things should be. The cello and bow are really just extensions of your body while you're playing them.
3. Which leads me to my next point - "practice makes permanent". Countless repetition (until consistent perfection) is the essence of what it means to prepare something on cello. Learning cello is like any other creative process - it's a tension & release cycle & in order to get the most out of it, one must put in as much effort/analysis/repetition as possible & then let go & take a break and then come back to it & repeat the process
4. Which leads me to my next point - Every single motion is linked to and is a preparation for the following motion. I learned this from watching Julia Lichten play at Purchase tonight. There literally is no excess in her playing, every single motion was connected to the next one with such meticulous detail. Instead of hindering or subtracting from the music, this in fact added to it substantially. It's this level of preparation that allows someone to actually express themselves/the music's intent fully.

Ultimately, this all could be boiled down to this: "Your cello practice is a temple. What you put into it is what you get out of it."

It's all about how many hours you put in all the time & how much more you ask of yourself in your focus & persistence. I finally feel like I'm beginning to grow into being a real player, as a result of these realizations & all my recent experiences. The Journey is just beginning.

A lot of these realizations came as the indirect result of the interviews I was reading with Howard Shore & Douglas Adams - for any who discover this post: It is so important to have interests outside of your main discipline. There is so much to learn & so much that can be applied to cello...

The Etude Project

2009-11-23T01:26:00.003-05:00

http://celloetudes.tumblr.com/

I *really wish* that more advanced cellists/musicians would do things like this (post about their learning/practice process)

In general, I wish that more college or post-college players would blog - there is so much to learn - especially with all the different teachers out there ... this seems to be a really under-represented group in the blogging community.

The Music of the Lord of the Rings

2009-11-22T22:37:00.003-05:00

http://themusicofthelordoftheringsfilms.blogspot.com

Here's another source of musical inspiration: The Lord of the Rings Scores. Both the music itself & people talking about the music from a theoretical & experiental viewpoint. This blog in particular has some really great interviews with Howard Shore & Douglas Adams (who's written a soon-to-be-published book about the music of the films). Film music has always been something I've been into (since I discovered it) & it often receives very little substantive/informative press, so this is really great to read. Particularly, it's inspiring since the music is so large-scale and so classically-influenced. (It also means I'm really going to have to start exploring Wagner & the rest of Opera soon ... this is going to be a very big journey!).

Howard Shore talks a lot about his musical development & the fact that he'd been composing music since he was ten (I find that to be so cool!) & what he was influenced by & stuff like that ... go check out the interview transcripts ...

Musical & Personal Growth

2009-11-22T21:34:00.005-05:00

I've learned an incredible amount over the last few months (and particularly over the last week) & wanted to take some time to reflect upon that.

I think my main source of growth has been the Sound Shore Chorale. I've just about always liked singing (except in early high school when I was way too nervous to sing for anybody), but SSC has really just been a tremendous experience. I've met all sorts of different people (all older than me - I'm the youngest in the ensemble) & that in itself has been great. However, the real growth has been musically. My sense of pitch (well, really my ability to sight-sing/read) has developed a lot more (from having to prepare the parts on my own) & my listening has improved as well. Through preparing the pieces & having to really internalize & analyze them in a way that you don't always necessarily have to (but should) when reading something on a physical instrument has done wonders for my understanding. I've also started working on learning the accompaniments to the songs we performed & will keep working on that ... I'll talk a bit more about that later. One thing I've learned is that I have a very under-developed sense of pitch (relative to the rest of my sense of pitch) in my lowest register (between 1 & 2 octaves below middle C) - both on cello & voice. This has been improving lately as well.

In addition to that, I've grown a lot as an ensemble member - both in terms of my commitment to an ensemble & learning to be in sync with the ensemble and the conductor. I still need more work on the second (because I tend to work by ear, rather than visually) & need to look up more (because I usually know the music to the point of memorization anyway), but I've really progressed with it a lot.

In addition to all that, I've got a chance to watch Richard Slade as a conductor/musical director & have learned from that. There are two aspects to this position: the musical & the people-management. Musically it involves picking repertoire, rehearsing it on a weekly basis, knowing what your group can handle musically, having an incredible ear, being able to conduct & having/being able to communicate a musical vision. As a manager, it involves having rehearsals & concerts scheduled in advance & spaces reserved, it involves telling everybody the order of pieces over, it involves planning multiple concerts a year, being the most-organized person at the concert & all sorts of other things.

My experience with SSC leads me to my next source of growth - playing in a string quartet. We performed the 3rd (thanksgiving) movement of Beethoven's Op. 132 Quartet (Richard asked me to put this together as part of the program). This was a brand new experience for me. The only other time I've been able to play in a quartet has been playing christmas music & that is hardly even close to the same thing. I've done a fair amount of chamber music before (not an incredible amount, but a good amount for how long I've been playing), but it has always been for other combinations (largely piano trios). Those formats all have their own lessons, but there are things you can only learn through playing a string quartet with other advanced players.

In addition to my musical growth from that quartet, I also learned about the organizational side of putting a quartet together for a performance. This was a very challenging activity! First, it takes time to find players (which proved to be particularly difficult in this instance), who will most likely be very busy, then you have to schedule rehearsals (which is always a challenge). Then add in the difficulty of the work & last-minute problems/illnesses & making sure everyone is on the same page with everything & everything goes according to plan... and there you have it. At the end of the day, everything works out & it's on to the next thing. The whole experience made me think of tour managers and stuff like that for bands & what their experience must be like. In my case, I need to plan things a little bit more in advance & account for time better (I'm usually getting to things just when I need to - unless they're in NYC, in which case, I'm always early b/c I never know how trains will work out)

Another source of growth has been the St. Thomas Orchestra. We performed Harold in Italy & Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony. I have performed Harold in Italy before. I didn't have either piece fully prepared & one thing I have learned is that I need to start working on parts much earlier - even when I have a ton of other activities going on. I need to create a schedule/deadline for working on things & I need to get to a point where I know all the notes by the second or third rehearsal so that in rehearsal I'm actually working on musical things & on following the conductor a lot better. One thing I have gotten much better about is listening to the other parts and fitting my part in with them. Orchestra playing is really just a huge chamber ensemble, and that makes it *incredibly difficult*. I could still do a better/more frequent job of listening, though.

It's also caused me to grow, because I am the weakest cellist in my section. The gap isn't overwhelming, but everyone else has a much more secure technique/knowledge of the parts & it's been great to be around that & watch and learn from them. Particularly, I had one rehearsal where I sat in the first stand (because a lot of people were out) & playing next to Claire was just really inspirational - she is a very strong player. One important thing I've learned from St. Thomas is that it's much easier to dislike the way someone does something than it is to do it well yourself. In the future, I'm going to do things better & make it much more of a point to find things to like/learn from when observing other people (while still being critical).

One thing I've been getting into lately is accompaniment. Not that I've been doing any, but I've been reading about accompanists & working on piano parts for the choral music I'm working on. In general, I'm hoping to develop my piano skills more so that I can start to do accompaniment work & maybe even some day play keyboard in a pit. This will help things financially, but also musically & compositionally. I came to realize from various playing I've been doing that accompaniment is something I really like doing (regardless of what instrument I'm on). It's an enjoyable challenge, and I find it very fulfilling.

So there are some sources of recent musical growth ... there have been more too, which I'll write about soon.

Edit:

One last thing. One of the major ways I've grown over the last few months is that I've developed a lot more self-confidence & comfort in my playing/musicianship. To accompany that, I've also begun to think less of my individual accomplishments (not in a demeaning way) and to start to see the bigger picture & look at how my experience compares to other players'. So in short: more confidence, less ego.

Another thing, it's a little scary to write so openly about my playing on a blog, but I think it's an important part of who I am as a person, so I will always continue to do it to the fullest extent possible.

Gig/Activities Summary!

2009-11-15T02:37:00.004-05:00

In the last month or two, I've done a ton of different stuff. Here's a summary:

1. Topsy Turvey Loves - a 2 wk. Gilbert & Sullivan (sorta) show ... wasn't the best experience, but I did get to network & meet some awesome musicians. It received mixed press.
2. December's Fall at Flushing Library Halloween Show - this was awesome. Really, the best rock gig I've done! We had a full stage & the audience was mostly kids (I mean kids!) who got really excited over our music & some wanted our autographs & stuff like that after the show - it was so cool! Such a great energy. Tony Baptist was on drums after learning the tunes in *2 days* It was so great to get to play with him again!
3. Brigadoon - My idea of an ideal musical - cello book was great, I got some players involved & met a ton of new ones. The production was with Blue Hill Troupe, who are a great bunch to work with & everything about it was awesome. Low pay, because Blue Hill gives their money to charity, but more than worth it. I wish every gig could be like this.
4. Music Career Workshop at Manhattanville - this was useful & helped me feel like I'm on the right path/doing things well. I knew a lot of the info already, but that's because I've been reading up on this stuff & have a huge variety of interests. I think this was a great step forward for Manhattanville, which I didn't really feel helped me out career-wise very much. Presenters were: Melvin Stecher & Norman Horowitz, Laurie Jakobsen, Justin DiCioccio, Michael Anesta & Christianne Orto.
5. Pam Devenport Masterclass - I watched her teach a masterclass at Hoff (to 12 & under students) & learned a bit from watching it. The most interesting thing was to see how much she emphasized tone & getting a good ringing sound out of the cello. It was also great to see the level of the kids, who are more advanced than my students (and have been doing this longer)
6. Sound Shore Chorale performance at the New Rochelle Public Library - went well, I learned a lot of my parts somewhat last minute, but sang what I knew with confidence & I learned more about what I need to do to develop further as a performer.
7. Photo Shoot - I forgot the artists name, but I did a photo shoot earlier today & will be recording in the future. More details when this materializes more & when I know that I'm allowed to give more info
8. Metallica concert - this deserves its own post ... here's the short version: They kicked my ass & actually improved substantially from last year!
9. I BUILT MY OWN WEBSITE! Please check it out at: http://cellomike.com

That's all for now... I have a recording gig tomorrow morning & 2 more concerts + a quartet movement all within the next week ... can't wait till this is all done!

Insufficiency

2009-11-15T02:26:00.004-05:00

I feel so insufficient when I meet other cellists & tell them I'm working on Haydn C & when I meet other players who have very easy technique/intonation ... I feel like it's such a struggle for me & not for them ... I was getting to that point, but then a lot of personal & work stuff started to get in the way of me practicing enough & not practicing enough really makes me feel insufficient ... I wish I was in an environment where I could just practice 4+ hours a day & everybody around me was doing that ... it's so hard at home when people want things from me & I have to clean stuff up & go to work & people get annoyed at me for not saying hi to them for 4 hours, b/c I've been busy practicing ... I feel insufficient when I get up and play a gig & a song I've played on multiple gigs & rehearsals is out of tune

The insufficiency is a good thing, but the fact that I got to a point where I feel like that at all is not so good ... I just need to get through this next week so I can get to a point where I really just have time to work on my own rep. & music

I also hate not being able to take gigs b/c of work - particularly when it actually looks like something cool/career-useful. I am definitely only going to hold this job through the end of december ... even if it means going back to taxis ... I like B&N better, but the nights/weekends thing is just completely killing me.

Ideally, I'll have more students by then & this won't be necessary (I will be promoting heavily in december)

Bands

2009-10-22T22:11:00.003-04:00

I realized: I can't do them.

I don't think I had blogged about this too much, but I had a band with my brother & 2 college friends: Max & Josh. We hadn't rehearsed in 3 weeks because I had this musical (which I think I still need to write up a post about). So Josh & Max had been writing stuff on their own & when I got in touch with them about scheduling rehearsals, they told me that based on the fact that my schedule didn't really match theirs & that they had been writing stuff together that had really been taking off, they wanted to do their own thing.

I am totally cool with that, and actually happy the band split, because it will free up my time slightly & it gives them the chance to do what they want creatively (because they really jelled with each other in a way that I don't with either of them - at least in that project). Also, I still have Pejoratively Yours with Josh and I'm still good friends with both of them. So this is for the better, and that makes me happy.

It also taught me something: I can't be in a band permanently. Possibly ever, but certainly not right now. I have spent almost all of the last 4 years developing as a freelancer & that has always been my goal and the way I've looked at and molded things. I just never realized what that meant in terms of commitment to something long-term. I'm able to do it with orchestra & chorus & teaching, but because I'm doing all those & because I do things like 3 week musicals and other gigs, I can't commit to a band - it's just too much. To really do a band, it would have to be my main thing, and while I enjoy it enough to do that, it doesn't do the things I need career-wise, so I can't ever make it into my main thing (or at least now I can't). That was a really important lesson to learn.

I've committed myself to being a freelancer - with all the crazy turns and inconsistent income and experiences that come with it ...

So much music to work on right now ... and I'm really behind on my solo album (but my playing has gone way up and is really improving!)

Busking Attempt #1 - Grade: C

2009-10-22T00:50:00.003-04:00

So, today I tried busking in the subway in NYC for the first time. It's something I've wanted to do for a bit & a couple of folks encouraged me to, so I finally bit the bullet.

I tried playing in times square today. It took me a couple of tries to find a good spot. In terms of making money, it was a completely failure. I busked from 12:30-4:30. Over the course of the day, a few people took pictures of me, a few people talked to me about Apocalyptica (I was wearing their t-shirt) & I generally really got people's interest when I was playing double stops/droning against open strings. At the beginning of the day, I met Juan Castillo who is in an Andes Fusion band that busks (and is a member of MUNY) & we talked about maybe playing together. He was very encouraging and said I should join MUNY. While playing, somebody asked me about doing an R&B session & someone else asked me about writing/playing music for a film they were working on. I really hope those go through & I'm definitely going to try busking again - it's a lot of fun. I need to get a better stool to play on though - the one I have is too tall & this makes the whole thing very physically exhausting...

When I got home, I started looking to see if I could find leads for good spots/times to busk ... I haven't found much of use yet, but I did find this: http://sawlady.com/ It's a fun/interesting read.

I haven't written much about technical stuff lately ... I'm planning to start doing so again - I've been really making some good progress. I need to practice more though, and I'm behind on my solo tunes (that's not good!) & I really need to learn Brigadoon by sunday - kind of scary!

I also have started to apply for non-music jobs ... wish I didn't have to, but I really need reliable money.

That's all for now...

Breaking the Silence

2009-10-14T00:06:00.002-04:00

I don't remember the last time I was under so much pressure/stress/fear. The last 2 months have been something of a nightmare in that sense. This almost all boils down to financial stress - I stopped driving taxis & was left with teaching as my only income - which seemed ok, but then I got some unexpected bills & it's just sorta set all the wheels of questioning & emotional turmoil in motion.

Now, I've added a new level to things. I started looking into Grad school audition requirements. There is basically 1 teacher I want to study with (that's Julia Lichten), which leaves me with two schools I'm applying to - SUNY Purchase & Manhattan School of Music. As of right now, I have zero confidence that I'm going to get in to either. I really just don't think it looks possible, and that's scary. But, that fear is really pushing me to practice and play seriously in a way that I've never done before & I'm starting to see the improvements already.

Despite the improvements though, this has been one of the most confusing and frustrating times in my life. I don't have a teacher, and consequently am struggling to give myself a direction & choose audition pieces & technical exercises and all that. Now add a timetable into this. Purchase pre-screens their auditions (I think MSM does too) & I have to have a cd ready by January 1st - Fuck! I seriously dropped the ball on this. I should have been preparing for this since Summit, working the way I am now. Looking back on things, I've dropped the ball with cello and practicing so many times already, I'm lucky to be where I am.

I also started looking at competitions and stuff like that & I realized how much I dropped the ball with even having the opportunity to do something like that (which ultimately I think is ok in the long run). I'm not really looking to do a traditional classical career, but having the option of entering these things would have been a good thing.

But, that's only 1 part of the whole picture of the last few months. I've been really busy with a lot of things. First of all, I bought the book "Beyond Talent: Creating a Successful Career in Music" by Angela Myles Beeching. What an amazingly helpful, practical and well-written book. I've been learning from that & am getting some good ideas for building my music career from it. But, that of course takes time.

One thing I've started (as of 2 weeks ago) is writing a solo cello album. This kind of just clicked as something I needed to do. I was thinking about the things I'm good at & what I like to do, and thinking about improvisation & realized that I could make a bunch of improv. tracks to sell on Snocap (Myspace's music store). While that idea then turned into "hey, I'm going to write my own album", I'm still very partial to the idea of recording an improv track once a week and selling it on myspace. It's the type of thing that I don't really expect a lot of money to come out of, but maybe some would here & there & at the very least, it makes it look like I have something more to offer as an artist (there are some great examples in Beeching's book about CDs/Demos being used to further peoples' careers despite not paying for themselves in sales).

Which brings me to the next thing I'm planning to develop. Well things: 2 workshops. First, I'm going to develop a Youtube Improvisation series, which I can also make workshops out of. Next, I'm going to develop a Career Advice for Classical Musicians series, which will draw on my experience from the next two years & well everything after that. Beeching's book mentioned that people booking classical shows often are more likely to book artists offering workshops/lectures/etc.

Which brings me to a weak spot of mine: Prepared concert rep. This is getting solved right now by the following: I have to put together a Beethoven Quartet movement for Nov. 22, I have to prepare for Grad. auditions, I will be playing in a Piano Trio at the New Rochelle Public Library in the spring & I will most likely be playing at Beth El at a currently undetermined date in February. This is causing me to really work on all of this repertoire & actually have pieces prepared so that I can put concerts together. Also, I'm realizing that putting together this type of concert is so different than putting together a recital at school - much less academic/pedagogical & much more about the audience.

One of the big things holding me back right now from a career perspective is that I don't know where I can get booked for paying gigs/concerts or how or who to get in touch with. Slowly, but surely, I'm learning all of this & gaining new information bit by bit. I'm also planning to record Pejoratively Yours material in the near future & start marketing that to various clubs & whatever else I can.

So I have a lot of the big plans set up ... I just don't know how I'm going to pay my bills right now. Here are my current options:

1. Work at Barnes & Noble again as a seasonal employee - this is beginning to look tempting
2. Work at taxis - this is the last thing I want to do. I can be non-committal and only work 1 day a week & while that freedom's nice, I also will be lazy about working & thus not earn money. Plus, it's not the social circle I want to expand into.
3. Extra work - I keep seeing this advertised on Craigslist & am seriously considering it ... I could make somewhere around $100 a day or maybe more doing this & that sounds very worth it, even if it probably means giving up my whole day.
4. Temp Agency - this was recommended to me & I just don't know anything about getting involved with one, but am considering it
5. Find some kind of regular paying gig - like a church job. This is exactly the thing I don't know how to look for. Every church is looking for an organist/pianist & my piano skills are just not there.
6. Get 1-3 more students. - this is ideal & part of what's holding me back from doing this has been being lazy/not having much time & even if I put the work in, there's no telling how long it will take to get more students, not to mention that teaching can be a bit inconsistent (with students cancelling). I also would really like to find my own teaching space (I can use my apartment now, but honestly, it's a gross mess & I'd feel so much more professional in a set space somewhere).
7. Get a part time teaching gig - I would *love* this, but there just doesn't seem to be a lot out there & I haven't gotten a response from the little I've replied to. There does seem to be a lot of "In Home Lessons" & I would honestly really like to get out of that rather than get further into it, because it just does not pay as well & eats up a chunk of my time & always involves logging lessons, which is just frustrating.

Other recent activities include:
Playing shows with December's Fall - always fun
Creating a mailing list (if you'd like to be included on this, just email me your email at mluna87@gmail.com)
Topsy Turvy Loves - a 3 wk off-off broadway musical (this merits a whole journal entry by itself & may get one if I can find the time, though I may also have to wait until the production ends this saturday.)
Brigadoon - A 1 wk. musical with Blue Hill Troupe that I'm doing at the end of the month

Current Regular activities include:
Sound Shore Chorale
St. Thomas Orchestra
Teaching
Practicing
Writing 1 tune a week (2 completed so far)

Alright ... that's just a slice of the pie so far, but all I'm gonna write for this moment.

Music is 90% Mental & 10% Physical

2009-08-24T22:40:00.003-04:00

Or another way of saying the title is that there are two types of technique - mental & physical. The physical side of practicing could basically be compared to weight-lifting - you need a certain minimum physical strength & dexterity in order to to play the instrument - things like finger independence, finger speed, being able to produce a loud sound, proper posture. Those things are incredibly important. The rest is mental. One must first have a concept of what they want something to sound like (whether you do that through visual, textural, aural adjectives/metaphors, doesn't matter - you just have to have some goal) & then the rest of practice becomes about 2 things: trying to create that sound & trying to find the least demanding (most-tension free) way of consistently doing it.

That revelation/realization seems incredibly significant and fundamental to me at this point and addresses progression on any instrument. You can do all the technique in the world, but it has to have a purpose.

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of musicians tend to discount other musicians who can play very fast ... I think this is pointless - it is simply one aspect of technique (and an important one)

On another note, a musician friend recently pointed out to me that English has very little adjectives to describe sound, and consequently, we use a lot of visual imagery - I thought that was an interesting point.

I'd write more, but I think that hits the heart of it, and I'm not feeling so well at the moment...

Recent Happenings

2009-08-22T22:26:00.002-04:00

So, I still haven't had a chance to type up Post-Summit Reflections or masterclass notes or stuff like that ... hopefully I will ...

A ton has happened since then:

1. I quit Soapbox Army to focus more on classical studies
2. Manhattanville College informed me that I needed to return my cello by the end of the month
3. I managed to get a very nice cello to play on for the next few weeks, courtesy of Bernie Tamosaitis - I may eventually buy this cello, but it would likely be in the distant future
4. I'm doing Copland's Appalachian Spring for 13 instruments on 2 rehearsal (had the first one last night) - it's cool. This gig's in Danbury - quite a drive!
5. I'm going to be doing both an Off-Broadway musical & an Opera - this will be good playing & career-wise & also a good test of my abilities

I played for Bernie earlier - it was very helpful. In general I need to:

-Emphasize notes less
-lighten up w/ my bow strokes
-create the sound w/ the bow & not the left hand
-lighten up before shifting
-think more about style & practice slowly
-practice technique w/ specific intents/make exercises out of things
-analyze for excess tension & find the easiest ways to play things

I got to play on a couple of different cellos of his - it was very cool to see how they all respond differently & have different characters - he seems to know a good deal about the worksmanship and history of them, which is great, because I don't really know much of that.

Anyway, so I got some really great advice & experience from it, and I have this church gig in the morning that involves improv'ing over really simple chord changes

I'm thinking of starting a set of "How to Improvise" vids. on youtube - I think it would be helpful for folks who are interested & might help a little in getting my name out as a teacher - I need to send flyers/resumes out to school teachers soon ...

Anyway, sleepytime ...

Performance

2009-08-12T14:31:00.002-04:00

Played the Brahms Trio earlier ... it went ok ... it had good moments & not good moments ... the concert was poorly scheduled (15 minutes after orchestra), so I didn't get a chance to run to the bathroom or eat or do any of my usual pre-stage rituals/routines ... so all in all, it went ok ...

Just, I'm really sick of performing pieces in a half-assed kind of way ... Nothing I've played on any performance has really been up to standard & I've never really been in control of it & fully making music out of all of it ... this needs to change ... from now on, I need to really have a piece down long before I'm going to perform it & be more than comfortable with it. The main thing that needs to happen is that my learning curve & planning need to be steeper in the early stages of work .. and I need more time of course.

Orchestra later ... gonna be lazy for a bit ...

More differences

2009-08-12T01:04:00.003-04:00

Soloists always have an incredibly thorough definition of the piece they are playing, both in terms of musical structure & in terms of the technical means to realize that interpretation.

They also have a holistic awareness of the composer's life, cello, theory (well, not always), the score, history & everything else. They have thought deeply about these things and have applied them to the piece.

-----

Today I noticed:

1. I am often not breathing during my chamber piece.
2. I was not using my shoulder blades in my bowing, which meant I wasn't making circles w/ my shoulders or opening them up.
3. I'm often not holding the string all the way down with my left hand ...

These were all useful realizations.

-----

In other news, I got to see Alma play twice today ...

First, in a masterclass ... As if the fact that she plays incredibly well weren't enough, she also picks things up incredibly fast ... I forget what she was playing at this point ... I think maybe some Liszt thing ...

Second, in the chamber concert as part of the Trout Quintet. ... Um, Wow!! First of all, it was so great to see that piece live & performed by other students. They all did an amazing job .... Alma in particular had the whole score memorized & did an incredible job of playing what is essentially always a 2 voice part (it's practically written as if it's two instruments really). There was this perfect clarity between the voices, and you could always hear them both.

Her playing is really inspiring & I can't wait till I've developed my mind and technique to a point where it's that focused ...

I'm getting a lot more analytical about practicing in general, and have decided that I'm going to devote the first half hour of my practice every day to basic fundamental & kinesthetic work & making sure that all of that is really-well set & reinforce ... so the first hour will be a bit of an exploration really ...

I've improved so much in the really short time since my lesson yesterday, and it's really encouraging (but also makes me want to practice more, so I can improve more!)

I need to go to sleep now ... two concerts tomorrow!

Edit: We had a bit of a Jam session afterwards, though it turned into a read Jazz Charts session after a bit, which is much less fun ... Sytske knows all sorts of cool fiddle stuff ... I really need to catch up on that!

Also, there were some other really cool pieces at the concert & lots of other stuff/people I want to write about ... I'll probably spend all my free time thursday practicing & writing up all the things I didn't have time for ...

So about that classical stuff

2009-08-10T01:38:00.002-04:00

I realized that there are two pretty significant difference between really amazing players/soloists & the rest of us:

1. Volume/Tone - The really great players have a tremendously large sound
2. Clarity - The really great players have incredibly clear technique & musical expression ... every note is connected to the others & does specifically what they want.

I've noticed the two are related ... if you play with a really big sound, you build more muscles & everything becomes clearer ... and that's the final missing piece between where I was before & where I am now ... well that plus the constant immersion in music & analysis, which I'm really getting back into.

The other thing I realized is that every practice sessions needs to be a really intense lesson (self-taught), where I'm giving myself constant criticism/instructions on how to do better ... words like ... basically taking a really intense lesson/coaching & making myself the coach & holding myself to the highest standard. I've been progressing a lot, but I'm still so far behind, so I need to push even harder ... I'm really looking forward to being done w/ Summit so I can really focus on the things I need to & dive in to some analysis, while doing 3 hours of technique every day.

I've also realized that I know a whole total of zero concertos (well, I've actually learned 1 - the Vivaldi Double Concerto, but I can't just whip that out) ... So, my next piece goal once summit is over is to learn the whole Haydn C really well & then to move on to something else ... all the while, I'll be really working on technique, and improving on that end, so I'll actually play something well instead of mediocre for once.

This last realization was prompted by the concerto competition, which was really inspiring to watch, because it really hit me over the head with how much basic stuff I haven't done yet.

My goal for next year (assuming I do Summit) is to have learned at least 1 concerto very well (so I can enter the competition) & to be at a point technically where the orchestra music is not beyond me at the beginning. I'm still struggling to play all the notes/play it really well ... though nowhere near as much as last year.

I also realized that I need to do a technical analysis of pieces from now on & make sure my technical development matches what I need to know in order to play the piece.

I've designed a technique routine, which I'm tweaking a little bit right now ... After Summit, I'll write it up.

Sleep time now...

Dream Theater & Zappa Plays Zappa

2009-08-10T01:20:00.003-04:00

I just got back from an absolutely amazing concert (so refreshing!)

I missed the first two bands of Progressive Nation 09, but did get to see Zappa Plays Zappa & Dream Theater ... Zappa was beyond incredible ... first of all, there was this girl in the band playing Flute, Saxes, Keys & Singing ... A Drummer, A percussionist, Dweedle (sp?) & another guitar & bassist. Second, the giant variety of musical styles within their music is all kinds of awesome ... It really blew me away .. I can't believe how much I've been missing not having listened to them.

Dream Theater was great ... they've improved tremendously as a live band since I last saw them ... full of energy & doing a lot of great musical things w/ a well put together set-list & great transitions ... lots of jamming this time. They're so inspirational technically, but also as composers because of what they do w/ form/orchestration ... so amazing to watch & listen to.

I'm really glad to have gone to that concert, though I wish I had gotten to see Scale the Summit & BigElf ... oh well, I did get a Porcupine Tree sticker for my cello case! It's yet another affirmation for me of how much better progressive rock & heavy metal are than classical. I say better because there is more in them and they are so much more interesting & developed & have so much more sounds. And in terms of presentation there is so much more to experience at a concert ... it's a multi-media thing that really encompasses so many different areas, where as classical is this really narrow kind of setting, and while it's really expressive within its area ... we're still talking about a small area. Also, classical music was groundbreaking & transforming 200 years ago ... we've moved so far forward since then.

That being said, I'm planning to do some hardcore analysis/score reading of both Dream Theater & Classical stuff (starting w/ Bach/Mozart/Beethoven piano stuff).

There's some more I want to write, but now is not the time...

Summit 8/8

2009-08-08T00:33:00.003-04:00

Sometimes you just need a break ...

and so I took one ... yesterday, after the concert I didn't practice & hung out w/ Alma instead ... it was incredibly relaxing/a much needed break. We talked about a ton of different things, including practicing & our conversation made me think of Jordan Rudess (because she was talking about the warmups she does & that they're partially intended to develop finger strength/independence & how much of a difference it's made in her playing), which made me think of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgZhiYff7nM - some amazing music!!

Today I didn't practice quite as much as I ought to have (only 3 hrs. instead of 5) ... so I'm gonna have to make up for it tomorrow & do 6, because I *really* need to shed both my orchestra pieces and my chamber stuff ...

What I did do however, was come up with a 3 hour technical routine that I'm planning on starting very soon & on doing every day once I get out of Summit ... unfortunately, I also left it in the car & so I can't write about it now (I can't wait till I have internet at home again!)

Otherwise, I went w/ Eric into White Plains & then picked up Michael Klotz - the viola teacher. I managed to watch part of Berlinsky's masterclass & part of Michael's ... missed Bong-Shin Ko's, which was unfortunate, because I would have really liked to have heard some of the pieces ... I'm sure I'll get to at Matt Haimovitz's classes though (he's doing two this year!!!)

I thankfully didn't have chamber today (I needed a break from it) & missed most of the 6 pm concert ... I did watch the 8PM though (which was originally supposed to be Aaron Rosand, but became a Student Gala instead!) ... There was a really amazing performance of Ravel's Tzigane on it (what a freakin' cool piece!) .. also, Elliot Mallard played Elgar mov. 1, and though we have an incredibly different idea of the piece, it's great to watch the way he plays ...

Speaking of cool performances, last night's performance by Dmitry Berlinsky was absolutely incredible ... it's been the first concert that really 100% grabbed me ... and you could really feel the energy in the room ... can't wait for Matt Haimovitz

After the concert, I watched Rita, Maria & Alma try the piano that they're going to play the concerto competition on (I really hope I can have a whole concerto together by next year ... I doubt it though ... I absolutely will have the first movement of the Elgar together in really amazing shape though ... that's a promise to myself ... I want to perform that and make some amazing music out of it) ... that was a nice treat ...

I got a very interesting point out of talking w/ Eric earlier ... he mentioned that when he performs he looks at something else, but thinks about what he needs to do on cello in his head & so I tried out doing that (because I'm trying to fix my problem where I keep looking down at my cello) & it was so incredibly helpful ...

My lesson w/ David went well yesterday ... I played for Jeff Solow's masterclass the day before (not well) & so we talked about some of what Jeff brought up, and some postural/set up issues (which I think I'm getting the hang of, but really want to ask him about again in our last lesson. This way, I'll be able to work on them on my own a little bit).

I also ended up talking w/ Jeff for about an hour or so after the concert this night ... it was great ... I haven't done enough of that this year ... I think If I do Summit next year, I'm going to go to less of the concerts or masterclasses, because I still need to practice more, but I also need time to be a human being & I realized that there's only so much one can actually get from listening to masterclasses.

I'm tired of the pressure of all the different musical things I have to do ... I kinda just want a break, so it will be nice when summit will be over, because instead of trying to split my practicing between too many things I can concentrate on doing a few things really solidly

I am also 100% planning on asking Mr. O to take regular lessons with him ... I've been wanting to for so long & lately I'm feeling more and more lost with cello and how to practice and what to do & just so overwhelmed and general, and I feel like he'd be the right teacher to really solve that. There's a certain instinct in his teaching & playing that I just so naturally trust & that seems to work, and having started the instrument under him, he has a really good understanding of my background & me as a person & I think we work well together.

Working on Bach has been really frustrating on a very good way (I'm really finding all my flaws) ... I wish I had time to write more in general ... lots of stuff I'd like to write about ... I need to get home and go to sleep now...

Summit 8/6

2009-08-06T00:13:00.003-04:00

Today, I had Orchestra (like every other day), which I was actually doing pretty well in (minus the parts that are too fast for me to play at this moment) ... but in terms of watching/counting/making corrections and making some kind of music, I'm doing a decent job
... could be better of course ... and it will be once I have the music more under my fingers... now if only I could find more time so I could practice it...

Richard Clark has emphasized a few times that playing in Orchestra is like a big chamber ensemble ... I couldn't agree more.

So anyway, after orchestra I practiced for 3 hours & then played in Jeff Solow's masterclass, which was incredibly helpful & educational. One of the highlights of it was getting to watch Elliot Mallard play ... he has the most fluid left hand technique I've ever seen from a student cellist ... it's pretty incredible

In my case, Jeff suggested the following:
-Pick up the Tempo
-Start firmly ... the D F A triad starts on D, not a...
-Re-examine my fingerings to eliminate undesired transportational slides
-Slant my forearm back (is this called pronating)?? He used different words for it, but basically what he pointed out to me was that I was always balancing on my fourth finger, because of the way I rotate my hand forward. He also mentioned that I wanted a slightly concave wrist. So far, I have found this suggestion incredibly helpful ... also alarming, b/c I've been teaching people the exact opposite (yikes!)

In general, I was hungry/nervous during my performance, and my bow arm got very stiff ... I have to find ways to loosen it up & I have to find ways to counter-balance nerves/focus on telling a story before starting/being in the zone/meditative state. I also need to stop looking down when I play ... practicing w/ my eyes closed helps a bit, but it doesn't really ... I just need to practice looking elsewhere (and remember Steven Isserlis' masterclass w/ the Dvorak).

Then I had Brahms rehearsal (which I have 3 of tomorrow ...) & then I needed about 2 hours of me time to chill out & de-stress and eat & not be depressed (was dissatisfied from my performance at the masterclass)

Then there was the 8:00 concert ... many kinds of cool ...

Beethoven Violin Sonata
Brahms F Major - Bong-Shin Ko was the cellist
Schumann Fantasiestucke on violin (this sounds so much cooler on cello!)
Mozart Clarinet Quintet (which played 2 tunes orchestrated by Benny Goodman afterwards)

Then I practiced another 2 hours (making a total of 5) ... now it's time for sleep...

Summit Days x-y - the super condensed version!

2009-08-05T00:16:00.005-04:00

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...

Summit Day 5-7

2009-07-31T00:31:00.002-04:00

Ok,

Hopefully I'll be able to remember most of this ... I haven't had any time to get on a computer lately ... I've been trying to really practice (and also trying to beat out Alma who so far seems to be practicing more than me ... I've been getting about 3 hrs. a day ... today I got 3.5

So here's a recap:

Tuesday (Day 5):
Tuesday I practiced all morning (3 hrs), then there was the Adam Kent Masterclass, which was disappointingly less interesting than his lecture, but still fairly cool. Can't say I remember much about it at this point ...

Then later there was the Young Artists concert, which featured a former Summit participant named Kristin Stephenson. She was a Juilliard graduate & seemed like a cool person. I enjoyed her performance & I probably should have chatted w/ her a bit & asked her what she thought of being a classical pianist & how it compared to her epxpectations & other stuff ... I was a bit out of it at the time or something.

In the evening was Suren Bagratuni & Max Mainolfi's concert ... this was all kinds of cool ... Suren is an amazing cellist & has the left hand technique I want to develop (which is so exciting ... there's so few cellists I see who really bring that out for me) ... Mr. O is another who has that ... I funortunately don't have the program on me & can't remember what he played at this point, but it was amazing. Apparently he studied w/ Danilli Schafran a lot, which was interesting, given how much Steven Isserlis idolizes Schafran ... cool little connection. This concert was particularly important for me for two reasons. First, because I was reminded that you are in fact allowed to lift your thumb off the neck & that it is sometimes beneficial. Two, because it reminded me of how important it is to use the fleshy part of your fingertipe to really get a good tone & nice, wide vibrato - this is the way I used to play back when I was really practicing in high school & I've started incorporating it into my slow scales & it's made a huge difference.

Wednesday (Day 6):
Busy day!

I only managed to get in 2 hrs. of practice, b/c I had rehearsal & then my performance for the 3rd movement of the Beethoven Op. 11 ... I played pretty horribly, b/c I wasn't feeling well that day, which really sucks, because I generally have this abundant self-confidence & sense of fun about performance, and instead I was depressed... I just kinda needed another day or at least a few hours with the piece too ... At one point I looked up & noticed David Krieger was there, which was cool, but also makes me nervous ... that's good though. If I had been playing better, I wouldn't have been nervous ... on the other hand, by the end of this festival, I'll be in such good shape that I could play that piece really well. My playing has already improved a lot, though I've been really pushing myself too. It also clicked in my head that I practice scales w/ slurs too much & not enough w/ separate bows - this is part of why my bowing technique isn't good.

Then there was the Rosand masterclass & the Tcheckmazov masterclass ... given that I'm not really crazy about Aaron Rosand, I decided to go to the cello masterclass ... the only reason I stayed was because I actually wanted to hear everybody who was playing ... Cyntia played Bach 3, Inna's other student played the Breval sonata & the little kid w/ the orange case played Haydn C. I really did not like his teaching ... he taught almost solely by rote & dictated interpretation. Those are two things that really bother me, because they are not giving the student the tools they need to progress on their own. I'm ok w/ guiding interpretation & sharing information & asking pointed questions, but not telling people how to play - that's their decision. The only useful things I got out of the class were that I finally understand what the hell people are talking about with Figure 8 bowing (it is also the way David Krieger explained it to me, though he didn't use that term), and he mentioned using weight w/ the first finger on the bow & that was just a good reminder. One thing that was interesting was when Checkamazov played something on Cyntia's cello ... the difference in sound was incredible ... it's amazing how much difference an instrument can make ... I wonder how much better I might sound if I had a better instrument... (not that I'm complaining about the one I have) ... speaking of which, Bernie mentioned letting me try a Carbon Fibre cello that someone gave him ... can't wait to do that once Summit's over.

Then, there was the Student Gala concert, which I had heard most of the pieces on from attending the masterclasses ... though the last girl (and one of the youngest) was absolutely incredible. Not only did she play her piece flawlessly, but she was practically dancing on stage while doing it & really looked like she was having fun to a level that we generally don't while doing classical music. It really made me smile.

The 8:00 concert was 1/2 a Russian Pianist (who clearly used to be really amazing, but has very unfortunately hit a point where her age is interfering with her playing ... she was still pretty damn good though & I thought she had a great sense of dynamics & volume & managed to do a lot w/ loudness in a way that most people can't). The other half was a Brahms Trio w/ Adam Kent, Jeff Solo & Elena Peres ... according to Adam it was the first & last trio he wrote (Brahms revised it) & was all kinds of cool ... I've heard it somewhere before & I'd love to play it someday.

Thursday (Day 7)
Today was busy & fun!

I got in 3.5 hrs of practice (a half hour short of what I was shooting for ... I forgot my rock stop & my bloody cello kept slipping, so I gave up at the end...). I got to practicing later than I wanted, because I had to pick up strings for Anna, but that's alright... So I practiced, then helped w/ check-in, which involved hanging out w/ Alma, Maria, Alessandra & Jessica & showing folks to their room as they showed up ... it was great getting so see some folks from previous years ... it was particularly interesting to see Drew (chamber partner from the first year I did Summit) ... he seems to have grown up a bit, which is good. Also, it was really interesting to see Elliot ... he lost a *lot* of weight & seems generally very happy and all. He's studying w/ David Soyer at Juilliard atm...

I skipped orientation to practice a bit, then had dinner, then went to the concert, which I was somewhat surprisingly disappointed by. Nathaniel Rosen was the performer & the entire first half seemed very off - like he wasn't in control or like he wasn't warmed up or something of that sort. It got better as he went ... also, the Hindemith concerto is kind of an iffy piece for me. The second half, he played Bach 4 (which I was not thrilled about ... it's hard to watch people play bach though ... it's so individual, but he really just made a very bizarre way through it - from my perspective). Then he played this really cool Granados piece (is there any uncool Granados piece? That name makes me want to go watch that Jackie documentary). He also did the Fire Dance for an encore ... that was cool too.

Afterwards, I trained Amery to do the lights (and am hoping to get a 3rd person) & that's the story for now. I've gotten over most of the social anxiety/insecurity I was feeling in the first few days & seem to be fitting in generally pretty well & practicing a good amt. & Summit's been very therapeutic in terms of giving me reasons to smile & giving me the chance to talk with a lot of new folks about my schooling and where I am in life now & all that ... I need to find more folks I feel generally comfortable talking to ... Jenny Wu was great for that (particularly, b/c she was 30 and had a PhD, so was very mature) ... it's too bad she's not here for the rest of the festival ...

Anyway, sleep time ... have to be up in less than 7 hours for orchestra (which I'm excited for!)

Summit Day 4

2009-07-28T00:22:00.002-04:00

A busy & productive day!

I was pretty energetic early in the day (thankfully!)

Had practice w/ Jenny, then coaching w/ Flora ... David couldn't make it ... but we got the part between us pretty squared away.

Afterwards, we went to lunch & then to the cello masterclass, which was all kinds of cool. The teacher was this amazing cellist from Armenia (though I think he lives in detroit now or something). Leonard played Bach 3, Cyntia played Saint-Saens & the other girl played Bach 3. It was a real treat getting to watch Cyntia, because even though her piece has a long way to go, she's made a huge improvement since last year in her playing, which is great!

After that, I got in a small amount of practice, and then there was the Composer's Roundtable. A fairly interesting, but poorly attended event (it was competing with dinner unfortunately). For me the most interesting parts were hearing the polytones (is that the name for it) in Geoff. Kidde's piece (this technique was originally invented by Robert Dick), and hearing the difference in the 2 orchestrations of Mary-Anne Joyce's piece (which I got to keep a copy of). She described her music as a film score without a film & it was really cool, because I had that exact same thought as I was listening to it. These people are my former teachers as well, so it was great to get to talk with them before & after. Binette Liper presented as well & then there was a Q&A afterwards. I tried to ask questions that I thought would be interesting for folks/that would stimulate discussion ... tricky considering the lack of people though. Another interesting point was Geoff. Kidde's point about modern music. He said that he would tell people to let go of their expectations & just try listening to the sounds. It's weird for me, because I actually get a lot of modern classical music ... it just makes sense to me (which doesn't mean I like it all) ... maybe it's because I started so late, so I didn't get trapped in the Common Practice/Romantic sound-world. Maybe not. This event plus the original music from last night has motivated me to compose another solo cello piece soon ... I'm looking forward to it whenever it's ready to come out!

After that, I decided to skip dinner (because I was still full from lunch & had food in my backpack) & got in a little bit of practicing before Adam Kent's concert lecture. I think the concert lecture format - particularly the way he does it - is probably the best way to present classical music. or at least talking about the piece prior to playing it. It really gets you into it & gives you the opportunity to see things you never saw before, even on a first listen. I was really shocked when an older audience member started talking about the harmony in her comments - I just do not listen that well on a first listen in live music. Though part of the reason for this is because I often listen emotionally as opposed to intellectually to live music (though I suppose it's possible to do both). His lecture was all kinds of cool: combining history with musical storyline & theoretical analysis. Reminds me a lot of Steven Isserlis, though Isserlis is more charismatic & compelling for me (probably because he's British!).

In practicing, I improved a lot, but during Adam Kent's lecture, I had a bit of a breakthrough - I finally found a meaning of my own for the second prelude. This was because somebody asked about the balance between emotions & interpretation, and also because he was talking about Schubert's "My Dream" story & about his sense of isolation. One of the things I go through whenever I do Summit (and in general, whenever I'm in a new environment) is social pressure/a sense of isolation from others. I take a bit to feel comfortable & like I belong within a group - particularly when part of what determines your status within these groups is how musically skilled you are .. I'm definitely on the lower end of that. But I realized the 2nd prelude could be summed up in the word "Longing" for me ... and particularly the VNV Nation lyric "my restless soul is longing" from the song Beloved came to mind. I read through the rest of the suite ... the Prelude & Allemande are in decent shape & any of the others are do-able (in terms of preparing for a masterclass). Haven't decided which third movement I'm gonna pick, but I'm thinking of the Gigue. The courante or Sarabande might be better, because I need more help with them ... not sure.

The other big breakthrough I've been having with my playing is in regards to bow distribution & precision & technique. I've been improving worlds on that. I also started practicing the Bb major scale instead of my recent usual C# Phrygian). This has the advantage that in order to do 3 octaves, I have to go all the way up the fingerboard. Also, it matches the pieces I'm playing. On top of that, I did some shifting exercises & worked on holding the bow out for 15 counts at 1/4=40.

That's where I'm at right now ... If I can find the time at any point, I'm gonna type up masterclass notes, but as of right now, I don't have it ... I might have to type them all up after the festival.

Summit Day 3

2009-07-27T00:01:00.002-04:00

Today was its own kind of hard ... but a very good day!

I woke up feeling absolutely awful ... like another 3 hours of sleep were necessary (basically I woke up the way I went to sleep). That continued for about the first 4 hrs. of the day ... finally, after I ate lunch & chilled out for a bit, things got a bit better.

Today, I didn't have my metronome or my laptop, which meant I couldn't practice the way I usually do. It turned out to be a blessing! I worked on double stops & on the Beethoven Op. 11 (clarinet trio). .. When one practices with a metronome, it's very easy to listen to the metronome & not to what you're actually playing. Working on the Beethoven, the progress I made today was great. I did a lot of very focused work & while there are some spots that I will need the metronome to work on, I really worked on playing it well, and am currently playing it a lot better than I could at my recital (though still not well enough). I also noticed there are some spots I'm not breathing in! I think my biggest progress with practicing was my bow distribution. I've been practicing in the dance studio, which is a room of mirrors & a wood floor basically ... many kinds of helpful. My goal is for it to sound incredible consistently. Then I can let go and enjoy it & make music out of it. My biggest problem right now tends to be fast staccato passages and shifting into intermediate positions ... also, self-confidence ... but I'm working on that.

After lunch, I watched the first 2 students of Irina's masterclass. She's a good teacher. They were younger students & I was really surprised at how well the first one played considering she hadn't done much in the way of technical work ... Irina went through. It was really great for me to see the two kids play (well, one was 17 & the other was much younger). In many ways, I'm much closer to them (technically) than people my age. As Irina was relating her experiences and stories about the Moscow Conservatory & Jascha Heifetz, I came to a realization. 1 hour a day is not enough to work on technique. I need 2 at minimum. Here's what I think I need to work on:

(A half hour to each topic)
Slow Scales (Standard & Ladder) 6/4 at 1/4=40
Fast scales - 4/4 at 184
Sevcik/1 Finger Scales
Galamian

That's what I feel should be my bare minimum. I may have to make that 3 hours so I can start including etudes. This is a big general problem I'm having right now ... I am not finding enough time to practice every day, but this stuff is all essential & I need to learn it as soon as possible. That's the main difference between me and all these other players - I have the potential to be like them (in terms of skill), but I am not, because I don't have the technical foundation. It is something I can build largely on my own at this point. It just needs the appropriate amount of time put in. I need to make those my gospel basically.

After Irina's masterclass, I practiced some more, started analyzing the Beethoven (which has made things so much clearer) and then had rehearsal - only to find out that David Gale has pink eye & so we had a new violinist, drafted from the masterclass. Possibly David will still play with us. Rehearsal was productive & we've decided to get together as a group tomorrow morning (which is going to multiply the craziness of my tomorrow!). I'm scared/under pressure that this piece is being performed on wednesday at 12. That really gives me 2 days to get it down really well.

After rehearsal was dinner, and then a little bit of time before the concert. Prior to the concert, David Krieger asked me if I wanted to play in one of the masterclasses. We talked about what I could play & came up with Bach 2 or 4. I could do either, but after playing them on my own, I've decided I'm going to do a few movements of Bach 2, because it is actually within my technical reach. This means I'm going to have to find an additional hour to practice (I did 3 today) somehow. It also means I need to dig up my barenreiter & get another movement or two really solid (which should not be a problem). I want to play for Andrey Tchekamazov, but I'm not sure if I'll be ready by then ... we'll see.

The concert was all kinds of amazing ... particularly Andrey Tchekamozov's pieces ... one was distinctly American, and the other was a modern solo cello piece (I don't think there is anything more powerful for me in music). I think I was one of the only people who was really into it ... others didn't like it or found it hard to stay isterested... I'm forgetting the pianist's name, but he played his own (really long multi-movement) piece & then a Liszt piece. His piece & playing had a style very similar to Liszt - it was very cool. I'd write more, but don't have the program in front of me & also need to get sleep ...

I'll try to type up Irina's Masterclass notes in the morning... but maybe I should try to practice instead ...

Summit Day 2

2009-07-26T08:49:00.002-04:00

So day 2 was also an adventure - a less stressful one!

I got there a bit early to get some practicing in & got in about an hour ... I need to buy a 9v battery so I don't need to use my laptop (though if I leave that home, then I need to write out my practice log ... ). Then I had to pickup Irina & this time her son Pasha came along (he was doing the slide show for her concert. I then also managed to get him to do the sound effects too, which effectively minimized my part, putting me back on the lights (which was enough work in itself!). Anyway, by the time we all got over there & working on stuff, we had probably about an hour to an hour and a half before Vladamir Viardo's masterclass started. So we did what we could, but had to come back later (both to rehearse the circus piece with sound effects & to get the projector working properly - a matter of getting the display settings right on Vista & hacking around with those plus realizing that we could shift the image on the screen via a little shift knob on the podium). Initially we couldn't get the projector to work, but that was because some genius had unplugged it (and left all the other connectors plugged in - so I didn't realize it was unplugged).

So after that frantic technical rehearsal, I stayed to watch the first student for Viardo's masterclass ... what an amazing teacher! I really wish I had thought to bring paper to write on, b/c those would have been great masterclass notes. I largely agreed with his philosophies & viewpoints. He commented that the girl was very involved with her playing & that that was rare & that she needed to hold onto it. He also told her to try to use arm weight instead of pushing (it's amazing how many principles of instrumental playing are the same regardless of instrument). Then he started talking philosophy of music - Questions like why do we play? Whether the written piece is finished or not (he considers it to not be finished & I agree). He also talked about the Mozartians or Chopinists or w/e (the people who insist they knew the right way to play these composers). He dropped the infamous "if there's any chance you can not play piano, please don't" line. Wish I could remember more specifically what else he talked about ... I do remember him stressing that one had to go through the score & find the melody and learn the melody first (he compared this to speaking - you have to know what you're going to say). He also then brought up improvising within the melody & asking if it's a monologue or dialogue. Similar to Steven Isserlis, he talked about needing to be a detective & decoding the music (it's a message throughout the centuries).

After that, I had to leave to practice & went over to Pius to work on Brahms & Beethoven (both of which need some serious work!). At this point, I made up my mind that I wanted to drop the Beethoven Op. 72 in the second 2 weeks (I had been given the option by Flora Kuan, my chamber coach, because I was already doing 2 other pieces). Despite the fact that I had performed the Beethoven previously, there's much work (musical and technical to be done). After that, I had rehearsal for that piece w/ Jenny Wu & David Gale. It was great to play with David. He graduated MSM, is 22 & is studying with Aaron Rosand. He sight-read that piece better than I played it (embarassing, but also a good push). I realized the main difference between where I was and where he was is that I sometimes hit the notes, where as he always hits the notes (there are some other pretty substantial differences, but that's the biggest). My bowing is also in need of a lot more attention (mostly in the area of planning & bow distribution) & I realized that I really have to focus on releasing my weight a lot more.

I almost forgot one of the most important stories. I met this incredibly cool girl from Texas (I think her name might have been Anna?). She's been playing for 3 yearsa & this is her first year doing the festival (like me when I started). She just finished 2 year college & is gonna get an undergrad degree in music. She's a pianist if I remember correctly, but I'm fuzzy on that. Anyway, I talked w/ her & she was cool. I can't wait to start meeting more folks, because that's one of the most fun things about doing this festival.

Now for Day 3 ...

Summit 09 Day 1

2009-07-24T23:09:00.002-04:00

Day 1 was pretty fun, but also really hectic and exhausting ...

It actually all started last night when after working from 5-4 I had to come in to Summit to work on some stuff for one of the concerts that is utilizing a powerpoint & sound effects.

So of course, I walked into a nightmare: The projector wasn't working (I tried two laptops), the lightboard wasn't working, etc., etc. Did my best, didn't get it fixed.

So this morning I go to radio shack to get a DVI to VGA Adaptor ... they of course don't have it, meaning I have to waste time/money & go to the Apple store, who did have it (considering they're probably the only company whose laptops have this problem!). So then I get to Summit & help w/ check-in a little bit & then Brandon comes over to help me out w/ the theater & discovers basically what I discovered. We called Mike Loundsberry - the only faculty member who actually knows how this stuff works & the two of us spent the next hour or two working to get it solved ... only to finally discover that a router wasn't working. (which is an example of really poor setup, b/c the board should have just had a DMX cable running to the Dimmers & that would be that). We had even tried rebooting the Dimmers at one point ... even he thinks that place & setup is a complete mess!

So prior to this, I had been working on the projector w/ Brandon interrupting the poor (and very amazing) pianist who was practicing there & I did manage to get the key from him for the projector screen & finally got someone over from media services & we discovered that the input & output on the device that routes the projector wasn't correct & that was fixed finally.

In between all that, I was showing people to their rooms & managed to miss my rehearsal (oi), but it all worked out cool in the end ...

After all that however, I then had to design a light cue for general concert use & managed to figure out how to use the submasters (after discovering that all my previous cues were as good as useless, because people wrote over them!). So now I have a general cue (that may still need some minor modification due to heat) & groups of lights related to the map, which works great for me!

Of course, then I show up before the concert & realize that with 2 pianos there is some *serious* glare off of the lid pointed towards the audience ... I got 2 of the lights off, but one I just could not find with an audience there ... turned out ok though & I found it afterwards (when I could turn all the lights off).

All in all, it was incredibly long ... I met a few people including Jenny Wu, who was surprisingly 30 & is a PhD in biology & I now have Jeong-Bo doing lights w/ me ... hopefully Andy actually is coming back ... wish I could have met more folks, but the lights sucked up all my time ... I'm sure I'll meet them throughout the week.

I think that's it for the day 1 adventures ... tomorrow I'll actually get to practice!

I now have to trigger sound effects (aka perform) on a faculty piece tomorrow & get 1 rehearsal to do this in (can we say nerve-racking??) ... can't wait till that's over ... though very interested to hear the whole thing ... let's see what day 2 has in store ...

Breakthrough!

2009-06-29T20:26:00.002-04:00

I'm not even done practice for the day, but I had a really important breakthrough today. I finally realized what's been missing from my playing that I used to have in high school. I used to push the string all the way down & I used to practice as loud as I could. This is also why I had really good callouses in high school (which I've never had since). Also, exercising outside of cello makes the biggest positive difference in the world!

I also recently found this great list on Irene Sharp's website: http://www.irenesharp.com/scales/think.html

I've been really pushing my technique the last few days, and my intonation is getting a lot better/closer to where it was. This bit about fully pressing the string down makes a huge difference in clarity of the pitch & tone & all that.

I also realized that all my bow strokes/changes need to be deliberate, and that this makes a huge difference in tone quality.

I also started doing "long tones" ... right now I can hold the bow consistently for 10 seconds ... my goal is to get up to 15 soon & then keep going up ... I've heard there are people who can hold it out for 45s to a minute ... wow!

Finally, I started doing the Galamian exercises again, and they are coming along much better keeping all of the above things I mentioned in mind ... right now, I'm doing the triplets at 120 in G maj. & am almost very solid on that (that 3rd 8v gets a little iffy, but I should have it by the end of the week!)

That's all for now.

I need someone to push me

2009-06-26T00:36:00.002-04:00

Band practice tonight was a good kick in the ass (a little bit for all of us, but particularly for me) ... my tone has really improved lately, and my ease of motion & vibrato, but my intonation and bow control are pretty horrible right now & my intonation was getting to be spot on for a bit ... anyway, I didn't do as well in band practice as I felt I needed to, and it was a good kick in the ass, and it occurred to me that I really need someone to be tough on me right now & I really need to be tough on myself - In 2 ways.

First of all, I need to practice more every day. This has been really hard because I've been driving taxis & doing a lot of rehearsals/shows, so I'm generally not getting enough sleep & also having about 3 hours between work & getting on the train to go to the city. The solution is simply that I need to pull out my internet & get off the computer until I've practiced for the day & if that means I don't get to use it that day or I don't get to use it until 12:30 at night, then I need to do that.

Second, I need to practice better ... by this I mean I need to hold myself to a much higher standard of playing - one that involves having perfect intonation & getting everything very precise and controlled. I've been getting there more & more in my playing, but I need to really do it in my practicing too ... I just need to push myself more.

It would be so helpful if I had someone else to push me - a teacher or another musician who actually practiced for 3+ hours a day (why don't I know any of these people/why don't the live near me?) ... I really wish I was taking lessons right now ... I don't have the time or the money (money has been unbelievably scarce lately). The next 2-5 years are so important in terms of the progress I need to make ... I need to do a lot better than I am now ... all it takes is for me to stop being lazy about it ...

Besides that, there's been some really cool stuff going on in my life lately including playing in a huge cello ensemble as part of "Make Music NY" ... I wish I had more time to write about it ... I will soon...

Marty Steinberg recommended I take lessons w/ Irene Sharp after the summer ... this sounds like exactly what I need and want to do ... just again, run into the money thing ...

Anyway, tomorrow's my first show w/ Soapbox Army at the Bitter End & I have to work in the morning, so sleep now...

Gig Reviews

2009-06-12T23:15:00.002-04:00

First let me say, I just played a show that was God Awful & it was maybe 50% my fault, because I didn't know the tunes/chord progressions & didn't play from charts. That was dumb and irresponsible, and there is no excusse for it, and I am absolutely *never* going to do that again. It's not right to me, to the audience, or to the other people I'm performing with ...

besides that:

-Gig at the Knitting Factory w/ Lachi went awesome.
-I'm doing 2 gigs w/ December's Fall (holy shit I'm excited)
-Band rehearsal today went really well & we got a good portion of a song written. So far, sounds kinda cool ... definitely needs work, but it's a start. It felt really good to write ... also doesn't have a cello part yet ... but still ... this is really what I'm looking for band-wise ... it's great

Got rehearsal for Jekyll tomorrow (which is being advertised on broadway.com!) and then The Creation & band rehearsal (Soapbox Army)

I don't think I wrote about it here, but I'm officially a full time member of Soapbox and it's fucking awesome so far! ... I'll write more about it another time when I'm not really bummed out about a messed up gig.

It's been a while...

2009-06-07T00:11:00.002-04:00

So, the other day I had a realization. Not only do I have to continue to study classical music ... I want to.

I was working on the Bach 2 Prelude for NRHS PAVE Alumni Show, and I was really working on playing it well by doing things like having structured phrases & consistent intonation and clean playing, in addition to my own personal musical inclinations. Not only was it so satisfying to work on this piece on a higher level, but it also made it clear that if I want to progress as a cellist, it's not enough for me to just work on scales and technique, because that type of work only makes up a portion of the required skills.

The PAVE show was incredibly cool. I got to meet some very awesome musicians and actors who were a couple of years ahead of me and who were apparently impressed with my playing. I played the Bach 2 prelude through the delay on my amp ... forgot part of it as I was playing, but connected things in a way that nobody noticed. Afterwards, we all went out to dinner & I got to sit next to an old (art) teacher of mine who, in addition to having a large impact on my development, is an incredibly interesting and fascinating person. We stayed at the diner until 2am! Talk about fun!

The next day I had rehearsal with Lachi (http://myspace.com/ulachi) for our upcoming gig at the Knitting Factory (um, holy shit, I'm playing at the Knitting Factory! This is beyond cool!). I've got a solo set tomorrow, Jekyll and Hyde in the near future, and Haydn's The Creation, as well as a set w/ Jason Fresta (http://www.myspace.com/jasonfresta). Some more things coming up after that...

I don't think I wrote about A New Brain/Sweeney ... they were both awesome, though made my last days at school much more stressful. For Sweeney, the commute really sucked, but I met some awesome people.

Anyway, here's what actually prompted this post:

Summer Practice Goals:
-30 hrs. a week (this will be achieved successively - 15, 20, 25, 30)
-Ability to play most metallica songs w/ ease
-Proficiency in thumb position
-Being able to play very fast with ease
-Reworking all of the classical pieces I've studied so that they sound good (Bach 1, 2, 4, Haydn C, Elgar mov. 1)
-Getting through as many Dotzauer and Popper Etudes as possible
-To be able to play on the level of conservatory graduates
-Progressing further than I think is possible

That's all for now ... tomorrow determines if I met my 15 hr. goal for this week.

Recently

2009-04-28T01:59:00.002-04:00

1. Quad Jam - my school's outdoor band festival ... played 2 sets & got some really positive feedback. Used delay & flange on my amp & did some very cool stuff w/ it.
2. Recently formed a band w/ my brother & a school friend, named Josh. We're going to start rehearsing in June. May have a bass player joining soon.
3. May be joining a band in Queens in the near future. I will post more about this if/when it actually happens.
4. A New Brain - great, fun musical ... doing a 3 weekend run. This coming weekend is the last weekend.
5. Sweeney Todd - as soon as A New Brain is over, I start rehearsals for Sweeney & then do a 2 weekend run.
6. Just saw The Birthday Massacre (http://www.myspace.com/thebirthdaymassacre) - check em out, they're awesome
7. I might jam with this band (Remedy: http://myspace.com/remedynewyork) over the summer.
8. I just created a myspace for a music project I've got going on, check it out: http://www.myspace.com/PejorativelyYours

Basically, I've really got some stuff that's ready to explode & develop the second I'm out of school ... can't wait!

Weird!

2009-03-27T01:27:00.002-04:00

So I have my recital on Sunday ... I had my dress rehearsal today ... it sucked!

Like seriously, it's great to know the worst that it could come out:

Why did it suck:
1. I'm on the verge of getting sick (thank you to my 9 yr. old student for having a cold 2 wks. in a row!! Ah well, I love my students so much! All of them!)
2. I took a *long* shower last night ... this is bad for callouses ...

And that's what's weird ... my playing went down for the first time in weeks, btwn. my inability to concentrate & all the extra muscle tension that comes w/ getting sick + my missing callouses ... it was all so strange.

Anyway, lesson + rehearsals + practicing means my technique's back up & in good shape ... just got some more note learning and crystallizing to do!

I'll get there & it's gonna be awesome!

Revelation

2009-03-15T02:26:00.002-04:00

I realized something important today ... all of the folks who inspire me musically have the following characteristics:

1. Music is the most important thing in their life
2. Multi-Instrumentalists (or instrument + vox)
3. Extremely driven (creatively or technically)

The main part of the above, that's important, is the multi-instrumental part ... for the last few years, I've always wondered how to describe myself ... I compose, I play cello, keys, guitar & I sing ... so I realized the best way to describe myself is as a multi-instrumentalist who's main instrument is cello.

I really get just as excited and into all the other instruments that I do, and I plan to develop my skills on all of them - for their own sake and because of the synergistic technical effects, as well as the increased musical understanding.

I'd really love to learn some classical piano/guitar once I'm out of school ...

anyway, I should go to sleep now...

A Change of Program & The Future

2009-03-14T18:23:00.003-04:00

Alright, so first off, I've modified my recital program (It's 2 weeks away!)

I've switched out the Schelomo for the Elgar, b/c it's a little bit above both mine & my pianist's head at the moment (and maybe I'd be able to get it done in the next 2 wks, if I tore my hair out, but I couldn't do an amazing job, and I don't want that). I'm still going to be working on it though, because it's really pushed my technique in the last couple of days ...

Now as for the future ... here's my plans for the moment (once school's over)

1. Driving taxis to make money
2. Finding more students & gigs
3. Putting together or joining a rock band (I think I'd rather put one together) & pursuing that professionally
4. Practicing like a devil & playing guitar/keyboard & singing too

I really, truly want to be in a rock band professionally ... it's not the first time I've had this feeling, and I always come back to it ... I really think it's what I'm meant to do ... it's the thing that inspires me the most, it's the music I love, and I really think it's what I need to be putting all of my energy into

And if it doesn't work out professionally, at least it will be fun.

So because that's my goal I need to think about what role things like classical music and taking lessons are going to have in my life. What I've decided is this: they're still going to be there, because I enjoy them & learn a lot from doing them, but they *are not* going to be the forefront of what I'm doing. I really need to focus on writing my own music & learning to play the music that really inspires me & doing completely new, expansive things with cello ... I need to be in the rock world, and that's what I'm going to do ... classical's gonna be my nice little thing I study on the side.

As far as gigs go, I'll obviously do whatever I can get my hands on ... I really want to get my chops up to a point where I can consistently do studio work ... the other thing I'd really like to do is pit work (which I already do a good amount of) ... I really love doing these things.

So that's where I am at the moment. I also really need to concentrate on always increasing my rate of progression ... I'm so dying to get out of school...

Edit:
My classical plans involve learning the rest of the Haydn C really well, and then after that learning the rest of the Elgar really well ... from there, I'll see where I want to go ... but those two are going to take a while.

I'm not doing Summit this summer, but that's more for financial reasons ... I really want to see where I am at the end of summer ... hopefully somewhere good and amazing..

Thanks to everyone who's read this/supported me in the past. Especially, thanks to Emily Wright for all your encouragement & advice.

Fuck!!

2009-02-14T03:10:00.002-05:00

I haven't updated in a really long time for all sorts of reasons ... but basically being busy ...

Anyway. Had the concerto competition earlier ... I lost it (2 contestants, I came in 2nd) ... I was playing the Elgar Concerto (1st mov.) ... something I've been working on for almost a year and a half ... later I was talking with somebody, and basically the following came out: "I hate when I don't reach my full potential in anything ... and in 4 years here, I haven't really ever reached my full potential ... I don't have enough time to practice, and it's a cyclical thing" ...

It's really frustrating & really true ... I'm still not where I should be & that piece wasn't up to the basic level (it was close though) ... I'm still not making mind-blowing progress like I used to & I still don't have real callouses like I used to ... So I've got to change for good. I'm promising myself that on all weekends, I'm going to practice 3 hours every day ... every other day, I've got to practice 2, and wednesday will be my day off (b/c I have orchestra that day anyway, and it's just impossible to practice w/out waking up at about 6:00 AM ... but I need to do more if I'm ever going to make it or amount to anything on cello ...

The End.

PS. I don't mean to say I'm sore about the results of the competition ... I'm not ... I'm just pissed at myself for not being better and not being the best I can yet again... the other person in the competition did a great, amazing job w/ some really awesome pieces (Grieg Piano Concerto & Slow movement from the Pathetique ... can't go wrong w/ that shit!!) ... she deserves it & I'm sure it's gonna be an amazing performance!

Recent Musical Life

2008-11-03T02:04:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted to this blog, or to my Livejournal in forever. In fact, I should be doing my Italian Homework right now ... but this is more interesting ...

Musical Life has been going very well ... To summarize, I'm doing the following:

Ensembles:
Mville MIDI Band
Mville Chorus
St. Thomas Orchestra
Mville Orchestra
Mville Small Jazz Ensemble

I'm also working on:
Bach Suite 4
Schelomo
Beethoven Clarinet Trio
Bacchianas Brasilieras
Elgar Concerto (1st Movement)
Vivaldi Double Concerto

I'm also currently playing in Into the Woods. So my musical plate is quite full! (as it should be!) & I'm beginning to feel like a cellist again (which comes w/ lots of practicing ... 59 hours for the month of October - shooting for *at least* 90 this month).

Most important to recent times though: I'm in a band. We're called the Faceless Quartet. We've had about 6 or 7 rehearsals, and every rehearsals it was just consistently me & this other kid showing up (and other people not showing!) ... on our most recent rehearsal, we brought in this kid on sax/flute & there was some chemistry there for sure ... we started jamming & stuff really came together quite amazingly. It was so unexpected & so much what being in a band should feel like ... I think we've really got something ahead of us & am quite excited to see what we can do... He's the first person I've met in a very long time who's made me want to really practice.

So that's where I'm at right now...
--------------

Some things I've wanted to blog about over the last month:

1. Nacht Mystium/High On Fire/Opeth Concert - quite an awesome concert ... Nacht Mystium was interesting, though they had EQ problems. Their drummer was pretty crazy in the sense that he was playing pretty complicated stuff, but looked very relaxed/in the zone ... it's pretty rare to see a band where the drummer really stands above the rest so much. High On Fire is actually probably the worst band I've seen or heard live (and I don't mean that facetiously!). Their music was incredibly unoriginal, and almost never went beyond power chords and/or barred 4ths w/ a very occasional blues pattern ... absolutely not recommended! Opeth was quite amazing. They played a good variety of songs, and I recognized some of their newer stuff this time around, as well as their older stuff ... it's hard to remember specifically what they played. I also hung out w/ my friend Rebecca through most of this, it was quite cool.

2. Schelomo & Bach 4 have been going fairly well ... I finally feel a little more like I'm working on an advanced level in my playing and in my lessons. I wish I had gotten here sooner, but am very glad to be here. I feel like I could be moving a little bit faster w/ both, but I need to find more practice time in order to do so ... a bit challenging with all these school responsibilities.

3. I apparently wanted to blog about practicing ... probably that I'm practicing a lot better than I have .. I've got things pretty routine & am switching back & forth between a Galamian exercise, a chord exercise I invented, Thumb Position exercises & other exercises I come up with. I wish I had more time for it! Keeping a practice log is incredibly helpful

4. I also saw Apocalyptica (it really has been an incredibly long time since I've blogged!). They were pretty good/fun/interesting to see. I feel they could get louder earlier in their set, and I also feel that they could benefit from more tonal variety in their music. I also feel they could push the crowd more. Despite this, I still think they're quite good (especially to play all that they play standing up!)

5. I also saw Nightwish ... or well, I saw Sonata Arctica for free ... Nightwish cancelled due to singer sickness :( (Though I just found out they're coming back in May - can't wait!!). Sonata was very interesting ... I'm not sure I liked their music, but their performance was quite amazing ... they're something about older bands ... they've got something a lot of newer bands don't...

6. One thing that came up during lessons (in relation to bowing) is to imagine that there's a line between my elbow & 1st finger & to always be aware of that. There in fact is at least 1 line between my elbow and each of my fingers - they are called tendons ... it was very helpful to think of that connection!

7. I've started practicing scales for tone and playing as loudly as I can (without really forcing) again ... quite helpful.

8. We had our first cello class at Manhattanville a few weeks ago ... it was on positions. I'll try and upload things when I get a chance - it was so cool, even though there were only 2 of us! Our next one is going to involve mapping bow motion through reflective gloves in a dark room - quite exciting.

9. The Bacchianas Brasilieras is quite cool - I'm playing the 2nd part (my teacher is playing the first ... um, that's exciting) ... it's doing quite a number on my fingers (16th note tenor register pizzicato!! yikes) ... it's a good piece to work on my weak spots & we're going to put it on most likely some time next semester

10. I got to hang w/ Danny Gray recently for the first time since the summer - it was awesome & fun ... we did a gig & jammed & talked about music & stuff ... the jamming went well ... I think a lot better than previously ... I don't feel so far below him anymore (which is not to say that I'm quite on the same level either ... there's just not so much of a gap) ... the jazz education is really helping there...

11. One last thing ... the Beethoven Clarinet Trio - we had a very good performance of it at the informal recital - as in it was the best performance we had done, as well as the best performance on the recital ... we really performed it on an advanced level ... one person even commented that she forgot we were students ... quite exhilarating ... that was just the first movement ... lots of work to do on the 3rd ... haven't even gotten to the 2nd yet!

Some exercises I've come up with:
1. LH 16th exercise - this involves maintaining a single hand position & slurring bows (or not slurring) & doing different patterns in 16ths - it's great for building dexterity/finger strength ... particularly when done in double stops!!

2. Do Technical work with music blasting ... this forces you to play with a certain strength/tone - something I really haven't done in a long time... I also have a somewhat quiet cello (not up close)

That's all for now! I need to do my italian homework so that I'll have some practice time tomorrow ... so sick of these non-music classes right now! Though I guess they also help stop me from being a robot...

The Day That Never Comes

2008-09-03T06:14:00.002-04:00

4 important musical things lately:

1. Cello Lesson #1
2. Recording Session in Brooklyn
3. Arranging String Parts for Nothing Else Matters
4. Death Magnetic!!

1. Our first cello lesson for the year was amazing (no playing), but just in terms of talking & getting on the same page & holding up to a higher standard, all is well ... I've got a lot of really cool pieces that I'm gonna be potentially doing ... including the 4th Bach Suite ... so stay tuned for some insanity
2. I did some cello tracks for this guy: http://www.myspace.com/tristame ... went pretty well & he writes some really cool music ... sorta like a more ambient/mellowed-out version of Opeth ... I wish I had been practicing more/in better shape, but I'll just have to practice more from now on to prevent stuff like that ... still went well though - got a nice sound out of my cello, and the Producer/Engineer asked me for my card (speaking of which, I need to get more from home!)
3. I just arranged a cello and violin part for Nothing Else Matters (because we're doing it in MIDI Band) ... I'm also gonna see if I can sing it ... hopefully he'll let me ... was a great experience, and I need to do more arrangement - I might just arrange other tunes for fun ... It should have been more straightforward than it was, considering how much I listen to S&M/Michael Kamen's version ... really gave me a new-found appreciation for it & it's something I'm gonna do more of ...
4. DEATH MAGNETIC LEAKED!!! Now, everyone's got their own set of ethics about stuff like this ... mine's basically that I grabbed it & couldn't wait to hear it ... I will be buying the cd on the 12th, so I don't see a problem with this ... it's very interesting/exciting/progressive & like every other Metallica album has a truly unique & individual sound ... I'm gonna listen to it a couple more hundred times ...

Gonna do a post soon about all the different musical activities I'm involved in this year (I'm really at the max - in a good way ... might drop chorus or something though...)

Warming Up

2008-08-22T23:38:00.002-04:00

So everyone always says that you need to warm up before you play and all this stuff, and most people seem to suggest that scales and other exercises are the way to go ... I think that's ignorant, and a bad idea ...

Warming up is getting the blood flowing through the body, stretching out & loosening up the tendons, and raising your level of focus to the appropriate level

So far I've come up with the following warmups that I find very effective:

1. Stretching (particulary the touch the floor w/ your fingertips stretch)
2. Double stop Glissandi - go as slowly as you can (without interrupting the flow) all the way down & up the fingerboard w/ 1/2 2/3 & 3/4 ... maybe even other combinations ... apply the same concept to the bow, but change bow as needed ... this gets your lower back rotating & opens up a lot of the larger muscle groups in your back, which consequently leads your arms to have an easier time (after all, they are connected to your upper & lower back, and there should be a flow of power from one to the other)
3. Pick a chord any chord - pick a chord shape on the finger board w/ your left hand & hold it ... go through each string crossing in different rhythms/combinations of slurs ... eventually you want to cross all 4 strings in one bow - this loosens up your right shoulder a lot ... hanging on to the chord w/ your left hand should force you to relax it after a bit & let it hang into the fingerboard
4. 1 finger scales - Do it on the C string, b/c this is the thickets, and will build up your callouses the most (maybe even do it in double stops) ... hold each note for 4 beats & gliss. into each next new note ... whole bow per note ... this eventually reinforces proper shifting and it loosens you up (I find)

If anyone's got comments or further ideas on this, let me know ...

btw, for those of you who followed what I wrote during Summit & left comments, thx! Glad to know that my posts were of interest ...

Also, in new news, I have another student, and may have a 5th soon (really exciting!)

School starts in 2 days, and I have a recording to do the monday after it starts (lots of very good reason to practice a lot!)

So many things to look forward to...

The Right Feel

2008-08-20T02:00:00.000-04:00

So,

I've been battling w/ this Elgar melody & trying to figure out what wasn't making it work/what makes it work ...

I learned a few things:

1. Vibrato varies a bit
2. Rhythm - I wasn't always holding the quarter long enough
3. Tempo - After Rosen's masterclass, I've been trying to do it at 66 ... I'm sorry, it just doesn't work there... back to 50 ... that's what DuPre does ... and more importantly, that's where it feels (and sounds) right to me
4. The bow has to always be moving & the phrase is actually in 9/8, meaning the bow

I've also been watching DuPre's video very closely, and it's incredibly exciting/surprising to see a lot of the technical things she does (fingering and bow choices)

My goal is to copy and ingrain as much of it as I can (not for the sake of just copying her, but for the sake of truly understanding it and what made her performance so amazing & using that as a foundation & springboard for mine - it's sort of like using a certain performance edition, except that you can see what the editor actually meant/did ...

The Power of Video

2008-08-18T20:24:00.000-04:00

So,

Practicing Elgar, I decided to record myself, b/c I was getting frustrated that I couldn't seem to figure out what to do ... I noticed 2 things (that somehow I don't notice while watching in the mirror:

1. I have the same elbow problem w/ my bow arm
2. I'm still killing the sound at the end of down bows...

what does this mean, I'm not paying attention properly or listening well enough ... I have a strong concept of what I want this to be, but I need to hear what I'm actually doing...

I worry about using recording technology - will it prevent or enhance my ability to listen well ... I think it will enhance it (I hope), but it almost feels like cheating ... Jackie didn't have it when she was developing her technique ...

I think that's always going to be my standard - is it as good as Jackie ... so far, the answer is not even close...

Summit People!!

2008-08-18T13:45:00.002-04:00

Just like last year, I'm gonna go through as many of the people as I can remember from Summit ...

Facebook will help tremendously with this...

In no particular order...
Matan Talmi - cool kid ... don't remember where I met him, but he was responsible for the Jam sessions that happened.. very cool & generally fun to chill with ... from Israel
david krieger - I studied with him this year ... he's much very structured, and also was very busy, but gave me lessons as much as he could, while I don't think I'll do things exactly the way we worked on them, I've definitely already begun to incorporate what I've learned from him into both my music making and practicing
Yoni Krieger - cool kid/david's older son ... he thinks Thor is cooler than Loki, but w/e
Benny Krieger - David's younger son, also a cool kid ...
Laura Kimble - the main administrative person, very easy to work with & was very appreciative whenever I helped w/ things
Brittney Ramirez - another very cool & nice administrative person - pleasure to meet ... she finally joined the Summit group on facebook after all was over...
Cassandra Rondinelli - awesome flute player, I love her tone and the feeling in her playing & she really did well w/ everything she performed ... I don't remember exactly where we met, probably in the office or something ...
Chuck - I can't remember chuck's last name, but he was an engineer who was studying violin (if I got that right) ... he was only there for week 1 & studied w/ Elliot (Magaziner) ... very nice guy ... treated us all to lunch at the end...
Andy Qian - So at the end of week 1, there was a night I couldn't be there to do lights ... I told people this many times, nothing got done ... so finally, this kid ended up taking over on his own ... together we mapped out the light system, and basically did about 90% of the lighting work ... fun kid... a lot of energy/intelligence for someone who's only 16 ... also, a very awesome pianist
Jade Conlee - didn't get to know her that well, but she's an amazing pianist & her performance at one of the Student Galas was literally one of the most beautiful things I've heard come out of a piano
Sarah Toy - A very cool and interesting violist, who I wish I had gotten to know much earlier ... she got involved w/ the festival b/c of Richard Clarke, and had positive things to say about it as compared to other festivals... She was also one of the other double orchestra people
Eric Lam - my very awesome stand partner & yet another double orchestra person ... very fun guy to be around, and he let me try out his Coda Bow for a bit ... I got a very positive impression, and was surprised that it was in fact lighter than mine ... I think it will be very beneficial to get one, whenever that actually happens...
Mitsu - Eric's friend, and a very cool/funny kid ... lots of talking about music & lots of fun to be around ... he was a cellist as well
Charles Kim - very awesome kid ... 15 I think ... played the cello, and reminded me a lot of Christian ... I told him at one point that I wanted him to go to every single masterclass ... he was fun to jam & hang w/ and hopefully I'll see him next year
Jenny Kim - Charles' sister... I think she also played cello, and I was surprised to learn she was 19 ) I thought she was younger) ... which led me to realize that I have trouble telling ages between 18-21 ...
Tina Ronkins - the other person who's age I mixed up ... I thought she was older than she was (18 vs. 20) ... I think she was a pianist, and was very interesting to talk to ... from Israel, and had actually heard of Blackfield/Aviv Geffen
Francesca - One of Matan's friends, very nice person...
Jeff Solow - So glad to have met him - one of the cello faculty of course - he was such a pleasure to get to know, and shares his knowledge and stories constantly ... his teaching is amazing & I wish I could be around him all the time, b/c he's such a stimulating & knowledgeable person ... I'm definitely going to request him as my teacher for next year...
Inna Nasidze - another awesome cello faculty, and lots of fun - her & her students were great to meet/get to know ...
Cyntia Peres - I hope I spelled her name right ... one of Inna's students, and my stand partner ... very nice girl
Luis Barajas - Luis was a great person to talk w/ & had a nice, big sound on cello ... I meant to get his email address before I left, but it didn't happen :( Hopefully I'll get in touch w/ him somehow...
Diego - violinist - that kid was just weird, but very entertaining to all ... didn't know him that well...
Matthieu - one of the regulars, chill guy, and great to hang around w/
Rob Buxton - again, one of the regulars ... also, seriously amazing pianist ... I learned that he hadn't started college yet (was very surprised...) & I also managed to catch his comedy routine this time, it was fucking awesome
Elliot Mallard - a cool cellist & student of Jeff Solow's, he's starting at Julliard in the fall ... very awesome to meet, we had some great conversations about music in general...
Sean - again, one of the regulars ... fun kid ...
Poly - Nice to see her again ... I learned that she played Guitar & Piano, and we hung around w/ a lot of the same people
Eugene Osadchy - very cool Russian cello professor who now teaches in Texas ... he was great to talk with, and his playing reminded me in some ways of Mr. O's...
Jasmine Chang - sometimes my stand partner, and also incredibly talented ... she's been playing for 6 years, and has tackled Hindemith's sonata ... um, wow!
Rita Darling - didn't know her well, but jewish violinist who seemed fairly nice
Warren Chan - pianist from Brooklyn - cool kid...
Stephen Duran - really cool cellist from North Carolina, and working on the Kodaly Sonata ... I never got the chance to hear him play it though :(
Anna Marie & Jose Torres - the Dorm Supervisors, and very awesome/nice people
Caity Chenault - interesting girl who played the cello, and was also working on Elgar ...
Eva Dove - very nice girl who played the violin ... reminded me a lot of Katie Coleman in that she always put on a happy face...
Hannah Santisi - very energetic/excitable violist and friend of eva's ... her and eva saved me on the lights one night when I had to leave campus...

I know I'm definitely forgetting people ....

but it means I'm finally done w/ all the writing about Summit!! Now time to chill, and I can finally go practice!!

Summit Recap Post 8 - End of Festival Performances & Ensembles

2008-08-18T13:24:00.004-04:00

Weber Piano Trio:
did the Scherzo & finale ... We did a good job with both for where we were ... definitely made music out of it, but there was a level of detail that was just never there ... and it was really frustrating, b/c being on the concert with the other groups, it was clear that we hadn't reached their level ... I think that all comes down to devotion ... in the future, when I work on parts, my goal will be to have learned the music well by the first rehearsal & then to continue to improve it ... with this, I came in & knew the part fairly well & then it just got worse & worse for a while, then started to get better ... relates to orchestra too...

Jr. Orchestra:
There were good & bad things about this, but basically it was an often frustrating experience with a mediocre end-product ... I mean, we didn't sound horrible, but we didn't sound great either ... I feel like I've worked with better conductors/like the conductor for this orchestra really didn't hold us to a high standard, and just accepted almost anything we did, but I learned a lot from it, and got to play some cool music ... particularly Barber ... I also met some cool people ...

Our program was: Some mendelssohn symphony, Purcell Chaccone arr. by Britten, Some Barber piece that was awesome, Mozart Violin Concerto 4, Dvorak Rumanian Dances (I actually played these w/ St. Thomas ... it was very different ... less overwhelming this time, which means I've improved) ... I was more focused/played better at the concert than I expected

Sr. Orchestra:
This was just an amazing experience ... Richard Clark is just an amazing person to work with, in terms of his expectations & his communication. He has a lot of great, relevant advice & expects you to do your best at every moment/for every detail. He ranted a lot about lazy music making & orchestras getting too comfortable, and so producing crap (but he did this all w/ a very positive bent to it most of the time) ... it's incredibly clear that he's really passionate about music - 100%, and if I had done nothing else at Summit besides work with him, it would have been worth it...

Our program was amazing ... it sounded amazing, it felt amazing ... it was just on that level ... personally, I could have been better ... I should have known my part, and risen to that level, but I didn't get there ... I know what to do now in the future though ... I have a very clear idea of it, as opposed to just a general impression ...

Program was:
Arensky - Variations on a Tchaicovsky Theme
Mozart Violin Concert 5
Bartok - Divertimento for Strings - this is one of the most amazing/beautiful/progressive pieces written for string orchestra ever...

In general, being in 2 orchestras simultaneously was frustrating (this meant 9-1 every day, and really cut into my practice time), but I guess was worth it... Certainly, the Sr. Concert really made it worth it...

Summit Recap Post 7 - Trout Quintet

2008-08-18T13:16:00.002-04:00

This was one of the other great concert highlights ... I had found out that Jeff Solow was playing in it (which alone is enough to make me want to check it out) ...

Anyway, I was surprised to find during the performance that I remembered a lot more of the piece than I thought I did ... it's really got such a cool character and liveliness to it ... the performance was very great ... it reminded me a lot of watching the documentary w/ DuPre & Barenboim & Zukerman & Perlman & Mehta ...

It didn't quite have that level/spirit, but was still really amazing ... and it was so cool to watch it w/ the Double Bass ... that really was a privilege ... I've gotten into the bassier sounds a lot from listening to Metallica, and I've done various chamber music, but never with bass ... it's just such a cool difference/addition...

I'm very lucky to ahve gotten to see this...

Summit Recap Post 6 - Medelssohn Octet

2008-08-18T13:09:00.003-04:00

This was literally one of the coolest classical things I've ever been to...

8 people on stage - 4 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos...

It was really like a giant aural dance between all the different instruments & how they came together & complimented each other ... so cool, and so easy to get visual w/ while listening...

It was really just a very alive experience, and the players sync'd with each other so well ... I feel like I should write more about it, but I can't think of what to write really ... I wish there was a way to transfer sensations & sounds and images from my brain into writing/the computer...

Summit Recap Post 5 - Matt Haimovitz Concert - Happy 100th Elliot Carter!

2008-08-18T12:56:00.002-04:00

This was an absolutely amazing concert ...

First of all, he started with the Brahms F Maj. which he had taught in the masterclass earlier that day...

Next, he played Elliot Carter's Cello Sonata (written in 1948). He spoke about how it was written for Bernie Greenhouse & the pianist also chimed in here & there... it's an incredibly cool piece, and very, very suited to Matt's playing - he's great w/ all this "new music"

After that was Dankner's Klezmer Fantasy, which was just written last year (that's fucking cool!) & was this awesome collection of Jewish music ... if I got it right, the pianist was actually improvising most of his part, since the original version actually involved orchestra... or something like that..

Then he did Barber's C minor sonata (op. 6), which again was equally as cool ... the whole concert just had this amazing energy to it ... it was really on the level of rock concerts in a lot of ways (in terms of how much I was into it/the emotional high I got from it) ... it turns out that the pianist was a friend of Geoff Kidde's (he's one of my teachers at school), so that was pretty neat ... I'm gonna get in touch w/ him soon ... he teaches at Princeton & Hunter ...

Also, I passed on The Cellist of Sarajevo to Matt, along w/ Jen Castellano's piece "It Takes Two" & some compositions by Itamar Danziger - hopefully he'll be into some of them ...

Really just such an amazing night ... and I picked up two of Matt's cds, which was exciting - I haven't listened to too much of them just yet (b/c most of my music listening time was while driving, and it was all about blasting metallica!!)

-------

Still to come:
Mendelssohn Octet
Trout Quintet
End of Festival Performances & Thoughts on Orchestra
People!!

Summit Recap Post 4 - Matt Haimovitz Masterclasses

2008-08-18T10:43:00.005-04:00

These notes are from both days of the Haimovitz masterclasses

Bach Prelude 2:

Performances:
-When we play solo, there's no volume competition w/ anyone else
-Take advantage of being all by yourself (more dynamic range)

History:
-There was a battle btwn. the viola da gamba and the cello (cello won of course)
-Baroque music is much closer to renaissance - resonate, don't sustain
-Think in the 18th century

Left Hand:
-avoid shifts - experiment with playing as much in first position as possible.
-D min. has the tonic, subdominant & dominant as open strings
-Open string doesn't need to be hidden all the time
-when you bring a finger down it bounces back

Right Hand:
-Don't make unnecessary accents with string crossings
-Another way to think about them is that instead of shifting w/ your LH, your shifting w/ your RH
-Bring out bass notes w/ bow speed
-Bow is tool for determining dynamic range

Musical:
-Quiet, intimate opening - bring audience in
-playing quiet is an art
-don't stop using the bow
-it's like an actor's stage-whisper
-Don't accent every note - music is a language
-Opening is establishment of 3 voice lines
-think of choral writing
-Bach is pure - hide the shifts
-Have a sense of rhythm even when there's no beat
-pay attenion to rhythmic differences in bars 1-3
-Intonation can be interpretative (melodic or harmonic)
-Only add vibrato on notes that need it - it's for color
-Think about confession
-Pedals don't need to be sustained
-Even when it's loud, choose which notes to sustain
-Last 5 bars are a 3 voice chorale
-know which notes to emphasize by paying attention to the chord progression: V42, Dm, Sus, Res. -
-It echoes the first rhythm

--------------

Prokofiev Symphony Concerto

-Sustain at upper half of bow by maintaining contact pt.
-this results in a more focused, and louder sound
-When you play at the brdige, you don't have to force
-Cello is part of your boddy
-Don't tighten your grip in the upper half of the bow
-Don't lose sound w/ upper shift
-Lower register=russian bass

---------------------------

Bach suite 4

Bouree:
-Sarabande is the "heart" of the sweet
-next movements are the relief movements
-lots of humor
-2 bar phrases/units
-don't bring head down to listen - develop 3rd ear
-16th notes - very busy/light bees
-Note: he did a lot of LH pizz. to develop this
-Make decisions about phrase structure - always different/surprising

Sarabande:
-connect - 2 bar phrases
-start beginning w/ circle in right elbow
-always anchor double stops w/ bottom note
-Don't go out of position by thhinking of the upper note
-Keep rhythmic integrity w/ bass so that you don't lose the phrase architecture
-Count out-loud while you practice

Ligetti Sonata:
-Wrote 1st movement for his girlfriend
-Don't have an arguement - it's not agitato
-For pizz/gliss part, don't overdo it - like harp [I actually thought of it like a banjo,a nd liked the performer's idea better ... happens sometimes...]
-Relax LH/think of warmth for lyrical passages
-Matt played it for Ligetti - Hungarian singing
-Follow shape of line, not the property of the bow
-Give the impressions that you're a string quartet
-2nd mvmt. - paganini - devil

--------

Brahms F Maj:
-Sonata form
-Theme in beginning - connect
-Don't stop vibrato on 16ths
-don't get tight in upper register

LH:
-Hang off fingerboard
-match vibrato w/ bow
-fast vibrato, narrow width (he demonstrated fast & wide ... this is an effect Apocalyptica uses a lot)
-Make sound w/ bow & leave LH free
-play with as much meat of finger (for main theme) as possible

RH:
-find right contact spot for instrument
-No big gestures w/ bow (ie, don't waste the bow by floating out in space after a stroke)
-Coordinating bow change w/ LH is like landing an airplane
-Don't make unnecessary motions, just go for it

Musical:
-A lot of music is illusion (this relates to phrasing)
-Practice w/ the score
-Vibrate upbeats
-Don't stop singing/Don't be scared of the music
-Don't lift shoulders when in upper register

----------

Elgar Mov. 4

Sound Production:
-Lead w/ upper arm
-If we push w/ gravity, we get "tch"
-String has to vibrate horizontally
-Very rare that when you play forte w/ the bow you also need to play forte w/ the LH
-Sound is a waveform - you want amplification, not cancellation
-Use the whole body, rather than fighting the instrument

LH:
-Don't press harder than you need to
-Tension in LH prevents good intonation
-Don't lose overtones when you play loud
-Be in a position where you can dance/feel shift in weight

F# Diminished run:
-little bow & in time
-LH piz
-Hug the strings w/ the bow
-Trust yourself/your bow
-Sometimes we get in our way/should trust our ear

-Leave B before cadena unresolved
-Establish theme before double stops
-Matt commented that he learned unbelievable bowing concepts recently from Mark O Connor
-bow has rhythmic pulse

---------
Concert notes coming soon..