So City of Angels is done and over... I go to meet a few more of the band (though I really didn't get to chat with the other side of the pit at all)
It was a fun, but also very stressful show. The commute was quite stress-inducing (particularly getting lost the first two rehearsals). Also, all the other players around me were way better than I was (which was really cool, but also stress-inducing because it meant I had to really step stuff up - which I think I could have done a bit more). The last day was particularly fulfilling because I got a bit more comfortable with the music by that point.
To look at the broader picture, it was really inspiring that I was able to actually read through this music fairly well and stay with everyone (most of the time) ... a year ago, this music would have been way over my head
I need to work on memorizing things more efficiently (I'm still amazed by: Amit peled who can memoriz new music in a week & Jacqueline DuPre who memorized the entire Elgar Concerto the day she got it - can we say meant for each other?!)
Now on to school. I've been back at school for a few days now, and of course am kind of mixed about it. I've got some really cool stuff lined up that I'm working on (making a cd, working on modern composers music - a faculty member and an outside composer - Dumky Trio, probably a Beethoven Cello/Piano sonata, Jazz Improv & Ensemble & Piano for the classroom teacher). So I'm thrilled about all that, not to mention my psych classes (Adolescent Psych & Physiological Bases of Behavior).
What I am worried about however, is the lack of passion here, the lack of everybody being better than me, or going at the same pace or faster... I'm worried that I'm gonna lose my drive and my vision. What I have to combat that however, is the fact that I'm playing for Julia Lichten sometime soon (I have to call her about that) & my own will & my vow to myself that I'm not going to slip, that I'm going to stay organized & continue to progress at the rate I'm going. So far that's a really inspiring rate! I played cello yesterday & for the first time in a long time I really heard myself playing a lot better! I was making music out of things things I had been struggling with ... I still feel like I haven't reached the rate of progression I had in high school, but I'm getting damn close to it.. So here's to more practicing!!
In other news, I'm working on a 3rd piece for solo cello, and am going to be commissioning one from Jen Castellano (who's music I've played before). I'm thinking that I want to write something for cello/clarinet soon...
Guess that's all for now...
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Focus
"As far as I'm concerned, If you look down, you've already missed the note"
- Steven Isserlis
So that quote may not be 100% verbatim, but it popped into my mind as I was practicing recently. For whatever reason, I had been thinking about the Alexander technique & stressing & muscle tension, and so I started my practice by trying to play relaxed (because I've been doing lots of technical work lately). Immediately, I started listening to my playing (and let me tell you, the things I discovered that needed improvement... I could go on forever!!)
which brings me to my next point: Focus... truly making progress on a string instrument (well musically in general) involves extreme amounts of focus. First of all, you always have to find something to improve, but second, you have to manage multiple things at once (in my case, 2 hands, plus tone and articulation for each hand, at the bare minimum). In order to do this, you have to be able to listen to multiple things at the same time & then connect them with the physical sensation. I do this when I listen to music (try to listen to multiple parts at once & sing one part while "thinking" the other). It's nice to apply it to my musical work again.
I'me working on 2 musicals currently (well, one's an operetta). First, I'm working on "Amahl & the Night Visitors" by Gian Carlo Menotti with New Rochelle High School. This is loads of fun. Besides getting to hang out with some cool high school kids, I also get to play along David Jutt & David Toby (is that his first name??) & both of them are very amazing players. On top of that, the music is absolutely beautiful.
Next (and showing this weekend), I'm working on City of Angels, with Hastings High School. What an awesome gig!! I got it from randomly adding musicians (aka networking) on facebook. One of the people I added (Remy Kurs) had posted an ad that he needed a cello for a musical (this was long past), so I told him that if he ever needed a cellist, to drop me a message. Well, turns out he needed one!! It sucked getting lost the first time or two I went up there, but the rehearsals have well been worth it.
For one, I've met a couple of new people:
Insia Malik - a violinist who goes to school with Remy & knows a friend of mine at Manhattanville. She's got a really unique name & is very nice (not to mention a really good violinist!!)
Helen Hess - Goes to Boston Conservatory, and is into fantasy novels. I sat next to her at the 2nd rehearsal & during the break she was reading "The Amber Spyglass" (if you're not familiar w/ the His Dark Materials Trilogy, go pick up the Golden Compass now). Interestingly enough, her main instrument is actually viola (which is insanely cool... as much as I'll make fun of violists, I think the instrument is insanely beautiful... and better than the violin...), but she's playing violin for the show. There's some really nice moments where the cello & violin parts come together (unfortunately, it's next to impossible to see on stage... hmmm...)
Becky Riss - A sax/flute player & a friend of Helen's. Seems very nice.
Rob Statell - a brass player, also formerly taught in the New Rochelle School District. When I first met him, he was reading a book about Christianity that his mother had given him (much to the dissapointment of his mother, he's not quite Christian... was quite exciting, as neither am I!)
Michaelangelo Quirinale - Awesome guitarist from New England. Went to school at Berkley & now lives/teaches in Brooklyn. Apparently he taught Remy in music camp!! Was very interesting to talk to. Can't quite hear his playing from over where I am.
Remy Kurs - The music director. Cool kid, goes to NYU, really haven't gotten to know him too well. He's very good about not keeping the musicians past scheduled time... it's different than what I'm used to.
Todd Olson - Keyboard player, also goes to school with Remy. Todd sits with the strings & is fun to make jokes with, he also feels free to tell me when I'm playing something wrong or throw in helpful reminders (like that there is in fact an A sharp in the number we're doing!). It's quite cool.
And that's not even the whole pit!! It's nuts... also, very tight (but hey, that's the fun of it, right?!)...
In other news, I had a very good lesson with Hillary the other day. I don't fully remember what we worked on, but I remember doing quite a bit! She seems much more motivated, almost out of nowhere. It's quite exciting! She asked if we could have a scale due for each lesson (that is Major Scale + relative minor + Broken 3rds & Arpeggios), and I think it sounds like an amazing idea! More structure is good. So we're working with C Major & A Minor ... Next week G!
Some technical things I thought of while playing:
1. Efficiency! This means economy of motion (if there's one thing I should have absorbed from my current teacher, this is it!). The smaller the motions & the efforts involved, the cleaner & more rewarding the sound.
2. Hug the string with the bow - ties in with #1. A great way of being efficient... makes string crossings substantially easier & helps eliminate that surge I tend to get on open strings
3. Breathe & Listen... if I were to write two words on top of every piece of sheet music I own, it would be these two!! So important & helpful
4. Double Stops!! Think of as many inventive things as you can do with them - they are quite rewarding & help with callous building, as does sliding & wide vibrato
5. Practice everything Forte - if you can make a big sound (relaxed), you can make a small one!!
Think that's all for now.. tomorrow is the first show of City of Angels, which is really interesting, b/c we haven't even run through the whole thing with the cast (and we have a dress rehearsal after!!) ... the first real showing though is friday evening.
By the way, for all you cellists out there, Emily Wright is doing a "Does your Bow-Grip Work?" seesion through her blog, go check it out: http://starkravingcello.blogspot.com/
- Steven Isserlis
So that quote may not be 100% verbatim, but it popped into my mind as I was practicing recently. For whatever reason, I had been thinking about the Alexander technique & stressing & muscle tension, and so I started my practice by trying to play relaxed (because I've been doing lots of technical work lately). Immediately, I started listening to my playing (and let me tell you, the things I discovered that needed improvement... I could go on forever!!)
which brings me to my next point: Focus... truly making progress on a string instrument (well musically in general) involves extreme amounts of focus. First of all, you always have to find something to improve, but second, you have to manage multiple things at once (in my case, 2 hands, plus tone and articulation for each hand, at the bare minimum). In order to do this, you have to be able to listen to multiple things at the same time & then connect them with the physical sensation. I do this when I listen to music (try to listen to multiple parts at once & sing one part while "thinking" the other). It's nice to apply it to my musical work again.
I'me working on 2 musicals currently (well, one's an operetta). First, I'm working on "Amahl & the Night Visitors" by Gian Carlo Menotti with New Rochelle High School. This is loads of fun. Besides getting to hang out with some cool high school kids, I also get to play along David Jutt & David Toby (is that his first name??) & both of them are very amazing players. On top of that, the music is absolutely beautiful.
Next (and showing this weekend), I'm working on City of Angels, with Hastings High School. What an awesome gig!! I got it from randomly adding musicians (aka networking) on facebook. One of the people I added (Remy Kurs) had posted an ad that he needed a cello for a musical (this was long past), so I told him that if he ever needed a cellist, to drop me a message. Well, turns out he needed one!! It sucked getting lost the first time or two I went up there, but the rehearsals have well been worth it.
For one, I've met a couple of new people:
Insia Malik - a violinist who goes to school with Remy & knows a friend of mine at Manhattanville. She's got a really unique name & is very nice (not to mention a really good violinist!!)
Helen Hess - Goes to Boston Conservatory, and is into fantasy novels. I sat next to her at the 2nd rehearsal & during the break she was reading "The Amber Spyglass" (if you're not familiar w/ the His Dark Materials Trilogy, go pick up the Golden Compass now). Interestingly enough, her main instrument is actually viola (which is insanely cool... as much as I'll make fun of violists, I think the instrument is insanely beautiful... and better than the violin...), but she's playing violin for the show. There's some really nice moments where the cello & violin parts come together (unfortunately, it's next to impossible to see on stage... hmmm...)
Becky Riss - A sax/flute player & a friend of Helen's. Seems very nice.
Rob Statell - a brass player, also formerly taught in the New Rochelle School District. When I first met him, he was reading a book about Christianity that his mother had given him (much to the dissapointment of his mother, he's not quite Christian... was quite exciting, as neither am I!)
Michaelangelo Quirinale - Awesome guitarist from New England. Went to school at Berkley & now lives/teaches in Brooklyn. Apparently he taught Remy in music camp!! Was very interesting to talk to. Can't quite hear his playing from over where I am.
Remy Kurs - The music director. Cool kid, goes to NYU, really haven't gotten to know him too well. He's very good about not keeping the musicians past scheduled time... it's different than what I'm used to.
Todd Olson - Keyboard player, also goes to school with Remy. Todd sits with the strings & is fun to make jokes with, he also feels free to tell me when I'm playing something wrong or throw in helpful reminders (like that there is in fact an A sharp in the number we're doing!). It's quite cool.
And that's not even the whole pit!! It's nuts... also, very tight (but hey, that's the fun of it, right?!)...
In other news, I had a very good lesson with Hillary the other day. I don't fully remember what we worked on, but I remember doing quite a bit! She seems much more motivated, almost out of nowhere. It's quite exciting! She asked if we could have a scale due for each lesson (that is Major Scale + relative minor + Broken 3rds & Arpeggios), and I think it sounds like an amazing idea! More structure is good. So we're working with C Major & A Minor ... Next week G!
Some technical things I thought of while playing:
1. Efficiency! This means economy of motion (if there's one thing I should have absorbed from my current teacher, this is it!). The smaller the motions & the efforts involved, the cleaner & more rewarding the sound.
2. Hug the string with the bow - ties in with #1. A great way of being efficient... makes string crossings substantially easier & helps eliminate that surge I tend to get on open strings
3. Breathe & Listen... if I were to write two words on top of every piece of sheet music I own, it would be these two!! So important & helpful
4. Double Stops!! Think of as many inventive things as you can do with them - they are quite rewarding & help with callous building, as does sliding & wide vibrato
5. Practice everything Forte - if you can make a big sound (relaxed), you can make a small one!!
Think that's all for now.. tomorrow is the first show of City of Angels, which is really interesting, b/c we haven't even run through the whole thing with the cast (and we have a dress rehearsal after!!) ... the first real showing though is friday evening.
By the way, for all you cellists out there, Emily Wright is doing a "Does your Bow-Grip Work?" seesion through her blog, go check it out: http://starkravingcello.blogspot.com/
Thursday, January 3, 2008
2008 Cello Goals
A long list, but this is all stuff I hope to achieve... ideally, I'll go far beyond this in the new year
Goals:
1. To consistently practice 3 hours or more a day.
2. To record a cd with a combination of acoustic and electric cello material that I can be proud of, and can sell commercially (on a small/local level... we're not talking getting signed to a label or anything). Also, to make good use of facebook and myspace for networking (check my profile for links...)
3. To get technically in shape & play at the top of my potential. Particularly to be able to play at fast tempi with ease & to have a relaxed, controlled vibrato, along with very strong bow technique
4. To get a good tube amplifier & a good carbon fiber bow.
5. To develop a solid understanding of jazz & to be able to to improvise and play well in a jazz band setting
6. To continue to write music for acoustic/electric cello & to expand to include other instruments (particularly clarinet, violin & piano)
7. To continue to work on and promote music by living composers
8. To start playing in clubs/getting gigs that are outside of my school
9. To continue to transition from being a student studying the cello to doing professional work, and to eventually quit my retail job
10. To play acoustic/electric cello in a band
11. To make at least 3 times as much progress as I made in 2007
12. To work through the entire Elgar concerto on a very high level, and to win my school's concerto competition with the first movement. Then to rework the Haydn C and possibly move on to either Saint-Saens, Schumann, Dvorak or all three...
13. To take on one or two more students
14. To inspire others and continue to meet new and interesting musicians
15. To impress my first cello teacher
16. To learn Bach Suites 3 & 4 (ideally to learn all of them)
17. (AND MOST IMPORTANT) To have fun!!
Some reflections and comments about the musicals I'm involved in probably to follow... if I can stay awake that is...
Goals:
1. To consistently practice 3 hours or more a day.
2. To record a cd with a combination of acoustic and electric cello material that I can be proud of, and can sell commercially (on a small/local level... we're not talking getting signed to a label or anything). Also, to make good use of facebook and myspace for networking (check my profile for links...)
3. To get technically in shape & play at the top of my potential. Particularly to be able to play at fast tempi with ease & to have a relaxed, controlled vibrato, along with very strong bow technique
4. To get a good tube amplifier & a good carbon fiber bow.
5. To develop a solid understanding of jazz & to be able to to improvise and play well in a jazz band setting
6. To continue to write music for acoustic/electric cello & to expand to include other instruments (particularly clarinet, violin & piano)
7. To continue to work on and promote music by living composers
8. To start playing in clubs/getting gigs that are outside of my school
9. To continue to transition from being a student studying the cello to doing professional work, and to eventually quit my retail job
10. To play acoustic/electric cello in a band
11. To make at least 3 times as much progress as I made in 2007
12. To work through the entire Elgar concerto on a very high level, and to win my school's concerto competition with the first movement. Then to rework the Haydn C and possibly move on to either Saint-Saens, Schumann, Dvorak or all three...
13. To take on one or two more students
14. To inspire others and continue to meet new and interesting musicians
15. To impress my first cello teacher
16. To learn Bach Suites 3 & 4 (ideally to learn all of them)
17. (AND MOST IMPORTANT) To have fun!!
Some reflections and comments about the musicals I'm involved in probably to follow... if I can stay awake that is...
Sunday, December 30, 2007
So can you teach Improvisation??
In my opinion, the answer is a resounding yes!!
First of all, what is improvisation? Well, it's composition, but without writing it down. Generally, most people would agree that composition can be taught, so if composition can be taught, why not improv?
Assuming it can be taught, what does it mean to teach improvisation. Well, like anything else in music, there are a million different things to look at. There's form & harmony & theory. Then there's styles, and then there's story-telling. On top of that, you can look at things melodically, harmonically, orchestration-ally.
For me, I'm interested in styles mostly. So how do you understand one? Well, first you have to look at the scales used in the styles. Take the classical style for example, generally it uses either the Major scale or the Minor scale. So first there's this world of scales ... then from there, you have your world of harmony and triads based upon those scales. Almost every style has some kind of tension & resolution, so you can look for that as well.
Today, working with Hillary, we did a little bit with folk music (she asked if we could work on styles and I was a little thrown off... so when in doubt, I thought the pentatonic scale would work - after all, it's applicable cross-style, and the blues scale is a modified pentatonic, so that covers blues & rock as well as folk music). First we went over the basic scale, the notes, what degrees of a classical scale they would be (In this case, EGABDE - 134571). From there we went into story-telling I started the story with a one liner about an Indian (native american) chief, followed by a musical line. She then followed and we went on, basically ad libbing for a few more turns.
I hadn't really though of the story telling approach, but with purely instrumental music, it makes a ton of sense (I think) & it's basically what we do when playing classical music (part of what draws me so much to Steven Isserlis and his playing is his focus on the composer and the story they tell through the piece).
Any thoughts? anyone worked on improv. here, either on your own, or with teacher? If so, what did you do and how effective did you think it was?
First of all, what is improvisation? Well, it's composition, but without writing it down. Generally, most people would agree that composition can be taught, so if composition can be taught, why not improv?
Assuming it can be taught, what does it mean to teach improvisation. Well, like anything else in music, there are a million different things to look at. There's form & harmony & theory. Then there's styles, and then there's story-telling. On top of that, you can look at things melodically, harmonically, orchestration-ally.
For me, I'm interested in styles mostly. So how do you understand one? Well, first you have to look at the scales used in the styles. Take the classical style for example, generally it uses either the Major scale or the Minor scale. So first there's this world of scales ... then from there, you have your world of harmony and triads based upon those scales. Almost every style has some kind of tension & resolution, so you can look for that as well.
Today, working with Hillary, we did a little bit with folk music (she asked if we could work on styles and I was a little thrown off... so when in doubt, I thought the pentatonic scale would work - after all, it's applicable cross-style, and the blues scale is a modified pentatonic, so that covers blues & rock as well as folk music). First we went over the basic scale, the notes, what degrees of a classical scale they would be (In this case, EGABDE - 134571). From there we went into story-telling I started the story with a one liner about an Indian (native american) chief, followed by a musical line. She then followed and we went on, basically ad libbing for a few more turns.
I hadn't really though of the story telling approach, but with purely instrumental music, it makes a ton of sense (I think) & it's basically what we do when playing classical music (part of what draws me so much to Steven Isserlis and his playing is his focus on the composer and the story they tell through the piece).
Any thoughts? anyone worked on improv. here, either on your own, or with teacher? If so, what did you do and how effective did you think it was?
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Back to the Meaning of Cello!!
I played with my old hs Orchestra again tonight. I love doing it. For one thing, the music is almost always fun, and for two, I absolutely love Mr. O, he's such an amazing person. But on top of that, it reminds me of what I'm not. Especially when I get to see my old friends from high school & where they're at and how they've progressed and what they've studied. It makes me value this whole classical music thing again in a way that I don't really get to value it at Manhattanville. Recently, I've had some debate over whether or not I wanted to take time off from school, and also whether or not I actually want to do grad school. Being back home & playing gain is making me feel like I'd be crazy to take time off or not do grad school. I have so much freaking work to do though. Time to start now!!
So back to the meaning of cello. I started practicing again (finally) after seeing Steven Isserlis (I had been not playing for about a month due to all sorts of problems & being burnt out and stuff of that sort ... no complaints there; I needed to develop in other ways, and I'm so glad to have done that.) but anyway, I finaly started a bit of actual practice tonight (with scales & such. i'm finding the challenge is to focus and not lose ight of the music and sound in favor of technique. The challenge is also to play relaxed & constantly find new ways to do this. I know I need to do some callous building. I've noticed with my 3rd and 4th fingers, I don't always put the previous finger down when it would be beneficial. I also noticed that I can use the other fingers to control vibrato in a way that I haven't really done before. I also noticed that even when I'm concentrating on the left hand, my bow still has to move... I have a bad habit of stopping it, which creates tension and interrupt the music ... it seems the trick is to think about both simultaneously, and how they relate (kind of like listening to a symphony, or heavy metal - you want to be able to hear all the parts and more importantly how they all go together)
.
Regarding the right hand, I've noticed that I have a tendency to remove my 2nd and 3rd fingers, which serves no purpose, creates tension and reduces the tone quality of the sound. I find with both hands, I really need to think of all 4 fingers together. Also I want to quote Isserlis (not verbatim) that on a string instrument, the bow is the primary method of expression - so true, it really creates almost everything. The left hand just allows for some tweaking. I've also noticed, that after seeing Isserlis, my left hand techniques reverted more to what it used to be (getting the tapping noises on the fingerboard, and releasing my fingers in order to stop notes - instead of pressing). It's really inspiring. Once I get back in shape & get some more vibrato control, I'll finally feel that my technique is truly where it could be and that I'm actually fulfilling my potential (which so far, I've never done at school, with the possible exception of my recital).
On another note, Kodaly is amazing (Elgar too, but Kodaly really truly makes me want to push my technique further) & I can hear music more and more in ways that I couldn't before - it's so inspiring.... can't wait for the xmas eve masses. Those should be fun!!
Ostrofsky gave me a copy of the Beaux Arts doing the Dumky Trio and of his trio (when it still existed) doing Dvorak's F Minor - man did they have energy!! (and this is off the crappy internal iMac speaker). I can't wait to put that on my ipod.
Finally, I'm beginning to update my myspace (http://www.myspace.com/mlunapiena) a bit more and hope to have a few more recordings, plus some vids up there by the end of the break. Actually... last finally, I'm getting a new case: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEBTOX:IT&item=280183288801&_trksid=p3984.cTODAY.m238.lVI I'm so excited, especially since mine's been giving me trouble/falling apart lately.
That's all for now... might go practice some more (or go to sleep since it's 2...)
So back to the meaning of cello. I started practicing again (finally) after seeing Steven Isserlis (I had been not playing for about a month due to all sorts of problems & being burnt out and stuff of that sort ... no complaints there; I needed to develop in other ways, and I'm so glad to have done that.) but anyway, I finaly started a bit of actual practice tonight (with scales & such. i'm finding the challenge is to focus and not lose ight of the music and sound in favor of technique. The challenge is also to play relaxed & constantly find new ways to do this. I know I need to do some callous building. I've noticed with my 3rd and 4th fingers, I don't always put the previous finger down when it would be beneficial. I also noticed that I can use the other fingers to control vibrato in a way that I haven't really done before. I also noticed that even when I'm concentrating on the left hand, my bow still has to move... I have a bad habit of stopping it, which creates tension and interrupt the music ... it seems the trick is to think about both simultaneously, and how they relate (kind of like listening to a symphony, or heavy metal - you want to be able to hear all the parts and more importantly how they all go together)
.
Regarding the right hand, I've noticed that I have a tendency to remove my 2nd and 3rd fingers, which serves no purpose, creates tension and reduces the tone quality of the sound. I find with both hands, I really need to think of all 4 fingers together. Also I want to quote Isserlis (not verbatim) that on a string instrument, the bow is the primary method of expression - so true, it really creates almost everything. The left hand just allows for some tweaking. I've also noticed, that after seeing Isserlis, my left hand techniques reverted more to what it used to be (getting the tapping noises on the fingerboard, and releasing my fingers in order to stop notes - instead of pressing). It's really inspiring. Once I get back in shape & get some more vibrato control, I'll finally feel that my technique is truly where it could be and that I'm actually fulfilling my potential (which so far, I've never done at school, with the possible exception of my recital).
On another note, Kodaly is amazing (Elgar too, but Kodaly really truly makes me want to push my technique further) & I can hear music more and more in ways that I couldn't before - it's so inspiring.... can't wait for the xmas eve masses. Those should be fun!!
Ostrofsky gave me a copy of the Beaux Arts doing the Dumky Trio and of his trio (when it still existed) doing Dvorak's F Minor - man did they have energy!! (and this is off the crappy internal iMac speaker). I can't wait to put that on my ipod.
Finally, I'm beginning to update my myspace (http://www.myspace.com/mlunapiena) a bit more and hope to have a few more recordings, plus some vids up there by the end of the break. Actually... last finally, I'm getting a new case: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEBTOX:IT&item=280183288801&_trksid=p3984.cTODAY.m238.lVI I'm so excited, especially since mine's been giving me trouble/falling apart lately.
That's all for now... might go practice some more (or go to sleep since it's 2...)
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Ugh, This irritates me!!
So a while ago, this kid posted on the ICS about learning cello... don't remember the original post much, but a lot of ppl shot him down for trying to teach himself/learn without a teacher (and don't get me wrong, I am always in favor of taking lessons and learning from someone who can play an instrument well)
Anyway, this kid comes back and posts this video (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4GUOLRXsrBY) going "hah, I told you I could learn" and one of the first posts in response calls what he did noise (as opposed to music) & puts him down for not learning the cello ... personally I found that really irritating.
Not only did I think what he did was really cool (musically & technically) ... I'm also not sure I could do the same (probably with a bit of work I can - just need to figure out all the things he did... plus what the source material is)... and finally, just cuz you're not into a certain type of music doesn't give you a right to put down others for doing things different from you... certainly not in a setting like that... I dunno, anyone have thoughts on the video, or the posting??
By the way, Eric Edberg recently posted some improv stuff that I haven't had a chance to check out too much, but if you haven't I suggest you do. He's a very interesting guy. Greg Sandow also has some interesting stuff...
Anyway, school's out, so I'm starting to get back in the swing of things... I saw 3 concerts last week... planning to write those up soon.
Anyway, this kid comes back and posts this video (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4GUOLRXsrBY) going "hah, I told you I could learn" and one of the first posts in response calls what he did noise (as opposed to music) & puts him down for not learning the cello ... personally I found that really irritating.
Not only did I think what he did was really cool (musically & technically) ... I'm also not sure I could do the same (probably with a bit of work I can - just need to figure out all the things he did... plus what the source material is)... and finally, just cuz you're not into a certain type of music doesn't give you a right to put down others for doing things different from you... certainly not in a setting like that... I dunno, anyone have thoughts on the video, or the posting??
By the way, Eric Edberg recently posted some improv stuff that I haven't had a chance to check out too much, but if you haven't I suggest you do. He's a very interesting guy. Greg Sandow also has some interesting stuff...
Anyway, school's out, so I'm starting to get back in the swing of things... I saw 3 concerts last week... planning to write those up soon.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Recent Happenings
1. 2 Concerts - Orchestra & Small ensembles... After the small ensembles concert, someone added me as a friend on facebook & complimented my playing... very strong possibility we'll be forming a quartet next semester!
2. One of my teachers wrote a piece for a voice student here & asked me to play the cello part!!
3. This same teacher also asked me to come up with a working title for a piece that she will write for me ... I'm thinking of doing something with Loki, or maybe turning it into a bigger idea... like a whole mythology suite... or even different... I'm thinking of commissioning one piece from each mythology from a different composer - that would be neat!!
4. I got hired to play Amahl & the Night Visitors with my old high school in february
5. I'm done with Ear Training!! NO MORE SOLFEGE!!!! ... I love ear training & and do it all the time on my own... I *hate* solfege.
That's all for now... just trying to get through the end of the semester... it finishes with a Trans-Siberian Orchestra Concert... can't wait... anyway, need to go get food..
2. One of my teachers wrote a piece for a voice student here & asked me to play the cello part!!
3. This same teacher also asked me to come up with a working title for a piece that she will write for me ... I'm thinking of doing something with Loki, or maybe turning it into a bigger idea... like a whole mythology suite... or even different... I'm thinking of commissioning one piece from each mythology from a different composer - that would be neat!!
4. I got hired to play Amahl & the Night Visitors with my old high school in february
5. I'm done with Ear Training!! NO MORE SOLFEGE!!!! ... I love ear training & and do it all the time on my own... I *hate* solfege.
That's all for now... just trying to get through the end of the semester... it finishes with a Trans-Siberian Orchestra Concert... can't wait... anyway, need to go get food..
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