Tales From The Subway #1

It's been months, but I've finally started playing in the subways again.  it feels really nice to get back to it.  It's amazing how much time of day & location really influence the experience.  My overall favorite spot to play so far has been Union Square - I feel like there's always a great mix of people there who get into the music.


It's been a bit slower getting back into it, but also, very refreshing ... It's very interesting for me to see how I've developed different music over the last year or two, and how I've something I did a year or two ago & added a new twist to it... it's also interesting to see how everything get's faster & faster the longer I play it (sometimes that's good ... sometimes not so much) ... a lot of the time my compositional ideas come from playing in the subway too (I'd say most of them really...)

Take this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExR8dWkb6pc&feature=plcp - I do all the same stuff, but now I have the loop station drone under it & I add a middle eastern sounding section influenced by Gladiator to it

The truly great thing about the subway though is the people you run into - the old friends, the kids, the people whose day you made, the people who dance as you walk by, the whackos, everyone...

I hope to be sharing some of *those* stories in the near future!

Practicing & Scale Methods

Was practicing some scale method stuff earlier (Galamian & Yompolsky) and a few things came up:

1.  Not slurring scale practice - many exercises introduce scales and patterns slurring as many notes as possible.  This is initially a good thing, and great for developing long/legato bow control & beautiful tone...

However, it's also crippling if one doesn't practice things with separate bows & bowing patterns.

As a rule, I am working on nothing slurred anymore.  This is important for metal specifically, and other styles.

2.  Minimal movement - as always, it's essential to find the most efficient way to physically do something... this means the least excess motion... eventually, this becomes natural/direct.  It also means minimal excess tension.  When shifting, keep weight down/keep connected to the cello.

3.  Don't look down!!  I first really encountered this idea while watching a Steven Isserlis masterclass... when you look, you are not listening, and not learning how things feel & you are trapping your face in your cello, which is terrible for audience communication

I wish there was a method oriented around "progressive/alternative styles"... galamian & yompolsky are definitely great though

Setting Goals Again

This year has been fucking weird.

I touched on it a little bit in my last blog ... but basically it is this.  I have never felt more off-track & like I'm wasting my time & talents & not being the best I can.  At the same time, I've never performed so much & never received so much "Wow, you're really amazing" recognition from so many different people ... I've performed in so many different settings, I've performed  in many other states, I've become part of so many awesome things.

Yet at the same time, I haven't finished my album yet (though working at it), and I've spent a lot of time not practicing & not learning & not developing myself more.  I've spent a lot of time unmotivated & depressed.

But I'm moving back into an exciting position.  It resulted from being in the very uncomfortable position of not having my shit ready for recording with one of the bands I'm in.  This led to some intense talks, and I saw myself repeating patterns that really just were terrible.  Because of this, I finally came to terms with this gradual downward spiral & have refocused, and am slowly building myself back into the cellist & person I want to be.

This has started with practicing 2-5 hours 2-3 times a week.  It's extended into also reading/watching interviews & documentaries & exploring music I haven't listened to much, instead of listening to the same "crutch" music.  It's also gone along with exercise.

I feel like playing cello is mastering one small thing after another ... it is destroying weaknesses & carving away so that one's true creative voice can come through.

I think songwriting is the same, and that's always been a challenge for me.  I want things to work so instantly and easily ... I think it's one of the reasons I like improv. so much ... yet, the truth is you really have to work hard at carving - even with improv.

The other truth is that I'm very aimless a lot of the time.  But this gets so much better when I practice.  When I combine that random, spontaneity with discipline, everything becomes a bit more real.

Right now, one of the things I'm really working on is shifting - doing so quickly & accurately ... the upper positions are something I really need to tackle & my electric cello sound is something I need to do *a lot* of work with.  I also think I need to work more on the career side of things (both as a freelancer & as a creative artist) & I think there is really a key in Open Mics.  I really really need to play all the time - it will do me good, and the more people I'm exposed to, the better off things will go.  I also really need to return to playing in the Subways ... I've been avoiding it for a while.

Anyway, this is my headspace for the time being...

I don't know where I belong, or where do I go from here

Actually, I do know where I belong - I belong right here, doing what I'm doing.

Things gave changed a lot over the last year or so.  I think the biggest difference is that so many of my emotional and psychological needs are met now.  This applies to cello as well, the underlying layer of "this needs to be ok, and then everything else will work" is there. 

This in part caused me to blog a lot less (the other things that caused me to blog a lot less were having an active professional life, an active social life, spending a lot of time on facebook/twitter/okcupid, needing to be careful about what I wrote in public).  I think really though, the biggest factor is that the cello stopped being a big mystery to me.  I know how to play it, I can do it fairly well and meaningfully.  If something does not go well these days, it's not because there's some fundamental aspect of playing that's holding me back, it's simply because I didn't practice enough.

As a person I've grown tremendously more secure and am becoming more empowered.  It's as if I spent years planting seeds, and finally the crops bloom, and I took in some time to eat and be wholesome.

Now it is time to plant seeds again.  A commencement speech I watched recently mentioned that we confuse accolades with achievement, and the honest truth is I've done this a lot in the last year, and I've settled for less than my best.  We have a word for this - coasting.  I know that true success is only going to come from always growing and always learning and always accepting that I can do better.  I'm ready to start that again.

So the question is in what manner do I go forward.  This is where most people would go back to school, or get a teacher.  I'm convinced this is not my path.  Part of the development I need to do is crafting my unique sound and compositional style further - carving away the excess.  I've had an improvisatory relationship to technical development for a long time, and I think there is immense benefit in this approach.  There are limits too, but all the techniques and guides of the past are open to me in the form of sheet music, so I can fuse the two.

I also need to invest a significant amount of time into developing better leadership/organizational skills and responsibilities.  I think this is an area I've held myself back in a lot, and I think I could have gone so much further than where I am now.  I also think I need to reach out to others more.  This is something I have stopped doing & I think it will be essential in continuing to be able to do this as a profession.

I have very good luck/serendipity/etc., but I can't rely on that.

Tales From The Road #2 - Here I am ... On the Road Again... (Steampunk World's Fair 2012 Report)

So my life lately has been taken over by Steampunk ... this is a very good thing!

Recently that has meant:
Dorian's Parlor
Watch City
Steampunk World's Fair

Dorian's Parlor: I am the house musician.  There is general awesomeness.

Watch City: A cool outdoor event with a strong historical aspect to it, as well as cool vendors, musicians & panels!  Some things could have been organized better, but all in all, a very cool event.

Steampunk World's Fair: What an experience!!

I'd been looking forward to World's Fair for a long time ... and especially so since Wicked Winter Renessaince Faire (Wicked Faire), which was basically comparable to a religious experience for me (the culmination of which was seeing Ego Likeness)

Steampunk World's Fair was wicked and more ... there were many moments of epicness.  I had sets with Eli August and Psyche Corporation, and saturday night, I got to participate in the most epic parking lot jam with Painless Parker, This Way to the Egress, Magpie Kiljoy (of Steampunk Magazine), other members of Eli's band. and of course Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band, who we met across the parking lot in Showdown Style.

I largely missed the panels I wanted to go to (though I did get to catch one of Mark Donelly's panels on archery) ... particularly I'd been hoping to catch Victorian Sexuality, and Steampunk Emma Goldman, and Jaymee Goh's panels... only so much time in the day though!

Anyway, here are some cool photos from the epicness. Please note: None of these photos were taken by me - they were all publicly posted on FB.

From the 2nd Psyche Corp. Set

"Pound Your Bones Onto the Table..." The beginning of the epic parking lot jam

Bass Lady - Britney Frompovich, who I discovered by accident when she was playing beautiful music in a vendor's room

Shhh, it's a secret

Jamming with Levi Ali (on percussion) .. out of site are the dancers from The Cavalcade of Fancy Ladies

From the first Psyche Corp set ... not so sure the goggles are my look, but damn do I *love* blue lighting

Open door rehearsal for Eli August and the Abandoned Buildings ... first time we'd all met each other!

More rehearsing

Eli August in action ... also Robare Pruyn-Bush on Clarinet, and Elliot Peeples on Floor Tom

Mike Darnell - the bass player for Eli August

Moving Forward

For the last year or so, I've sort of been struggling with what to do with this blog... When I first started out, it was intense, deep thinking about cello technique & playing, and talking about artists I really enjoyed seeing live ... and part of me misses that, and wants to include it more ... on the other hand, I've largely figured out the "how-to" of cello playing (even if I need to practice a lot more), and I've become a *lot* more active as a performer (specifically in the steampunk scene).  One side effect of this is that most of the music I see these days is through that scene (or other people I'm performing with), and I don't want to necessarily be publicly critical about people I'm working with/around ... I've also been struggling with this Wandering Cellist identity, and the fact that I play in a billion groups & do solo stuff & how that all fits together ... And I've got active fb, twitter, emailing, 2nd blog, LJ, and social/intellectual/romantic components to life that take up lots of time ...

In short, I moved to NYC about a year ago, became involved in the steampunk scene & many other cool things, and didn't know what capacity to translate that too in a blog and/or on the web in general... so now I've realized the point is everything ... everything I do is united under The Wandering Cellist ... this blog will reflect that!

Onward...

This Bothers Me

Someone posted this on facebook: http://www.fastcompany.com/1718250/keith-jarrett-save-your-soul-turn-off-your-gadget

The only justification I can see for asking people not to take pictures (besides that some artists are apparently so temperamental that it deeply disturbs them) is that taking pictures interferes with the experience process ... which I think in some ways is a good point...

On the other hand, what I really don't understand:
1. Why is information technology always The Enemy (I mean look at all of us learning languages, and using them as practice tools, and making videos & creating new things constantly with them)
2. Why are classical musicians so bent on controlling audience experience and behavior (aside from acoustic considerations)

Is there an argument for specialization over generalization - hell yes! Does this need to villify information technology? no!

I think it's great to question & challenge IT, I just really wish it would be done in a more balanced & mature way


I don't think that people having their own limits/structure on use of IT is a bad thing (quite the opposite), but everytime I heard about something like this from classical musicians, I just feel like they're being big babies, and it just adds to the list of reasons I don't consider myself a classical musician (even though I sometimes play classical music professionally)

(Isn't it ironic that the author's point is being further made through a blog?)


Hopefully in the near future I'll write about cello and teaching & performing & stuff ... I've been super busy performing & getting away from performing over the last few months ... it's a good thing :)