Teaching is amazing!
It's been a great trip so far. I now have two students & I've had a few lessons with each.
Hillary:
Is applying for music therapy for grad school & so is taking up cello again. She used to play regularly, but then took about 2 years off, so we're rebuilding technique and things of that sort. I'm slowly working on getting her to practice more, and she seems to want to go in that direction. I alos might tell her to go buy an actual bow (she has one of those $30 fiberglaass bows that come with beginner cellos...) at some point... But anyway, we're currently working on "The Swan" & scales & using a metronome to improve one's playing. Her left and right hand techniques need some adjustment, but she's getting there & we've been able to talk about things like breathing while playing & learning to be aware of tension... I'm just slightly worried about whether or not I'll be able to prepare her for auditions in time... gonna have to start stepping things up on both ends, I guess... We should be starting some improvisation next week...
Declan:
A 13 year old with a really busy schedule, who also plays guitar. We've had 2 lessons so far. He's definitely got a good sense for music, not to mention a good sense of pitch. His orchestra program at school is only 3 days a week (it started a few years ago) & he has limited practice time, but he seems interested and I sort of figure my job is to talk as much about technique as possible & really just to inspire him & keep throwing more music at him - we've been reading some stuff out of Solo Time for Strings... speaking of which, I need to pick up extra copies of those.
So, those are my two students & teaching them is great, beacause I get to think about my own technique and go over things I do in my lessons, as well as be aware of things I don't go. I'm hoping to find another student or two during the next month/two ... I'm gonna put up flyers to that end really soon.
I also came across this thread recently:
http://p078.ezboard.com/Any-pointers-for-someone-starting-to-teach/fcellofuncellochat.showMessage?topicID=18008.topic
Particularly this part of it:
So: where do you start when teaching:
1. How to sit. Stand in front of chair. Sit on front half. Legs in correct position, sitting upright so back is neither curved nor hyper-extended (arched).
2. How to position the endpin. (You need that before you can play!) Stand back up. Extend endpin so the scroll comes just under the student's nose if it's a bit up in the air, as if he/she is a bit snobby. It won't be perfect - you'll adjust below - but that trick will get you close.
3. Sit back down and show how cello is positioned. Check that the cello is adjusted to the student, not the student the cello. Lots of people seem to want to bend out of the instrument's way - which will only cause them tension and pain later. Talk about how the cello will contact the chest at the breastbone and the sides at the knees with the pegs behind the left ear. If you haven't done this yourself lately, take a look at your posture and see that the left knee is at the corner and the right knee is more on the lower bout. You'll have an easier time explaining it if you check yourself out first!
4. I teach pizz first, then left hand, as everybody wants to play a song. Experience tells me that they'll happily practice bowing open strings for a couple weeks IF they can pluck a song. So for pizz, I teach: Thumb up! Thumb down! Thumb against the fingerboard. Reach out and pluck with 1st finger. I know that sounds kinda silly, but it seems to prevent the thumb under the fingerboard trick that invariably results in plucking with the nail. (Eww!)
5. At this point, I teach the names of the strings. Top to bottom, bottom to top, it doesn't matter. I let adult students choose, actually. I think it makes them feel like they have some choices in it all!
6. Then left hand. I use pencil marks; maybe you like tape. Whatever. I mark the 1 and the 4 only; the concept is that the 2 and 3 get evenly spaced. So we do the "hold the coke can" trick and then turn the hand over and put it on the strings. ALL FOUR FINGERS DOWN AT FIRST. (If you put just 1st finger down, you'll end up with the other fingers going someplace strange. Put all four down and then learn to lift up and set back down.)
7. Practice fun little tunes like D - G (with 4 fingers) - open G. Teaches tuning 4 to the string below. Teaches getting hand into position. Theoretically, if the 1 and 4 are in the right place, it's teaching the spacing, as well. Work on making a good sound that rings, rather than the "thook" that comes when you don't have the string quite right. Show your student that squeezing harder doesn't help make "thook" go away, but making an small adjustment to the finger should.
8. Teach picking up 4th finger and playing 3rd finger. Show how 4 should hover in place, ready to play again as needed. Now you can play Here Comes the Bride: D-G-GG. D-A-F#,G.
9. Finally, teach picking up 4, 3, and 2 to play 1. Check that the hand retains its shape and isn't tipped entirely back for 1 and nothing else is in place any more. (Try it again, because it all WILL be tipped back and out of place!)
10. Now you can teach exciting things like open-string scales going down (4-3-1-0, 4-3-1-0). Once that concept is there, go back up the scale.
11. Now you can play all those exciting beginner pieces - Twinkle, Mary Had a Little Lamb, etc. How fun. All of this is Pizzicato, you realize, right?
12. Now teach the bow. I have students pick up a pencil off my palm first. They'll reach with their fingertips in a surprisingly bow-hold-like way. They also won't grab the pencil with a death grip, which is a good example of how to hold the bow! I transfer that to a bow hold - at the balance point. (Next week, we'll start moving back down towards the frog.)
13. Now you get to teach about making sound - weight, contact point, and bow speed. I usually spend 30 seconds telling adults about how these three relate, then show them how to make a basic sound in the middle of the bow, using average weight and speed with a central contact point. They can play around a bit with changing those things - and knowing about them will help them solve the inevitable problems of crunches, squeeks, and such.
14. I usually ask adults to practice for 5-10 minutes at a time. They can do 1 practice a day or 10 if they like, but limiting the time should limit the problems of sore fingers, tension, etc. I ask them to practice bowing back and forth on all strings -having picked up a pencil first to remind them of the mild grip one uses on a bow. I ask them to practice getting into 1st position - open string, 4 fingers, open string, 4 fingers, etc. on every string. Then scales downwards, a few little ditties, etc.
Next lesson, you'll fix all the problems and work on some basic pieces in whatever book you choose. I usually put hands together on lesson 2, but it depends how they look alone! Then, when you start a piece, go back to pizz. Learn the notes pizz. Then add the bow. The hardest thing is to do both at once - so don't try to at first!"
So anyway, hopefully in the near future, I'll be able to start blogging some more & getting back to talking about technique, cuz I've noticed I haven't been doing too much of that lately... I've also barely been playing lately, but that's because I've had some other stuff to focus on & am a bit behind on school work... can't wait to get back into it though... it's gonna have a new intensity that I can't wait for.
Anyway, guess that's all for now.
-Mike
Monday, November 19, 2007
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
7 Things about Me!
Well folks, I've been tagged by Emily Wright - http://starkravingcello.blogspot.com/ - for 7 things about me, so here goes
1. I started the cello in my junior year of high school when I was 16. I had the privilege of working with the orchestra teacher (a phenomenal cellist named Fred Ostrofsky) every day & I played about 6 hrs. a day once I got into it ... man I miss those days... before that I jumped around on any of the following: keyboard, electric guitar/bass guitar, trumpet, pan flute, ocarina, flute... anything I could get my hands on... I would really love to try out an oboe someday
2. My experiences with guitar still sick with me a lot!! I'm actually something of an anomaly I think... my main musical inspiration is & always has been heavy metal. Metallica's self-titled was my first cd that I bought & from there, add in some Iron Maiden & Pantera, then some of the more progressive bands (Queensryche, Dream Theater & more) and you've got about half of my musical foundation (oh yeah, can't forget Manowar & Nightwish!). To this day, I'm way more enthusiastic about metal & its derivatives than I am about classical & to that end, I'm working on learning metallica songs on cello. One of my larger artistic goals is being in a band & really pushing the heavy metal cello thing (check out Apocalyptica & Break of Reality)... we'll see what comes of that...
3. I really need a planner!! Because... I take on too much all the time & everything gets very chaotic, and while that's often very fun, it doesn't work very well when it comes to professional obligations & school work and grades and stuff...
4. I like to draw & write poetry/song lyrics (though never any songs... I must change this in the future..). I'm also really into anime & think it's a much better medium than live action film.
5. I'm constantly seeking new ideas & ways to push/inspire myself. Right now, musically, that's Cliff Burton & improvising & modes ... also, jamming with friends as much as possible (including a friend who plays a Duduk - an armenian double reeded clarinet type thing that sounds more like a sax. & less like a clarinet) ... you learn so much just from being around others and hearing all the cool shit they do!
6. I like depression (to an extent) ... I mean, it always sucks to go through it, but I feel like it helps me see life so much more clearly ... it reminds me that I'm alive & it really makes me appreciate all the times where I'm happy & inspired & even the times where I'm not... plus I've just always learned so much from it... my first experiences with depression started at the end of middle school & particularly in my first 2 years of high school... I'm lucky I never saw a therapist or any of that crap, they probably would have tried to put me on pills, fuck that! I also like depression b/c it's related to creativity for me (which is cool afterwards when I get these giant bursts of energy & inspiration ... it's also kind of a scary thought...)
7. When I was young, I wanted to be Mark Hamill... well Luke Skywalker more accurately! Star Wars Trilogy is damn awesome... only thing that compares to it (movie-wise) is the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Edit: Whoops! Forgot to tag people... I tage Eric Edberg (http://ericedberg.blogspot.com/), and Terry (http://folkcello.blogspot.com/)
Thanks to Emily for the Tag!
1. I started the cello in my junior year of high school when I was 16. I had the privilege of working with the orchestra teacher (a phenomenal cellist named Fred Ostrofsky) every day & I played about 6 hrs. a day once I got into it ... man I miss those days... before that I jumped around on any of the following: keyboard, electric guitar/bass guitar, trumpet, pan flute, ocarina, flute... anything I could get my hands on... I would really love to try out an oboe someday
2. My experiences with guitar still sick with me a lot!! I'm actually something of an anomaly I think... my main musical inspiration is & always has been heavy metal. Metallica's self-titled was my first cd that I bought & from there, add in some Iron Maiden & Pantera, then some of the more progressive bands (Queensryche, Dream Theater & more) and you've got about half of my musical foundation (oh yeah, can't forget Manowar & Nightwish!). To this day, I'm way more enthusiastic about metal & its derivatives than I am about classical & to that end, I'm working on learning metallica songs on cello. One of my larger artistic goals is being in a band & really pushing the heavy metal cello thing (check out Apocalyptica & Break of Reality)... we'll see what comes of that...
3. I really need a planner!! Because... I take on too much all the time & everything gets very chaotic, and while that's often very fun, it doesn't work very well when it comes to professional obligations & school work and grades and stuff...
4. I like to draw & write poetry/song lyrics (though never any songs... I must change this in the future..). I'm also really into anime & think it's a much better medium than live action film.
5. I'm constantly seeking new ideas & ways to push/inspire myself. Right now, musically, that's Cliff Burton & improvising & modes ... also, jamming with friends as much as possible (including a friend who plays a Duduk - an armenian double reeded clarinet type thing that sounds more like a sax. & less like a clarinet) ... you learn so much just from being around others and hearing all the cool shit they do!
6. I like depression (to an extent) ... I mean, it always sucks to go through it, but I feel like it helps me see life so much more clearly ... it reminds me that I'm alive & it really makes me appreciate all the times where I'm happy & inspired & even the times where I'm not... plus I've just always learned so much from it... my first experiences with depression started at the end of middle school & particularly in my first 2 years of high school... I'm lucky I never saw a therapist or any of that crap, they probably would have tried to put me on pills, fuck that! I also like depression b/c it's related to creativity for me (which is cool afterwards when I get these giant bursts of energy & inspiration ... it's also kind of a scary thought...)
7. When I was young, I wanted to be Mark Hamill... well Luke Skywalker more accurately! Star Wars Trilogy is damn awesome... only thing that compares to it (movie-wise) is the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Edit: Whoops! Forgot to tag people... I tage Eric Edberg (http://ericedberg.blogspot.com/), and Terry (http://folkcello.blogspot.com/)
Thanks to Emily for the Tag!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Reflections & Developments
Ok, so first the recital.
It went quite well ... I got a new and different sense of the musicality of the Bach suits (1 & 2) from it & I started to hear the lines in things in a way that I hadn't before... there were some mess ups & memory slips, but not in a frantic/nervous kind of way & i kept going... still awaiting comments from the teachers about it. I've learned about a new level of intensity and of immersion with music from working on these two suites & from now on, it's always going to be the way I work on music.
The second half of it was to me the more interesting half & let me say it was so much fun!! It started off with Hindemith (cello/clarinet), which went really well... almost perfectly... I'm probably going to use one or two on my myspace. They're such cool pieces & i really want to explore Renaissance music more when I get a chance (they're written in the form of a bicenium, basically a renaissance duet). After that was Jen's piece "It Takes Two" ... I think we nailed it a lot better musically than the first time we played it, though I still think I could do more with it - it's really cool how stuff grows the more you perform it. After that was my own piece. It was a really special moment for me, since I'm the only person who's performed the piece & I really got a chance to see how much I've grown since I played it in April.. I almost played it perfectly... probably going to put that recording up on myspace as well... I really want to get it out amongst other cellists b/c I think it's got good potential & it seems to grab people when I play it. The last piece was the most meaningful for me on the recital. Not only was it a jazz piece, but it was done on electric cello, which is so important to who I am musically... the more time goes on, the more I feel my heavy metal roots pulling at me. I'm kind of itching to get into a band environment soon, or at least to collaborate with others.
So the recital was a special experience... I've got a cd of it & video files soon to come (they'd b done already, but i can't seem to get WMVs to play properly on my mac.
Next in the list, I've got a student now. Her name is Hillary, she's a few years older than me & used to really play a lot in college, but hasn't played in about 2 years. So she's pretty much the perfect student for me, because she's at a level I can teach very well & she can understand what I'm expressing pretty easily. It's great for me, because I'm learning things about how to teach & it's filling in gaps in my musical knowledge. She's applying for music therapy for grad. school & I think we work really well together, so I'm looking forward to seeing how things develop. I need to get her to develop stronger practice habits, but she'll get there if that's what she wants.
Following my recital, I made a decision ... I'm going to start learning more and more guitar music on cello & particularly heavy metal. So where better to start, but metallica? I'm working on my blues scales & on learning their songs by ear. It's so cool, b/c they're foundationally and formally simple (not to mention I have almost all of them memorized in my head anyway), but technically they're quite challenging and exciting. On top of all this, it brings me back to a day where I was even more immersed in a constantly stimulating world of music than I am now... it's so great to be heading back in that direction.
I visited my old high school as well - that's always great inspiration because of Fred Ostrofsky (my first teacher) ... his technique has always been something I try to aspire and match & it helps me drive myself. Plus, he let me play some bach for the orchestra & he put my program/notes up on his bulletin board, which means so much to me. He also told me to get in touch with the local cello teacher b/c we apparently have similar interests with the electric cello stuff.
Later that day I had a lesson with my teacher & we started talking about technique... it got a bit rocky from there... he said that for double stop extensions I need to rotate my hand so that my fingers were more slanted (he didn't use those words) & when I did this, I found that I really didn't like it & that it caused my hand to lock up... he then commented that keeping the first finger straight and extending was wrong & would raise a red flag in grad. school auditions ... I have very strong memories of my first teacher doing just that though & he has the most relaxed left hand I've come across. Then we got to bowing, and my teacher mentioned that it wasn't ok at any point for the lower knuckles on the pinky & ring finger to collapse/be lower than the other two... immediately, my thoughts went to Steven Isserlis who not only has the most relaxed bow-hold I've seen, but does just that... I think the root of some of this is that we have a different concept of the sound we want to achieve & I'm glad that we do b/c it means I'm retaining my own identity ... but yeah, kinda of a rocky area that I need to explore more... I wish I was explaining the discussion better, but it's a bit new to me...
There were other parts of that lesson that were really encouraging... he was apparently impressed by the musicality of my recital, which means worlds to me & he wants me to develop more with orchestration, conducting & electronics so that I can be in leadership positions more (putting together or leading ensembles or stuff of that sort), which should make me more marketable to schools (along with my other interests) later on... I'm glad to have had this conversation b/c essentially he's encouraging the area I want to move in... time to get that alternative cello ensemble together!!!
On a really cool note, I was having a giant music discussion with one of my friends during lunch & I don't remember everything we covered (though we did cover the similarities/differences between rock & classical... I'm lending her Metallica's S&M cd...). But the coolest part of this... she's bringing her Duduk & we're going to jam/write a piece for cello & Duduk... she's gonna introduce to me more to middle eastern music theory ... this is really gonna be quite exciting & we have months to do this (for the composer's concert in april)
On a final note, check out this interview with Yo-Yo Ma... I really learned some cool things about him & his music making from it that I was surprised to find out:
http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2007/10/19
If anybody would like to see/try my piece "War of the 2 Tribes" drop me a message.
It went quite well ... I got a new and different sense of the musicality of the Bach suits (1 & 2) from it & I started to hear the lines in things in a way that I hadn't before... there were some mess ups & memory slips, but not in a frantic/nervous kind of way & i kept going... still awaiting comments from the teachers about it. I've learned about a new level of intensity and of immersion with music from working on these two suites & from now on, it's always going to be the way I work on music.
The second half of it was to me the more interesting half & let me say it was so much fun!! It started off with Hindemith (cello/clarinet), which went really well... almost perfectly... I'm probably going to use one or two on my myspace. They're such cool pieces & i really want to explore Renaissance music more when I get a chance (they're written in the form of a bicenium, basically a renaissance duet). After that was Jen's piece "It Takes Two" ... I think we nailed it a lot better musically than the first time we played it, though I still think I could do more with it - it's really cool how stuff grows the more you perform it. After that was my own piece. It was a really special moment for me, since I'm the only person who's performed the piece & I really got a chance to see how much I've grown since I played it in April.. I almost played it perfectly... probably going to put that recording up on myspace as well... I really want to get it out amongst other cellists b/c I think it's got good potential & it seems to grab people when I play it. The last piece was the most meaningful for me on the recital. Not only was it a jazz piece, but it was done on electric cello, which is so important to who I am musically... the more time goes on, the more I feel my heavy metal roots pulling at me. I'm kind of itching to get into a band environment soon, or at least to collaborate with others.
So the recital was a special experience... I've got a cd of it & video files soon to come (they'd b done already, but i can't seem to get WMVs to play properly on my mac.
Next in the list, I've got a student now. Her name is Hillary, she's a few years older than me & used to really play a lot in college, but hasn't played in about 2 years. So she's pretty much the perfect student for me, because she's at a level I can teach very well & she can understand what I'm expressing pretty easily. It's great for me, because I'm learning things about how to teach & it's filling in gaps in my musical knowledge. She's applying for music therapy for grad. school & I think we work really well together, so I'm looking forward to seeing how things develop. I need to get her to develop stronger practice habits, but she'll get there if that's what she wants.
Following my recital, I made a decision ... I'm going to start learning more and more guitar music on cello & particularly heavy metal. So where better to start, but metallica? I'm working on my blues scales & on learning their songs by ear. It's so cool, b/c they're foundationally and formally simple (not to mention I have almost all of them memorized in my head anyway), but technically they're quite challenging and exciting. On top of all this, it brings me back to a day where I was even more immersed in a constantly stimulating world of music than I am now... it's so great to be heading back in that direction.
I visited my old high school as well - that's always great inspiration because of Fred Ostrofsky (my first teacher) ... his technique has always been something I try to aspire and match & it helps me drive myself. Plus, he let me play some bach for the orchestra & he put my program/notes up on his bulletin board, which means so much to me. He also told me to get in touch with the local cello teacher b/c we apparently have similar interests with the electric cello stuff.
Later that day I had a lesson with my teacher & we started talking about technique... it got a bit rocky from there... he said that for double stop extensions I need to rotate my hand so that my fingers were more slanted (he didn't use those words) & when I did this, I found that I really didn't like it & that it caused my hand to lock up... he then commented that keeping the first finger straight and extending was wrong & would raise a red flag in grad. school auditions ... I have very strong memories of my first teacher doing just that though & he has the most relaxed left hand I've come across. Then we got to bowing, and my teacher mentioned that it wasn't ok at any point for the lower knuckles on the pinky & ring finger to collapse/be lower than the other two... immediately, my thoughts went to Steven Isserlis who not only has the most relaxed bow-hold I've seen, but does just that... I think the root of some of this is that we have a different concept of the sound we want to achieve & I'm glad that we do b/c it means I'm retaining my own identity ... but yeah, kinda of a rocky area that I need to explore more... I wish I was explaining the discussion better, but it's a bit new to me...
There were other parts of that lesson that were really encouraging... he was apparently impressed by the musicality of my recital, which means worlds to me & he wants me to develop more with orchestration, conducting & electronics so that I can be in leadership positions more (putting together or leading ensembles or stuff of that sort), which should make me more marketable to schools (along with my other interests) later on... I'm glad to have had this conversation b/c essentially he's encouraging the area I want to move in... time to get that alternative cello ensemble together!!!
On a really cool note, I was having a giant music discussion with one of my friends during lunch & I don't remember everything we covered (though we did cover the similarities/differences between rock & classical... I'm lending her Metallica's S&M cd...). But the coolest part of this... she's bringing her Duduk & we're going to jam/write a piece for cello & Duduk... she's gonna introduce to me more to middle eastern music theory ... this is really gonna be quite exciting & we have months to do this (for the composer's concert in april)
On a final note, check out this interview with Yo-Yo Ma... I really learned some cool things about him & his music making from it that I was surprised to find out:
http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2007/10/19
If anybody would like to see/try my piece "War of the 2 Tribes" drop me a message.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
I almost want to sustain this moment in my life...
I was talking with my brother earlier, and I realized that when I go up on stage tomorrow, I'll be leaving part of myself behind... losing it... it's almost bittersweet; I almost want to hold tight to my life where it is now ... tomorrow's it though - the recital's there.
And with that recital, comes a transition... right now, I'm mike, the kid who's obsessed with the cello, who's studying it in school ... but when I walk on stage, I'm mike the artist ... it's the first time I've ever designed my own program or held my own concert ... it's the first time people are coming of their own accord to see Mike the Artist... and that may have been inspired by Mike the kid, but they're not there to see him ... they're there for the music...
On top of that... since it's a first, it means it's an experience I'll never have again... which means I'm leaving part of my life behind and journeying somewhere else... I'm looking forward to it... but at the same time, I want to hold on to what I have right now... it's kind of the last moment of peace... a goodbye, before parting ways...
Regardless off all this analysis though, I don't think anything's ever meant so much to me in my life before... at least not in this way...
It's going to be such an amazing experience...
And with that recital, comes a transition... right now, I'm mike, the kid who's obsessed with the cello, who's studying it in school ... but when I walk on stage, I'm mike the artist ... it's the first time I've ever designed my own program or held my own concert ... it's the first time people are coming of their own accord to see Mike the Artist... and that may have been inspired by Mike the kid, but they're not there to see him ... they're there for the music...
On top of that... since it's a first, it means it's an experience I'll never have again... which means I'm leaving part of my life behind and journeying somewhere else... I'm looking forward to it... but at the same time, I want to hold on to what I have right now... it's kind of the last moment of peace... a goodbye, before parting ways...
Regardless off all this analysis though, I don't think anything's ever meant so much to me in my life before... at least not in this way...
It's going to be such an amazing experience...
Friday, October 19, 2007
I only wished...
I only wished
To become something beautiful
Through my music
Through my silent devotion
-Nightwish
I had a wish granted tonight... I saw Nightwish for the 3rd time. It was quite an amazing set, though the balance was off, and the band has quite a bit of room for growth (in a really good way). They have a new live chemistry that they didn't have previously and their new material is absolutely amazing!!
It made me think back on Nightwish and their music & the connection/impact it's had on my life... and more recently, my separation from it... maybe not separation, but I feel like I'm losing creativity b/c I don't have room to breathe (largely due to taking so many music classes & working so hard at cello). But it reminded me about what I love about music & why I do it. Plus, yet again, I have another influence pushing me to want to work in some kind of band environment... I just don't know what to do about that ... I feel much more comfortable on keys than cello for something like that, but I enjoy playing cello more (usually...) & of the 2, it almost seems like I'm destined to play the cello... I just need to figure out how to incorporate that into a band environment...
In other news, I have my recital in 2 days - it will be a great relief when it's over... I've grown so much in preparing for it, though I've also become more aware of my shortcomings and I've learned a lot about what to do to prepare for a concert & how not to promote it ... the program is as follows:
Bach Suites 1 & 2
Intermission
Duets for Double Bass/Clarinet by Hindemith
It Takes Two by Jen Castellano
War of the 2 Tribes by *Me*
Life Song by Robben Ford
Everything is in great shape, except Life Song, which has been quite a challenge, since it's a guitar part that I'm learning on cello... I'm worried that I'm not gonna get the rest of it in like the random hour or two of spare time I have on friday... but hey, whatever happens, happens..> I get the form/harmony of it, so I can fake/improv parts if need be...
Also, I give my first cello lesson on sunday, which I'm extremely happy & nervous about
... should be really interesting to meet my first student... I'm so worried I'm not gonna know how or what to teach though, even though i've done some before... ... I suspect this will go away when I'm actually in the lesson... I have a natural thing fro teaching.. in the same way I do for performing (which is not to say that both skills don't need to be further developed, b/c they definitely do!!)
Musical Goals for the near future:
1. Learn more guitar-oriented music on cello, starting with Nightwish. Analyze the Form/Harmony as much as possible
2. Put more time into Piano/keyboard
3. Improv my bow technique substantially, so that I can delve even further into the music I'm working on
4. Write more music
In other cool news, I've had a multi-FX pedal & a synthesizer passed on to me... damn is that cool!! I've only played with the synth twice now, but it's so exciting!! (it's a very old casio...). I'm going to learn more about it/synthesis in general when I get a chance... looking forward to december break, b/c I'm going to do a lot of musical exploration over it!!
So that's it for now... can't wait for this weekend to finish & to start working on new music... I'm already thinking about next year's recital and have so many different ideas in mind...
To become something beautiful
Through my music
Through my silent devotion
-Nightwish
I had a wish granted tonight... I saw Nightwish for the 3rd time. It was quite an amazing set, though the balance was off, and the band has quite a bit of room for growth (in a really good way). They have a new live chemistry that they didn't have previously and their new material is absolutely amazing!!
It made me think back on Nightwish and their music & the connection/impact it's had on my life... and more recently, my separation from it... maybe not separation, but I feel like I'm losing creativity b/c I don't have room to breathe (largely due to taking so many music classes & working so hard at cello). But it reminded me about what I love about music & why I do it. Plus, yet again, I have another influence pushing me to want to work in some kind of band environment... I just don't know what to do about that ... I feel much more comfortable on keys than cello for something like that, but I enjoy playing cello more (usually...) & of the 2, it almost seems like I'm destined to play the cello... I just need to figure out how to incorporate that into a band environment...
In other news, I have my recital in 2 days - it will be a great relief when it's over... I've grown so much in preparing for it, though I've also become more aware of my shortcomings and I've learned a lot about what to do to prepare for a concert & how not to promote it ... the program is as follows:
Bach Suites 1 & 2
Intermission
Duets for Double Bass/Clarinet by Hindemith
It Takes Two by Jen Castellano
War of the 2 Tribes by *Me*
Life Song by Robben Ford
Everything is in great shape, except Life Song, which has been quite a challenge, since it's a guitar part that I'm learning on cello... I'm worried that I'm not gonna get the rest of it in like the random hour or two of spare time I have on friday... but hey, whatever happens, happens..> I get the form/harmony of it, so I can fake/improv parts if need be...
Also, I give my first cello lesson on sunday, which I'm extremely happy & nervous about
... should be really interesting to meet my first student... I'm so worried I'm not gonna know how or what to teach though, even though i've done some before... ... I suspect this will go away when I'm actually in the lesson... I have a natural thing fro teaching.. in the same way I do for performing (which is not to say that both skills don't need to be further developed, b/c they definitely do!!)
Musical Goals for the near future:
1. Learn more guitar-oriented music on cello, starting with Nightwish. Analyze the Form/Harmony as much as possible
2. Put more time into Piano/keyboard
3. Improv my bow technique substantially, so that I can delve even further into the music I'm working on
4. Write more music
In other cool news, I've had a multi-FX pedal & a synthesizer passed on to me... damn is that cool!! I've only played with the synth twice now, but it's so exciting!! (it's a very old casio...). I'm going to learn more about it/synthesis in general when I get a chance... looking forward to december break, b/c I'm going to do a lot of musical exploration over it!!
So that's it for now... can't wait for this weekend to finish & to start working on new music... I'm already thinking about next year's recital and have so many different ideas in mind...
Friday, September 28, 2007
An Amazing Day of Music!!
So yesterday I had some quite awesome experiences. To start with, I was in Elliot Magaziner's Office during my normal time (he's the conductor, I'm the orchestra manager) & my friend comes over to chill. So we're looking through past programs and music that the conductor had. First of all, there were some amazing orchestral programs in the past (he's been there for about 40 years or so now). There were programs where they did all of Carnival of the Animals, or had Shostakovitch & Mahler on the same program... I wish we could do things of that caliber in orchestra now...
2 exciting discoveries came out of this:
1. A set of duets for cello & violin where the cello part is mostly in treble cleff. My teacher is going to coach it next semester & had a few other ideas of things we could wok on.
2. Copies of the "From the New World" When it was Symphony No. 5 (apparently they discovered back in the 70s that there were some more in between 4 & the rest...)
So that was really cool. On top of that, I had a neat lesson. Since we've gone through the 1st 2 Bach Suites in my previous 3 lessons, and the rest of the music on my recital is basically chamber music, we took a bit of a different direction this time. We worked on technique, first doing octave shifts & concentrating on alignment, then coming up with the idea of doing octave double stops, which is quite cool. Then my teacher introduced me to the "nail that pitch in thumb position" game, and said that I should do that while practicing to really solidify my pitch in that register and to develop reference points. After that (or maybe it was before all this), we worked on Popper 11, which I did pretty well on considering that I haven't looked at it in weeks. We talked about some of the harmony in it & the practice methods for it (doing it *really* slowly for intonation & hand position) & right hand technique, which involved a loose wrist, jumping off the strings with the elbow of the bow hand for string skips & having firm fingers. So basically it was a cool & somewhat more relaxed, but still instructional lesson. Now I have all this work to do on Bach, and I still need to learn my piece that I'm rehearsing to night for cello/clarinet (it's an original work by Jen Castellano)...
So anyway, here's the amazing part. My friend Andrew (from earlier) & I go up to Pleasantville to see Brian Skarstad to get our bows rehaired. To start off, he's an amazing violin maker - really knows his stuff & is quite cool. We talk about music and stuff for a bit, I recommended Break of Reality to him. Then he asks us if we want to see something cool... He pulls out a violin from a crappy plastic case & says "This is Paganini's Violin". I asked him how he could possibly know that (and of course was wondering how it's in Pleasantville, NY of all places, instead of... um, Italy!). He pulls out this book with pictures of rare violins & looks it up in there. Sure enough, it had the same markings and patterns and all that. Here's some pictures of it http://www.giordanoviolins.com/english/cannone02.html . So after that amazing experience, we talked a bit more, gave him our bows to rehair, and I went home & started looking up Paganini... I wish I could play some of his music, because he would have so many interesting stories for program notes... I'd say maybe I could shoot for one of the caprices for next year, but I'm not sure I'd believe it.
After that, I practiced for about 3 hours straight... well, probably about an hour/hour and a half was experimenting with alignment, which was quite productive. The rest was slow practice spent on the Allemande from the 2nd Bach suite & on technique (I'm evolving my previous method):
1. Play a barred fifth in tempo with the following rhythms - 1 Quarter, 2 8th, 3 Triplets, 4 Sixteenths ... basically working on subdivisions of 1, 2, 3 & 4 ... I'm going to add in quintuplets, sextuplets, septuplets & 32nd notes eventually, which should prove quite challenging even at slow tempos.
2. Repeat the above, only change the interval from a P5 to a M6 - great for intonation/hand position & callous building.
Afterwards, while I was reading stories about Paganini, I became inspired to start writing music & wrote the intro to what I think is going to be a suite for solo cello... I really want to start to work some writing for flute into my stuff soon too...
That's all for now... dress rehearsal that I'm not ready for today & then a performance on sunday - Then I have 5 days to have all my recital material perfect!! Also, playing at a memorial service for a teacher who passed away last year...
2 exciting discoveries came out of this:
1. A set of duets for cello & violin where the cello part is mostly in treble cleff. My teacher is going to coach it next semester & had a few other ideas of things we could wok on.
2. Copies of the "From the New World" When it was Symphony No. 5 (apparently they discovered back in the 70s that there were some more in between 4 & the rest...)
So that was really cool. On top of that, I had a neat lesson. Since we've gone through the 1st 2 Bach Suites in my previous 3 lessons, and the rest of the music on my recital is basically chamber music, we took a bit of a different direction this time. We worked on technique, first doing octave shifts & concentrating on alignment, then coming up with the idea of doing octave double stops, which is quite cool. Then my teacher introduced me to the "nail that pitch in thumb position" game, and said that I should do that while practicing to really solidify my pitch in that register and to develop reference points. After that (or maybe it was before all this), we worked on Popper 11, which I did pretty well on considering that I haven't looked at it in weeks. We talked about some of the harmony in it & the practice methods for it (doing it *really* slowly for intonation & hand position) & right hand technique, which involved a loose wrist, jumping off the strings with the elbow of the bow hand for string skips & having firm fingers. So basically it was a cool & somewhat more relaxed, but still instructional lesson. Now I have all this work to do on Bach, and I still need to learn my piece that I'm rehearsing to night for cello/clarinet (it's an original work by Jen Castellano)...
So anyway, here's the amazing part. My friend Andrew (from earlier) & I go up to Pleasantville to see Brian Skarstad to get our bows rehaired. To start off, he's an amazing violin maker - really knows his stuff & is quite cool. We talk about music and stuff for a bit, I recommended Break of Reality to him. Then he asks us if we want to see something cool... He pulls out a violin from a crappy plastic case & says "This is Paganini's Violin". I asked him how he could possibly know that (and of course was wondering how it's in Pleasantville, NY of all places, instead of... um, Italy!). He pulls out this book with pictures of rare violins & looks it up in there. Sure enough, it had the same markings and patterns and all that. Here's some pictures of it http://www.giordanoviolins.com/english/cannone02.html . So after that amazing experience, we talked a bit more, gave him our bows to rehair, and I went home & started looking up Paganini... I wish I could play some of his music, because he would have so many interesting stories for program notes... I'd say maybe I could shoot for one of the caprices for next year, but I'm not sure I'd believe it.
After that, I practiced for about 3 hours straight... well, probably about an hour/hour and a half was experimenting with alignment, which was quite productive. The rest was slow practice spent on the Allemande from the 2nd Bach suite & on technique (I'm evolving my previous method):
1. Play a barred fifth in tempo with the following rhythms - 1 Quarter, 2 8th, 3 Triplets, 4 Sixteenths ... basically working on subdivisions of 1, 2, 3 & 4 ... I'm going to add in quintuplets, sextuplets, septuplets & 32nd notes eventually, which should prove quite challenging even at slow tempos.
2. Repeat the above, only change the interval from a P5 to a M6 - great for intonation/hand position & callous building.
Afterwards, while I was reading stories about Paganini, I became inspired to start writing music & wrote the intro to what I think is going to be a suite for solo cello... I really want to start to work some writing for flute into my stuff soon too...
That's all for now... dress rehearsal that I'm not ready for today & then a performance on sunday - Then I have 5 days to have all my recital material perfect!! Also, playing at a memorial service for a teacher who passed away last year...
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Some thoughts & reflections
So, I've been insanely busy lately & haven't had much of a chance to update this... not to mention, i's been a struggle to find enough practice time, which is beginning to frustrate me - it's so hard not to socialize too mcuh...
On the other hand, some other things of note:
1. Universal Arpeggio Fingerings
minor: 1 4 1
major: 1 4 2
dominant: 1 4 1 2 (change of position always on the septime)
diminished: 1 4 1 4
2. I'm going to stop showing up to lessons underprepared - I don't care what classwork I have to cut out, or how much sleep I don't get - it's extremely unbeneficial to me & the teacher, and everytime I don't practice, I lose that much more of the focus... I need to hang on to my memories of summit more vividly... it's beginning to seem distant though...
I was gonna write more... but I'm awy too exhausted...
On the other hand, some other things of note:
1. Universal Arpeggio Fingerings
minor: 1 4 1
major: 1 4 2
dominant: 1 4 1 2 (change of position always on the septime)
diminished: 1 4 1 4
2. I'm going to stop showing up to lessons underprepared - I don't care what classwork I have to cut out, or how much sleep I don't get - it's extremely unbeneficial to me & the teacher, and everytime I don't practice, I lose that much more of the focus... I need to hang on to my memories of summit more vividly... it's beginning to seem distant though...
I was gonna write more... but I'm awy too exhausted...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)