my saturday group finally met, after more than a month off. The holidays, the weather, travel, all conspired against us. We had 5 of us today! We started with violin/cello - a Telemann piece, very nice. When our violist showed up we started a Mozart Divertmento. Then our other cellist showed up and she and I doubled on the Mozart. When our 2nd violinist showed up we switched to string quintets. I got another shot at the Schubert...one of my all-time favorite pieces...it's so much fun to play. We finished with a Taneev string quintet (2 violins, viola, 2 cellos...there is Taneev string quintet with 2 violas...but we never seem to have 2 violas) That one was deemed worthy of another time reading though it.
very fun and sure nice to play with everyone again!
and really good news ... I got pictures of my new cello ... hope I will get it in a month or so....
Showing posts with label quintet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quintet. Show all posts
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Fun at the Last Gig
We celebrated the new year with a gig at our other cellist's house. It was fun - people listening, drinking, eating, and having a good time. We had a good time playing. You can see me in the back but it's hard to see our other cellist.
We played a number of celtic tunes, our leader the fearless violinist/violist/cellist switched to cello so that we could play a Beethoven piece (op87) arranged for 3 cellos. I was really happy with the way I played - since I was playing first cello for it I spent the entire time (4 movements) in tenor...and even managed to figure out how to play the thumb position parts that were written in tenor. We had been practicing for a while...and this was the best we'd ever played the whole piece (good timing!) We played a Vivaldi violin and cello concerto but I got to take it easy with the cello part while our other cellist (we were at her house) did the solo. The big piece we did was 3 movements from the Schubert quintet - wow! We had our moments good and not so good, but it was so much fun to play it since it is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music.
After the gig was over we drove home in a snowstorm! It was the last bit of snow for us, now that it's warmed up. Poor Washington state, first hit by an unusual amount of snow and now it's warmed up, raining and it's flooding everywhere.
We played a number of celtic tunes, our leader the fearless violinist/violist/cellist switched to cello so that we could play a Beethoven piece (op87) arranged for 3 cellos. I was really happy with the way I played - since I was playing first cello for it I spent the entire time (4 movements) in tenor...and even managed to figure out how to play the thumb position parts that were written in tenor. We had been practicing for a while...and this was the best we'd ever played the whole piece (good timing!) We played a Vivaldi violin and cello concerto but I got to take it easy with the cello part while our other cellist (we were at her house) did the solo. The big piece we did was 3 movements from the Schubert quintet - wow! We had our moments good and not so good, but it was so much fun to play it since it is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music.
After the gig was over we drove home in a snowstorm! It was the last bit of snow for us, now that it's warmed up. Poor Washington state, first hit by an unusual amount of snow and now it's warmed up, raining and it's flooding everywhere.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
random notes - chamber groups...
Just so it's clear that not all of my time has been spent practicing tedious exercises, my groups have been going strong and we've had some excellent sessions.
Last week...we had a sextet! We played the Brahms sextets. I am more familiar with no. 1, the B flat Major sextet. I was glad I was playing second cello on that one - the other cellist sounded incredibly awesome during her solo parts - we had to repeat it so that we could listen to her play it again! It was a level of playing I am aspiring to! we traded and I played Cello 1 on the G maj sextet, but quickly was wishing that I was on Cello 2. One of our violists came a little late, so we had started with a string quintet by Carl Goldmark, 2 violins, 1 viola, 2 cellos, and got through the first movement and defintely want to play the first movement again and explore the rest of it.
Today - we had a piano quintet! Yeah! We played the Schumann and the Brahms piano quintets. It was so much fun. I'm glad I had spent time working on the piano parts, it made playing the cello so much easier today because I had some sense for what was going on in the rest of the parts after staring at the score when playing the piano. Not that the cello parts were easy - the rhythms in the Schumann are tough and the Brahms has some hairy parts for everyone too. They are amazing compositions...
Chamber orchestra rehearsals have been good...I've broken out my metronome to practice my parts. Playing at speed and in an early classical style has been challenging, especially when we are doing the fast movements. And then, sounding good during the slow movements...also challenging. With only 3 cellists (still waiting to get cello #4) we all need to sound good. Instead of playing a concert we are going to record the pieces and produce a CD. It will be fun to get into a studio to play!
Last week...we had a sextet! We played the Brahms sextets. I am more familiar with no. 1, the B flat Major sextet. I was glad I was playing second cello on that one - the other cellist sounded incredibly awesome during her solo parts - we had to repeat it so that we could listen to her play it again! It was a level of playing I am aspiring to! we traded and I played Cello 1 on the G maj sextet, but quickly was wishing that I was on Cello 2. One of our violists came a little late, so we had started with a string quintet by Carl Goldmark, 2 violins, 1 viola, 2 cellos, and got through the first movement and defintely want to play the first movement again and explore the rest of it.
Today - we had a piano quintet! Yeah! We played the Schumann and the Brahms piano quintets. It was so much fun. I'm glad I had spent time working on the piano parts, it made playing the cello so much easier today because I had some sense for what was going on in the rest of the parts after staring at the score when playing the piano. Not that the cello parts were easy - the rhythms in the Schumann are tough and the Brahms has some hairy parts for everyone too. They are amazing compositions...
Chamber orchestra rehearsals have been good...I've broken out my metronome to practice my parts. Playing at speed and in an early classical style has been challenging, especially when we are doing the fast movements. And then, sounding good during the slow movements...also challenging. With only 3 cellists (still waiting to get cello #4) we all need to sound good. Instead of playing a concert we are going to record the pieces and produce a CD. It will be fun to get into a studio to play!
Monday, January 28, 2008
The First Playing of the Brahms Piano Quintet!
No orchestra rehearsal tonight! We got 3 inches of snow at our house, which doesn't sound like much, but my husband could not get his car up the hill today. He ended up taking my car, effectively keeping me at home all day. It is icy and snowy outside and our conductor emailed us all saying that he was stuck at home because of the ice on the hill by his house. So now I don't feel guilty about having to miss orchestra.
Yesterday I got to play with my Sunday chamber group - Cello2 has a bad cold and cancelled our Popper practice. Everyone in the Sunday group was really happy to see me! The cellos show up early so we can play cello-only music before the rest of the group arrives. We started off with a 3-cello piece by Beethoven. It was an arrangement of a 2-oboe + english horn piece. Now I don't remember what it was but we didn't get through all of it and will finish reading it the next time I'm there. My part was completely in tenor clef and it was challenging reading the thumb position parts in tenor way up there...
When the others showed up I switched to the piano and we (finally!) played through the Brahms Piano Quintet. Wow! It is very challenging for everyone. I finally got to find out which sections of it I don't know well enough to fake. The rest of the group did an awesome first reading. We had to stop and restart and figure out who was playing with whom (or not). The rhythms were challenging too - lots of 2 against 3 or 3 against 4, and lots of triplets where the first note of the triplet was a tied note from the previous beat or a rest. When we finished the scherzo, actually all together, we all laughed with sheer joy and relief. If you hear a recording you can hear the straight 16th notes, but in reality the strings alternate who's playing so counting and being dead on the rhythm is crucial for playing that particular section (the piano is playing all the time but is all over the keyboard - and most of the time at the extreme ends of the keyboard). When we finished the last movement, again, there was lots of laughter of sheer relief. That did us in for the day - it's an exhausting piece. But everyone wants to work on it and play it again!
Yesterday I got to play with my Sunday chamber group - Cello2 has a bad cold and cancelled our Popper practice. Everyone in the Sunday group was really happy to see me! The cellos show up early so we can play cello-only music before the rest of the group arrives. We started off with a 3-cello piece by Beethoven. It was an arrangement of a 2-oboe + english horn piece. Now I don't remember what it was but we didn't get through all of it and will finish reading it the next time I'm there. My part was completely in tenor clef and it was challenging reading the thumb position parts in tenor way up there...
When the others showed up I switched to the piano and we (finally!) played through the Brahms Piano Quintet. Wow! It is very challenging for everyone. I finally got to find out which sections of it I don't know well enough to fake. The rest of the group did an awesome first reading. We had to stop and restart and figure out who was playing with whom (or not). The rhythms were challenging too - lots of 2 against 3 or 3 against 4, and lots of triplets where the first note of the triplet was a tied note from the previous beat or a rest. When we finished the scherzo, actually all together, we all laughed with sheer joy and relief. If you hear a recording you can hear the straight 16th notes, but in reality the strings alternate who's playing so counting and being dead on the rhythm is crucial for playing that particular section (the piano is playing all the time but is all over the keyboard - and most of the time at the extreme ends of the keyboard). When we finished the last movement, again, there was lots of laughter of sheer relief. That did us in for the day - it's an exhausting piece. But everyone wants to work on it and play it again!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Finding the perfect sine wave
I'm listening to a recording of a live performance of the Brahms Piano Quartet in G minor on our local classical station KING FM from the Olympic Music Festival. We've really enjoyed heading out to Quilcene and listening to music in the barn. The donkeys that live on the farm are very nice too! The quartet is one of my favorite chamber music pieces. I do love so much of his music. Our chamber group read through this quartet a few months ago. Sightreading it on the piano wasn't a whole lot of fun, but I have to say that it was a good thing it wasn't his Piano Quintet. The Brahms Piano Quintet was originally written as a string quintet; then he changed it into a sonata for 2 pianos, 4 hands. I think Brahms thought he still had 2 pianos when he changed it into the quintet as we know it today. With cello, travel, and work I don't have a lot of time to practice the piano. Sigh. Wish I did - there's so much great chamber music that I'd play better if I actually had some time to practice.
On the cello front my husband commented that he could hear my vibrato smoothing out. Yay, progress!! He normally only notices big macro changes over a few months, so I was pretty excited when he said that my vibrato had gotten much steadier. I am continuing to work trying to control the speed as I move from finger to finger. The other thing my teacher is having me do this week is really concentrate on keeping the bow steady. Those 2 things are all I'm thinking about during practice this week and I can already hear the difference. My revelation for the week was that I don't have to try as hard as I thought I did to make a decent sound!
On the cello front my husband commented that he could hear my vibrato smoothing out. Yay, progress!! He normally only notices big macro changes over a few months, so I was pretty excited when he said that my vibrato had gotten much steadier. I am continuing to work trying to control the speed as I move from finger to finger. The other thing my teacher is having me do this week is really concentrate on keeping the bow steady. Those 2 things are all I'm thinking about during practice this week and I can already hear the difference. My revelation for the week was that I don't have to try as hard as I thought I did to make a decent sound!
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