These are 2 videos from 2 concerts (same program). What a fun program, including selections of music from the game Halo, Rossini's William Tell Overture (I got to play cello 2 in the opening cello quintet!), selections from Star Trek, and patriotic music. Unfortunately I was traveling and didn't get to play until the second concert, at the Ballard Locks in Seattle. It was surprisingly fun to play the music from Halo, which you can hear in this video:
Our principal trumpet player did a solo, "Trumpeter's Lullaby" and did an excellent job! Below is the video from the first concert, which I missed because of traveling for work....
My poor cello didn't fare very well with the outdoor concert. It has a 3" crack from the top of the f-hole to the purfling. Fortunately it isn't in a horrible spot, but still I was *not* very happy to see that crack. Next week I will take it to get fixed. I was happy that I brought my older cello, not my new Dungey cello.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
it's been a while!
I haven't posted in a while...been very busy with work and travel. I'm still trying to keep up with practicing but it's much harder now that my travel has started picking up again. My favorite Hertz attendant at the San Jose airport told me that he believes that business is picking up because rental returns are up to 1/2 of their pre-downturn levels, after dropping to about 1/4 the rate at the worst.
I'm continuing to work on the same things, mainly on bowing. I think I've finally found a bow grip that doesn't hurt my thumb. I had to work on getting my pinky to be supple and to be an active part of bowing. It felt like it took forever. I spent lots of my practice time just bowing on open strings trying to get a feel for the string. Thank goodness my sound started to get better; it was getting very discouraging when I felt like I had started all the way back at the very beginning. Now I'm working on making my tone sound great while I'm changing bow speed. Also I'm trying to keep a steady vibrato when I'm changing bow speeds...once I get more comfortable with that I'll start trying to vary my vibrato speed too. But one thing at a time.
Orchestra had a concert a few weeks ago and I finally listened to part of the concert. I traveled the entire week prior to the concert and came home the day before - not optimal for getting back into playing. I practiced the morning of the concert and by concert time was feeling better about my playing. In one piece, Sibelius Spring Song, my stand partner and I opened up the piece with the melody, which we held for quite a while. The violins came in and doubled with us, but it took quite a while before the cello section was together. I thought we did a good job.
I'm continuing to work on the same things, mainly on bowing. I think I've finally found a bow grip that doesn't hurt my thumb. I had to work on getting my pinky to be supple and to be an active part of bowing. It felt like it took forever. I spent lots of my practice time just bowing on open strings trying to get a feel for the string. Thank goodness my sound started to get better; it was getting very discouraging when I felt like I had started all the way back at the very beginning. Now I'm working on making my tone sound great while I'm changing bow speed. Also I'm trying to keep a steady vibrato when I'm changing bow speeds...once I get more comfortable with that I'll start trying to vary my vibrato speed too. But one thing at a time.
Orchestra had a concert a few weeks ago and I finally listened to part of the concert. I traveled the entire week prior to the concert and came home the day before - not optimal for getting back into playing. I practiced the morning of the concert and by concert time was feeling better about my playing. In one piece, Sibelius Spring Song, my stand partner and I opened up the piece with the melody, which we held for quite a while. The violins came in and doubled with us, but it took quite a while before the cello section was together. I thought we did a good job.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
570 hours
Last year I started logging my practice time with a goal of averaging 1 hour a day for the year. I added up the time for 2009, and voila! I had reached 570 hours! This includes piano and cello time, rehearsals, and basically any playing time. I figure that even performances are 'practice' of some kind - just the kind where there are no 'do-overs'.
I'm happy with the results, and have begun logging my time for this year. I still have the same goal - averaging 1 hour a day. This year I expect to travel more than last year, which really impacts my playing time. Last year I traveled 50% less than the previous year, and didn't travel at all for the first 5 months of 2009.
I didn't set specific playing goals last year because I'm not sure how to quantify 'playing better'. I am happy that my playing has improved, and the longer I play the more amazed I am at how much there is still to learn.
Some of the things I'm working on now -
--arm weight, all the time!
--vibrato, getting more control over speed and width
--crossing strings, making the sound more even and reducing the gap in sound
--an even sound..working towards being able to really control dynamics
--getting rid of all of the pain in my right thumb
and a random one, just because
--reading through all of Beethoven's piano sonatas
Why? I've played many of them but not all 32...so I started from sonata number 1 a few weeks ago and have been working my way through. I played sonata number 8 yesterday. I hope to make it through by the end of the year...am now starting to hear him enter into his middle period and losing the heavy Hadyn influence of the early works. I'm also hearing how much playing chamber music has helped me steady out my rhythm. I'm finding that playing the slower movements is much easier because of all of the practice counting.
So here's to 2010! Happy New Year to all!
I'm happy with the results, and have begun logging my time for this year. I still have the same goal - averaging 1 hour a day. This year I expect to travel more than last year, which really impacts my playing time. Last year I traveled 50% less than the previous year, and didn't travel at all for the first 5 months of 2009.
I didn't set specific playing goals last year because I'm not sure how to quantify 'playing better'. I am happy that my playing has improved, and the longer I play the more amazed I am at how much there is still to learn.
Some of the things I'm working on now -
--arm weight, all the time!
--vibrato, getting more control over speed and width
--crossing strings, making the sound more even and reducing the gap in sound
--an even sound..working towards being able to really control dynamics
--getting rid of all of the pain in my right thumb
and a random one, just because
--reading through all of Beethoven's piano sonatas
Why? I've played many of them but not all 32...so I started from sonata number 1 a few weeks ago and have been working my way through. I played sonata number 8 yesterday. I hope to make it through by the end of the year...am now starting to hear him enter into his middle period and losing the heavy Hadyn influence of the early works. I'm also hearing how much playing chamber music has helped me steady out my rhythm. I'm finding that playing the slower movements is much easier because of all of the practice counting.
So here's to 2010! Happy New Year to all!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Holiday concert report
we had 2 holiday concerts last week, playing the same program. The second concert was at the Seattle Center. We were supposed to play there last year but our concert was canceled because of the snow (how quickly we forget...last year at this time we were on our way to 3 feet of snow at our house)
We had 3 weeks of rehearsals prior to the concert. Most of the pieces we had played during previous seasons, so getting ready was pretty straightforward for most of us. I thought we played better during the second concert. It was an all-holiday music concert, including favorites like "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas" "Sleigh Ride" and other arrangements of holiday music. My husband's favorite was the arrangement of Channukah pieces we played, with a great viola solo played by our principal violist.
Now we're off until the new year! Happy holidays everyone!
We had 3 weeks of rehearsals prior to the concert. Most of the pieces we had played during previous seasons, so getting ready was pretty straightforward for most of us. I thought we played better during the second concert. It was an all-holiday music concert, including favorites like "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas" "Sleigh Ride" and other arrangements of holiday music. My husband's favorite was the arrangement of Channukah pieces we played, with a great viola solo played by our principal violist.
Now we're off until the new year! Happy holidays everyone!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Breakthrough
I've been taking cello lessons for 6 years now, and it still surprises me that progress is non-linear. I'll notice little to no improvement, then suddenly one day, I'll have a breakthrough.
It was really exciting at my last lesson to have one of those 'aha!' moments when I could finally do something my teacher has been telling me about for years (literally!). I guess I was finally physically ready, and prepared enough for that breakthrough.
I finally could rotate my hand, wrist, and arm to get consistent bow weight on the string all the way to the tip without straining anything (particularly my thumb, which has been sore). I could feel and hear the difference in the richness of tone when I got it right. Like any new breakthough, I couldn't get it right consistently, but when I did I could feel a lot more control over the connection between the bow and the string.
It doesn't seem like much, but it sure has taken a long time to get to this point!
It was really exciting at my last lesson to have one of those 'aha!' moments when I could finally do something my teacher has been telling me about for years (literally!). I guess I was finally physically ready, and prepared enough for that breakthrough.
I finally could rotate my hand, wrist, and arm to get consistent bow weight on the string all the way to the tip without straining anything (particularly my thumb, which has been sore). I could feel and hear the difference in the richness of tone when I got it right. Like any new breakthough, I couldn't get it right consistently, but when I did I could feel a lot more control over the connection between the bow and the string.
It doesn't seem like much, but it sure has taken a long time to get to this point!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Concert report!
We played a concert last weekend, and immediately after it was over I left for the airport and have not had any free time since I returned yesterday. We leave again tomorrow and I'm taking a break from work now...
We played
Magnard Hymn a la Justice (about Dreyfus case)
Verdi Overture to Nabucco
Elgar Enigma Variations
I thought that the orchestra played very well. Even 2 weeks prior to the concert I wasn't sure that we would be ready. There were a few rough spots in the Elgar but we managed to play well.
This was a tough program. The Magnard and Elgar are very challenging pieces. The Magnard had some very high passages in B major where the cellos had the lead. The Elgar has such beautiful writing for the cellos with very challenging rhythms. One variation was all about the cellos and was apparently an inspiration for his cello concerto. It was lovely but not easy to play, one of the themes that repeats all the time is a set of descending seventh intervals, making getting the intonation right challenging. Then there was the finale with the ultra-fast passages, which I played as Note on the Downbeat - mush - Note on the Middle Beat - mush - Note on the Downbeat - all played really fast while accelerating to the final presto section. But all in all I was pretty happy with the way I played.
We played
Magnard Hymn a la Justice (about Dreyfus case)
Verdi Overture to Nabucco
Elgar Enigma Variations
I thought that the orchestra played very well. Even 2 weeks prior to the concert I wasn't sure that we would be ready. There were a few rough spots in the Elgar but we managed to play well.
This was a tough program. The Magnard and Elgar are very challenging pieces. The Magnard had some very high passages in B major where the cellos had the lead. The Elgar has such beautiful writing for the cellos with very challenging rhythms. One variation was all about the cellos and was apparently an inspiration for his cello concerto. It was lovely but not easy to play, one of the themes that repeats all the time is a set of descending seventh intervals, making getting the intonation right challenging. Then there was the finale with the ultra-fast passages, which I played as Note on the Downbeat - mush - Note on the Middle Beat - mush - Note on the Downbeat - all played really fast while accelerating to the final presto section. But all in all I was pretty happy with the way I played.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
My Dungey Cello's Most Excellent Adventure
Christopher delivered my cello last night! It has a new color and is all tuned up.
It looks beautiful! It sounds better than ever
My cello had the most excellent adventure on its way home. Chris stopped in Boise and gave a talk at a cello workshop on his way. He also lent my cello to Zuill Bailey, who played my cello (!), another one of Chris's cellos, and his Gofriller cello during the master class he led there. Chris shot video clips of Zuill Bailey playing all of the cellos and it was so exciting to watch him play my cello! I wish I could have seen the entire class plus listened to him perform the Elgar.
It was cool to hear the different cellos - the other Dungey cello was built in 2005 and it has a much more developed sound. Mine is still so new that while it sounds wonderful, it still sounds like a new cello. And wouldn't it be nice if I could play better...
It looks beautiful! It sounds better than ever
My cello had the most excellent adventure on its way home. Chris stopped in Boise and gave a talk at a cello workshop on his way. He also lent my cello to Zuill Bailey, who played my cello (!), another one of Chris's cellos, and his Gofriller cello during the master class he led there. Chris shot video clips of Zuill Bailey playing all of the cellos and it was so exciting to watch him play my cello! I wish I could have seen the entire class plus listened to him perform the Elgar.
It was cool to hear the different cellos - the other Dungey cello was built in 2005 and it has a much more developed sound. Mine is still so new that while it sounds wonderful, it still sounds like a new cello. And wouldn't it be nice if I could play better...
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