Saturday I'm playing in a studio orchestra for the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program where we will record original music for some student films. I've done this for the past few years and it is always a lot of fun.
A week from Friday my Sunday group has a gig at a local artwalk. I don't have many details other than when to show up! This Sunday I think we'll have to rehearse the program.
Last night our group got together for a potluck and after eating some really yummy food we broke out our instruments (well, I had to borrow our host's cello...he's the one who plays violin, viola, and cello) and tried out a different arrangement of Handel's Entrance of the Queen of Sheba that we liked much better than the string quartet arrangement we've been playing. This arrangement was scored for 2 violins, viola, cello, and 2 oboes and we are going to use this arrangement next week. We also ran through the Bach double violin concerto and it was really fun to hear our 2 soloists play!
And I'm home for 2 weeks!!! The last time that happened was in early March when I had a stretch of almost 2 weeks at home...
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Graduation
We returned from Longmont Colorado today after attending my niece's high school graduation. It was a festive event; she was co-valedictorian, following in the footsteps of her older sister who was also a top student. We are so proud of her!
We arrived Thursday after the tornado which destroyed about 85 homes in Windsor, about 50 miles north of Denver. My mother-in-law's cousin lives in Windsor and he and his wife were fortunate that their house was not in the path of the tornado, which was 1 mile wide.
We got home early enough today so that I had time to practice after days without access to a cello. Tonight we have orchestra rehearsal, getting ready for our concerts at the end of the month!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Random Notes - while I have some time to post!
I had a rescheduled lesson today, because I was traveling on Friday. I'm off again tomorrow for work, back Wednesday, then out again on Thursday for the holiday weekend to attend a family event. It will be nice to be able to spend most of June at home!
Today's lesson was a continuation of the bowing lesson...I worked really hard all week on making my right hand more flexible, and there was a definite improvement between last week and this week! I have to keep working at this! My control isn't what it should be, especially when practicing fast bows!
On Sunday we had a quartet. I tried to think about playing with a flexible bow hand the whole time and could hear some of the difference in tone and control. We played some gig music (gig on June 6th) to tune it up, and then switched to the Dvorak American quartet. The second movement has such lovely cello solos... After the Dvorak we started reading Beethoven string quartet No. 7, but only got through part of the 1st movement before realizing that we had been playing for over 3 hours and were all toast.
It was so lovely that we got to play outside. Hopefully the neighbors liked what they heard. A few houses down there are some pigs and llamas which I always slow down to see. The llamas were sitting in the shade trying to keep cool. The pigs were resting too...
Today's lesson was a continuation of the bowing lesson...I worked really hard all week on making my right hand more flexible, and there was a definite improvement between last week and this week! I have to keep working at this! My control isn't what it should be, especially when practicing fast bows!
On Sunday we had a quartet. I tried to think about playing with a flexible bow hand the whole time and could hear some of the difference in tone and control. We played some gig music (gig on June 6th) to tune it up, and then switched to the Dvorak American quartet. The second movement has such lovely cello solos... After the Dvorak we started reading Beethoven string quartet No. 7, but only got through part of the 1st movement before realizing that we had been playing for over 3 hours and were all toast.
It was so lovely that we got to play outside. Hopefully the neighbors liked what they heard. A few houses down there are some pigs and llamas which I always slow down to see. The llamas were sitting in the shade trying to keep cool. The pigs were resting too...
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Back to Lesson #1: How to Bow
I had my lesson today, to make up for the lesson I missed last Friday while I was traveling. This month is a disaster when it comes to lessons and schedule; I think I only have one lesson this month during its usual time on Fridays. Thank goodness my teacher has been flexible in rescheduling my lessons!
I joked with my teacher that today's lesson was a lot like my very first lesson, when it was the first time I had ever played a cello. Today we spent time working on bowing. At last week's lesson he commented that my eighth notes weren't very even - my up bows were shorter than my down bows, making the baroque piece (Marcello) I'm playing sound more like it was swinging (not a good style for baroque music!). Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but it reminded me that for far too long I've just settled for not playing even notes very evenly.
So, this week I set out to do something about it. I followed Ms. Emily's very timely advice and tried to figure out what was causing the problem. Actually it wasn't hard to figure out; I knew it already but have not spent any time to fix the problem: my hand and fingers aren't flexible enough on the up bow. The diagnosis was easy but fixing it - well, let's just say that all week I have felt like I can't play the cello.
I told my teacher how awful it's felt to play all week, and we started working on my bowing. He had all sorts of fun analogies. The one that worked best for me was thinking about my index finger like a windshield wiper - back and forth, back and forth. We spent a lot of time during today's lesson with me just bowing on an open string. Playing the open G string was the easiest one for me to feel some semblance of bowing with a flexible hand, wrist, and fingers. I have other problems like the twisting of the bow (teacher's advice: try to grip a little harder, but not too much harder...) and keeping my pinky from locking up too much...
Anyway, I feel like I just started playing again.
I joked with my teacher that today's lesson was a lot like my very first lesson, when it was the first time I had ever played a cello. Today we spent time working on bowing. At last week's lesson he commented that my eighth notes weren't very even - my up bows were shorter than my down bows, making the baroque piece (Marcello) I'm playing sound more like it was swinging (not a good style for baroque music!). Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but it reminded me that for far too long I've just settled for not playing even notes very evenly.
So, this week I set out to do something about it. I followed Ms. Emily's very timely advice and tried to figure out what was causing the problem. Actually it wasn't hard to figure out; I knew it already but have not spent any time to fix the problem: my hand and fingers aren't flexible enough on the up bow. The diagnosis was easy but fixing it - well, let's just say that all week I have felt like I can't play the cello.
I told my teacher how awful it's felt to play all week, and we started working on my bowing. He had all sorts of fun analogies. The one that worked best for me was thinking about my index finger like a windshield wiper - back and forth, back and forth. We spent a lot of time during today's lesson with me just bowing on an open string. Playing the open G string was the easiest one for me to feel some semblance of bowing with a flexible hand, wrist, and fingers. I have other problems like the twisting of the bow (teacher's advice: try to grip a little harder, but not too much harder...) and keeping my pinky from locking up too much...
Anyway, I feel like I just started playing again.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The Mother's Day Weekend Move
We got my mom moved to her new place this weekend and celebrated Mother's Day with her yesterday instead of today. We had to fly home today in order to be home tomorrow for doctor's appointments, work, etc., so it wasn't possible to celebrate on the actual day. Over Friday and Saturday we got most of her things unpacked, the essentials organized, and cleaned and got her out of the old apartment.
I am so glad she found her new place. It is an assisted living facility about a mile away from the house she sold 2 years ago. She and my dad bought the house shortly after they married, and she lived in the house for 50 years before deciding that the house was too much for her. For the past 2 years she has been in a very nice apartment complex, but in the past 2 years she has slowed down considerably, and it has been downright terrifying to watch her go up and down the stairs at the old (hurrah!) apartment.
I am so pleased that she was able to find this place while she could choose where to live. She knows people who live there. When we arrived, there were signs everywhere welcoming her as the new resident. For her first week there, a different person has signed up to go with her to dinner, so that she won't eat alone. One of her dinner 'dates' called not more than 15 minutes after the phone started working, and the person turned out to be someone she knew from elementary/middle school! Everyone we met in the hallway said, "oh, you're the new person!" and welcomed her. One of my dad's cousins lives there and has already signed her up to go on a field trip next week. I think she's going to be very happy with her new living situation.
I travel again on Thursday, so I actually get 3 full days at home! Hopefully some time to practice, which lately in cello blogosphere seems to be a shrinking resource. Hopefully we will all experience an expansion of time and cello practice!
I am so glad she found her new place. It is an assisted living facility about a mile away from the house she sold 2 years ago. She and my dad bought the house shortly after they married, and she lived in the house for 50 years before deciding that the house was too much for her. For the past 2 years she has been in a very nice apartment complex, but in the past 2 years she has slowed down considerably, and it has been downright terrifying to watch her go up and down the stairs at the old (hurrah!) apartment.
I am so pleased that she was able to find this place while she could choose where to live. She knows people who live there. When we arrived, there were signs everywhere welcoming her as the new resident. For her first week there, a different person has signed up to go with her to dinner, so that she won't eat alone. One of her dinner 'dates' called not more than 15 minutes after the phone started working, and the person turned out to be someone she knew from elementary/middle school! Everyone we met in the hallway said, "oh, you're the new person!" and welcomed her. One of my dad's cousins lives there and has already signed her up to go on a field trip next week. I think she's going to be very happy with her new living situation.
I travel again on Thursday, so I actually get 3 full days at home! Hopefully some time to practice, which lately in cello blogosphere seems to be a shrinking resource. Hopefully we will all experience an expansion of time and cello practice!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
The too much travel rant
These past few weeks haven't been good for practicing and playing. I came home on Thursday, after a 10-day stretch where I was home for 1 day. I leave again this Tuesday and come home on Sunday. My travel was supposed to decrease, but instead I'm spending most of the month of May away from home. The mix of work projects and helping my mom move means lots of May in the Bay Area and not much time at home.
I don't like to play on the rental cello that I have in the Bay Area. The bow is hideous and my hand starts to hurt after a 1/2 hour of playing, so I rarely play longer than that (assuming I even have time to practice when I'm there). I not planning to keep that cello much longer, which is why I haven't done anything about the bow. My plan has been to take my current cello down after I get my new cello. I'm still not sure when I'll get my new cello, and when we'll be able to drive to the Bay Area.
Yesterday I was on the piano for most of the time for our Saturday group. We played the Arthur Foote piano quartet (it's really nice!) and the first movement of the Brahms C minor piano quartet. Our first violinist summed up the first movement, "That would be really nice if we could actually play it!" Our 2nd violinist showed up and rescued us from the Brahms and we played the Schumann piano quintet. I love the quintet but have only played the piano part once before, and had a really hard time yesterday with it, keeping the rhythm steady. sigh. I will have to add it to my practice list for the piano, along with the Dvorak and Brahms quintets so that I can be ready to play it when needed. Then the other cellist had to leave, so I switched to cello (yay!) and we played Puccini's Chrysantheum - very lovely! I'd like more time on cello..maybe in 2 weeks when I'm in town again!
I don't like to play on the rental cello that I have in the Bay Area. The bow is hideous and my hand starts to hurt after a 1/2 hour of playing, so I rarely play longer than that (assuming I even have time to practice when I'm there). I not planning to keep that cello much longer, which is why I haven't done anything about the bow. My plan has been to take my current cello down after I get my new cello. I'm still not sure when I'll get my new cello, and when we'll be able to drive to the Bay Area.
Yesterday I was on the piano for most of the time for our Saturday group. We played the Arthur Foote piano quartet (it's really nice!) and the first movement of the Brahms C minor piano quartet. Our first violinist summed up the first movement, "That would be really nice if we could actually play it!" Our 2nd violinist showed up and rescued us from the Brahms and we played the Schumann piano quintet. I love the quintet but have only played the piano part once before, and had a really hard time yesterday with it, keeping the rhythm steady. sigh. I will have to add it to my practice list for the piano, along with the Dvorak and Brahms quintets so that I can be ready to play it when needed. Then the other cellist had to leave, so I switched to cello (yay!) and we played Puccini's Chrysantheum - very lovely! I'd like more time on cello..maybe in 2 weeks when I'm in town again!
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