It's been ages since I posted

....but I've been busy, playing, traveling, working. I had to go to Singapore for work a few weeks ago and was able to fly my husband over to meet me. We went to Bali for a few days before returning home. That was wonderfully relaxing but coming home has been hard. Going from 12 hours of daylight to around 8 or less has been difficult. My travel for work has picked up again, so it's been hard to get consistent practice time.

This summer I hit a lull in my cello playing but the travel break seems to have done me a lot of good. My cello teacher commented at my lesson that my tone has improved and that I am starting to play lyrically. That felt good!!! I noticed the improvement after my trip...think I'm more relaxed. After expending so much effort to learn I forgot that I didn't have to work so hard as my skills improved. Last night we worked on vibrato and the basic message was to not work so hard at it. When I relaxed my left hand it immediately sounded better. I'm also working relaxing my right hand while keeping pressure down on the string; working on a smooth change of bow direction. Occasionally it's hard to tell when I'm switching bow directions (wish that could be any time I wanted it!).

My cello teacher started a group practice log where many of his students post practice times. It's pretty amazing what competition will do. I find myself playing a little longer because everyone sees my time. The good news is that when I'm home I'm getting in at least 1 hour a day, which is my goal. I've also started playing the piano more frequently. I finished reading through all of the Beethoven sonatas and am now reading Schumann's piano works. So now what, it's time to go play ...hmm.. piano!

Exhausted

It has been a really busy week, and not good for cello playing.

Our group is getting ready to perform on May 17th, and we had dress rehearsal scheduled for Friday night. One of the pieces we're performing is the Mendelssohn Octet. Given everyone's schedules, we've rarely had all 8 of us together at the same time. We've practiced with parts of the group, but every person plays am important part.

I was really tired after traveling this week. I left Sunday and came home on Friday. It was for work, and was pretty stressful, with long hours every day. My playing last night suffered from lack of practice and exhaustion. At least I have a week to practice the parts that have been giving me trouble all along.

I was also bummed yesterday to find out that I have to start commuting to headquarters again. It's been so nice this year to be home for longer periods of time. The silver lining to budget cuts was that my work travel had been severely curtailed. Yesterday I found out that I have to start commuting again; we negotiated every other week, 3 or 4 days a week. Previously I was commuting every week, 2 to 3 days a week. Now I know I shouldn't be whining so much about this; I love my job and am thankful that I have one. But still, traveling for work is not at all like traveling for fun, and the frequency was exhausting. Plus it impacts cello practice time.

When I was commuting regularly I had rented a cello ( I am fortunate to be able to stay with my brother when I'm in the Bay Area). One of the reasons why I accelerated getting my new cello was so that I could have a decent cello in the Bay Area. Then I stopped traveling as much and the urgency to have 2 cellos disappeared. But I still only have one cello. My other cello is in Pocatello with Chris..he is doing some work on it. The plan is take my new one to him in September for a check up and another coat of varnish. He will return my former cello to me then, so I have a cello while he works on the new one. Now I'll have to decide whether to rent a cello in the Bay Area again or just not practice while I'm there.

Out-of-Body Cello Playing

It's almost time for me to go to bed. I got up in Singapore 32 hours ago. I got some sleep on the way home; but sleeping in the economy class section in a contorted sitting position just isn't the same as lying down in a bed. The problem with arriving home early in the morning is forcing the adjustment back to the local time - I've stayed up all day so that I can go to bed at a somewhat early but still normal bed time.

I tried playing the cello this afternoon and it was quite the out-of-body experience. I didn't sound as bad as I thought I would after not playing for a week and being exhausted, but maybe this was because my expectations were very low (or that my brain is so tired that I wasn't listening very well). I did get some amazing head rushes while trying to remember and then play what my teacher wanted me to practice before my next lesson (and then gave up). I missed my cello while I was traveling and am happy to be home with time this weekend to play it!

There's No Place Like Home

It sure was fun to be in Singapore. The people are so friendly and it is my favorite place to eat. Even the hotel food for the event that I attended was spectacular. None of the usual chicken breast with some sauce. The service at the hotel was exceptional. I finally gave up trying to get myself a cup of coffee during the breaks; the serving people who were supposed to get the coffee/tea for us would get very upset if we tried to get it ourselves, so we quit trying.

I'm trying to work now, but after flying for 17 hours (thank goodness it's faster to fly east) and arriving home about 10am this morning...I find that my concentration is slipping. Good thing I don't have any presentations to make today!

I did get some amusing pictures in the Tokyo airport - of the vending machine with the bottled water "Pocari Sweat" and of the high tech toilet with its volume level controls for "Flushing Sound".

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!