Life in hell...or first time playing a bloody cello in a very small orchestra..

I used to play the clarinet in jr high orchestra. That seemed easy.. Playing the cello, when your not very good, in and adult "orchestra" is far from easy. Last night while "playing " a piece in E Flat major i could not seem to locate A fricken flat. Conductor man is like HELLO, cello guy KEY signature...... anyway I eventually found it. (oh G#) duh..... I have hardly encountered that key yet in my cello life. Good thing it is a pretty tolerant group!
Anyway...... I will most likely have to spend 99.99%of my time on the "orchestra" music as it is quite difficult for a 1.5 yr cellist. The Vivaldi in bk 5 will have to be put on hold for a bit. Hopefully I will be able to reach a point of balance between the two. I have been working a little bit on Nina by Pergolesi, i like that piece. I have a great record of Nathaniel Rosen and Arturo Delmoni playing it. I do mean a 12" lp, some of us still listen to those and have working turntables, that do indeed sound way better that a cd. Anyway that is another topic altogether!

So on the recording front, there is not much, as I am too frustrated with the computer interfaces working sometimes and not others. I have to decided to get something that does not need the computer. Like maybe a cd recorder or video camera.

Profanity Alert......

Just in case anyone is reading my blog.

Fucking blood Hell. I just joined the University i work for CU orchestra called "Melomania." Actually its more of a hodge podge chamber ensemble: 2 violins , 4 clarinets (i used to play the clarinet and should have stuck with it, it was way fricken easier than cello. However it had I am a dork written all over it). 1 trumpet, 1 trombone, 1 french horn, 1 flute, and 3 cellist including myself. (nowhere to hide ) I am by far the least experienced. The conductor is a french horn player for the co sym.
He jumped right in today at full speed..... Fricken yikes! I can't keep up yet AT ALL. I'm totally freaked out, hopefully i will be able to pull it together.

i have to go meditate !

more later if i survive

One Taste

From Ken Wilber's above titled book :

"Swallow the Pacific Ocean in a single gulp", and that's the easiest thing in the world, when inside and outside are no longer two, when subject and object are nondual, when looker and looked at are One Taste. You see???

Dynamics, phrasing, vibrato.......markings etc..

These seem to be the focus of most of my lessons lately. There is always the usual stuff like intonation, and rhythm issues but they seem to have taken a back seat for the time being. T points out that the appropriate dynamics, vibrato have there own set of technical solutions ( as opposed to just playing the notes.) Typically when I work on a etude from Popper or Schroeder, I have just tried to play the correct notes, rhythms etc. Adding musicality to it is another set of challenges that are difficult but also make working on those exercises more interesting. On a positive note T said last week my vibrato was sounding quite good on the Vivaldi at the beginning of book 5. Personally I think it can be a little electric at times as I find it is easier to vibrate fast than to get a even sound with slow vibrato, but I'm working on it.

I have moved through the Suzuki books sorta fast given that I have been a dedicated student for a little over a year. My teacher ,however, does not really adhere to the Suzuki method but does use the material. I have never memorized anything from any of the books, and typically spend enough time on a piece to get it down pretty good but not perfect. Then we move on, it is a style that seems to work for me.
I am able to practice a lot, my wife and I have no children and she is a ceramic artist at night so I pretty much play as much as I want. More often than not I have to remind myself to not over do it.

Ultimately I would like to play in some sort of community orchestra. However, all the ones I'm aware of in Denver and the surrounding area require auditions. There is no way I am going to win a spot with my current chops. Maybe in 5 years, 10, who knows.

Actually, here is our family.....don't all cellists have cats?????? Here is Go-Go and Wagner.

Great Concert!

Last night Pinchas Zukerman, and his 30 something wife Amanda Forsyth played a nice program with the CO Symphony. My teacher, who is in the cello section said it would be pretty good and that I would love Amanda's cello.

The program was Barber Adagio for Strings, Vivaldi Concerto for violin and cello, Mozart Sym 41, Intermission, then the Brahms Double for Violin and Cello. Pinchas did double duty and conducted as well, the intended conductor was ill.
I always love the Barber, and the Vivaldi was great too. However the Brahms was fantastic! Amanda's Tone on her Testore was absolutely beautiful; think ,sweet, deep, dark , POWER!! I love that kind of sound. Well worth the 11.50 it cost since the nice lady gave me the student discount. Score!

So as far as my playing goes, I got my recording bugs worked out and have been trying to polish the Bach minuets from the 1st suite. They are still a little too rough to post a recording now but I think I will do this with pieces as I get more comfortable with them. An audible, as well as, a verbal documentation of my cello progress.
I am also working on the second exercise in the Popper Opus 76 studies, this makes the Bach minuets seem easy. Looking at this book makes me think I could spend a year in it, if I don't go nuts first. Same with the Cossmann ..........ah the cello, I love it.

The cello begining.....

I actually started playing the cello in 2001. I took lessons for about 6 months, and practiced a few times a week. It became very clear that I would need more time to dedicate to the cello if I was going to progress. I really didn't have the time then so I put the cello in my closet for a few years.
Last year I removed the cello from the closet and started to play it again. I found a wonderful new teacher and have been making steady progress since. My ambition is to be able to get as good as I can on the cello, and play music I like. I like Bach, Britten, Carter, Ginastera, Faure, to name just a few, so we will see how far this goes....

I am currently learning the tenor clef and finishing up Suzuki bk 4, working on various etudes in Schroeder v 1, Popper HS prep, and Cossman agility.

I am trying to get a home recording set up going as another tool to objectively monitor my playing on a given piece. My first attempt met with some audio interface problems with my MAC so when i get a new one I MAY post some audio clips if my playing isn't too dreadful.