The Year Ahead

Looking forward:

Mid-January will mark a half year of cello-ing.

• Hold off further work on the Swan until I get vibrato down.
• Work up Allegretto movement from K.564, Mozart Piano Trio for chamber piece.
• Work on Bouree (M1) for solo piece.
  
• Memorize Suzuki Bach Minuet accompaniments so I don't have a stand in front of me when playing SMA concerts.
  

Looking backward:

Start work on Suzuki Book One. Erk. Ah well, it was bound to happen. RC thinks I should go through the discipline. Since I'm driving almost an hour each way to visit SMA I might as well learn something.

A Gift

I received this gorgeous watercolor from a nice fellow from Spain via Drawspace this evening. It's rendered from a photograph I took in Botswana last year.

Drawing Frenzy

Been busy drawing as I had to finish the "Secret Santa" project I signed up for at Drawspace.com. Also needed to get some reps of my work online. I haven't drawn anything for so long, I can't even find any samples of things I've done in the past. Here's a quick sketch I did today which my husband thought quite nice.

Today's Recital

Less said the better. Lost my place, hit bad notes, etc. etc. Some days you can do no wrong, today wasn't one of them.

Last Day of School

I didn't even bother studying for today's test in Human Growth and Development as it's all about the middle ages and old-timers. Afterwards celebrated getting an "A" in Music History Class and went out for sushi buffet lunch with a classmate and my husband.

Tonight I finished my long standing web project for a client. He wanted his website upgraded a year ago and I kept putting it off -- afterall the old one was working fine and pulling in lots of hits from google. I've been working on it on and mostly off for the past six months. Changed the site to CMS (Content Management System). I've been moving most of my clients towards this system as it allows me (or permitted users to update) their website from any internet access point.

Final recital tomorrow and then nothing till January 8th when chamber music starts up again. I'm going to start counting my cello practice in weeks instead of days. Makes more sense at this point.

Girlfriend told me her husband is skipping town for a week in mid-January, so I'll go visit her and have a mini-vacation.

My husband's Romanian stamp show in June needed booking. I found a decent hostel for $40 a night private room in the center of Bucharest. Beats paying $140 for the "official hotel". Still have to book the flights. Looks like most require TWO changes. The only ones I see that are ONE change of plane get you into Bucharest at 11pm. That's too late to arrive.

Having lots of fun with my new cellular -- got a USB cable so I could backup my contacts onto my computer and spent a long time looking for software that would work with my phone. Tonight ordered a car charger and headset. The LG Rumor LX260 phone is really nice for CNN news, google docs/maps, weather, email, blogging and photo sending, texting and facebook.

Starting reading "Water for Elephants". My sister-in-law left the book when she was here last month. It's an easy read.

Day 150

After we finished taking our final in Music History Class, Ayin (a violinist from my chamber music class) and I played some of the Suzuki Book arrangements of Bach Minuets together. Ayin made a recording with his mp3 player. My husband says it sounds like it was created in 1902. Our performance is certainly not note perfekt, but there's a certain charm.




Boring stats: Sad to say, 15 days of No Practice (NP) this period.
17 days of not playing. Things should be better now that classes are almost over.
2007.10.04 Day 112 - 113 Sick
114-Scales CGDA, F Blfat, Eflat, Arpeggios, Octaves, Thirds
Bow Exercises (BE), Pachelbel
115-116 No practice (NP)
117-BE, Chamber pieces (CP)
118-119 NP
120-Scales, BE
121-BE, Swan
122-NP
123-Review, Scales, BE, CP
124-Xmas
125-NP
126-127 Xmas, CP
128-BE
129-130 NP
131-134 Xmas, CP
135-NP
136-137 CP
138-140 CP
141-Xmas, Minuets
142-147 NP
148-Xmas, Minuets
149-NP
2007.12.17 Day 150-Minuets

SMA & MDC

Saturday, I played with SMA at BCC Library and managed to hit most of the important notes despite not having practiced all week. Folks told me that the cello sounded nice. I have another week to rehearse for the next concert.

RE: MDC's production of "The World Goes Round", I suspect only the first two rows in the audience actually heard me play the banjo. There was talk of getting me miked but it didn't happen.

A cell phone photo

Just testing the photo upload function.
This is Unsung - a korean girl I met in one of my classes.

New Toy

First posting via my new cell phone

Upgraded my old cell phone to a LG Rumor. After an hour with tech support finally got the internet access up and running.

Many moons ago I had a palm clone phone. What a difference a few years make! Especially the price! This phone only cost me $50 and internet access is only $15 a month.

Don't Block

Another practice session with the SMA yesterday. A few pointers -- hold down the B (1st finger on the A string) when reaching for the G on the D string. When playing the G on the D string, don't play the 4th and 3rd finger at the same time aka blocking the fingers. Watch that D sharp, its too flat. Other than that, I sound pretty good accompanying the six year olds playing the Bach minuets.

Have dress rehearsals for the musical at MDC, Monday and Tuesday night, then actual performances for Thursday and Friday night. Then Xmas concerts for the next two Saturdays.

Finished the Survey of Musical History Online Course today. It was fun. I should have also taken the Psychology and Human Growth Development courses online as I didn't find the live classes very rewarding.

The regular Survey of Musical History course continues to be challenging -- For example, we have to write an essay on the characteristics of opera seria, baroque dance suites and the three types of instrumental concertos.

Cormorants on the Beach Near Woods Hole

Thanks to Maricello. Her blog entry about "Drawspace" got me curious enough to join.

Here's this week's entry which is based on a photo by Maricello. My husband liked it a lot.

Chicago

Ah Chicago, not the city this time; I mean the musical. I've been drafted to play the banjo part to the song "All that Jazz" from Chicago for the local community college. This afternoon was spent pasting chords onto the score. Not much time to practice though, the concert is next week.

Tomorrow is my chamber music class recital -- playing Violin III on Lutoslawski's Silesian tunes, the cello for Pachelbel and cello for a couple of movements from a Telemann Trio. Tried not to overpractice today. Don't want my fingers to get sore for tomorrow.

A Deafening Concert and A Good Rehearsal

Yesterday, I was dragged off to a mystery concert by a friend.
It turned out to be a percussion ensemble which consisted of Xenakis' Persephassa for six percussion -- which I felt didn't have the proper acoustical setting since the piece is supposed to surround the audience, followed by a harmless melodic piece by an Argentinian composer whom I don't remember but name rhymes with MEOW and begins with a "V", and George Antheils' Ballet Mechanique.

Ballet Mechanique.

Since I had my earplugs with me, I survived.

Pleasant rehearsal today with the SMA. I think I shall go ahead and commit to the hour drive every Saturday as I feel there is much benefit to be had playing in the group setting.

First Public Performance

Today I had the privilege to accompany a few graduating kids at the Suzuki Music Academy in Davie. I fumbled through a Bach minuet and the Chorus from "Judas Maccabaeus", but I really fell apart during "Deck the Halls" when I was told to move center stage. The limelight was just too bright. Ah well, could have been worse. I'm going back to rehearse again next Saturday as the real xmas concert is December 15th and I'd like to be able to hit more notes, plus it would be nice to memorize my parts so I can play without the score like the rest of the kids.

Thanksgiving and Other Thoughts

Hope everyone had a nice day. Its good to give thanks for all the giving, support and inspiration that one experiences every day.

I had Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon with a young cellist who really likes this song by Apocalyptica.



Nice to see that kids like something other than punk, rap, and heavy metal.

Seven Things

I just noticed I was tagged for 7 things by Maricello while I was away in Turkey.
Okay - here goes...

1. My first awards in grade school were for art and music. The art teacher displayed my work for a month on the school's bulletin board. I wrote my first short story in grade school and sold 2 copies of it before I gave up the idea as it required me to write out each copy by hand.

2. When I was 15, I was the guitar player for "Sing Out Miami" a local band based on "Up with People"

3. I sang my first "speech" when I had to take "Public Speaking" in college because I had stage fright about speaking in public. I didn't have any qualms about singing in public because I had been doing that since I was a kid. The speech was to the tune of "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" but instead I sang "How do you remember a name like Marisa?"

4. I didn't start learning the violin until age 24. So 24 years later, I'm learning the cello.

5. My first trip abroad was at age 28. I took my mother to Holland to see the tulips in the springtime. I lost my wallet, passport, rental car keys, credit cards etc. to a pickpocket. However, I was lucky and everything was returned to me except for the cash. The pickpocket had been nice enough to leave my stuff at a shopping mall where the police found it.

6. My mother adopted me at age 45, so I have always related better with older people. My husband is 12 years older than me.

7. Tests show I'm right brained, a Meyer Briggs INTJ and a CTMM 138.

Only Four Days to Rehearse

Gulp! November 24th is just around the corner. I'll be out of town from 11/14 to 11/20 so that only gives me four days to prepare for my first public appearance accompanying some Bach violin minuets for a Suzuki graduation concert. Not hard except for the fact that I haven't touched the cello for over a month...

Essays, Essays and Essays

Back to classes this week. Friday was my midterm in Musical History. I hadn't had an essay test since grade school. I jammed on the definition for "musica ficta". Isn't it something that you make up when you can't remember how to play a piece?

Today was "write an essay" day: The 1st one was for the concert I attended Thursday night which was the Russian Patriarchate Choir of Moscow singing mostly 16-18th Century polyphonic pieces. Nice and easy, finished that in an hour and submitted it to my online course.

Decided to the write a 400 word essay for a contest on why I deserve to win a round the world trip. Also fairly easy -- I blog, I travel, ergo I exist.

Then plunged into my big essay about the Aulos, double pipes of ancient Greece, which required conforming to MLA. Another memory blast from 30 years ago -- high school English class theme papers. This took up most of my afternoon.

Fought with my word processor because I was trying to manually do superscripts and references and it kept adding extra things I didn't want in the pages. Finally figured out what the word processor was trying to do. If I had been able to do it manually I could have been finished in a minute. Fighting with the program took much longer and forced me to expand my vocabulary for exasperation.

One should be able to turn off those automatic features. Anyway, the feature's great if one has twenty references and doesn't want to renumber them every time there's a change. It makes sense now that I understand it. I had attacked the problem the old fashioned way and there's all that new fangled stuff now in word processors.

Just received an email about playing in the Suzuki class Xmas concerts next month. Rehearsals to follow...

I'm Back and Trip Photos Are Online

http://www.galitz.com/2007-Turkey
Hope you enjoy the pictures from our latest travelogue.
I'm off to Chicago next week.

Turkey Talk

Enjoying my first day in Cappdocia. I'll be blogging about this trip at http://travel.galitz.com

I Love Open Book Tests!

Just made a 97% on the online midterm for Music History. Hooray! True, it was heavy on recognizing the music being played, but there were only 33 pieces to memorize.

Tomorrow I have tests for Psych, Human Growth & Development AND a listening quiz for my classroom Music History course -- which will be very tough as it's 18 pieces of mostly 4 voice polyphonic music. Talk about all sounding the same. All of these tests have to be taken earlier than the rest of my classmates because I'll be out of town when the actual tests will be given, thus I shall be at a distinct disadvantage. Ah well, I'll be definitely ready to go on a vacation after tomorrow!

Chewing on Celery

Just taking a break from studying for classes. Took the celery challenge.
Cello Centered: More Celery

Upside Down!

Just checked on Guinevere, and found her upside down. She was fine an hour ago. She was getting very tame also. Wonder if she was sick when we got her? If so, I guess it was good that I housed her separately from Hamlet. The only other thing I can think of is that she had a habit of hanging upside down and either fell or choked. What bad luck!

Lack of Motivation

Been busy busting tail to get ahead in all my courses before I leave for Turkey next week.

One teacher told me there's practically no chance of getting an "A" in the course because 10% of the grade is based on attendance. (Not exactly in those words, but I got the gist of the message) That's the same percentage as the midterm! Well, I certainly won't be trying so hard in that class. OK, rant over.

Guinevere & Hamlet, Pair Not Yet

Meet Guinevere. She has a pretty blue rump versus Hamlet's dull green one. This lovebird is from the 2nd Carrie hatching. Hamlet was from the 1st hatching.

Guinevere and Lancelot had escaped from their cage in Carrie's backyard. Guinevere was captured and clipped after having a few days of flying wild. However, Lancelot is still at large.

We brought Guinevere home on Sunday. Unfortunately Hamlet is being rather naughty to her, so we'll need to keep them apart for awhile. Hopefully, territory issues will calm down and we'll have a pair of lovebirds once again.

Coursework or Cursework?

This is for any of you who may have experienced "education envy".
Try these music history class homework questions on for size.

1. Name and explain several ways in which the structure of Notre Dame organum was determined by features of the chant.

2. Compare and contrast the main features of the medieval motet and polyphonic conductus.

3. Discuss the Franconian motet in terms of its compositional style, the relationship among the texts, its use and modal rhythm (if any?) and the treatment of the chant and voice.

Just looking at the questions hurts my head.

----
As for piano class, that teacher probably figured out that I hadn't practiced the easy piece assigned last week until this morning before class. Therefore she assigned a more challenging piece this week that I won't be able to fake having worked on.

Ophelia & Hamlet

Tragedy struck. I've decided to name the surviving love bird "Hamlet". We usually let all the birds roam free in the bedroom on weekends, mostly unsupervised. Yesterday evening, we sadly discovered that the water level in the fish tank was about two inches too low.

Two Days of Unwinding

There was no tension on Thursday to get anything accomplished and therefore the day ended up being slept away. Figured I was just worn out and without a "must do" on my agenda, the old biological clock spring unwound.

However, on Friday I couldn't get out of bed either so I figured I must have had a light touch of something. Spent Friday evening watching the last "Monk" marathon captured on the DVR. I seem to be okay today. Made it to a friend's 60th birthday party dinner and got some homework and cello practice done this evening.

Miscellany and Medieval Music

Took a break from taking course quizzes online this evening. Broke my TV hiatus and caught the premiere of "Pushing Daisies" this evening. Looks like a cute show.

Practiced remedial rhythm work today for a violin piece "Silesian tunes for 4 violins". I'm stuck playing this in Chamber Music class and there's a slightly tricky passage off the beat. If one misses where to come in, there's a good chance of being lost for four measures. Also dusted off the viola and tried to remember how to read "C" clef.

Got one answer wrong out of fifteen on the first listening test of medieval music. I was too focused on Leonin Viderunt Omnes and when I heard a melisma, I automatically assumed it was Leonin. That being over, there's another 18 pieces to memorize by October 15th's test.

Finished writing an essay for my other online music history course Sunday. It wanted research on a composer -- so I did it on troubadour "Bernart de Ventadorn". Downloaded 12 songs off the internet, found the lyrics and some translations. Found out that my college ID card gets me access to JStor articles online. That may prove useful for my next term paper.

Chugging along on the keyboard. Working on my fourth music piece and now the more awkward scales like F#. Bass clef is much easier to read these days. In the old days when I attempted to play the piano, I'd memorize the left hand part.

Last week was bad for cello practice -- I missed practicing several days!
Boring stats:
9.22.07 - Scale and bow exercises (C G D A, F Bflat, Eflat)
9.23.07 - No practice
9.24.07 - No practice
9.25.07 - Chamber music class
9.26.07 - No practice
9.27.07 - Scale and bow exercises, practice chamber music pieces
9.28.07 - Review Swan, still having passages that I don't seem to be able to get memorized, practice chamber music pieces
9.29.07 - Scale and bow exercises.
9.30.07 - No practice
10.1.07 - practice chamber music pieces
10.2.07 - bow exercises. Chamber music class
10.3.07 - practice chamber music pieces

A Month of Classes and 100 Days of Cello

Today marks the 100th day of Cello, really a little less than 100 days, as there's been a day here and there when the cello didn't get touched, but I only deducted days of ownership for vacations and sick time. I don't have a video prepared for this milestone as I've been practicing instead on pieces for my chamber music class.

This week started some of the first tests for my college courses. My Psych test was online, I scored 92 on that and did equally as well on the open book test for Human Growth & Development. The scary thing was that 1/3 of the class for Human Growth & Development made a D or an F. The test was incredibly easy, what a sorry statement for today's youth.

Boring stats:
T 9/4 - Scales up to 3 flats and 3 sharps, bow exercises (S&B) Chamber Music Class
W/R/F 9/5 - 9/7 - Broken D String - didn't practice
S 9/8 - S&B, read chamber music assignment: Piano Trio Movements of Simple Character by Old Masters by Hockner/Mlynarczyk
U 9/9 - Schroeder 21, S&B
M 9/10 - S&B
T 9/11 - Chamber music Class
W 9/12 - Swan, S&B, Cello part for Telemann Sonata for 2 Violins & Piano
R 9/13 - Swan, Read Minuet from Haydn Op 3 #5, Minuet from Op 1 #1
F 9/14 - Swan, Trio, S&B
S 9/15 - Review M1, 2, 3, 4, 6, S&B, Schroeder 21/22, Klengel pg 7
U 9/16 - Bowing exercises, Schroeder 23 - just a few measures
M 9/17 - Weiner 1-4c, Thumb exercises, Trill exercises, Swan, Bow exercises
T 9/18 - Bow exercises, Chamber music class, work on Canon
W 9/19 - Bow exercises, work on Canon
R 9/20 - Day off
F 9/21 - Schroeder 23 - another attempt, a few more measures, Scale exercises up to 3 flats and sharps, Telemann

So Far So Good

At last, finally got to play a little chamber music tonight. The new strings behaved and stayed in tune (even if I didn't) Managed to sight read cold a few notes which seemed to impress the folks from last year.

I'll get to play the infamous Pachebel. That's just fine for me -- it will be a good exercise for long bows, shaping phrases, and following the first violin. Also, the teacher wants the notes to swell and fade. So far I have two other pieces to work on -- a simple piano trio and a Telemann Sonata.

Brute Force Memorization and New Strings

New cello strings arrived. I was happy to replace the terrible "D" string that I had picked up locally. As I removed the "G" string, I noticed that it was unwinding at the top -- probably was the next to go. Biggest improvement is in the new "C" & "G" strings. It's much easier now to hear the ringing tones. Who knows, maybe my intonation will improve now.

Music History Classes have over twenty pieces of medieval music to memorize. I've decided to burn CDs with each piece repeating for thirty minutes and play a few of these per day until I know which is which.

Piano class introduced the pedal yesterday. I've never used a pedal before. Teacher says I'm stomping the pedal too hard.

2nd chamber music class tonight, hopefully, the strings will hold their tuning.

Sleep, Strings and Back to School Too

Thanks for the string advice. I drove yesterday to my local music store and got a spare "D" while I await my customized tele-order courtesy of G's "Ellen". My regional cello friend also uses the Larson A & D and the Helio/Spiro C & G combo.

Yesterday was my first day of classes starting with keyboard at 8am, then Music History I, Psychology and Human Growth & Development. Adding an online Music History II, and Chamber Music gives me a full-time student load this semester.

I had to take two social sciences to fulfill BA requirements as my CLEP scores from 22 years ago were just a tad too old. CLEP transcripts only go back 20 years.

I was so tired, I went to bed at 5:30 pm and slept until 7 am. I don't do well on less than 7 hours of sleep and I had had two nights running at 5-6 hrs between a late night air flight, pre-class excitement, and early morning classes.

Had work today and so spent this evening on my online Music History of the Western World, part II besides trying to find the cheapest textbooks or e-books available online for my various courses.

Luckily I don't have to be at class until 9 am tomorrow.

Ka-Bang, Thus Ends My Chamber Music Session

First day back in town. Took the cello for its first night out at chamber music class. Teacher gave me a nice easy piece to sight read. Played about eight measures and Ka-Bang... the D string broke.
Aargh! Hope this isn't an omen!

Any recommendations on what type of strings I should buy?
Is it necessary to buy two sets?

Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project

My sister-in-law works for the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. The past few days I've been helping her out as they've been swamped with paperwork. There had been a massacre of mountain gorillas last June (see Newsweek article) which put a spotlight on the plight of these animals. Good Morning America aired a show about MGVP on August 7, 2007. Will have to see if it can be posted to YouTube. Conservation.org has a very nice video about the Mountain Gorillas and one of the vets in Africa, Dr. Lucy, has a blog. MGVP has been caring for ten orphaned gorillas.

M6 and M7 Review Received

From C -

Haven’t had time to go through the video in detail though I did watch it a few times over. Evidence of much stronger technique and bow control. Still, in even easier passages (beginning of Lully Gavotte) notes need more articulation, more bite, but not staccato. I guess separate notes need to sound a little crisper so they are clearer. The cello strings aren’t going to have as rapid as a response as violin or viola so the method of articulation may be different. I certainly don’t want to tell you the wrong thing.

My preference in playing those first few lines is to play the quarter with “rounder” notes and play the eighth duplets more crisply, again, sorry, more articulated. The general effect of the eighths comes off as “sawing”. You can do better.

I heard you get some nice vibrato on that folksy piece you played with the hat [M7] even though the Suzuki sheet music shows open strings on half note phrase endings (m8, for instance), try using a fingered note and using vibrato, not too much, but just to get the note started well and ringing. In study the bass gamba I found that a little vibrato at the start of even shorter notes helped give the note a better start Wow, talk about the response time of lower strings. Trying to get those bottom strings started was like trying to start an old diesel on a cold day! I miss those early music sessions!

The train tracks (pauses) are taking too much time in places and are hindering the flow of the music. They are not not of the composer’s pen, anyway. Starting a new sentence after each mark is a good idea but do it within the flow of the music. Watch your rhythm in m11, you are not getting to the first beat of m12 on time (the A half note). That eighth and 2 sixteenths need to be in the space of a half of a beat (assuming you are counting in cut time).

Also, watch your intonation on m5: the G, and m7; the raised leading tone, C#.

I would like to hear you play the piece a little slower but getting those eighth noted better, not legato but with just a small space between them. It’s not so much that the ending of the first eighth is going into the 2nd, it’s that the eighths need to have a better start to each.

The rit. In m20 is not necessary. It, too, is interrupting the flow.

The next section shows much technical progress but I rather reserve analysis till you’ve put a little more polish on it.

When you practice slower, try to convey a sentence structure to help with phrasing. For instance the first 8 bars can be a question (m1-5) and an answer (m5-8). This s how phrasing was first explained to me by my aunt when I barely knew how to hold the instrument up!

Just to to reiterate, none of these suggestions are meant to minimize your work and very evident progress that you have made in a short time (let alone all the vacations and other distractions you’ve had).

Still More Flowers of Edinburgh

Maricello inspired me again.

Day 84 (12th week) - Video of my attempt to play this morning from memory the Scottish Reel "Flowers of Edinburgh". I decided to do it "song style". Usual problems with bowing and intonation.



Anyway, I'm off to Baltimore tomorrow morn, and then its full-time school after Labor Day. Whee...

Boring stats:
8/13M - Read Schroeder 17, Scales A F#m, Bow exercises
8/14T - Day off for no good reason. Too much accounting work.
8/15W - Schroeder 18, Scales D, Bm, Bow exercises
8/16R - Scales C G D A, F, Bflat, Eflat, Bow exercises, Vibrato & Trill exercises
8/17F - Scales C G D A, F, Bflat, Eflat, Bow exercises
8/18S - Day off for no good reason. Too hot and humid.
8/19U - Schroeder 19, Scales C G D A, Em, Bow exercises
8/20M - Review old pieces, Schroeder 20, Bow exercises
8/21T - Schroeder 20, Bow exercises
8/22W - Work up "Flowers"

Bow exercises consist on full bow verbalizations -- Papa, mama, lala, tata, Pepe, Meme, Lele, tete, Pipi, mimi, lili, titi, Popo, momo, lolo, toto, Pupu, mumu, lulu, tutu. All on one bow 4 stops, Frog 4x full bow Tip 4x, Silent bow exercises 20x each per string. Suzuki rhythms.

Class Act

Received my transcript evaluation from TESC. Looks like I might be able to complete the Bachelors Degree by the end of the year. I'm going to try for a Music Major. I just have to take a couple of Music History Classes to fulfill the requirements.

Signed up today for a full time load, although mostly easy courses: Keyboard, Chamber Music (not so easy), Music History I & II, Intro to Psych and Human Growth & Development. The main strain will be that I'll be traveling a bit and will have to miss some class time.

Picked up a used keyboard last Sunday for $40 off craigslist. It's much better than the Casio keyboard I gave away years ago since it has a midi interface and touch response. The only drawback is that it doesn't have a dust cover.

Thanks for the warm wishes and encouragement Rallentando. If only I had kept up with the viola studies back in the 1980's, I'd be really good by now.

My husband lets the love birds walk around my work area -- I'm afraid that they might damage something before I notice and can prevent it! My mother had a cockatiel that chewed up a book before anyone noticed.

This week I'm off to Baltimore to visit my sister-in-law and maybe do some hiking. Then my husband is coming up Labor Day weekend for a stamp show. We'll come back to Miami together.

I don't think I'll be submitting any videos in the near future as I'll be concentrating on classes. I'm hoping to prepare "The Swan" for chamber music class.

Brain Music

Finished reading the neuroscience study on music. Looks like there's hope for all of us who practice really really hard. One only has to put in 10,000 hours to become a good musician--that's only 3 hrs a day for ten years. Appears its just like folks in school used to say -- talent is 98% perspiration and 2% inspiration.

Music seems to be closely related to social and courtship activities. The fittest of the species were able to withstand the rigors of dance and music making and therefore got the most dates. Guess that's why young girls go crazy for rock stars.

On Being Bad

Currently reading "This is Your Brain on Music" by Daniel Levitin. It is interesting to note how we categorize and prototype our musical experiences. Supposedly, the pitch, timbre and rhythm of songs are all locked into our memories, especially these days with access to the world of recorded music. Studies indicate that nonmusicians will recognize and sing songs such as "Hotel California" fairly close to the right tempo and pitch.

After recording myself yesterday, my first impression was "How awful. I thought I sounded better than that!" I had been listening to some online recordings of the Gavotte. According to the book, the brain anticipates and "fills in" missing or misplayed notes especially when we know what something is supposed to sound like. It's sort of a musical "optical illusion". Calibration is another factor. Does one calibrate against fellow students or against professionals? After I listened to another cellist playing the Gavotte on YouTube, I didn't feel so bad.

Now what happens when one learns a piece of music just from a score without having heard it before? That's one way to get some creative interpretation.

Day 75 Progress Video

Posted attempt at playing the Gavotte attributed to Lully in the Suzuki Cello Book 3 [M6].

Having the usual intonation and bowing issues. Also rhythm control goes haywire when taken off the metronome leash. Constructive criticism always appreciated.

Boring stats
M 8/6 Weiner 1-4a, Trill, Vibrato, work on M6, Schroeder 11, Bowing exercises. A flat and Fm scales.
T 8/7 No practice - done in by the dentist
W 8/8 Review M1-M4, Work on M6, Schroeder 12, D flat and B flat minor scales, Bowing exercises
R 8/9 Thumb exercises, Look for notes on the swan, Work on M6, Schroeder 13, F# and E flat minor scales, bow exercises
F 8/10 Thumb, Trill, Vibrato, work on M6, Schroeder 14, B and G#m scale, bowing exercises
S 8/11 Trill, Work on M6, Schroeder 15, bowing exercises
U 8/12 Work on M6, Schroeder 16, E and C#m scales, bowing exercises

Morning on the Deck

Well, actually it's a view of Rickenbacker Causeway (Miami/Key Biscayne) from our balcony.

Birdie Duet

I usually don't crosspost on my blogs but our latest arrivals are so cute. I thought I'd share a closeup of our new baby peach faced lovebirds.

Of Tuners and Metronomes

My new Seiko SQ50V metronome arrived. I had ordered the model closest to my old Seiko SQ44 metronome that had the fatal fall last month.

I also ordered a tuner mike which allows me to plug directly into my tuners. This will help eliminate ambient parakeet noise and also help me tune in other noisy environments.

I actually have two tuners. The first one I got 25 years ago -- a Zenon Chromatina SQT-363. It allows you to select a note and either play it or tune to it. Good for droning scale exercises or tuning to an exact note.

Droning is great when one is trying to play a scale in one of those funny keys with too many sharps or flats.

My other tuner is a KORG CA-30. It tells you which note you are attempting to play.

Both are good tools to help keep me honest.

Well I'm off on another cello hiatus. I'm visiting some friends until Saturday.

Boring stats:
M 7/23/07 - Work up "Old Joe Clark" M5. Schroeder 8, G minor scale.
T 7/24/07 - Suzuki III # 2 and 6, Schroeder 8, E flat Major Scale. Bow exercises
W 7/25/07 - Schroeder 9, Upper bow only exercise
R 7/26/07 - No practice - Entertaining out of town relatives
F 7/27/07 - No practice - Entertaining out of town relatives
S 7/28/07 - Weiner 1-4c, Exercises for Thumb, Vibrato, Trill, Bow, Schroeder 10, Scales: E flat major and C minor. Suzuki III # 2, Review M1
U 7/29/07 - Weiner 1-4c, Exercises for Thumb, Vibrato, Trill, Bow, Schroeder 11, Scales: G and E minor. Suzuki III # 2, Review M1-M4. Look for more notes on the Swan.
M 7/30/07 - Mostly just sightreading, seeing how many notes I can find in the Swan and the Brandenburg Concerto #3.

Scores

My Suzuki teacher friend just asked if I'd be interested in playing with his students later this year. He emailed me scores of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Brandenburg Concerto #3, Beethoven's Symphony #7 (2nd movement), Bach's Violin Concerto in E Major (Continuo part), and Bach's Concerto in D minor (Continuo). Wow, what a challenge! Should I pick up the gauntlet?

Learning to Talk Like Yoda

Anticipating travel in Turkey in October, my husband and I are trying to learn a few Turkish phrases. It's another interesting language. No masculine and feminine to deal with but one has to listen closely to hear the Moo and the Mee syllable which falls in the middle of a phrase to determine if the phrase is a Question or a Negative.

Here's some examples:

turk-che biliyourmoo sehnez.
Turkish Know? You
turk-che bil mee yourum.
Turkish, Know Not, I

Another phrase that will be useful
Ee yehdeal Turkche konishur um
Good Not, Turkish Speak I

60 days and Old Joe Clark

Today is the two month mark for my cello studies. I'm counting all days except vacation and sick/injury time. Here's something a little different thanks to Maricello. I decided to make Old Joe Clark a position and shifting study. Issues: intonation and still need to get more wrist into the bowing.



Boring stats:
7/9/07 - 7/16/07 - Review Essential Elements Cello Book I
7/17/07 - Review M1, M2, M3, M4.
7/18/07 - C Am Scale, bow exercises
7/19/07 - bow exercises
7/20/07 - Weiner 1-4a, String crossing exercises, Thumb, Schroeder Exercises 1 to 5. F Major Scale, bow exercises
7/21/07 - Dminor scale. Scroeder #6, Upper Bow only exercise.
7/22/07 - Thumb, try to find more notes for the Swan, Bflat Major Scale, Reading Old Joe Clark

Rabid Reader

My mother-in-law recommended Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett so I ordered it from the library. In the meantime a friend gave me 3 Discworld fantasies by Terry Pratchett. Needless to say, I've only read two chapters of the serious book but have already finished 2 of the 3 fantasy books.

On the cello front, I've managed to get back to about the point where I was when I left to go to St. Petersburg. This means I still have issues with M4 - Bach's Musette from English Suite # 3. What great fun, starting from scratch after a month of not playing.

Am watching YouTube's Gonshu animation (a Cellomania referral), it incorporates lots of things that I love. Wonder if a real video exists somewhere...

Slog, Slog, Slog

That's the feeling I get these days playing through the elementary book.

I suspect that I'm playing with a lot more sound and power but I sure get tired quickly.

Back to Basics

Since it's been about a month since I last played with Velina, I thought I might as well start from the beginning again with open strings and reading Elementary book I. Velina spent quite a bit of time lounging in bed today as I'm back to five minutes sessions.

Wild Swans

Finished "Wild Swans" which was a memoir running from the turn of the century to 1990. A slow read with a lot of sad stuff. I wonder if there are any memoirs written by Chinese men. This is the third book I've read about Chinese history that was written from the women's point of view.

Working up Prior Learning Assessments towards the BA. Getting all the materials together will take time. Tomorrow, I'll take out Velina and try to get her warmed up again. Poor girl's been neglected for almost a month.

Also distracted with more travel plans. Got word from my husband that we needed to reserve the hotel for Istanbul already even though the stamp show isn't until October. That started the planning domino effect -- started making plane reservations for visiting a friend at the end of July, Baltimore for the end of August and Chicago for mid-November.

Airfare for Istanbul runs around $900. I'll have to call Amex membership rewards and see if I can get a reduced fare. I'm planning on going a few days earlier than my husband to visit Cappadocia. Its a perfect place for me to visit alone as my husband doesn't want to go into any underground cities or float in a hot air balloon.

Looked at Rosetta Stone, Lesson 1 for Turkish. It's a strange language. A few words make sense like "adam" for man, kedi (kitty), and banya. The rest I haven't been able to connect to anything yet in my head.

Hungry Tide

Yesterday, I finished reading "Hungry Tide" by Amitav Ghosh. I can recommend it to anyone who's interested in India, its low lying islands, and/or dolphins. It's the first book I've read set in India besides "The Jungle Book". Despite some overly long descriptions which to me always feel like the author is being paid by the word, I found the history, myths, and characters engaging. Also, I liked the fact that the balance between the needs of wildlife and humans is not simplified. Now starting "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang which is supposed to be a true memoir of 3 generations of Chinese women.

Book Binge II

Been reading lots since my flight home Tuesday. It's gives one a sense of extended vacation, being able to just read, check email, read, blog, read more, eat drink, and read some more. So far, I've consumed:

1) "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel - a narrative about a shipwrecked kid, easy read and fun in a "Big Fish" sort of way. Quite memorable.
2) Michael Crichton's "Time Line" - a sci-fi time travel story with some interesting ideas, plot huhs? with some glimpses of medieval life thrown in to make one feel like they're getting some historical fact along with the fiction.
3) Carl Hiaasen's "Basket Case" - fluff adventure, murder mystery with the usual insider digs at newspaper journalism.
4) A novel about India called "The Hungry Tide" by Amitav Ghosh which my mother-in-law just gave me today which may or may not prove interesting.

I'll probably have to rejoin real life tomorrow.

Fingered

Well my sprained index finger actually feels like it is starting to get better. Today I can actually bend the first joint ever so slightly as opposed to holding it stiffly in a permanent pointing at you position. Read on the net, it could take a week to get back to normal. Glad its not the middle finger or I wouldn't be able to go out in public.

I was really moved by the Saint Saens "Carnival of the Animals" concert we saw in Russia. So sorry that the video I took of the cellist playing "The Swan" was lost with the camera. Ah well, memories...

College Degree?

I've been thinking about trying to get a bachelors degree. I had gotten an AA back in 1976 from the local community college which at that time was only a two year college. Attended the state four year university and hated it. Entered the work world and didn't look back (except for taking some courses for fun). Since I quit my day job (4/15/06) I was thinking on working on the 4 year degree. I enjoy taking classes and now the local community college offers Bachelors Degrees but only in Education.

Tried to register for some Fall courses this week and they will all need overrides as I had taken the prereqs too many years ago.

On a whim, I did some googling and found that Thomas Edison State College in New Jersey is an accredited distance learning college for adults and through credit transfers, life learning credit, testing, etc. one could possible reduce getting a Bachelors to about one year of college courses. This is very appealing although it would cost twice as much as going to the local community college. I figure I should at least look at their propaganda.

Ouch $#@!

Jammed my left index finger in the dishwasher yesterday. It's too sore to try to use on the cello.

My husband says inanimate objects hate me. Kitchen knifes are always flying through the air trying to stab my toes. They happily haven't succeeded. A block of frozen food did though. Had to go to the podiatrist that time to get my toe fixed. I've even manage to break corning ware over the years.

While I was studying classical guitar, my usual problem was ripping my right thumb nail. Then I'd have to deal with creating an acrylic nail so I could continue to practice. Of course, now that I haven't picked up the guitar for awhile, my nail is intact. Grows quickly and I have to keep filing it down.

Guess I'll have to concentrate on bowing. Was too upset to pick up the cello yesterday.

Return to Miami

Just finished writing up my travelogue for St. Petersburg, Russia.
It's at http://www.galitz.com/2007-Russia
Now to get back to cello studies.

Day 45

Not too happy with this progress report video from Suzuki Book 2, Bach Musette. I should have spent more time working on it. I found the bowing challenging. On a positive note (pun intended) I think my bowing and tone is pretty good.

My camera battery was ready to die so I have to make do with this "Take 3" video. The first two takes I had to throw out because I stopped in the middle of the piece. However in this version, my 2nd position intonation is terrible and dynamics went out the window (what dynamics??)

Oh well, that's life. Perhaps I'm getting more self-critical now that I've been practicing for a month and a half. Still, this is part of the deal in learning an instrument. Setting a benchmark and trying to meet the challenge. I wanted to post this before I ran away to Russia for two weeks.

I leave at 3pm today. Didn't get a lot of Russian language study done other than the Pimsleur I. My feeling is that a little knowledge of the language of a country one is visiting is better than none. Got a couple of tour guides for St. Petersburg out of the library and there are lots of recommended walks.

More fun later.

Stats 6/9 - 6/15/07

6/9 Attempt Thumb D Major scale. Review M1, M2, M3. C Scale Thirds, start vibrato exercises.
6/10 Another attempt at thumb D major scale, Work on rhythms and thirds for F Major Scale and Dminor, silent bow exercises, Weiner exercises #1-4a
6/11 F# Major and C Major Scales with rhythms and bowing exercises
6/12 Work on M4 Musette, C Major Scale thirds
6/13 Break for fiddle music
6/14 DAY OFF (BY ACCIDENT) Too much trip prep and lots of visitors
6/15 Work on M4, G Major Scale.

Fiddlin' Around

Thought I'd try out some fiddle tunes on the cello tonight. After trying to play "Liberty" from memory I pulled out the old fake book from the closet. Found out that I can read treble clef pretty well. Just have to play everything several octaves lower. It was a good exercise for intonation and shifting.

Application

Finally put in my application for "Substitute Teaching". Been procrastinating since April when I took the certification workshop. Figured I should get the paperwork done so when an opportunity presents itself at the Local Magnet School (LMS), I can jump on it. Trying to think ahead to when I have to do my internship. It would be nice to do it at LMS which is only a 10 minute drive from my home.

The Fatal Fall of the Metronome

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.
My poor old 'nome, my spouse does knock.

Over it falls, loud crash I hear.
Say I, it survives, I do not fear.

For twenty years of falls, it misses not a beat.
What's one more fall of just a few feet?

But now it quietly goes tick tick.
Fainter, fainter, it goes click click.

Alas, I cannot hear my metronome.
It must go to its final resting home.

Praise, I'll Take Some...

Just got this note from my other string teacher friend...

Sorry for delay in responding. In large part delay has been caused because of the extra time I spent training our visitor from Indian - it was time well-spent and she was able to accomplish a great deal while she was here. She left Ft Lauderdale yesterday.

Glad to read the good news on http://travel.galitz.com about finding a way to get Earl's passport. Have forgotten when you plan to leave and return.

I had viewed the latest installment on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEzqDF_ApMQ and it seems like you have done remarkably well with your cello study. Intonation, left hand, bow hold, forma and position are all excellent. I think that you might want to pay attention to sound produced by the bow, namely, your sound may be even better if you can add bow weight.

Hope that you have a great time in St Pete.
-R

3 AM - Why Am I Up in the Middle of the Night?

I was so tired I went to bed at 7:30 pm. Then of course, I woke up around 11 pm and have been fussing with various projects. Its been a roller coaster ride this week between passport woes for my husband, death of a friend, and getting used to new surroundings and people at the local Magnet School. Also, my husband demanded that I should learn to play "The Swan" which is jumping 200 years ahead in my cello studies. No pressure, right?

Stats 4/30 - 6/8/07

4/30 M - Winer 123, Scales: C, D, F, Reading Rubank 34, Bow exercises, Thumb (D, A)
5/1 T - Winer 123, Bach Minuet #1 (M3), Scales and Arpeggios: C D F, Bow exercises
5/2 W - Work on M3, Scales: C and Am, Reading Rubank 36, Thumb (D, A), Bow exercises
5/3 R - Work on M3, Read Pachebel Canon, Exercises on Bach Prelude #1, Measures 1-3

5/4 + 5/5 OUT OF TOWN

5/6 U - Scale & Arpeggio: C, Read Suzuki Page 8 & 9. Work on M3
5/7 M - Scales: D & Bm. Bow exercises, Read Pachebel Canon, Review M1, Thumb (D,A) Exercises on measures 1 & 2 of Bach Prelude #1
5/8 T - Scales: Bflat. Read misc pieces out of Suzuki Book 2 and 3. Work on M3
5/9 W - Work on M3

5/10 - 5/23 OUT OF TOWN

5/24 R - Scales: C, Am, G, Em, D, Bm, F, C#m, Bflat, Gm, Eflat, Cm. Exercises on measures 1-4 from Bach Prelude #1.
5/25 F - NEW Attempt to read Treble clef. Not feeling well...

5/26 - 5/30 NOT FEELING WELL

5/31 R - Winer Exercise 1-4b. Scales, Arpeggios, Octaves: C D G, Silent Bow Exercises, Thumb (D A) Review M3
6/1 F - Scales: F and Bflat, bow exercises, Read Tartini Trio measures 1-8 (oops what are those intervals, oh those are just octaves!)

6/2 S - String crossing exercises, Work on Bach Musette (M4), Scales: Eflat, Cm. Thumb (attempt D major scale) Read: Tartini measures 1 - 8
6/3 U - Winer 1-3c, bow exercises, M4, Scales: Aflat, Fm, Prelude exercise measure 4, silent bow exercises, Thumb (D A)
6/4 M - Bow exercises, Scales: Dflat, Bflat minor, Thumb (D A)

6/5 T - Thumb (D scale) Work on M4, Scale: Bflat, silent bow exercises, Read (very slowly): Haydn Trio #1 - pg 1 & 2 (oh look, there's treble clef again and a few double stops), NEW Attempt Measures 1 to 4 of the Swan (My husband's request). Will try to prepare this piece for Chamber Music Class December recital.

6/6 W - Scale: Bflat, silent bow exercises, Read (very slowly): Pg 1 of Mozart's Piano Quartet, Thumb (D scale), Work on M4, Swan measures 1-4. Review Swan Video.
6/7 R - Winer 1-4, Scale: G, Swan measures 1-4, Work on M4, Review M1 - M3. Thumb (D A). Review Video on Vibrato.

6/8 F - PRACTICE DAY OFF, This week has been tiring with the 30 hours of community service. Also index finger on left hand is a bit sore.

Orientation

Today I finish my 30 hrs of service-learning with the Local Magnet School that's a ten minute drive from where I live. It only has 550 students and they are chosen by lottery. It is the only school in America with Jr. Rotc Coast Guard. The school's marine theme works for me and I love the library. I registered to do volunteer work there once a week starting in July. It will be good experience.

Getting Organized.

Finally broke down and got some binders and page protectors to put all the various music scores, photocopies of cello book instructions, internet printouts, etc. that I had floating around my cello practice area. Now I can actually flip from page to page to do my daily exercises instead of shuffling through a stack of papers and books.

Tomorrow I begin 30 hours of service-learning (aka community service) which was required for the courses I took last January. I'll get to see how the I.T. world works in the realm of education.

Midi - Part II

Scanned the Suzuki Cello Book 2, page 12 Musette into a midi today but couldn't remember how to convert it to mp3. I have so many different programs in my computer that I couldn't remember which one I used last month! I ended up using iTunes to convert the midi to aac and then Super(c) to convert from aac to mp3. I know last time I didn't have to do a transition step. Anyway, I also took advantage of the scan to create a copy of the music without all the fingerings.

Hooked on Numbers

Tried playing Tartini's Sonata for 2 violins and cello today. I was dismayed to find out that I had a bad case of "number dependency". All my beginning cello books have fingerings written into the pieces. I've been relying more than I thought on those little numbers on top of the notes to sight read Bass clef. Time to get unhooked.

And The Guilt Goes On...

Lost 5 days to being "under the weather". Must have picked up a bug from the airplane trip back from Baltimore. I have to focus on accomplishing SOMETHING, ANYTHING rather than feeling guilty. I only have two weeks to practice before I leave on my trip to Russia.
---------------------------
Received feedback from one of my teacher friends yesterday on the M3 Video.

OK...there are many measures where you are getting a nice cello tone . The weakest measures are those bars with 4 (and sometimes 2) eighth notes. Play those short runs slowly in practice trying not to “swallow” any of the eighths...you may be rushing some of those runs. See if those shorter notes can be initialized from the fingers and wrist, not from the arm (right hand). Watch particularly your attacks on the quarters...not accents but they need a good and defined start which comes from the fingers and wrist, too. We used to work on articulation by exaggerating the motion with the grand detache’ in order to refine the smaller motions. Those grand detache’s are awful to play but the method actually works.

The first measure’s dotted quarters and the 2nd dotted quarter in the 3rd measure is too short and stacatto....make them rounder. Don’t swallow the last quarter of the 2nd measure, either (the c). In measures 5 and 6, but especially in 5 you are running a bit... hold back on the 8ths with out slowing the tempo....refer to the first 3 quarters in the first measure for timing.

The first line of the second subject is really very nice. In the 15th measure, the quarters are a bit too legato for my taste. Watch the half note f in measure 15...it’s flat (well, it’s “natural” but it’s sounding a bit flat!).

You're playing amazing well after only a short time which makes this kinda fun to do. - C

29th day

I'm back in Miami after being up North for a two week Spring vacation with friends and family. There's this whole reality shift thing going on. I wasn't ready to leave for vacation and now I don't seem quite ready to come back to real life. Did a lot of warming up on scales. Let's see if I remember how to read bass clef.

28th day

Well thought I'd post this progress video before running away for two weeks.

Also, that same friend who asked for a video at day 14, asked when the next video would be up.

Could be better, could be worse.

I think the bowing's improved. Notes need to ring more and be more articulated -- more fingers and wrist work.

OOPS...what's with hitting two strings at one time :)

So here it is folks, the 28th day - less two days off for good behavior???



Link
M3

Vid Advice

Thought I'd share the advice I received from my string teacher friends re: my videos M1 & M2.

Bravo! Bravo! No kidding, very impressive.

Left hand looks very good. Sound and intonation very good, too.

The slant of the bow hand (technical term, "pronatian" defined as positional rotation of the hand and forearm) is not necessarily an incorrect position for the hand, although the standard way to hold the bow does have the hand positioned so that it is perpendicular to the bow. You might consider practicing using both approaches alternatively, sometimes using this standard way and sometimes using a pronated position of the hand.

There is another issue concerning the bow. The standard way of playing would have your bow tilting the bow stick away from the bridge and the bow hair closer or tilting into the direction of the bridge. This is the opposite of how you were tilting the bow. The standard tilt of the bow is better. You may also want to consider playing with no tilt of the bow with the bow stick and bow hair positioned perpendicular to the strings, a non-standard way playing that Suzuki method uses for violin and that may well apply to cello.

Anyway, you seem to have made a lot of progress. It appears that you have greatly benefited from having played the violin first, as I expected.

Practice, practice, practice. - R

========================

I’ve listened a few times with the music in front of me...at least the Bourree. Still, really amazing for two weeks! The eighth notes need to come from the fingers and wrist so they sound more articulated, especially in the 5th and 6th measures. In the minuet: on the um-pah-pah measures (2nd & 4th meas). The pah-pah’s are too stacatto. They need to be separate, yes, but they need a little more bow and “ringing” so the sound don’t die as quickly. Maybe more of a pah-pah instead of a det-det. So much easier to do in person where one can demonstrate then over e-mail...this is a first for me! The first note of those measures can be “rounder”, too (the “um”!)

... The ear can easily detect the difference between notes where the attack is generated by the arm or forearm and those notes which are articulated by the fingers and/or wrist. It’s the tell-tale difference between classically trained string players and fiddlers...well, that and acute pitch discretion. The bow articulation comes from the right hand but the left can help in regards to keeping a tone “ringing” helping make shorter notes “rounder”

... Still, many measures on the video show thoughtful shaping of phrases. On the minuet make the first quarter in measures with 3 quarters longer than the the other 2 (2nd and 4th measures, etc, and opening of the 2nd section [17]). I don’t like the printed slurs in 17 and 18.

...Also leave retards to the penultimate measure in music of this period. Don’t forecast the end of a section by slowing down measures before the end (the Bourree). It stuck out only because you controlled the tempo so well in the rest of the Bourree as well as the minuet. - C

Fun With Midis

Finally got my photoscore program to work and scanned the Suzuki Cello Book 2, page 8 Minuet into a midi. Changed the tempo to relatively slow with Finale 2006. Converted to mp3 then burned 10 copies onto an audio CD. Will have fun playing along with that. Great when the computer cooperates. The only thing I need to do next time is add starter notes before the beginning measure as a ready, set go.

Boring Stats

Creating the vids was so exciting I forgot to post my stats for 4/20-4/26/07

All scales are done using MMHD short bow and then long bow.

Book reading is done trying to sight read, then a breakdown of the measures that are troublesome and then played with a metronome slowly if I don't like the piece and up to tempo if I do.

4.20.07
Memorizing: Bouree Measures 1-9
Scales: D,G,C,Am
Reading: Essential Elements (EE)- Cello Book 1 - pages 35/36

4.21.07
Left hand exercise: 1434
Scales: D,C
Reading: EE p37-43

4.22.07
Left hand exercise: 1434
Scales: D,C
Reading: EE p42-43

4.23.07
Scales: C
Reading: EE p43

4.24.07
Scales: F
Reading: EE p43/46 Completed.
Reading: Start Rubank p16
New note: B flat

4.25.07
Winer bowing exercises 1-4a
Scales: A
Review: EE p46 - Bach Minuet #2
Reading: Rubank p16-18, Suzuki Bk 2 p6
New Notes: G# (D string), C# (G string)

I can't believe the Rubank book is making beginners stretch so much....

4.26.07
New Notes: F# (C string), E flat (D String)
Review: Bouree (M1)
Review: EE p46 - Bach Minuet #2 (M2)
Reading: Rubank p23, Suzuki Bk 2 p6-7

Might as well post stats thru today.

4.27.07
Winer bowing exercises: 3abc
Suzuki Bk 2 - p8 Minuet (M3), measures 1-9

2nd position makes more sense to me than extensions

Reading: Rubank p23
Bowing stick exercises

4.28.07
Winer bowing exercises: 1,2,3
Left hand exercise: 1434, 1424, 1323 pizz only
Suzuki Bk 2 - p8 Minuet (M3), finish reading, work on tricky sections
Scales: G C D A F Bflat Eflat
Thumb: harmonic D A
Bow stick exercises

4.29.07
Winer bowing exercises: 1,2,3
Suzuki Bk 2 - p8 Minuet (M3), work on tricky sections, begin memorization
Scales: G C D A F Bflat Eflat
Thumb: harmonic D A
Bow stick exercises

Looking Ahead

Started looking at second position and thumb. Figure it will take a while to build a thumb callous so might as well start the torture. Not trying to play any notes with the thumb other than the harmonic A and D. Second position actually looks pretty easy, having the 2nd and 4th finger match up to the open strings makes it easy to doublecheck intonation. For all you fellow beginners out there, don't worry I won't get too far ahead. I have several trips that will seriously interfere with practice this summer. One already starts this coming Thursday - Sunday. Been doing heavy bowing work this week. The vids showed my bowing as a major weakness. One comment I received from a suzuki teacher friend was that my bowing hair was going the wrong direction -- away from the bridge instead of towards it.

Some Think Different

Two videos I found amusing

Rondo for 37 cellos
http://www.mythropolis.de/2007/04/01/ethan-winer/

Pachebel Rant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

Thanks

Many thanks for all the positive feedback and encouragement.

GGP's videos gave me the courage to post on YouTube.
Guanaco and Cellodonna's blogs inspired me to write more than exercise notes.

It's a conspiracy to make me practice more.
Even the parakeet sings happily along.

My husband has demanded that I give the cello a name.
After much contemplation, I've decided on Velina.

Velina has Latin (Italian) roots and is also a Bulgarian name meaning "popular or great". Found it under April name days on the net. I like the alliterative sound of the name -- Velina Violoncello. Of course, it will probably end up being shortened to Lina Cello.

Okay, Time to Laugh

I've gotten my first request from a friend wishing to hear me play...so here are two pieces with a few "wince" moments. Yes, yes, I know the bowing hand is way too slanty, the bowing erratic and the intonation could be better... and I look way too serious.

On the other hand, what do you expect, I've only been playing for two weeks :)


M1


M2

Twelfth Night

Just finished reading through the first exercise book that came with the cello -- "Essential Elements for Strings" that I started 12 days ago. Reminds me a little of the "A Tune A Day" books I had when I first started the fiddle. Anyway, it was good for note reading. Now starting the Rubank Elementary Method for the Cello which I got from the library which looks similarly simple.

It's interesting to see how the different books approach the beginner. "How I Play, How I Teach" by Paul Tortelier has 10 pages of photos devoted on how to handle the bow. "The Complete Cellist" by Matz/Aronson reminds me of a military handbook.

Stamina is getting better. I can now practice for about 1/2 hour before needing a break.

Book Binge

Went to the public library today to take back an overdue book and on a whim checked out their Fine Arts section -- ended up bringing home 3 cello instruction books plus one book on cello history. Checked the card catalog and requested an instructional video that's at a different branch. There were also lots of real music scores -- snuck a peek at Schubert's Arpeggione and Haydn's Concerto. Wow. The Vivaldi didn't look so intimidating.

Whimping Out...

I've decided to drop the two virtual courses I was going to take this summer at MDC. I figured my plate was getting rather full. In theory, this should give me more time to practice the cello :)

The Wonderful World of Blogging

I've had a few false starts with blogging. Trying it when it first appeared on the net. Never felt inspired to keep them going. They were mostly private blogs tracking records, sort of what I thought this cello blog would be.

I've kept personal journals for years, mostly when travelling. I started posting travel logs for friends and family on my personal website when an eBay friend took my husband and me on a tour of Bulgaria. I received a lot of positive feedback from that so continued the tradition with other trips.

I had been emailing some friends and family personal updates on and off and after visiting an acquaintance from Africa's weblog, I got inspired to create a personal blog on my website.

Its actually more fun to blog than keep a personal journal. It forces me to write in a different style. Also, adding photos really makes a difference. Photos are so easy to add using server side technology than uploading via ftp.

Googling, I came across gottagopractice's blog and decided to re-establish a blog with blogger.com. Blogger.com has gone through so many changes over the years. Looks pretty good now.

Anyway, appears that this blog is evolving into a more introspective one than my other one.
On a whim, I had posted my cello blog link on the "cello by night" forum and was amazed at the response. I've been attacked by the cello bloggers! What a nice concept! When one isn't in a class setting there's an isolation to learning an instrument as an adult. I felt that separateness when I was studying the violin in my twenties. There's no one to share your woes or little triumphs or even to compare yourself with.

I've just started reading Guanaco's cello blog which starts in November of 2005 when he decided to learn the cello at age 55. It's an exotic setting as he lives in Alaska where the nearest cello teacher's 60 miles away. He starts out practicing over an hour a day. Wow, that's stamina. I'm lucky to do ten minutes and then I take a break and come back later.

Also of interest was Guanaco's lifestyle similarity. He also retired early, and lost quite a bit of weight during the past few years. I had been scolded by my GP that my blood sugar was too high and if I didn't start exercising and losing weight, he'd make me take pills. So I started the South Beach Diet, Labor Day 2004, and lost 30 pounds. I put my husband on SB also but he only lost 10 pounds. I was more conscientious about exercising 20 minutes a day.

Anyway, its time to put the computer and groceries away and take out the cello. Got a compliment on my playing today from my husband. That's really great. Compliments don't come often from him.

So Why Am I Taking Up The Cello?

As a child I grew up with gypsy music. My mother's hungarian background exposed me to great folk music. My dad brought home a violin but the violin repair shop said it was in awful shape and to not even bother trying to learn on it.

A few months later my mother gave me a guitar for my birthday and said I could take music lessons at the shop down the street. A year of guitar lessons seemed enough to get me into jazz band at school and then I dropped that when I joined a local song and dance group "Sing out Miami" as their rhythm guitarist and eventually their main guitarist.

After high school, there wasn't anything to do with the guitar as I didn't play folk music, jazz or rock and roll. Auditoned for a few bands but didn't get chosen.

Started dating a guy who played violin. Our first date involved me watching him play in the second violin section of the community orchestra. This re-ignited my interest in the violin. Went out and got a used Chinese fiddle from the local music store and took few lessons before my teacher skipped town. That left me stranded for awhile.

An adult community center offered free lessons so I ended up going there. The teacher was actually a violist so I eventually switched to viola. I really didn't like playing the high notes on the violin. Also, everyone kept telling me to play louder and I just thought it was too much sound next to one's ear.

The viola was nice but there always seemed to be plenty of viola players in the community orchestra. There was also the disadvantage of being seated in front of the wind players and getting blasted.

So eventually I quit the community orchestra. Took up classical guitar as it was a nice quiet instrument suitable for playing at home and not bothering anyone.

Then while I was taking music theory courses at MDC and the professor told me about his chamber music classes. I played violin (not so willingly) at first and then switched to classical guitar. However, the guitar sound doesn't balance well with other instruments.

There has been a constant problem in the chamber music class with keeping a cellist. Every year there's a cellist that begins with the program and then quits. So when I saw the $200 cello on craigslist, I decided to be pro-active about the chamber music class problem.

Actually, I've thought about learning the cello on and off for many years but starting prices of $800 for a student cello was a deterrent. Also, where in our one-bedroom apartment would I find a place for it?

At this point our home is so full of junk that I decided that one more bulky item wouldn't make any difference.

So that's why I'm now a beginning cellist and my goal this summer is to learn enough to play some simple chamber music in the fall.

Cello Studies - The First Week

Background - guitar early teens. violin early twenties. viola late twenties. classical guitar in my thirties. Now in my forties trying the cello...

Thursday 4.12.07

Picked up nice student cello off craigslist for $200

Friday 4.13.07

Throughout the day - trying to play cello up for maybe 5 minutes at a time.

Started D Major Scale - First Position

Note reading - AB C# D on first string
D E F G on second string

Reading book "Essential Elements for Strings, Cello Book One" by Michael Allen, Robert Gillespie, Pamela Tellejohn Hayes. Pages 1 - 18

Pizzicato - Bouree, Bach Suite 3 - Measures 1 - 9. Attempted to bow Measures 1-3

Saturday 4.14.07

Scales - D & C

Reading book - pages 18 - 21

Long bows 20x on each string

Bowing Bouree - Measures 1 to 9 Attempted

Sunday 4.15.07

Suzuki style - Mississippi Hot Dog (MHD) and Music Make Music (MMM)
Bowing for C & D Scales

Reading notes for the G String
G A B C

Book pages 22-29

Monday 4.16.07

Pizz. 1 4 3 4
Pizz. 1 4 2 4
Pizz. 1 3 2 3

Tuesday 4.17.07

Scales C D Am G

Book 30 - 33

Wednesday 4.18.07

Book Pg 34, Exercises 135, 136, 137, 138

Using Mirror to watch bowing

Bouree Memorize Measures 1 - 5

Thursday 4.19.07

Pg 35, Exercises thru 142

Mirror Watch

Bouree Memorize Measure 6 - 7

Scales D and up the 2nd string.

MHD Rhythms

MMM Rhythm

College

Well next Tuesday finishes my coursework with MDC for this term.
Intro to Education, Intro to Education Technology, Understanding Diverse Populations, and the usual chamber music course.

No real challenges other than having to write some papers -- something I haven't really had to do since 1976.

Finally got to play my classical guitar trio for the chamber music concert -- Matiegka first movement. Teach gave me A+ for improvement.

Learning Russian

Been trying to learn Russian for about a month now to prepare for the trip to St. Petersburg in June. Listening to Pimsleur in the car twice a week and got a new program called Unforgettable Languages (UL) which uses a link-word system to help one to memorize words.

The "Before You Know it" Flash Cards I downloaded from the internet are nice because you can write the word on your keyboard.

I also have Rosetta Stone.

The only one I have been good about keeping up with is the Pimsleur.

My pronounciation drives my husband crazy. He took Russian back in college 40 years ago...

Hopefully now with classes ending, I can devote more time to the language CDs.