Countdown 36

Literature:
Read Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God".
A slow but interesting read because it is in dialect.

Film:
Watched Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. I'll give this movie five stars. I loved the cinematography, the different accounts and the lack of a definite answer to the mystery.

CD Ideas that Shaped Mankind
Lecture 10 - The Enlightenment
East/West exchange of ideas 18th Century Jesuit accounts of China, India and Japan
Values of Enlightenment: Denis Diderot's Encyclopedie - How to make the world work practically.
Progress was absolutely fundamental.
Free will to do good.
.Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations - everyone seeks their own best advantage. Prosperity would be maximized if people were free.
.William Godwin proposed dismantling of the state.
Struggle between constitutionalism and absolutism.
Rights of the citizens guaranteed by law -- inalienable rights of humankind

Countdown 37 and Boring Stats

Cello practice weeks 44-48 (out of 35 days)
57% Minuets 20
54% Bow exercises 19
28% Lully 10
22% Left hand exercises 8
20% Thumb 7
20% Book I exercises 7
20% Bouree 7
14% Brevel 5

Started using timer
Week 46: 4 hrs
Week 47: 2 hrs
Week 48: 4 hrs
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Humanities Studies
Philosophy: Ideas that Shaped Mankind
Lecture 7 Age of Sages
Religion - Ideas of Creation, Matter arising from pure thought, One Universal G-d, Divine Love, Man as Master of the World

Lecture 8 Ideas about Religion
.William of Ockham 14c - denounces advocates of reason for forcing G-d's behavior into channels permitted by logic "necessitarianism" /
.St. Augustine of Hippo (4c) Mysticism - Doctrine of Illumination

Lecture 9 Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution
.The Columbian Exchange - separated continents are re-seeded with plants, animals, etc. carried with people across the oceans.
.Hermes Trismegistus (Greek patron of magic) Hermetism - humans could do magic and influence nature - alchemists, magicians, hermetists.
.Sir Francis Bacon (scientific method - experiments and observations with consistent results).
.Rene Descartes (rationalist tradition -- I doubt,therefore I exist) People believe in their own realities but deny the reality of everything else.
.Niccolo Machiavelli - The Prince "The State exists only for its own ends"
.Bartolome de las Casas Dominican Friar (16th c)- mankind as a single moral community -- the family of man: Universality of mankind.
.Hugo Grotius - doctrine of international law and state sovereignty


Literature: Harlem Renaissance Tie-together
Nicolas Vachel Lindsay (The Congo/Prairie Troubadour) claims to have discovered
Langston Hughes (Soul is a River / Dream Deferred)
Lorraine Hansberry's play - "A Raisin in the Sun" about an African American family in Chicago.

Literature: Poetry Devices

spondee consists of two stressed syllables one after the other, as in the first two syllables of “ripe apples.”

Iambic pentameter consists of ten-syllable lines in which unstressed syllables are followed by stressed syllables in a regular pattern.

Alliteration, the repetition of consonant sounds

Assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds

Enjambment, in which a pause or caesura occurs naturally in the middle of a line rather than at the end.

Synaesthesia, the description of one kind of sensation in terms of another kind (as in “a delicious vision”)

Literature: Novel technques

Indirect discourse is a technique in which the narrator mimics the voice or thoughts of a character without actually quoting the character or using the character’s voice.

picaresque is the novel form used to describe journeys whose aim or destination is unclear from the outset. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding is a picaresque novel.

Fine Arts: Music
Beethoven describes his first movement of the 5th symphony as "Fate knocking on the door"

Countdown 39

Fine Arts: Literature
Read Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Fine Arts: Film
Watched Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman

Notes from SHOF: Chapter 7
World Cinema in the 1950s
1950 Japan's Akira Kurosawa "Rashomon effect" to describe differing eyewitness accounts POVs that cannot be reconciled.
1957 Sweden's Ingmar Bergman "The 7th Seal"
1954 Italy's Federico Fellini "La Strada"
1959 "La Dolce Vita" coins the term paparazzi
1950 Michelangelo Antonioni "Cronaca di un amore"
Luchino Visconti goes for the theatrical style. "White Nights" "Bellissima" "Senso"
1968 English Sir Carol Reed "Oliver" won Academy Award for best picture
England's EALING Studios produce Ealing Comedies.
1951 Charles Crichton's "The Lavender Hill Mob" with Alec Guinness,
1955 The Lady Killers
The St. Trinian Films and the Carry On Comedies
Hammer Films specialize in horror and science fiction
French Jacques Tati "Mon oncle" 1958
Robert Bresson creates his own form of cinema for himself influencing future generations.
John Rouch and Ethnographic Cinema.
Max Orphuls "Gigi"
Jean Renoir humanist
Roger Vadim "And God Created Women" (Bridgitte Bardot 1956) Liaisons dangereuses


Notes from SHOF: Chapter 8 - The 1960s Explosion
French New Wave - political and social issues furvor
. Francois Truffaut "400 blows" "Shoot the Piano Player" "Jules and Jim"
. Jean-Luc Godard "Breathless" "The Little Soldier"
. Alain Resnais "Hiroshima mon amour" "L'Annee derniere a Marienbad"
. Claude Chabrol "The French Hitchcock" "Bitter Reunion" "The Cousins"
Sweden:Ingmar Bergman
Italy: Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns "Once Upon a Time in the West"

Stanley Kubrick - Dr. Strangelove

"Bonnie and Clyde": Arthur Penn - slow mo, romantic deep focus shots, abrupt editorial transitions
Hitchcock's "Psycho"
Schlesingers "Midnight Cowboy"

Skip Chapters 9 and 10 - 1970's to the present / The New Hollywood
Most of this was familar to me

Countdown 43

Fine Arts: Film
Notes from SHOF - Chapter 5

International Cinema through WWII
1933 Alexander Korda does The Private Life of Henry VIII which becomes the first British film to win an Academy Award for best actor (Charles Laughton)
1937 Jean Renoir - The Grand Illusion
1942 Rene Clair - I Married A Witch
1930 Jean Cocteau's The Blood of a Poet with music by Georges Auric - lots of trick photography to create this opium dream
1950 Jean Cocteau's masterpiece Orphee
Propagandist and documentarian Nazi Leni Riefenstahl
Luchino Visconti version of the Postman always rings twice "Obsession"

Notes from SHOF - Chapter 6

Postwar Challenges to the Movies
Italy - De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" - plot reminiscent and probably influenced recent movie "Beijing Bicycle".
1944 - US Supreme Court "de Havilland decision" rules that the 7 year contract for actors could not be indefinitely lengthened by suspensions.
1947 - US Supreme Court declares practice of Block Booking a violation of antitrust laws.

James Steward becomes the first actor to command a percentage of film gross.

Rossellini's work "The Miracle" is banned by Catholic Church. The Supreme Court in 1952 decides that this is a violation of church and state separation and that Movies fell under the 1st Amendment of "Freedom of Speech"

Film Noir
Newman's Abandoned
Siodmaks's The Killers
Dassin's The Naked City
George Marshall's The Blue Dahlia

Women as the vicious femme fatale. Barbara Stanwyck "Double Indemnity"
1945 Joan Crawford "Mildred Pierce"

HUAC starts the Communist scare in Hollywood and the blacklist
Rise of Television
3D and Cinerama (early 3 projector wide screen) Roller coaster rides like Disneyworld Circlevisions, etc.

Auteur Theory makes the director the most important person involved in the creation of a film.
Marlon Brando "rebel" formla with Laszlo Benedeks "The Wild One" 1953
Roger Corman's "Little Shop of Horrors" 1960. Low budget crime, horror and sci fi thrillers.

Musicals
Billy Wilder's 1955 - Seven Year Itch with Marilyn Monroe

---------
Watched ROPE by Hitchcock. The main reason for seeing this movie was to see how the long takes were done. The movie looks like a play and after looking up the info on imdb this proves to be its origins. Another interesting point was the veiled gender issues. Hubby didn't pick up on this but I suspected.
---------
Philosophy: Listened to 3 lectures from audio book - Ideas that Shaped Mankind
Lecture 4 - From Settlement to Civilization - Crisis and Wars. The reign of Kings.
Lecture 5 - Thus Spake Zarathustra - The fall of the early civilizations, zoroastrism
Lecture 6 - The Age of Sages - Plato, Buddha, Confucius

Countdown 45 and Results of Holiday Concert

Today's holiday concert at the library with SMA scored C+ as I drew a blank on the first entrance piece but did a reasonably good job playing from memory on the Minuet II. The piece clipped along at a faster pace than anticipated. Had a few other mishaps on the holiday pieces which I hadn't played since last year, mostly unnoticeable to the audience. I'll get another chance next Saturday.
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Humanities Studies: Fine Arts - Film

Notes from A Short History of Film - Chapter 4
The Hollywood Studio System in the 1930s and 1940s

Populace entertainment for the 1930s was mostly escapism to provide relief from the drudgery of daily existence.

Theaters ran films continuously sometimes for 24 hours a day

Studios forced theaters into buying package deals - B Films vs A Films
Performers were typically under contract for 7 years.

New technical difficulties with sound.
Microphones on Booms allow for more mobility for perfomers

Advent of color technologies
Technicolor by Herbert T Klamus and pushed by his wife Natalie who made sure that Technicolor was used to its best advantage in movies like Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.

John Ford specializing in westerns mostly shot in Monument Valley. Noted works: Stagecoach, Grapes of Wrath / John Wayne taught to react to other performers and keep his gestures to a minimum.

Howard Hawks: The Gray Fox noted for Dawn Patrol, Scarface, Bringing up Baby, To Have and to Have Not, The Big Sleep, Red River. His key to good film was simply "3 good scenes, no bad ones".

Hitchcock: 39 Steps, Secret Agent, Sabotage, The Lady Vanishes, Rebecca, Shadow of a Doubt, Lifeboat, Spellbound, Rope, The Man Who Knew Too Much. Storyboarded all his shots before filiming. Was detached from shooting process which allowed him to design his films as intricate puzzles to hook the audience with clever and exciting touches.

Fritz Lang: Departed Nazi germany to America. Couldn't see why he couldn't work through lunch and dinner times. Pessimistic stylist who viewed humanity as essentially flawed, foredoomed and inherently corruptible.

Charlie Chaplin: Modern Times 1936 still silent. The Great Dictator 1940 not well received.

Ernst Lubitsch Touch - romantic comedies with a bite. His "The Shop Around the Corner" is remade by Nora Ephron's "You've Got Mail". "To Be or Not to Be" was one of Lubitsch's most accomplished farces and the highlight of Jack Benny's screen career.

Max Ophuls was romanticist. Most famous film was "Letter form an Unknown Woman" A sense of fluid restlessness pervades all of his best work.

Orson Welles - Citizen Kane makes Hearst mad. Welles becomes noted for being brilliant but a difficult and potentially dangerous filmmaker.

Frank Capra - Small Town America - Mr. Smith goes to Washington well received but It's a Wonderful Life wasn't a box office hit.

George Cukor became known as a "woman's director" because of his skill in managing stars such as Katharine Hepburn

One Take Woody / WS Van Dyke - Tarzan the Ape Man

Spectacle: Cecil B DeMille - Cleopatra

Josef von Sternberg - Marlene Dietrich: The Blue Angel

Preston Sturges - foremost social satirist of the period.

Walt Disney and UB Iwerks - Steamboat Willie
Looney Tunes - Leon Schlesinger
Tex Avery
Max & Dave Fleischer - Betty Boop

1934: The Code stymies Mae West. Hollywood is brought to heel with no drugs, crime methods, excessive lust, white and black romance, etc.

Shirley Temple rises to fame.

Most famous film of the era 1939 Gone with the Wind

Hollywood goes to war with films like Casablanca
-------------
Listened to 3 lectures from Ideas that Shaped Mankind by Felipe Fernandez Armesto
The Idea of Ideas - so what differs us from the apes? Imagination?
The Mind of the Hunter -- The unseen world, spirits, planning and trying to influence the outcome of the natural world -- be it a successful hunt or praying for rain.
Of Ice and Mud -- the tyranny of agriculture and the concept of labour and feeding the masses, storage and domestication.

Countdown 46

Humanities
Fine Arts - Film

Notes from Chapters 1, 2, 3 "A Short History of Film" by Wheeler Winston Dixon & Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. Films I've actually seen highlighted in bold.

1878 Edward Muybridge creates motion studies using a series of cameras triggered by wires and settles a bet about horses having all four legs in the air while galloping.

1895 Louis and Auguste Lumiere make the 1st commercial breakthrough by combining a photographic and projection device in one machine.

1898 Thomas Edison creates the first case of "censorship" with Ella Lola. Her body display was obscured to cover offending portions of the anatomy.

Edison creates sensationalist films appealing the basest appetites of sex and violence with The Kiss and Rat Killing. Creates sequels with "Rat & Terrier #2, Rats and Terrier #3, Rats and Weasel". Edison also creates the first paid advertisement: "Dewar's: It's Scotch"

1902 Georges Melies "A Trip to the Moon" (starts "Sci-Fi" genre) creates a series of special effects that would dominate cinema until the digital age: double exposures, dissolves, mattes, reverse motion, cutting, etc.

Frenchwoman, Alice Guy, becomes one of the inventors of narrative film.

1903 Edwin S. Porter "The Great Train Robbery" uses intercutting and camera angles for suspense and action (starts "The Western" genre)

1908 Thomas Edison attempts to monopolize industry and creates the Motion Picture Patents Company aka "The Trust".

Carl Laemmle manages to lure away the alluring actress Florence Lawrence away from the Trust and signs her up with his company IMP. She becomes known as the IMP girl. Thus setting the scene for actors and get name billing, popularity and higher salaries -- the Star System. He also creates "spin" by setting a rumor that the girl had been killed. He creates a publicity campaign to debunk this silly lie. By 1915, Edison's monopoly is broken.

Rise of the Studios: Universal 1912 (IMP), Fox 1915 (20th Century), MGM 1924

1913 - Mack Sennett creates Keystone Kops and Charlie Chaplin's his biggest star.

Early movie stars:
Mary Pickford / Pollyanna
Theda Bara / Femme Fatale - A Fool There Was
Buster Keaton / The General / Great Stoneface
Rudolph Valentino / The Sheik
Lon Chaney / Hunchback of Notre Dame
Rin Tin Tin
Laurel & Hardy

1914 - 1918 Movies move out west to better weather. America produces movies in Hollywood while rest of the world is concentrated on fighting WWI

1914 Winsor McCay, newspaper cartoonists animates "Gertie the Dinosaur"

1915 DW Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" runs 2.5 hrs with an astounding admission price of $2. Average salary was $25/week. KKK used film as a recruiting tool.

1922 The Code - Will H. Hays heads MPPDA "Hays Office" to police the private life of stars.
1922 Robert Flaherty / Nanook of the North -- the first staged doc-dramas (new genre: documentaries)
1923 Cecil B DeMille / The 10 Commandments -- one can get away with greed, sin and decadence provided there's a moral ending.

Race films: 1910's onwards catering to African American audiences. Oscar Micheaux, African American filmmaker made more than 20 silent films but was criticized for depicting blacks as well off and well educated.

Late 1920's the move to sound.
Warner Bros embraces sound and creates the Jazz Singer with Al Jolson

Rest of the world
1915 German Paul Wegener creates Gothic Horror fantasy with the Golem
1918 Russian's revolution - Lenin senses the power of cinema to mold the populace and creates "agit-prop" trains to generate propaganda.
1922 German FW Murnau / Nosferatu with Max Schreck
1925 German Fritz Lang "Metropolis"
1925 Russian Sergei Eisenstein / Battleship Potemkin "The Odessa Steps" and the famous baby carriage. / Alexander Nevsky / Ivan the Terrible
1928 Danish Carl Theodor Dreyer / The Passion of Joan of Arc
1929 An Andalusian Dog, surreal film by Dali and Bunuel causes riots with its shocking sequences: slitting eyeball with a razor, ants spilling out of decayed hand.
1931 French Rene Clar /A Nous La Liberte with music by George Auric
Elvira Notari, Italian filmmaker inventor of Neorealistic cinema, shot on location often using nonprofessional actors.
1930's Alfred Hitchcock adapts from silent films to talkies.

Countdown 47

Humanities
Fine Arts - Film
Started reading "A short history of Film"

Literature - Poetry
Looked up some recommended poets by hubby.

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950)
who coined

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends--
It gives a lovely light!

First woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for poetry


And THE CONGO by Vachel Lindsay ( 1879 - 1931) a poem that uses a lot of onomatopoeia. Lindsay is criticized for stereotyping. He considered himself the discoverer of Langston Hughes. THE CONGO goes on and on and on with its BOOMLAY BOOMLAY BOOMLAY BOOM.

Which reminds me of a joke:
A missionary is out in the jungle and meets the head witchdoctor. The drums are booming away. All day, all night, the drums are booming.
After a day of this, the missionary asked the witchdoctor "What's with the drums?"
Witchdoctor says "DRUMS GOOD, NO DRUMS BAD"

After three days of this, the missionary asked the witchdoctor "Don't these drums every stop?" Witchdoctor says "DRUMS GOOD, NO DRUMS BAD"

By the fifth day, the missionary tells the witchdoctor "Please make these drums stop!" Witchdoctor says "DRUMS GOOD, NO DRUMS BAD"

THEN all of a sudden the drums stop. The witchdoctors eyes grow very BIG and the missionary asks concerned "What now???"
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The witchdoctor whispers "Piccolo solo"

Countdown 48 and Bulgarian Folksong

Humanities
Literature - Fiction
Read: House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Fine Arts - Visual Arts
Looked up my hubby's favorite Pre-Raphaelite painting "Ophelia" by John Everett Millais

Visited local museum which was displaying Salvador Dali's Dante 100 print series and an exhibition of never-before traveled works by Italian masters Leonardo da Vinci, Tiziano Vecellio and Giovanni Ambrogio de Predis, and German master Albrecht Durer.

Also had a nice exhibit of paper fold-out books and paintings by Lea Nickless: Bound Unbound.

Tonight was the "One Night Stand" at the local community orchestra. Unfortunately, the guitar and mandolin duet never quite came together. However, here's the amusing entry done by hubby of a bulgarian folk song with me singing backup.

Countdown 49

Humanities
Literature - Fiction

• Read Short story THE LIFE YOU SAVE MIGHT BE YOUR OWN by Flannery O'Conner (1925-1964). Title refers to the old signposts found along highways. Flannery trademarks seems to be using "disabled" characters in her stories and there is often a reference to peacocks.

• Read Short story IMAGINED SCENES by Ann Beattie (1947-) Postmodernism.

Fine Arts: Visual Arts
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, English painters, poets, critics founded in 1848.

• James Collinson (painter)
• William Holman Hunt (painter)
• John Everett Millais (painter)
• Dante Gabriel Rossetti (painter, poet)
• William Michael Rosetti (critic)
• Frederic George Stephens (critic)
• Thomas Woolner (sculpter, poet)

The Brotherhood's early doctrines were expressed in four declarations:

1. To have genuine ideas to express;
2. To study Nature attentively, so as to know how to express them;
3. To sympathise with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parodying and learned by rote;
4. And, most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues.

They were influenced by Romanticism but were fascinated by medieval art.

Persephone, by
Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

John Everett Millais - Christ in the House of his parents

Medea by Evelyn De Morgan, 1889 in quattrocento style

50 Days to Review Humanities

I signed up for the Humanities FTCE 2/5. Therefore, I need to review the subject and will subject my blog to things I didn't know or forgot. Took a diagnostic test and my weakest subject is Literature. Well, it has been over thirty years and I'll admit that reading the classics hasn't been high on my list of things to do.

Pulled out the guitar to practice a couple of pieces for the "One Nite Stand" and found out that my strings really needed to be replaced. Guitar strings usually don't last beyond 3 months. At least they are cheap.

Registered for Chamber Music and Intensive Chinese starting January. I haven't studied Mandarin Chinese since 2004 so when I received an email from the college stating 25% off the cost of the course I thought it might be good idea to review my knowledge of the language. Gosh, it's been 4 years already.

Cello has not been forgotten. Memorizing pieces for the SMA concert Saturday and after I finish all my "have-to-do's" I play around with the Breval. Maybe I can get the first movement ready for a Chamber Music recital next year.

Okay, here's my first humanities entry.
Fine Arts - Visual Arts:
Michaelangelo Merisi was known as "M" but we know him as "Caravaggio" 1571-1610. Big rep of Baroque painting and chiaroscuro (sharp contrasting lights and darks). Thought to have utilized projection using mirrors with dark rooms illuminated with a shaft of light from the ceiling as a helpful technique in achieving photorealism. Since he worked on one setup at the time, he might have been the first cut and paste artist. His overly realistic paintings were controversial as he would depict saints with dirty feet.


The Crucifixion of Saint Peter, 1601. Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.
I remember seeing this painting but not at the Cerasi Chapel. It must have been on tour.

Literature - Poetry:
Harlem Renaissance
Langston Hughes (1902-1967). Born in Missouri.

First published in The Crisis in 1921, the verse that would become Hughes's signature poem, THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS, appeared in his first book of poetry THE WEARY BLUES in 1926:

I've known rivers:

I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln

went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy

bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Ah, I remember this raisin in the sun poem from school but didn't know that it by a "Harlem Renaissance" author. This classification is new to me.

Fine Arts - Drama:
August Wilson (1945-2005) Playwright. German father, mother from North Carolina.
Best known for The Pittsburgh Cycle: 10 plays that span 1900 to 1990 starting with GEM OF THE OCEAN which is about Aunt Ester, a 285 year old "soul cleanser" and the people who pass by her parlor. Virginia Theater in Broadway was renamed after him.

Wilson's best known plays are FENCES (1985) (which won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award), THE PIANO LESSON (1990) (a Pulitzer Prize and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award), MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM, and JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE.
Not familiar at all with this. Too modern. Wikipedia and YouTube are wonderful resources. Here's an excerpt from Fences (video's not great, but you can hear the actors dialogue clearly)

Literature - Fiction
Another Harlem Renaissance person
Zora Neale Huston: Novel - "Their Eyes were watching G-d." Set in Florida 1937
Book on order from library. American folklorist, short story novelist. Died in Ft. Pierce where they celebrate Hurston annually through various events such as Hattitudes, birthday parties, and a several-day festival at the end of April, Zora Fest. Her life and legacy are also celebrated every year in Eatonville, the town that inspired her, at the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities.

Fine Arts - Film:
Another new category. I had clepped humanities and I'm sure the test didn't have any film questions on it back in the 1970's.
ROPE was a bold experimental film by Alfred Hitchcock that was shot so it appeared to be a continuous single take. DVD on order from Netflix.

Has anyone seen "Russian Ark" by Alexander Sokurov? The 96 minute film was shot in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and was actually created in one long continuous take.

One Night Stand

Next week is the local community orchestra's Holiday Party and "One Night Stand" where members and nonmembers can come and play anything they want. I was thinking of doing the little Suzuki Bach Minuets. However, I cannot find a violinist who will play with me. You'd think hubby would be a mensch and do the chore, but nooo. Anyway, I've been tapped to play guitar with a friend who wants to play mandolin.

I'll get a chance to play two holiday concerts with SMA this month so that will be good for cello practice.

More good news is that my chamber music class is now available as a noncredit course. I'll be able to officially enroll in January.

Intoning Until It Hurts

R insisted I play in tune today. This seemed to require switching my left hand position until I was using tender finger parts. Oh well, such is art and exercise. No pain, no gain.

Recommendation

R recommended that I check out this website.
http://www.celloprofessor.com/

More Than A Year

Looking over my practice sheets today made me realize that even though I started the cello over a year ago I'm only on week 45 of practice. I've got a long way to go to reach my 10,000 hours. Played a concert with the Suzuki Music Academy yesterday. Didn't feel confident enough to play without my scores as I hadn't played any of the pieces for over a month. Maybe next time.

Thanks for the Giving.

I seem to be suffering from lifestyle change. After 3 weeks of physical activity, being asleep by 8pm and eating mostly vegetarian healthy food, coming back to Miami is a shock to the system.
I've been glued to the computer and getting only about 7 hours of sleep all week.

Last night reacquainted myself with the cello by doing some sightreading.

Anyway, I've finished my travelogue. Enjoy. Feel free to skip the narrative and just look at the photos. http://www.galitz.com/2008-Peru/index.html

Wishing everyone a very happy holiday.
Marisa

Almost Time for the Big Trip

Here's the itinerary for my 25 day trip to Southern Peru. I leave Monday evening.
Unfortunately, I will be abandoning my hubby. He has fallen ill and won't be going.
Happily, another friend is coming along so I'll still have company.

Recital and Sightreading Critique

Received this e-critique from Chamber Music Teacher today...

I thought your intonation was fairly decent. I wish that I had recorded the performance. It seemed that we both played softer, which helped overall. It also seemed that you played with generally more staccato articulation. I think that helped too.

I noticed that my doubling your part has a huge influence on your playing. The next step is to work toward independence, feeling secure when you’re the only one on the part. You can get the rhythm and tempo from the other instruments while being aware of the fact that they are playing something completely different. When we were sight-reading, the difference in your playing when I dropped out was pretty obvious. But I still stand by my statement that you’ve come a long way in your sight-reading and, as Earl mentioned, in your rhythmic security.

Quick Recital

Our group went first. Nothing horrible happened. Hubby said my rhythm was solid. Afterwards, we did some sight reading for fun. Teacher says my counting has gotten better. So much for tonight's excitement.

More Suzuki

Made a trip up to SMA yesterday and practiced the bass accompaniment for the 3 Minuets with the kids. Still shaky playing Minuet 3 from memory but it's starting to gel. Hope to get those polished plus "O Come Little Children" before the holiday concerts. R asked if I'd like to play the Lully for the concert but I passed -- cluck, cluck, cluck.

Thou Shalt Not Panic

I'm a firm believer in not worrying as it usually doesn't do any good.

However, hubby and I have developed a new hobby this month -- it's getting checked by doctors for all sorts of stuff. Needless to say, the lab reports have generated more tests for both of us and lots of concern. Hubby has six months of skin therapy coming up and we were resigned to that. However CT scans have come back with more worrying stuff for hubby. Some nastiness maybe with his lungs, gallbladder and kidneys. Huh? All this from a CT Scan that the doc just said he'd do for the heck of it. There's a 66% chance that there's no need for alarm but more tests are needed.

Then my ENT doc says I have some hearing loss on my right ear and wants to do an MRI, but says not to worry as it's probably not a brain tumor. Geez, I wasn't worried until he said that!!!

Oh well, this too shall pass. We've been lucky so far.

Practice ....Practice....Practice

I'm back to the up and down method of practicing. Do exercises until tired (approx 15 minutes). Put cello down, play on the internet, go back and some more exercises until tired, repeat.

I understand from the Pimsleur language method of graduated interval recall that when one learns a phrase, it goes into short term memory and fades. If repeated at the proper interval it can swiftly move from short-term to long-term memory. Let's hope it works for cello as well.

Called Out

Well, I got slammed yesterday for not practicing all week. Teacher threatened to remove me from the recital. Anyway, I promised to practice everyday until the recital next Tuesday and to use extensions rather than shifts to get the B flat (A string), E flat (D string) and A flat (D string). Thanks Emily for that timely video.

Scandal

I scandalized the teacher today by showing up without practicing the Quantz this week. Irregardless, we'll play the first movement for concert next week.
Maybe you can hear the quiet muted cello in the background :)
Boomp3.com

Classical Guitar without Gas

Dragged my guitar and cello to chamber music class this week. Haven't touch the guitar for several years, so tried some reading which came back quickly. Then tried to play some pieces that I had memorized. Oops, forgotten. So today, I brought out the sheet music and sat down to play through the pieces that I knew by heart once upon a time. The classical guitar is such a nice, mellow, quiet instrument. I won't be needing the guitar for chamber music class but I think I should remember to play it once in a while.

Relaxed Kitty

I got this in my email this morning and thought I'd share...
Why my computer crashed, the mouse is missing also.

Chamber Music Update

Chamber Music Class has been in session since the end of August. However, tonight was my first appearance since I had been out of the country. We have a recorder player, a guitarist, a mandolin/viola/violin for this term.

Attempted reading the treble bass line off a guitar and flute arrangement of Handel, Sonata in F. Pizz'ed it as bowing didn't seem appropriate.

The viola and recorder player played a nice Baroque piece and the instruments complement each other. The recorder player is enthusiastic but hasn't done a lot of sight reading so he'll be challenged with this course.

Tried reading a Trio sonata by Quantz in C minor. The only difficult part is nine measures of sixteenth note runs in the Allegro. That will require some work with the metronome.

We also attempted an Irish tune for the fun of it. Cello was designated drone. However, the piece is so easy, I may give the flute a try.

Guitarist may bring music that requires an additional guitar next week. How many instruments do I need to drag to class with me?

OK, I'll Bite

Melissa had this on her blog so I got hungry.

The Omnivore's 100

The rules are:

1) Copy this list into your blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here linking to your results.

And the list:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile (I think Alligator is close enough)
6. Black pudding (and black sausage)
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp (just had some last week)
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper (once was enough)
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (do rice weevils and ants count?)
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu (no I will not play russian roulette with my food)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50.Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi (well, not the Japanese fruit, but the Chinese preserved plum)
53. Abalone
54. Paneer (maybe, it would have been in an Indian dish, I suppose)
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (well, when I was a kid, I'll admit to eating this)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV (Bulgarian homemade people's beer)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian (ah, smelly fruit, I've seen it in the oriental market)
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake (I don't remember, I think I may have tasted rattlesnake years ago)

OK to I can claim 81 for sure, 3 maybes and only one that I won't touch (fugu) although head cheese would probably rate a quick nibble.

Hubby ordered a stew of mixed veal parts while in Bulgaria last week. It had tongue, brain, tripe etc. I passed on tasting the brain. Don't want to get mad calf disease.

I was always an adventurous foodie. My mother took care to point out all the poisonous vegetation in the yard, lest I try a taste. I found out that water hyacinth really tastes yucky even if Manatees do eat it.

A Week in Bulgaria

Our dental-tourist trip to Bulgaria has been interesting. My hubby ended up needing more work than me which meant 3 trips to the dentist. He had 4 fillings that needed to be replaced. When one's fillings are over half a century old, they rate as antiques.

Staying at the hostel has been fun as there's always friendly folk to chat with during breakfast. It also has wi-fi and internet which is always a big plus. One day we went with a Czech couple out to the suburbs. Because of economy of numbers, we were able to take a taxi to several places for the same cost as the bus. The other couple wanted to go to nearby Mount Vitosha so I had a chance to ride the ski lift. The lift only cost a whopping $2 for the 35 minute trip. Great fun skimming along the treetops in the cool breeze. Since my hubby doesn't do hikes/heights, I probably wouldn't have done this trip on my own. Hubby just had to wait for us and be bored for a couple of hours while we went up the mountain.

Also took in the National History Museum and the Military Museum. The Military Museum was pleasant because most of the signs were in English. It had just opened last time we visited it so wasn't complete. It was certainly worth another visit. Still needs a cafe though.

The weather has been hot. Today we went to the local market to buy a couple of liters of homemade rakia (grape brandy) in plastic bottles. Watched the locals bring huge gallons jugs to the local fountains to fill with water. As always, I see the most photographic scenes when I don't have my camera with me.

I'll have to check our passports but I think this ranks as trip #9 or 10 for hubby and trip #5 for me to this country. My hubby has been coming to Bulgaria since the 1970's so there have been a lot of changes. I was lucky to see it before the change in 1989. It was a fascinating time. There's a lot more color in Sofia these days. I was last here five years ago. I think it is a little cleaner now -- less graffiti, fewer beggars and gypsies. We walked through the dimly lit streets of downtown last night at 11 pm and it didn't feel unsafe, except for maybe tripping on the cobblestones.

New York

Megabus.com had $13 one way fare from Baltimore to NY. Had to take advantage of this deal and visit friends in the Big Apple.

I had posted this from my mobile. Interesting photo it chose to upload. Certainly wasn't the one I originally sent. These little guys run around loose in Miami.

Back to School Recital

SMA had their "Back to School" recital today. I played two easy pieces and managed not to flub. There must have been about 70 people in the audience. Maybe I'm finally getting used to playing in public.

Boring stats:
Cello Practice Weeks 41 - 43
Bow exercises 9
Thumb 2
Trill 2
Vibrato 2
Bach Minuets 4
Breval 1
Piano practice 3

I'll be out of town from 8/23 to 9/11. First to Baltimore and New York City, then back to Miami for one day before I run off to Bulgaria with hubby for a week.

Call

Received a call this afternoon from a friend who had "found" a cockatiel in their front yard.
So now we are the proud owners of a cinnamon pearl cockatiel.

Jazz Concert

Friends took me to a Jazz Concert of "Return to Forever" 25th Reunion of
Al DiMeola (guitar), Stanley Clark (bass), Chic Corea (keyboard), and Lenny White (drum).

Sad to say, I was probably the only person in the audience who did not know who these guys were. I will be visiting YouTube to find out more about these famous jazz musicians.
-----

31-Jul-08 Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, FL SET 1 Opening Prayer Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy Vulcan Worlds The Sorceress Song To The Pharoah Kings SET 2 No Mystery Summer Night The Romantic Warrior Encores Duel Of The Jester And The Tyrant

Unproductive Month

Haven't been able to shake the funk that set in after Chamber Music class ended last April. Then with hubby getting ill and not being able to go to the Chamber Music workshop week, the funk continued. Also having trouble registering for Chamber Music class for the fall. Computer is rejecting me because I've completed the course. The course is supposed to be repeatable.
Anyway, I think I shall be ruthless starting tomorrow. No looking at emails or the computer until I've done some practicing!

I have my FTCE English/Math tests for teacher certification next Saturday. I had registered for the tests last April, but I was sick the day of the exam so I had to wait two months to be eligible to take it again.

Next Sunday, I'll go visit my girlfiend for a getaway treat week. She's promised to teach me golf. Also, maybe this will help wean hubby back into being self-supporting. He's gotten spoiled with all the special treatment he received while he was ill.

Unproductive Week

Managed to accomplish almost nothing this past week. Injured my right hand, scraped it while closing a door so there was no cello practice. Client web work on hold while they rewrite all the text. Our car wouldn't start one morning as hubby left the lights on. Had AAA come and check it out. They claimed that the alternator was going bad, so took the car into the shop. One hundred dollars and 3 hours later, the shop tests come back stating that there's nothing wrong. Well, I guess spending $100 to find out there's nothing wrong beats paying $500 for a new alternator.

Booked a tour 3d/2n at Posada Amazonas, Puerto Maldonaldo, Peru for 30 Oct - 1 Nov. $279 pp. It promises to be a real jungle experience with no electricity or hot water. Rooms open into the jungle, no doors or privacy, plus the likelihood of moisture and mosquitoes. Rumors of dugout canoe trips and hiking in mud. My hubby is wondering why he signed up for this :)

Practice Week #40

Boring stats - 7 days (Sunday 6/15- Saturday 6/21)

Bow exercises 4
Bach Minuets 1
Vibrato 2
Suzuki 1
Sight reading 1

Didn't do so well this week, only got 4 days of celloing and no keyboard, two days of trying to get some web work done and a day going over Peru travel arrangements interfered. I did make it up to SMA Saturday. The interstate was still screwed up but I gave myself 90 minutes to get there this time. I was able to get off the interstate and take an alternate route after spending 1/2 hr in virtually nonmoving traffic.

Excitement for the week was finalizing my Southern Peru itinerary with friend, Rusela, and my hubby. The airfare had gone down so our tickets ended up costing $514 each which is pretty reasonable. Also booked Pay Purix hostel 3k from the airport for the days coming and going from Lima for $28 a room.

The netflix experiment has gone well. The instant video is fun but hubby is finicky and hard to please. The problem is we currently subscribe to blockbuster. Don't want to do both. May put blockbuster on hold for three months and switch back and forth with netflix for a while.

Hubby is feeling better but stamina is low. He still wants a ride to work and back. Normally, he'd take the metro. Also, South Florida has been having a lot of thunderstorms, no fun getting drenched. Still it's a dangerous commute driving the 3 miles into downtown Miami. There's always a strong chance of getting one's car bashed by some frustrated SUV.

For fun, I've been budgeting our grocery bill. Hubby tends to buy impulsively but since he's been sick, I've been in charge of getting groceries. My goal is to keep our total grocery bill under $300 a month based on this estimate: $3 a meal x 3 meals/day x 30 days = $270.

Practice Week #39

Boring stats - 7 days (Sunday 6/8- Saturday 6/14)

Bow exercises 5
Bach Minuets 2
Swan 2
Thumb 2
Vibrato 3
Trill 2
Suzuki 2
Sight reading 1

KB Hanon 4
KB Marche 3
KB Scales 2
----
It's a start -- at least I did the 20 minutes of bowing exercises 5 times this past week. I was hoping to make it up to the Academy last Saturday. Despite traffic being light thanks to the gasoline prices, the powers-that-be decided to block all traffic lanes except one heading northbound. Decided that I'd be best off running errands instead of sitting in traffic for two hours and headed southbound.

Life's starting to get back to normal. Have to focus and try get some client work done this week. Found some new lovely distractions. Discovered online zynga free poker texas holdem. Very addictive. Will have to limit myself to playing only once or twice a week. Tried out Netflix's online streaming video today. The technology seems promising. I hooked up my laptop to our 26" TV and the video quality is similar to VHS. I've been dreaming of downloadable movies on demand ever since broadband first arrived.

Summer movies have begun. Managed to catch "The Visitor" (worthwhile), "Indiana Jones" (good for 10 yr olds) and "Iron Man" (extremely good for a comic book movie) while I was in Baltimore. Hubby wanted to see "The Happenning" yesterday. He thought it was well done but it left me dissatisfied. I've always liked M. Night's Shyamalan's movies but thought this one to be his weakest.

The Water's Fine

You'd think that living by the bay in Miami, one would actually visit the water once in a while. Well, we're so sun-phobic here that any hint of sunshine instantly makes one duck for cover.

Today, the overcast drizzly sky inspired me to drive the 5 minutes to where one can actually wade in the water for twenty minutes. Still wore a straw hat to make sure none of that nasty sun stuff got on me. Saw a multitude of small speckled fish, a puffer, a blue crab and a ray. Really should get out more often.

Buckling Down, Saddling Up, It's Summertime

OK, now that hubby is on the mend, this is the week to get back in some sort of routine after being off games since chamber music class ended.

Summer goal is to work up the first movement of Breval for chamber music class in the fall.

Boring stats for the last 99 days (3/6 - 6/8/08)
32 days on, 57 days off
Bow exercises 32
Corelli 30
Bach Minuets 26
Swan 26
Thumb 18
Vibrato 18
Trill 17
Suzuki 17
Sight reading 9

Oops, noticed I didn't log (1/15 to 3/5/08) 49 days
18 days on, 31 days off
Bow exercises 18
Corelli 8
Bach Minuets 12
Swan 4
Thumb 4
Vibrato 2
Trill 3
Suzuki 6
Sight reading 6

Trading Cards

Last month I participated in a Drawspace card exchange. The theme was "April showers bring May flowers" -- drawings of flowers or springtime.

Here are the cards I sent before I left for Baltimore.

and the lovely cards I received since I came back to Miami...

Back in Miami

Last Wednesday, my husband checked himself into the hospital with bad case of prostatitis. Unfortunately, the hospital kept him. I was in Baltimore, none the wiser, except that Earl's mother had been trying to call him all day. Being 92, she decided that something must have happened to him and called me at 11 pm to worry me about him. Another call from her on Thursday at 10 am telling me she was sure he was dead. So I asked a neighbor to check on our apt and was told that no one answered and that the newspaper was still outside our door. Hmmm, that wasn't good. Happily, I thought to ask the neighbor to check our parking space. In the meantime, Earl called me to let me know that he was in the hospital.

Yesterday, a friend picked me up at the airport at 6:30 pm and I raced home to check on all our animals and make sure that they were still all okay. The degus were out of water and the birds were loose in the apartment. The 90 gallon fish tank had one large fish instead of several. There was a large strange moldy alien egg on the kitchen counter which on closer inspection turned out to be a watermelon.

Anyway, off to the hospital and they were ready to discharge Earl to my care. Finally got Earl home by 11 pm and then off to the pharmacy for $300 worth of pills.

Canceled all plans for traveling to NC for the chamber music workshop and visiting friends. Could have been worse, we could have been going to Romania next week. The hospital bill is going to hurt because we have a large deductible with our insurance. Other folks we know are going through even worse this month so counting our blessings.

Cancellation

Looks like I'm going to have to cancel plans for attending the Chamber Music Workshop for next week. Hubby is sick.

Not Miami

Scene from my sister-in-law's backyard via cell phone.

Here I am in cool, somewhat drizzly with scattered sunshine, Maryland. It's a nice break from the heat and sunshine of south Florida. Getting exercise just walking my sister-in-law's dogs up and down the hills. Yesterday was treated to some hail. I always forget how green everything is up north. Miami is so paved over.

A Friend's Daughter

Received a cute photo of a friend's daughter dressed up Japanese style and decided to do a portrait today.

Peru

New excitement. Friend wants to go to Peru in the fall. My husband (if he goes) wants to do a tour. I'd prefer independent travel. My friend does too! Maybe we'd do a little tour with my husband and then do the rest of the places on our own.

Another friend is willing to tutor me in Spanish since I haven't studied that language since 1976.

If anyone has been to Peru, all advice would be appreciated.

Muy bien!

Inspired by GGP

A drawing of Finn. Just a practice sketch, not perfekt.

Not Practicing Either

Just read Maricello's blog about not practicing and I have to admit that I've been off the past few weeks. After the class recital, I just went into hibernation. Now I feel that it's almost pointless to start up again since I'll be going out of town for the rest of May. Well, the chamber music workshop in June will get me back on track.

Cat Only

A friend's new kitten

Dog Only

This week's Drawspace Challenge - Puppy at 6 weeks.

Dog, Cat, Rat

Thought I'd share this cute video

Celloing via Skype

GGP - This afternoon we tried your experiment. Skyped a friend in another county and hooked in the video. However since Skype is not full duplex, we had to rely on a telephone connection for one side of the audio.

We tried a violin/cello duet experiment. Sound quality was fairly poor on my end as I was hearing the violin through a telephone headset but we did manage to play together despite a slight noticeable audio delay. We just played really slowly.

The video teleconference worked better as a coaching session. I'd play a few measures and then receive advice on how to play them better. I think for the next experiment I'll try to get a 2mm to 3mm adapter for my phone so I can hook it into my speakers and not have to wear a headset.

Rules for Ensemble Playing

This has been around a long time...but thought I'd post it anyway :)
RULES FOR PLAYING MUSIC IN AN ENSEMBLE

1. Everyone should play the same piece.
2. Observe the repeat signs only if what you just played was interesting.
3. If you play a wrong note, glare at one of the other players.
4. Carefully tune your instrument before playing. Then if you play out of tune, you can at least do it with a clear conscience.
5. The right note, at the wrong time, is a wrong note. (And vice-versa.)
6. A wrong note, played timidly, is a wrong note.
7. A wrong note, played with authority, is simply your interpretation of the phrase.
8. If everyone gets lost except you, follow the ones who are lost.
9. Strive always to play the maximum notes per second. This will intimidate the weaker players and gain you the admiration of the ignorant.
10. Markings for slurs, dynamics, and accidentals should be completely ignored. They are only there to make the score look more complicated.
11. If a passage is difficult, slow down. If it is easy, speed up. Everything will even itself out in the end.
12. You have achieved a true interpretation when, in the end, you have not played one note of the original piece.
13. If whilst playing you find yourself suddenly and irretrievably lost, you should stop the others declaring it’s time to tune again.
14. When everyone else stops playing, you should stop also. Do not play any notes you may have left over.
15. Blessed are those without perfect pitch, for the kingdom of music is theirs.

Another Pet Flick

Other than the birds and the fish, we have two degus who are brothers from the same litter. Forgot to mention in the video that they are desert animals and therefore very clean. Also, if attacked, their tail will fall off so they can escape. The tail does not grow back. I forgot to show you his bright orange teeth.

More Fish

Meet Mr & Mrs Pierre Betta. Thought maybe they would do a mating dance for the camera, but no...

New Toy

Don't know why I got this new toy, other than it was on sale for $40 (normally $99).

The Logitech 9000 webcam has a Carl Zeiss lens so the image is pretty crisp.

Maybe I'll try doing some celloing via Skype.

Here's some fish coverage since the birds usually get all the billing.

Post Recital Blues

Well, the recital was just fine according to my husband. I nailed the Corelli run during rehearsal but did it a tad too fast and fumbly for the actual performance. Anyway, no more chamber music classes now until September.

Went to the OK rehearsal last Saturday to find another violist had shown up. Figured I was too much of a third wheel and left. Three people trying to read from the same stand is not fun.

Yesterday, my sister-in-law told me she'd like to hike the Maryland portion of the Appalachian Trail with me next month. 41 miles in 4 days. That sounds nice and exhausting. Another we'll see.

Balkan Camp

The cousins have convinced us to join them for Balkan Camp this year at Iroquois Springs, NY in August. Sounds like fun! I've never gone to camp before and this year I'll get to go to TWO.

Oklahoma, Redux

Teacher needed a confident violinist for Oklahoma so we managed to strong arm my hubby into helping out. Since Earl will have to go to rehearsals, etc., I thought maybe I should sign up to play also. Teach went over the options with me: cello, guitar, banjo, etc. Finally decided on viola II. I should be able to hide well in that position.

The Ugly Duckling - Phase V

The pianist spoke to me before class and wondered if I would be *disappointed* if we didn't play the piece. I'm good. Teacher was preoccupied with getting a group together for Oklahoma, fine-tuning a piano duet, and our Corelli Sonata; I didn't remind him of his threat.

The Ugly Duckling - Phase IV

Not looking good folks. The pianist is playing very slowly and still can't play the last few measures. Next week is the final rehearsal. I told teacher on the side that I didn't have a good feeling about this.

Bad News

Last night I experienced a toothache ... not sure what caused it ... the beef jerky or the tostitos. Took some aspirin and it was still aching in the morning, so thought I'd better ring up the dentist. Dentist took some x-rays; she didn't see anything wrong. However, she noted that I had some "pockets" in my gums and I should come back for some "deep cleaning". That does not sound good and I'm betting it's expensive. This procedure is also scheduled for the day before I have to take the Florida Certificated Teacher Exam for Math and English. Lovely.

Good News

We put the check in the mail so it looks like Earl & I will be driving up to the Chamber Music Workshop in Swannanoa, NC for June 8 to 13th.

Whoopee. Best part is that we won't be playing anywhere near each other.

Wrote on the application that Earl has 45 years of chamber music experience but only wants to play Violin II with nothing harder than Dvorak or Brahms because he's lazy.

Playing Blind

During my last keyboard lesson, I was told to stop looking at the keys. I've been trying to play with my eyes closed. It's taking quite some time to train my left arm to find those octave leaps.

This is Just for My Hysterical Files

Decided to post this at the two day mark so I can benchmark my progress. I was having fun reading this until my husband came in, grabbed my shoulders and insisted that I clean up a phrase. That's probably why I look grumpy in the video. You can obviously tell I'm surprized by the big leaps.

Ear Worm and Shifting Exercise

At the same site that I found the first movement of the Breval Sonata in C they also had a copy of the Brahms Waltz. I had heard this piece played by one of the SMA kid's so tried it out. It has lots of shifting so it's a great exercise for that technique. However, it does give one ear worm disease. The melody is haunting and doesn't go away easily.

My cellist friend has the Breval score, so I'll get a copy of the piano part for the first movement. I'm going to try to get it approved for the next chamber music class in the fall. It would be nice to play a piece where one doesn't have to spend twenty hours just finding the notes.

It's All Relative

My husband, the "fill-in-the-expletive-deleted-of-your-choice", said that I shouldn't waste my time trying to play the Breval. I should look at the Largo of the Vivaldi Cello Concerto in B-flat instead. Well, I tortured myself and tried to sightread the first seven measures in tenor clef, no less. The good thing about this, is after trying to play the Largo, the Swan looked positively easy. It's all relative, right?

Essay Workshop

This morning I went to an essay workshop that is meant to prepare folks for passing their Teachers Certification Exam. I've always done well in English classes but the last time I had to write a formal essay was probably in 1976. So I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a refresher course.

I'm glad I went to the workshop. The teacher was a hoot and there were some things I had forgotten. Especially nowadays, where brevity is usually considered the most important part of writing for the web. Commercial websites have to telegraph their message to attention deficit cliental.

I've always had an unornamented style of writing. One teacher of mine called it "stark". So I'll have to force myself to think a little differently. For homework, I have to write an essay on "a famous person that children use as a role model" in 50 minutes. Oh dear, I think I'm already experiencing writer's block!

Click here for my notes regarding essay writing for GKT, FTCE

Breval

Thanks to Maricello for mentioned GGP and Breval. I hadn't heard of Breval before so after a little web searching I found a copy of the first page of the C Sonata. It was a fairly easy read and managed to entertain me for a hour this afternoon.

Visualization

Old style vs. new:

Something about filling in a box has made practicing more fun.

Some of these exercises only take a minute to do. When I look at the chart, one thinks, despite being tired, "ah what the heck, let's do the darn exercise so I can fill in that box."

The Ugly Duckling - Phase III

As expected, the other 'birds' are pecking and making fun of the ugly duckling. My husband says my rhythms are strange and exotic and what's with the big glissando?

The Ugly Duckling - Phase II

The chick is still struggling to get out of its shell...
Well tonight the pianist would only play the left hand part. Obviously, didn't practice much this week. Teacher didn't get a chance to listen to us. If the pianist can't play the part next week, then I figured I could get out of the deal. "Not so", says Teacher. He wants to hear me irregardless next week and then make a decision. He can always play the accompaniment if he feels I'm good enough to do the recital.

Eighth Month Progress Video

I figured it was time to submit another embarrassing video to YouTube. It's been over half a year since my last video. Gives me a chance to see how my playing looks. Here's an attempt at the Bach Bouree. I know it's supposed to be more staccato. There are quite a few bad notes. I skipped the trill, started over at one point, well you get the drift. I figured if I wait till I get it note perfekt, you guys won't be seeing any videos for a long, long time. I was mostly trying to not rush. The jury is not out yet on how to hold the bow. I have had conflicting reports.

Silly Keyboard Tricks

Finally took some time to explore the features on the new Casio PX200 keyboard this evening. It has a recording feature, so tried that out and saving it to an SD card. Unfortunately it saves files either as midi or casio proprietory format. :( why no mp3? Oh well, here's the 30 sec sample I saved in midi format -- it's a Bach Marche piece I'm working on.

Then checked out the score book that came with the system. It has 60 built-in classical tunes, graded easy, moderate and difficult. Tried out the old easy standby -- Bach Minuet in G, slowed down the tempo, turned on the left hand only, the right hand only, and played along. Pretty nifty tool for learning a piece. Supposedly you can import midi tunes into the keyboard as well.

Hooked up the sustain pedal and it appears to work. Manuals says if one wants a damper pedal, one would have to buy an extra pedal. Something I doubt I would need.

Vernal Equinox

Miami doesn't have much of a Spring.
However, Maricello's Little Bird post inspired this Peep Show


Water Whistle bird - Romania


Phoenix Roof Tile - China

Dove Whistle - Bulgaria

Toucan - Mexico

Hen - Miami

Playing from Memory

I have to be honest and report that today's SMA recital had 4 pieces in which I attempted to play without a score. I managed to miss notes in every single one of them. There was an amazing passage during Minuet 3 where the cello was prominently missing :)

3 Hours

I think I broke a record tonight for practicing...even if part of the time was piano instead of cello. I started on cello, took a break and did some keyboard, and then went back to cello. I think what kept me going longer than normal was that after I finished all my mandatory exercises, I did some sight reading in Suzuki Book I & II for fun.

New Keyboard

The new keyboard arrived today. The box had the usual gash that's expected whenever something is labeled "fragile".


The gash managed to miss the keyboard so all was well. The keyboard fits in the space that I found in the hallway on the credenza. However, it's a little taller than the old keyboard so I'll have to find some more books to sit on.

The Ugly Duckling - Phase I

The egg is laid: Pianist was all for trying to play the Swan. We tried it this evening and after several attempts, I turned on the metronome. I suspect the reason I was having so much trouble with the rhythm was that the pianist had been playing slower and slower as we were going along.

The egg is hatched: Teacher came to listen to us. After a couple of measures, the pianist was given special attention. After the pianist left, teacher listened to me and had these comments...
My intonation is fine. I need to internalize the song and not count the rhythm while playing. Vibrato needs work. Some notes are very nice, and then there's all the rest. Use a slower vibrato, perhaps vary it a little, go for a louder tone, and don't worry so much about the bowing.

First Quarter Check

Reviewing goals for 2008:

• Hold off further work on the Swan until I get vibrato down.
  ... Chamber music teacher wants to see me use vibrato. He's happy with my sound and intonation.
• Work up Allegretto movement from K.564, Mozart Piano Trio for chamber piece.
  .... Haven't looked at it.
  
• Work on Bouree (M1) for solo piece.
  .... On and off, my husband says my Swan sounds better than my Bouree at this stage. I can't tell if that's a compliment or an insult. Probably the latter :(
  
• Memorize Suzuki Bach Minuet accompaniments so I don't have a stand in front of me when playing SMA concerts.
  .... Minuet 1 and 2 are memorized, 3 is still shaky.
  
• Start work on Suzuki Book One.
  .... Next solo scheduled: Rigadoon
  

You might think it strange that I'm working on really hard pieces and really simple pieces. The trouble with the simple ones is they have to be spot on -- like little gems RC says.

Digital Tablet

I splurged on a digital tablet this month. Atypical impulse buy -- Journeyed had them on sale. I used to have a first generation years ago which I used with Photoshop and in lieu of a mouse until I lost the pen. Couldn't justify buying another one as by then Photoshop had better tools for selecting areas. Also I had finally made peace with the mouse. For years I would either use a trackball or some other type of pointing devices because I think mice are ergonomically evil and good sources for carpal tunnel.

Here's my first sketch using new tablet -- froggie. It's interesting that one has to press really really hard to get a dark line. Also the pen is cheap plastic, not like the metal one that came with my first tablet.

One Month before R-Day

April 15th will be the recital for chamber music class. Having the "Swan" forced upon me certainly has lit a fire on my practice schedule this week. My teacher wants to hear me play it next Tuesday so I'm trying to at least get the notes and rhythm in place by then. I've also been trying to do vibrato exercises. I hated vibrato exercises when I was doing them on the violin. On the cello they don't sound so bad.

Keyboard, Yes!

I've decided to go with the Casio PX200. It's been 3 weeks so I can't chalk it up to an impulse buy. I can get it online for $499. I figure I can resell my current keyboard which cost me $40 for the same price and that I've made $200 so far giving music lessons this year. So it's really only costing me $250. At least that's the justification spin. Lately, I have been reluctant to practice on my current keyboard knowing that the touch is so different from an actual piano.

Oklahoma, No!

MDC is presenting the musical Oklahoma April 21st. The director asked if I would be interested in playing the cello part. After a quick skim of the score, I had to decline - wayyy too much chromaticism and funny keys (5 sharps/flats) for me at this point in my cello career :)

One of the pianists at chamber music class wants me to do the Swan with her. Will see, first I have to find the notes, play in rhythm, and then I have to make it sound acceptable. I only have 3 more rehearsals before the actual recital to get all these elements in place.

Pre St. Paddy's Plus

Went to our local music center Saturday and caught some traditional irish music. Captured this with my cell phone so quality isn't too great...

boomp3.com

A friend sent me this fun article about the "Really Terrible Orchestra". A gentle reminder to not take ourselves so seriously.

This article reminded my friend of this Gugenheimer Sourkraut Band's rendition of the Hungarian Rhapsody #2.

boomp3.com

AND let's not forget the World's Worst Orchestra circa 1974