Balkan Camp + Maine Fiddle Camp

This turned out to be a major camping year.

One week in Balkan Camp followed by a week of the Maine Fiddle Camp.

At the Balkan Camp I took Albanian and Greek fiddle workshops.  Played the cello in the Albanian and Bulgarian ensembles.

I did several hours of cello workshops at the Maine Fiddle Camp but also tried some Irish fiddling and other stuff.

It was nice to remember tunes from thirty years ago.  I could actually play some of them in a group setting!   I definitely want to go back to Maine Fiddle Camp. It was wonderful.

Here are two tunes I learned at camp.



Da Slockit Light - Supposedly the composer was thinking about a fishing village in the Northeast islands that was being abandoned.

 
Something Albanian.

SCOR

I attended the Chesapeake SCOR! String Camp for Adults in Bel Air, MD.  It was loads of fun.

On the morning of first day, the chamber orchestra worked on bowing baroque style correctly. By the time we finished, the piece we were working on sounded pretty nice.

How to Play Chamber Music Reminders were expounded upon: 1) Begin together and end together, 2) Getting the right rhythm is more important than getting the right notes 3) Fake it,  4) Have fun.

After lunch Emily Wright gave a cello workshop on bowing.  That was followed by small group work -- I was the only cello with four violins.  We read through a bunch of easy stuff and then tackled a Handel Marche with the coach.  We returned to the performance track ensemble where we were introduced to Cajun, Scottish and Bluegrass styles for the last hour.

The second day, the chamber orchestra worked on pieces for two hours in the morning. Emily Wright gave a talk about "how to practice".  My group of 4 violins and one cello spent ninety minutes together.  We received coaching on gesturing and telegraphing rhythms.  Emily gave a Q&A to the cellists while the violins had a technique workshop.  After dinner, there was a chamber music free for all jam.  One of the violinists was also a flutist so we read through a Mozart Flute Quartet.

The last day, the chamber orchestra spent ninety minutes preparing a couple of pieces for the afternoon share recital.  It was followed by an optional music theory lesson.  It was pretty comprehensive.  My 4 violin group voted 3 to 2 not not share our Handel Marche with the rest of the musicians.  We played it just to ourselves.  It sounded pretty good.  Should have recorded it.

The final share was sweet and short. (the rule was no repeats allowed).   Even the beginners sounded good.  There was no wincing and suffering. The workshop closed up by 3pm and a good time was had by all.

Definitely doing SCOR! again.

Summer update

It's been a busy summer.  Between dental work, physical therapy for a frozen shoulder, and taking two online courses, there doesn't seem to be that much time for music, art, and socializing.  We've been trying to go folk dancing once a week in Columbia. Getting hubby to walk at least 15 minutes every day is a pain.  At least he lost eight pounds since last summer.  Doctors would still like him to lose another ten pounds. 


Did get to see some art museums earlier this month as a friend from North Carolina came to visit -- so we went for an overnight trip to NYC to see the Neue and the Met.  Also went to DC for a day to see the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (China and Kenya) and dropped in at the National Gallery and Freer.  Took my friend to the Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore for something different and that polished off our week together.


Travel plans -- nothing abroad this year. Between grad school and medical bills, there isn't any spare money.  Been mostly visiting stamp shows -- New Jersey and DC last month and planning to go to Milwaukee in September.


Just pulled out the cello to practice.  Planning on going to a 3 day strings workshop the end of this month as it is nearby.  My first music camp -- should be interesting.
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Unfortunately, cut my pinkie the week before the strings workshop and had to cancel. Maybe next year I can go.

2012

Well, its a new year.  Time to dust off the cello.  Signed up for chamber music class once again.  Had taken the last term off due to conflicting travel schedules.  Signed up hubby as well, he needs an excuse to play the violin.

Added another FSU online class towards the MLS degree to my schedule (5 of 12 to go) -- Museum Informatics which looks like it might actually be fun -- one of the projects is building a virtual museum exhibit using Second Life.

Language studies continue -- Chinese once a week with a new friend so I don't forget what I used to know.  Adding Korean to the mix with an online Rosetta Stone course since hubby and I are going to Jeju, Gyeongju and Seoul for our twentieth anniversary May 1st.

Add accounting work for tax season, stamp club work, and  helping out the local magnet school to totally book my dance card until April 27th when I plan to run away, far away -- first Korea, then China and Mongolia.

Nonet

First chamber music class of the season. Teacher's trying out a Martinu Nonet. I think the first movement is doable. It was fun. Also sight read a little modern piece which wasn't too hard. I enjoyed playing after being off all summer.

Brandenburg Blues Part II

GGP, you were right, I should have studied the part more. Cello one decided that getting employment was more important than the class and has skipped out.

Now I have a string quartet, a piano quartet and the Brandenburg to work on. When it rains it pours. Before this tragic event (in my chamber music teacher's eyes) I just had a little baroque piece to play with a recorder.

If I play open strings, the Brandenburg first movement isn't too hard...

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.

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?

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.

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.

Being Able to See

Just thought I'd share an interesting observation. I was attempting to play from memory some pieces and just for fun, I tried closing my eyes. I really flubbed up. I didn't realize I relied so heavily on being able to see what's I'm doing. Does anyone else experience this or do you play better with your eyes closed?

A Real Vacation

Today, I'm off to visit a girlfriend and hang out for a week. A real vacation with nothing to do planned and lots of sleep.

Yesterday (Saturday), was a good session with SMA. My Suzuki Cello book 1 arrived Friday. One of the students played some of the tunes as memorized on violin on the viola. Since the viola is tuned the same as the cello we could play together. That was fun. Couldn't play all the notes sight reading at the tempo she took. Didn't even attempt the perpetual motion or etude that doubles all the notes. Something to work on for next time.

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.

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...

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.

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?

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?

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...