Excitement in Chamber Music

Read through Schubert's Quintet in C Major this evening.  I'm to do Cello I.  We did it at half speed and it wasn't too horrible!  By the time we finish working on the first movement, I'll probably be finally able to read tenor clef :)  It's such a lovely piece.  Will have a lot of work to do to get it ready for a recital.

Gotta Practice

Chamber Music assignments have finally been settled for this term. The class has more instruments than usual. An extra cellist has arrived in the form of a bassist. There wasn't any parts left for another bass player so she decided to play the cello instead.

I've been assigned the Martinu Nonet, Beethoven String Quartet, op. 18 #6 and Holst Jig, Op.29 #2 (All first movements) -- not too terrible when played slowly -- a terror to play up to tempo. It's metronome practice time!!!

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.

Pain Free but Muted.

I was able to play cello Tuesday night without pain. The middle finger on my left hand isn't bothering me anymore although the right hand still gives me a twinge now and then.

We now have a bass player for the Brandenburg so the sound is a little bottom heavy. I put my mute on. The slow movement doesn't need any extra bass, maybe I'll just air bow. Teacher wants to do all three movements for the recital April 13th. It will be interesting to see if the recorders actually play in tune.

Minor Injuries

Managed to fall up the stairs the other day and whacked both middle fingers of the left and right hand. It made for interesting cello playing at chamber music class. Happily, C natural and F natural can be played in half position if given enough time.

Besides the Brandenburg 4, I'm working on the first movement of Haydn's String Quartet opus 77 #1. Our first violin was out of town Tuesday night so hubby stepped in and took it "at tempo" which was actually a lot of fun because at that speed one doesn't have time to worry about getting all the right notes.

Brandenburg Blues

This year's chamber music class is working on the Brandenburg 4 -- the one with the recorders. Hubby heard wind of this and decided to join. He bought a plastic Aulos alto 700 recorder and started practicing in December. He hasn't played since he was a teen but after a few fits over some high notes he was off and running. This week, a real cellist showed up (one who has been playing for many years) and since he was such a strong player, I was moved off . The class also had a guest professional violinist play the first part and the group sounded really good -- without me.

It's a Go...

Had a slow run through with the Clarinet tonight on the first movement of the Beethoven Trio. Chamber Music Teacher gave it a green light so we will be working on it for the December recital. I had practiced the first minute (up to the F chord) at half speed using "Audacity". The F chord is a real challenge. Almost as bad as when I first learned it on the guitar.

The Guitar trio is sounding pretty good. I forgot my camera this evening or I would have recorded our "dry run". Recital is October 20th and 23rd so we have another week to tweak the dynamics, etc.

Other exciting green lights this week:

Booked 10 day trip to Costa Rica to visit a friend for Winter recess.

Booked 33 day trip to China for intensive Mandarin for June 2010.

Something to Look Forward to - Maybe?

Chamber music class teacher just assigned me the cello part tonight.

Hopefully, I'll get to play this for the December recital.

Guitar Trio is coming along fine. We will perform it October 20th.

George Harrison and Leonhard von Call

Thanks to a Facebook friend I've learned about George Harrison via YouTube.

Also, YouTube has a group playing the Leonhard von Call Guitar Trio in C Major which I will probably be doing for chamber music class.

Schubert, Schumann, Breval, and No Shows

Our violinist canceled at the last minute for chamber music this evening. Normally, if I know a violinist will be out, I can tap hubby to fill in. But this happened too late. So we had a pianist play the violin part for the Schubert Trout and we limped through it. I had marked up a score without measure numbers and that proved to be a hindrance as well.

Since we didn't have the violinist, we skipped rehearsing the Schumann for the second week in a row. At least this time, I hadn't been practicing it all week.

At the end of class, the violist was working up a Bruch piece, so I grabbed a pianist to try out the Breval in super slow mode. The run through wasn't too bad. Only missed a few notes and the mordents. I knew the piece well enough that when we got off track, it was fixable. Who knows, maybe I'll get to play it for this term's recital.

Progress Report on memorizing Suzuki Book I. I'm having my usual issue with remembering which notes are slurred.

Beyond the Comfort Zone

Trust my chamber music teacher to come up with another piece to throw me out of my comfort zone on the cello this year.  This time he wants me to tackle the "Andante Cantabile" from Schumann's quartet in E flat, opus 47.  Not only does it have cello solos but it has a section with six flats!!!  He had us read through it tonight and thought it was within my range. Ha!

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.

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?

Cancellation

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

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.

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.

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?