My 1st Holiday Recital

I had my first holiday recital last Saturday, and I am so unbeliveably proud of the cellists in our group!

The cellists in our group include beginners who have never played in a concert before, to cellists who have played a little longer than a year (like me), to cellists who studied the cello when they were younger and are returning to the cello after a long hiatus, and even cellists who play regularly in orchestras.

I have to admit the first couple rehearsals were a bit... ummm...let's just say a lot of us beginners didn't know how pieces were supposed to sound or how our parts fit together!! LOL! :)
But we (including myself!) managed to pull it together, which is why I'm just so proud of the group!!! YEAH!!! Not to say that they were perfect or anything. I think we were best described as "authentic!" LOL! ;)

We all went out for drinks and a bite to eat afterwards - such a beautiful wonderful bunch of people!
LOVE THIS GROUP!! :). And the retirement home was so welcoming and warm, talk about feeling the warmth and spirit of the holidays!

And I am just so impressed by Clayton!! He's totally amazing, unbelievably patient and generous, and extremely talented and brilliant! He volunteers all of his time to the group and I'm certain we wouldn't have sounded as good if he didn't lead/help us. He also made it so enjoyable to play and rehearse together!! I LOVE rehearsals, and I've learned so much! *sigh*...I really hope he'll be around for a while....

Anyway, one more recital this upcoming Sunday which I'm really excited about!!
Both my teachers will be playing in it! Adam is going to play part IV to help out my section out and Clayton will be playing Part I.
Therefore, I think our next performance is going to sound even better. Clayton told us once that the most important parts are the melody (which is usually in Part I), and the part that plays the lowest notes because it "sets the foundation" (which is typically Part IV). So we're going to have two really talented strong cellists playing the important parts! Can't wait! :)

Below is five out of the fourteen pieces that we played; and of course, I selected my favorite ones! I'm not quite ready to say what group I play in and organize just yet because I kind of feel like I don't want my opinions or whatever to affect the group in any way, so I'm going to keep that under wraps for a while. None of them know I have a blog, ;). Well, Adam knows I have a blog, and I told Clayton, but I never gave him the address...

Angels We Have Heard on High

Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker

O Chanukah

O Christmas Tree

Dreydl

Things to work on for the next performance:

• Moving around too much... again!
• My elbow is flapping all over the place! Adam mentioned that this may be causing some of my intonation issues, which I think he's absolutely correct!
• Look at the audience! Clayton recommended that we try to look up to acknowledge and engage the audience, I tried it 1.5 times. The first time I looked up and couldn't believe how many people were watching us and totally freaked myself out! :). The second time I half glanced up and then thought it wasn't worth it to scare myself and get all tense!! LOL!!
• Louder Pizz - I thought I was plucking the strings fairly loudly, but it's barely noticeable on the other side of the room!

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PHOTOS