My assignment is to listen and familiarize myself with these pieces. :)
Music for Week 2:
1) Tchaikovsky - Serenade: http://youtu.be/xsGRglp6tvs
-3rd Mov't: http://youtu.be/7npM3tVa-8M
-4th Mov't: http://youtu.be/hVRCdfRNxzc
2) Beethoven - Rondo from Symphony No. 7
3) Telemann - Four Airs for Four Celli
4) Dvorak - Walzer
5) Bach - Chorale and "Gute Nacht" from Jesu Meine Freude
Lesson Notes:
This was kind of a weird lesson because we ended up talking during the entire lesson with me listening. It was helpful though because it's difficult for me to listen to a piece of music and know how/where the arrangement fits into everything.I always get recommendations from musicians to listen to a recording to get an overall sense of how it is supposed to be played... which makes sense, but in practice.... truthfully I'm a bit lost! Especially since I didn't listen to classical music before learning how to play the cello, so a lot of classical music is still a bit ...ummmm.. "boring" and sound very similar to me! *gasp* ...yeah, I know but it's the truth...
I am, however, finding that I am liking more and more music in this genre - although it's mostly cello solos, sonatas, concertos, etc. Lol! ;)
Which got me wondering... appreciation for music definitely needs to be cultivated, so I wonder if musicians, or people born into a musical family, enjoy a wider taste in music because they can appreciate how much work goes into learning and playing an instrument?
Scales Update:
Recently I've been working a lot on my scales so I can work on technique like: for my left hand, making sure my left hand hovers over the strings, relaxing my hand, having a similar hand shape for vibrated and non-vibrated notes and shifts. For my right hand, making sure my bow is straight (again) to fix my tone.
I also haven't practiced scales in a pretty long time, and I figured since I said I knew how to play most of the scales in 2 octaves for the workshop, I'd better start practicing them to familiarize myself again! I only remember Cmaj, Gmaj and Fmaj... wow, lots to remember and work on!
Seriously, my intonation has gone out the window. It's funny, but both my teachers are gone right now, but before Adam left he said when we both got back from our trips that we would have to work on intonation and vibrato (in that order)! heh, heh... oops! Maybe it'll get fixed during the workshop! ;)
Love that Telemann piece: good luck with the preparation! Cellospeak must be an awesome experience :)
ReplyDeleteScales are definitely among of the most difficult "easy" things that I have yet encountered on cello. Getting some semblance of accuracy isn't terribly hard even for a beginner, but actually nailing each note with a couple cent margin of error in a 3 octave scale? That is like threading 43 needles in a row on the first try.
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