Practice notes for the week of 20th

I discovered the reason why it's difficult for me to walk and count at the same time. It's because I take fairly small quick steps! Unfortunately, I can't count and play very quickly (yet), which is why I'm having difficulty counting while I walk. If only I took longer SLOWER strides...

Anyway, I will be taking up dancing again (Lindy Hop & Blues) after my three year hiatus so my focus is going to be somewhat split, which isn't good for my cello practice since I've already lost some of my focus. My husband and I have already signed up for an out-of-state Lindy Hop workshop and plan on doing a lot of social dancing to get back into shape, so if my practice logs have more dancing than cello practice that's the reason! The workshops we typically attend also have auditions for track placement so I have to get my cardio back and loose the weight I've gained (since starting the cello!) or my lines won't look very good. **sigh**

I'm only counting practice time and not playing time for my practice log below:


Monday, January 20th: 40min
10min Warmup
10min Hunter's Chorus
20min Musette
1 hr Lesson with Adam

During this practice session, everything was sounding off, which typically happens to me after a lesson. I think I over-think everything instead of specific issues that I'm supposed to be working on.


Tuesday, January 21st: 33min
5min Warmup
5min Misc
13min Musette
10min Hunter's Chorus


Wednesday, January 21st: 0min :(
None

No practice, but I listened and danced to a Blues quintet after work and it was THE coolest experience ever! After the band break the waiters moved the tables aside and I swear everyone in the cafe got up to dance - including myself. ;) It looked like one of those scenes from a musical. Seriously.

It was also really nice to have people come up to my husband and I to say they enjoyed watching us dance. I always find it somewhat embarrassing when that happens, but it was definitely a confidence booster, especially since we hadn't danced in a few years!
We were also invited to dance at a local dance venue that had recently opened. It's the same idea with not charging professional (makes a living teaching or performing) cellists to play with our cello group. I waive the annual membership fee for professional cellists to participate in our group because I want good cellists to participate in our group! It's the same for dancing as learning to play the cello (and other instruments I would assume...), that a person gets better faster by dancing/playing with better dancers/musicians. It's a win-win situation!


Thursday, January 21st: 60min
10min Warmup @ 60bpm
10min 4th Position Exercise #1 @ 60bpm, 72bpm
40min Bach Minuet No. 1


Friday, January 21st: 0min
2.5hr Cello group play-in

I'm typically so exhausted after a play-in that I normally don't pick up the cello to practice afterwards, especially play-ins held on a weekday.

Play-ins held on a weekday typically go something like this: work 8am-5pm, rush home to setup for the play-in (i.e. move furniture out of the way, buy snacks & drinks and do general setup), have a 30min "social" before the play-in, play for 2.5 hours with the group (usually starting around 6:30pm), hang out for another 30min to an hour afterward, then cleanup and put stuff away. By the time everything is put away, all I want to do is plop down in front of the television to eat and relax, and become a total zombie!


Saturday, January 21st: 0min
None
2.5 hr Played with cello trio

Met with my cello trio to play some ensemble music from 2pm - 6:30pm, but we spent 2 hours talking and drinking! Lol! I'll have to do a separate post on that.


Sunday, January 22nd: 
None

Dancing! :)


I do a lot of cello-related "stuff," but I really want/need to focus more on PRACTICING.
Playing with others is a lot of fun, but I think individual practice time is what will get me to the next level. It's also the reason why I'm still in Suzuki Book 2 after three years - not enough individual practice! ...argh...

Cello Trio, chocolate and scotch

I started playing with a couple cellists from our group (I'll call them Bert & Melissa) and we spent last Saturday afternoon drinking scotch, eating chocolate and playing cello trios! What an awesome way to spend a Saturday afternoon! :)
Hopefully we can keep this going as a reoccurring get-together since we all have fairly busy schedules. We scheduled our get-together at 2pm and we finally called it quits around 6:30ish when we became hungry, but we probably spent a good 1.5 - 2 hours drinking and talking!

I discovered that Bert likes to drink Scotch, and I had started learning to drink scotch recently, so we decided to try out each other's scotch selections. I have to admit that I like the fruity sweeter scotches, and not the peaty or smokey ones.

We paired it with some dark chocolate, which was really yummy! I can never get enough chocolate... or sushi!!! 8). Bert had some super dark chocolate consisting of 80-90% cacoa, while I brought some dark chocolate with a lower cacoa percentage and with different flavors like intense orange, coconut and sea salt. I just really enjoy how it brings out the different flavors in the scotch!

Fortunately for me, Bert and Melissa are stronger players than I am! I'm comfortable playing the lower part, while Bert and Melissa get the more difficult parts (typically 1 or 2). Melissa also plays the violin while Bert plays several instruments (piano, accordion, flute, etc.). I mentioned in my previous post that playing with stronger players helps to improve faster, so this is going to be really great for me! ;)

We sightread through a bunch of trio music and decided to work on the four pieces below to bring back for our next get-together since we liked them the best.

• Bach's Gavotte
• Bach's Sarabande
• Handel's Sarabande
• Lupos' Fantasia

During our playing, I was reminded how much easier it was to read from the score because anytime I read from parts while sight-reading, I tended to skip a line and get lost! I also need to brush up on my terminology since I forgot some of what I learned when I attended CelloSpeak; specifically what first or second system meant!

Anyway, this was really fun so hopefully we can keep this going and play together at least once a month.

Practice Notes for the week of January 13th

I haven't done a practice log in a really long time, but I'm going to do a few until I get back into the habit of practicing regularly again. Although it won't be as detailed as my previous practice logs.


Thoughts & epiphanies during last week's practice: 
I used to think that "real" practice could only be done while playing cello, even though my teachers have told me otherwise. Now that I'm trying to focus on rhythm, I've been practicing away from my cello.

Recently random events have been triggering me to think about (and practice) rhythm, which has been really strange! For example, I couldn't sleep because I could hear my clock ticking away. ...tick, tick, tick... Normally, I wouldn't be bothered by this, but it made me think about subdividing beats to my ticking clock. It kind of drove me nuts! I couldn't fall asleep because I was too busy thinking "1e&a2e&a..." and trying to fit different beats between the clock's ticks. I swear since my lesson, I've gotten a few less hours of sleep per night.

Also, when I listen to the radio, I find myself trying to count to songs to try to figure out how to fit beats into the song. Although for the most part I couldn't figure out the time signatures for the songs I listened to. Anyway, it's kind of weird thinking about rhythm so much!

Dr. G had also recommended thinking about fitting beats when I walk. My teacher at CelloSpeak (LB) had also recommended this as well. Supposedly, I should be able to walk at a consistent pace and count each time I take a step, but I swear I don't walk very "consistently." Maybe that's why rhythm is so difficult for me!

Anyway, this week I'm going to try doing this on a treadmill as I walk and jog at different speeds since one of my goals is to lose the extra pounds I've gained. Hopefully this will make exercising on the treadmill a little bit more interesting...probably not, but working out my body and mind sounds like a good plan to me! ;)



Monday, January 13th: 1hr 15min
20 min: Vibrato with C scale 3 octaves
20 min: Hunter's Chorus - relearning piece to record, specifically intonation issues
20 min: Musette - working on phrasing, and "feeling it in 2 instead of 4" so trying to use smaller and lighter bow strokes
15min: Work on rhythm => Using I Can Read Music. Lesson 25 #1 & #2, clapping to metronome at 60bpm

Tuesday, January 14th: 20min
20min: Clapping rhythm: I Can Read Music. Lesson 25 #1 - #5, clapping to metronome at 60bpm, 72, bpm, 80bpm

Wednesday, January 15th: 25min
10min: Hunter's Chorus
15min: Musette
1 Hour Lesson with Dr. G
Blog Entry

Thursday, January 16th: 1hr
30min Hunter's Chorus
30min Musette

Friday, January 17th: 0min :(
None

Saturday, January 18th: 0min :(
None

Sunday, January 19th: 0 min
2.5hr Improvisation Play-in: I'll have to posts notes on this later
Actual practice time: 0


This is my baseline of how my week typically looks like for practicing and playing cello, but I need to make sure that I practice daily.

After this entry, my goal is to practice at least 20min a day this month, and then I'll slowly increase my practice time.

My two cats hanging out on the couch with me while I blog on my laptop.

Lesson #153A: Warmup exercise & repertoire

It's been a while since I had a lesson with Adam since he was out-of-state during the holidays and I've been really busy with family stuff.

Warmup
We worked on the exercise he gave me, which I find to be really frustrating! It's supposed to help with my intonation and shifting, but for the life of me I just can't seem to get it right. I guess avoiding practicing it doesn't help either. :(

String	Finger	Note	Problem
IV	0	C
IV	3	E	Finding that E from "no where"
IV	1	D
IV	2	F
IV	1	E	Make sure this matches the other E
IV	4	G
IV	2	F	Making sure this matches the other F

Repeat pattern on all strings (same finger pattern).


Intonation
The beauty of this exercise is that I'm supposed to match my notes to the previous matching note that was played, but I can't seem to get it consistent enough to match. Although I'm getting better at recognizing whether I'm flat or sharp. Before I just knew I was "off," but not which direction.

Shifting
Move my entire arm. My hand seems to be tipping forward and not keeping its shape as I shift. Also, I should think about leading the shift with my forearm more, and feeling how the crook of my elbow opens up to help me calculate the distance of my shifts.

Rotate top half
I need to rotate my upper half more when I'm playing on the A string.


Hunter's Chorus
We worked on some intonation and phrasing issues since I need to revisit this piece before I can record it by the end of this month. I wish I would have recorded it when I had it down a few months ago!

Intonation
Take the first two measures and play them as double stops to work on intonation. My second finger C seems to be the culprit!

Measure 25, 26, 29, 30

• Watch intonation
• Use less bow, and think of a "scrubbing motion"
• Play with dynamics 

Musette
We briefly worked on phrasing since we ran out of time, but I need to work on making my bow strokes more legato to make the notes flow into each other more.

So I need to work on:

• Staying on the string
• Using more bow
• More legato bowing

I'm starting to like how this is sounding! :)

Learning to improvise (January improvisation play-in)

During our improvisation play-in, we did some "free improvisation" and also read through Come Together by the Beatles using the Chord/Lyric Sheet below. There are a bunch of these sheets available for free, mostly from guitar websites, but they work for any instrument.

This was my first time reading from Chord/Lyric Sheet, and it was really interesting. It wasn't as difficult (i.e. completely impossible for me!) as I thought it would be, but it wasn't easy either.

Reading from a chord sheet does mean that I have to know the song pretty well. Luckily my dad is a huge Beatles fan so I was familiar with it. Unfortunately, I didn't prepare for the play-in, which I should have done, so I kind of struggled through it. We also took turns doing solos and mine was SUPER lame! Lol! Oh, well - it was a learning experience! ;)

Anyway, a couple of exercises for beginners like me to prepare is to 1) play along to the song to find easy rhythms and to try to improvise on top of it and 2) make sure I know the chords, which are listed in the blue box, and to become "familiar" with the notes in each of the chords. I thought that was a bit too much to memorize for me, so I decided just to memorize the first two notes listed in the blue box, i..e the 1st and 3rd note of the key.

I had also remembered what Clayton had tried to teach me during our beginning lessons together on learning how to improvise. He had given me an exercise to do when improvising in a key (example Dminor):

• Play root of the key only: D
• 1st & 2nd notes of each key: D, E
• 1st through 3rd notes: D, E, F
• 1st through 5th notes: D, E, F, G, A
• Chord (1,3,5) : D, F, A

That was about a year and half ago, and I didn't understand back then why it was important to know how to play the first few notes of a key, but now it's finally sunk in!

First of all, playing those notes (like the above exercise) IS improvising within the key, just add a few different rhythms and voilà! Secondly, it helps me learn the notes within the key really well so it's easier for me to think of rhythms instead of trying to figure out what finger to use. Not to say that I have any of this down (yet!), but now I'm starting to understand it! Yaaaay!!! :)

Anyway, to prevent my brain from exploding, I decided that I would just play the root note and the third note (if possible), and defaulted to just playing the root note if I got confused or lost during the playin - can't go wrong with the root note! :)

We also learned the "riff" for Come Together with the notes: D, D, F, G, F(slide) to C(pluck), then D.
I couldn't quite get the timing of the rhythm, but close enough... and we learned it without looking at sheet music either - just watch, listen and then mimic!

I was also able to play and sing at the same time, but I definitely wasn't singing in tune! ..ack, another thing I need to learn and work on! Anyway, I think a few more play-ins learning and playing from chord sheets and I'll be able to start learning how to play from Lead Sheets, which is one of my goals.

Example of Lead Sheet:

It shows the notes of the melody, unlike the chord sheet above.
It does provide more information, but right now I find this more confusing than a chord sheet.

...hhhmmm...just a thought, but why is it that other instruments (like the guitar) begin with learning chords? Why can't we use that method for cellists too? Then we'd all know how to play chords and improvise from the very beginning! :)

Lesson #152G: Rhythm

I guestimated the amount of lessons I've had since I lost track. I haven't had many lessons recently though. :(

---------

I honestly don't know how I got by 3 years (wow, has it been 3 years?!) of playing cello without learning how to play and read rhythm well. I know how to play and count whole, half and quarter notes, but anything smaller and it's kind of a shot in the dark for me!
I know some would say learning how to read rhythm should have been taught from the very beginning, but honestly, I don't think I was ready to learn it then, so it wouldn't have sunk in for me. ...maybe... 
Although I have met many beginning adult cellists who are in the same boat as I am. I also don't have a musical background and this is the first instrument I've played. ...yeah, yeah, excuses, excuses... 

I currently learn how to play music (and learn how to play rhythm) by listening to audios or other cellists and then mimic them, so ALL my rhythm comes from external sources. And, for the most part, I don't even count! ...yeah, I know, terrible! Although I have recently been working on trying to count more frequently.

So how did I get away with not learning rhythm for so long?
Well, when I'm playing with others, I typically try to find a "rhythm buddy" who is playing the same rhythm as I am and just match my rhythm with theirs. Or if there are other cellists playing my part, I just listen and follow them. Or I just "fake it," which typically takes me 2-3 tries (depending on tempo and notes) to figure out how my notes fit in with others and just get it that way. LOTS of ways to "fake" my way through reading rhythm, and all of them depend on finding external sources!

Anyway, it's getting more difficult to "fake" my way through music as it is steadily getting more complex, so I figured it's time to concentrate on learning to read rhythm - "for real" this time!


Lesson Notes:

Rhythm:
My main focus this year is to improve playing and reading rhythm, so I asked Dr. G to spend the beginning half of our lessons on rhythm. We began with clapping out rhythms for 30mins.

Ironically I could have easily mimicked what Dr. G was doing (like I usually do!), but then I wouldn't be learning how to internalize rhythm, so I was trying very hard to shut off my brain (which wanted to mimic what he was doing) so I could FIND and internalize my own rhythm. ...still in the dark with a flashlight...

I have a fairly wonky rhythm in the first place and having an external source, which includes the use of a metronome, helps me A LOT!

http://oddquartet.com/2012/01/25/timey-wimey/

Dr. G wrote down some rhythms so we could sight-read and work on it. Surprisingly, I thought I had gotten over being embarrassed about clapping out rhythms, but I was a teensie-weensie embarrassed to struggle through such "simple" rhythms. Being embarrassed made me tense up, which made me clap early for most of the beats too! ...um, yeah, that's what it was - I'm blaming it on tensing up! Definitely not from my total lack of rhythmical abilities! ;)

He patiently went through the rhythms with me, but I could tell that he was really surprised that I was having trouble with them. I seriously could have faked my way through and sounded better, but I was really trying to internalize everything. ...I swear! :)

Clayton had once mentioned that he didn't count in his head, but instead heard "ticks" or "beats" like a steady metronome, and Dr. G mentioned that this is what he did as well. Dr. G explained that once I start to play much faster music it becomes very difficult to count aloud (or count internally), which is why it's extremely important to have a strong internal pulse.


Sight-reading:
We then went through some music to sightread, which I played better because it didn't have a bunch of weird rhythms that I was unfamiliar to me. We were also playing duets and he was my rhythm buddy (same rhythms as me) throughout the entire song, so it was really easy to figure out how to play all the rhythms.

I also learned that notes played on a beat are typically played "stronger," - but of course, that also depends on phrasing. He mentioned that learning how to play notes stronger on a beat will help me with my sight-reading abilities too because I will always know where the beat is located.


Musette:
We went through some quick phrasing since I'm still making all of the notes sound "important" so it sounds too march-like. So we practiced on open strings so I could try to figure out how to make a note more or less important, but that didn't click for me during this lesson either. Whew, lots to work on! :)

My new cello! :)

I purchased my Raul Emiliani cello in the beginning of November and am now getting around to blogging about it. Oops!

I selected a pink case, which I LOOOVVEE!!
My two cello cases remind me of the color of watermelons. Yum! ;)

 

Here's my pur-tee little cello! The different densities of the tailpieces (ebony, boxwood, rosewood and pernambuco) helps the cello with it's sound, resonance, wolf, etc. Here's a great article on tailpieces. I have a Les Bois D'harmonie boxwood tailpiece, which I think looks great on my new cello! ;)

I decided to go with two posture pegs for the C&G on my Emiliani. My Lombardi cello only has a posture peg on the C string, and I really wish I had done both the C & G because the G still touches the back of  my head and gets caught in my hair. I should get that updated sooner then later since I keep complaining about it!

I need to find a study on the body's autonomic response to something touching the back of someone's head or neck. If anyone knows of any studies please let me know because I'd love to post it. 

I swear when something touches the back of my head I automatically tense up! And when I use someone else's cello that has pegs on the C&G string, by the time I'm done borrowing their cello my shoulders are up by my ears! 

Anyway, I digress... back to my new cello! I also got PegHeds (mechanical so they don't slip!) for my D & A string in a heart shape. ...jeez, can my cello be any "girly"-er? ...pink case, heart shaped pegs...

Pegs come in different shapes (Hill style, Heart style, Swiss style, French style, Baroque style & Old style), and then they have options for ornaments, carved or inlaid designs and come in different woods. Mine is a boxwood heart shaped peg with a black ornament ball. So far my favorite peg was on my Li cello which was an ebony Swiss style peg because it was really simple and I liked it's smoothness and how it felt in my hand. 

Anyway, I wanted two cellos with different voices that are on the "darker" side, so this works out. I especially like the Emiliani's G string because it sounds so dark and rich.

Raul Emiliani cello (left):                        Pietro Lombardi cello (right):

Length of body: 30 1/8"                            Length of body: 30"

Width of upper bout: 13 1/2"               Width of upper bout: 13.375"

Width of c-bout: 9 1/2"                       Width of c-bout: 9.375"

Width of lower bout: 17 1/2"                  Width of lower bout: 17.375"

String length 27 1/8"                                String length 26.75 

The measurements are fairly similar, but the slopes of the shoulder and the thinner ribs on the Emiliani makes it feel much smaller and more comfortable than the Lombardi.

Overall, my Emiliani cello feels more comfortable to me and plays easier, but Dr. G thought my Lombardi cello outplayed my new cello. I kind of agree, but I think with a new bridge the Emiliani will sound better - not that it sounds bad, just different. I think it is a bit too resonant and needs a bit more focus, which I think a new bridge will help.

hhmmm... I need to come up with two names for my cellos... I'll have to think about that for a bit. 

My 2014 Cello Goals

I didn't accomplish a lot of my 2013 goals, but looking back at my 2012 goals, it seems that I accomplished more items from that list instead! ;) Does that count??

My 2013 goals were:

1. Finish Suzuki Book 2: Not even close! ..argh... only worked on two new Suzuki pieces this year! :( However, I was busy playing and learning other pieces... 
2. Start learning how to do vibrato and use it in my playing: I started learning to vibrate with Clayton and when I went to CelloSpeak, but have not been practicing or using it while playing since then. 
3. Play with a community orchestra: I showed up to one rehearsal! Lol! But that doesn't count since my goal was to perform in a concert with a community orchestra. 
4. More practicing, less organizing for my cello group! This totally did not happen. I spent more time organizing then practicing this year. 
5. Post at least 5 videos by the end of the year - that will give me 2-3 months on each piece - Wow, sooooo BAD!! I only posted 2 videos this year!
6. Keep up with my blog entries: This was not good either. I only posted 42 entries last year, compared to 98 entries the previous year. I swear there is a direct correlation with the amount of entries, my progression and practice time! That is, the less blog entries, the less practice time and progression I feel I've made.
7. Work on sight-reading skills: I've been trying to do more sight-reading. I typically don't practice any of the music that I play in my group (on purpose) so I could work on my sight reading skills. We have monthly play-ins, so I get consistent practice on this. 
8. More efficient practice time: I didn't really have much time to practice...? I think my practice sessions were definitely less focused then last year though. 

Despite all the unmet goals in red, I don't feel like 2013 was such an epic fail for me. This year I feel like I became more "comfortable" with my cello.

• I feel more comfortable playing with others in general; i.e. if I mess up, I keep going and it doesn't feel like a big deal when I mess up either. I think getting over that feeling helps a lot! And I feel like I can listen to others while I'm playing at the same time... finally!!
• I've been playing "free improvisation" with our group on a monthly basis so I no longer feel as self-conscious about messing up while improvising in front of people - although I still don't know how to improvise that well.
• I also feel like my cello isn't completely foreign or detached from me (if that makes sense!). That is, when I don't pick up my cello for a few days, I don't feel like I have to start over from scratch. Now I can pick up my cello after a few days of not practicing and do a few quick exercises to warm up and I'm good to go. Before, I really had to work at getting everything back to where it was (and then some), before I could start playing any piece of music. 
• I also feel like everything past first position isn't "scary" any more. Before I would have mini-freak-outs and think, "What? No way! I'm not ready for that! That's waaaay out of my abilities!" Now I feel like any note on the fingerboard is just a note that can be achieved by lots of repetition and practice, so now it's more like, "Darn it, this one is going to take a while... I'm really going to have to spend some time on this note to get it in tune..." I feel like everything is playable as long as I have enough time to practice it, which I feel like is a HUGE step forward in feeling comfortable playing cello. 

My 2014 Cello goals: 

1) Work on a past goal: Post 7 videos & finish Book 2 

     January 31st - Hunter's Chorus

     March - Musette

     April - March in G

     June - Witches' Dance 

     August - Two Grenadiers 

     October - Gavotte 

     December - Bourre 

2) Work on a past goal: Play with a Community Orchestra 

3) Work on a past goal: Keep up blog entries (at least five entries per month)

4) Work on something I want: Learn 1-2 pieces from the Bach Suites => already started on Minuet 1!

5) Work on something I want: Learn vibrato and use it consistently 

6) Work on something I want/weakness: Learn three octave scales
7) Work on something I want/weakness: Learn how to read from a lead sheet & improvise

8) Work on a weakness: Feel more comfortable reading and playing more complicated rhythms

This year, I'm going to organize my goals into three categories: 1) working on a past goal, 2) working on something I want to learn, and 3) work on a weakness.

I want to be able to feel like I've accomplished most of my goals by the end of the year since I didn't complete a lot of goals this year so I want to have a good mix of things that I want to learn to keep me motivated, but at the same time work on weaknesses so I feel like I'm progressing. I have a lot of the same goals as last year too, so this should help with feeling like I'm continuing my progress.

My main focus for 2014 is to play and read different rhythms better since I feel like that is the area that is holding me back the most. And this year, my goal is to achieve at least 75% of my goals!!! ;)

...just 'cause I think my cat is adorable! ;)

He always looks like he's smiling when he's asleep.

After concert wrap-up

The concerts are finally over and I can relax and focus on some personal cello learning! YEESS!!! This year I decided to play the same parts (Cello 4) because I really love playing the lower part and playing pizzicato, which Part 4 had a lot of. Anyway, a lot of the music was the same for me, but I still find it more difficult to re-learn pieces then to learn new music. It's extremely difficult to break old habits (for me)!

After event wrap-ups always seem to be such a chore since the excitement of the tasks leading up to the concert performance is what I think is most exciting. The stuff afterwards, not so much! I was planning to become a coach potato during my holiday vacation, but I don't think that's going to happen... I still need to go through the videos and photos and post them, put away the lights and decorations, send Thank You notes, update budget sheets, etc.

I'm really proud of all of our cellists who stepped up and led their sections. Last year, we had 4 professional cellists help out each section. This year, we didn't have any professional cellists helping us out, only beginners to advanced cellists. It's always so interesting to hear/see how music develops when a new group of cellists perform the same music! :)

I had hoped that we could attempt to do a conductor-less performance, but we weren't quite there this year, maybe next year (fingers crossed!). Also, last year Clayton did all of the announcements, and this year I did the introductions for the 2nd performance. Note to self: I seriously need to stop saying "ummm" all the time!!

My favorite songs were the Sing-alongs, but last year they were my least favorite, so next year I think I may have to make those arrangements longer (some of the verses weren't included) since that's what the audience enjoyed the most.

Deck the Halls

I totally screwed up the introduction to Deck the Halls, so I cropped out the first measure... oops! 

Me and my friend M totally held down Part 4 (we rock!). ;)

Jingle Bells

Getting better at video editing every time I create a new video, which has been really fun and interesting to learn! Although I haven't figured out how to tweak audio yet... on my To-Do list...

Next entry will be my 2014 Cello goals... a bit behind as usual, but better late then never.