Who's on first

Conversation this morning:

Husband: What key was that piece you were playing yesterday?

Me: Which piece?

Husband: Yesterday.

Me: Which one. I played a lot of pieces yester- ... [*realization ... duh*] Ohhhh ... the song "Yesterday."

I'm not making this up. This actually took place, and my daughter was witness. I guess you had to be there; it doesn't sound funny here.

and today's snail mail says ...

... drum roll ...

** POPS ** ALERT ** [Yesssssss!]

Performance: Sunday September 30 6:00 PM
For: (Local Town) Family Fair at Memorial Field
Rain Site: School across from the field [Yay. Rain or shine]

The notice goes on to list our rehearsal schedule which will begin on September 6 instead of October 4 due to this concert.

OK ... so now I want to definitely look into getting some of those neat see-through clips for securing my music, and also a new stand light.

Reflections on Cello Progress

After 5 ½ years of lessons I could be much further along now if I’d been more dedicated in my practice, especially in my first 2 years of study. I can honestly say that I’ve been better about practicing over the past year, but most of that practice has been on orchestra repertoire, not on my lesson material, scales or technique. I want to avoid comparing myself to others, but I will say that I am very inspired by some of the other adult beginners who have blogged about their practice and progress.

At my lesson last week my teacher suggested that I focus on small sections of a scale at a time, especially in the upper octaves, listening very carefully for ringing tones and overtones. This week I’ve been practicing 3 and 4-note sections of scales, striving for accurate shifts that are precisely in tune, and with care that the focus doesn’t deteriorate into a nitpicking fest. It’s tedious and time consuming to concentrate on one scale for so long, but it’s very gratifying when I actually hear that “ring” and know that I’m in tune … like being handed a little reward.

My teacher also told me to make sure that I keep my left hand in a rounded shape as much as possible, even in the higher positions. It’s true that it does help me to play in tune better, although I’m not sure why it works out that way. It’s easy for me to see this while I’m practicing because I can see my reflection in the shiny ebony upright piano.

This is the reflection that I see as I'm practicing.

Orchestra people

I’m telling this never-ending fluky story backwards, but here’s what happened just before Maestro emailed us with orchestra news the other day:

Clarinet player H called to invite my husband to go fishing with him on his boat next week. While my husband was still on the phone with him the mailman arrived at the door and handed me the day’s mail which included a lovely note from first violinist S. She'd written to thank us for a get-well gift that my husband and I had recently given her. Sort of a neat coincidence the way that occurred, so I mentioned to my husband that we were now “on a roll” with orchestra people for the day and that now all we needed was an email from Maestro with an update on the horror movie or something.

About 2 or 3 hours later my husband (who checks his email far more frequently than I do) handed me a sheet of paper and said, “You’re not going to believe this.” It was a print-out of Maestro’s email message saying that we might be starting our new season a month early. I didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day.

As of this writing I'm still waiting for confirmation on this and am hoping for an update soon. I really do miss orchestra.

Orchestra news and photos

Tonight I was planning to blog about how much I miss orchestra ... our last meeting was the July 3 concert. I was also planning to lament about the fact that we won’t be rehearsing again until October 4, but then this afternoon Maestro sent out a global email asking if we'd be available for a concert at a local town event at the end of September, which of course would necessitate beginning our 2007-08 season a month earlier than originally planned. (Yesssss!) I’ve already emailed him back to confirm both myself and my husband. Here’s hoping.

I have such good memories of all of our concerts this past year, but the concert two weeks ago was my favorite. My niece (maid-of-honor at my daughter’s wedding) took the following photos of me at that outdoor concert.

Looking very intent and serious, warming up before the concert
Nervously trying to arrange my music on the stand

It took me a little while to adjust to playing outdoors. I think I might invest in those big see-through clips to secure the music, especially if this next concert is an outdoor event.

Wedding Album

First of all, I’d like to thank all of my blogging friends who sent their good wishes for a wonderful wedding. My daughter’s wedding day turned out to be about as perfect as could be.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words I will attempt to post some photos to tell the story.

At Home Before the Wedding

With my niece, Maid of Honor

With me

All dressed up with my cello

At the church

At the reception

We bustled

We boogied

My sister, cousin, daughter, me, and niece

The perfect outdoor concert

Last night was a gorgeous summer night ... the perfect setting for our outdoor concert in front of Town Hall. The audience was seated on the front lawn which added an old-fashioned, home town, relaxed and festive atmosphere. Exciting, friendly, summery and happy. It was also the first time I'd ever played my cello outdoors.

While overcoming a few obstacles such as the clock tower chiming, a commuter train whistle blowing, and fireworks booming in the next town, we managed to get through our well-chosen program of patriotic music and show tunes. We led off with the Star Spangled Banner. Maestro recycled three pieces from our spring concert, The Liberty Bell March, Tritsch Tratsch Polka and Girl from Ipanema, and added Manhattan Beach March, American Patrol, and America the Beautiful to the patriotic repertoire. We played a medley with selections from "Annie" and another of selected Broadway tunes. We made it through The Glow Worm with all of its tempo and meter changes, repeats and coda. Best of all, I just loved playing Night and Day because I could really hear my part blending with the melody (one of my all-time favorites). My sister commented that she wanted to get up and dance to it, so it must have sounded good to the audience too. My son, daughter, brother-in-law and niece (who took photos) were also in the audience, and of course my husband was playing trombone.

After the concert the "core four" (family) went to the local diner for ice cream. It's always a noteworthy event when it's just the four of us again, since the kids are now age 29 and 37.

Today all were present here for a 4th of July BBQ. More fun to follow tomorrow. (wedding rehearsal and dinner)

Hoping to post some pictures of the concert soon, as well as some of my daughter's wedding which is this coming Saturday.