Recital

Speaking of allergic rashes, I have a cello recital coming up later this month. My cello meister has assigned me two pieces, one a Beethoven prayer that is to be played together with a piano (I play one part on the cello, that is, while someone else plays another part on the piano). It sounds alright when both instruments are playing; that is, it sounded alright when I was playing my part on the cello and my teacher was playing the other part on the school cello, slow and meditative and pretty. My problem is practicing it at home, because my part consists of a lot of long notes, long long notes where you run out of bow if you’re not careful, and doesn’t have a lot of rhythm or structure on its own, not that I can bring out. So I sort of lose the narrative thread, so to speak, when practicing it at home. My teacher warned me this would happen. He gives me tips on how to work around this problem, but I usually forget what they are by the time I practice and just mush around until the next lesson.

The other piece is one part, the easy part I suppose, of a cello duet. I learned it for another recital I ended up not being able to participate in, to my great relief, several months ago. I tried it again in class last Monday and it went very well, which made my teacher happy cause, you know, I didn’t forget it in all that time! So I didn’t have the heart to mention that I had been secretly practicing it now and then because I hate the idea of paying money to learn music and then forgetting it again before I learn the next piece. There are a couple tricky spots in the piece, tricky for me, pieces where I lose track. Luckily the other person, the person playing the other half of the duet is another adult student, a nice lady with her own classical music show on my favorite station. I listen to her in the mornings on my way to work sometimes. She has a pleasant voice and is a classical music Eloi to my Morlock. She has, I suppose, a problem attaining the state of Beginner’s Mind when playing, which would be the one problem I don’t have.

My in-laws moved back home last night. As I practiced, my mother-in-law mentioned she would miss the cello practice. I was shocked, as she has not an ironic bone in her body, and it didn’t sound like sarcasm.

8 responses to “Recital

  1. they sell really really cheap pine frame mirrors at ikea, if you want to watch yourself with the bowing. i mean, i’m assuming your the morlock here, right? just because you drag your cello knuckles on the ground is no reason to bow anything but perfectly horizontally.

  2. Go for cello-Karaoke.

  3. Paul

    Ahh, grasshopper, you must turn things around on your instructor. Bring a recorder and say that you would like to record him playing only the piano part so you can practice with it at home.

    See if he can really play the piano part without the help of the cello. Perhaps the master relies on the student also.

    Or perhaps the master really knows what the heck they are talking about and you should keep taking lessons.

    One or the other..

  4. Paul

    Also, as I attended my son’s chorus recital and the same show had the schools excellant jazz band with some great horn players.

    I was thinking, singers and a horn section, why aren’t they playing some Ska songs?

  5. mig

    Ska would be perfect for boys your son’s age.

  6. kay

    i can believe your mother-in-law without having heard you play. a long time ago, after my husband and i were first married, or maybe just before, i helped him distribute flyers advertising his business-at-the-time, and spent probably 10 minutes standing in the dark of an apartment hallway, unable to make myself leave due to someone’s cello practice.

    it’s nice that the unique music of your particular house became something she liked, you know? even though i’m a non-hospitable person due to anxiety dorkness, i’d always wish i had a home that others wanted to “be” in. good show.

  7. I’m going to leave that mirror comment alone, but still: I bet your mother-in-law has a secret stash of Apocalyptica cds. She says “Reflections” is her favorite, but really it’s the Metallica covers.

  8. mig

    The Metallica covers, you know, there’s not so much of the distortion on that one yet, more authentic cello sound…