To be inspired

Sometimes a little inspiration helps, so this post is not all about me and my cello today (I KNOW!! Shocking right???) I was very fortunate recently to be able to see 2cellos live in concert (from the 2nd row!! We were so close I could see every bead of sweat).  The concert was incredible.  These boys not only know how to work a crowd, but also to how to play a cello.  During the concert they used electric cellos and played mostly their popular songs.  The set list pace was great and had us all up, out of our seats and dancing.  Yes, I absolutely turned into a squealy fangirl for the night.  Shush. Don't judge me.

I have been following these boys for quite some time now.  I enjoy both their classical as well as contemporary performances.  I LOVE watching the way they play with such passion and the different techniques they use.  If you ever want to see a great concert from the comfort of your computer chair, check out this link to their FULL concert, "Live at Arena Pula - 2013"   or watch it underneath because I just learnt how to do that!

Sometimes you just need a little inspiration to keep on going so I thought I would write out my Top 10 list of go to videos when I need a bit of a cello pick me up.  While I fully and wholeheartedly acknowledge the skill, technique and passion of cellists such as YoYo Ma, Jacqueline Du Pre and Rostropovich, sometimes I just like something a little bit different...

1. 2cellos.  Yeah, you totally knew that was gonna be on the list. Watch their concert above and you will understand why.  Otherwise, here is a nice short video of theirs that went viral not long ago.  "Thunderstruck"
2. Piano Guys.  I started listening to the Piano Guys not long after I started playing the cello. Their style is very different to 2cellos, but everytime I watch one of their videos, I am sitting in slack jawed dreamy eyed enthrallment at how wonderful they are.  This was the first song I listened to of theirs and STILL continues to be one of my very favourites.  It is "The Cello Song"
3. Tina Guo. She is incredibly diverse, but most of all I enjoy her Electric Cello Metal Rock.  It is intense and seriously HOT.  "League of Legends Live"
4. Gabriel Royal is a Busker in Brooklyn. That is literally all I know about him except that his voice in combination with his cello playing...WIN! "On Again, Off Again Friend"
5. What could be better than one cello? 120 cellos!!!! SERIOUSLY!!!! "Pirates of the Carribean soundtrack for 120 cellos"
6. Rob Scallon.  Yes, ok, I know he has taped frets onto his cello.  He is primarily a guitar player but well, have a listen anyway... "Chop Suey"
7. Ryan Knott.  This is one of my favourite dubstep songs done on cello.  The sounds this guys makes gives me serious full body shivers.  "Bangarang"
8. Apocalyptica.  Rock Cellists. 'Nuff said.  This is "Ludwig Wonderland" from their Wagner Reloaded Live CD.
9. Break of Reality.  Their bio says they are a Cello Rock Band, but they are nothing like Apocalyptica.  I would say they play very soft rock.  If you watch this video, you'll understand what I mean  "Let Her Go"
10. Dirty Cello.  It's a little bit bluegrass/country.  Rebecca Roudman is the cellist "A Road or a Life"

So that's my top 10. It changes everyday.  There are some INCREDIBLE musical inspirations out there once you open your ears.  

The playing never stops!

OH so much has happened since I last wrote.  The end of my last year was not so fun, so I am going to condense that part into one sentence...I was injured, sick and then injured again and as a result couldn't play for three months. There.  Now onto the good stuff!

A couple of very important things happened that changed the way I played and how I was learning.

I changed music teachers.
I was becoming increasingly frustrated by my first music teacher.  I think as a beginner music teacher she was great but lessons stagnated and I felt like I wasn't being listened to.  I was SO tired of playing nursery rhymes and out of children's books.  If I had to play Largo again I was going to cry.  It really wasn't her fault.  She was young and her first instrument was violin.  She wasn't really up to the task of teaching an adult beginner who already had experience with music.  I would bring pieces in that I wanted to play after searching the internet for music that I enjoyed and these would be set aside to follow a set curriculum of beginner books and...well...nursery rhymes.

Part of the problem here was that this music teacher was inexperienced.  The other part is that she worked for a standard music lesson company with a set curriculum to teach.  This is great if you need the structure and reassurance of curriculum, however at this point, for me, I do not.

I was also playing by myself all the time. The problem with this is that you don't learn to listen for the sound of a note or get to compare your playing to anyone else.  I had no idea if I was doing well or whether I should just give up because I was so crap. I absolutely yearned to play a duet or even just a piece with another cellist.  The other problem with playing music by yourself is that you can play any way you like, at whatever speed you want but part of the great joy of playing music is that feeling of creating something joyous with other people and I craved that.

By the end of my first year of playing I came to the realisation that I could either keep bashing my cello against this wall and lose my love for it, or I could find a new teacher and other people to play with.

Soooooo, I joined an orchestra.  The local community orchestra actually.  This was a benchmark day for me.  I had been working towards this goal, hoping to get there somewhere in 4 or 5 years as they require an AMEB Grade 5 level to join.  One day, I simply wrote them an email explaining my musical background and asking if I could just watch a rehearsal and maybe learn a few of the pieces they were playing.  They wrote back with the next dates of their rehearsals and suggested I bring my cello along and sit in the orchestra with them. So I did.  I showed up. Almost had a panic attack and just as I was about to leave...I was swooped upon, shown where to sit and once I sat down, there was NO escaping.  It was all kinds of wonderful.  Even though I was thoroughly confused and lost at times, I learnt SO much that first practise and all of a sudden I was MOTIVATED again.  The other cellists were so welcoming and really tolerant of my many desperate looks and missed notes.

It turned out that the head of the cello section also teaches.  So I started attending private lessons with her. I cannot explain what a difference it has made. We casually follow a set format to the hour lessons.
1.  Tuning.
2.  Scales first with an emphasis on controlling bowing and listening to sound for pitch and quality.
3.  Then pieces I am learning by myself.  I have been concentrating on Dotzauer's exercises 1 and 2 from his "18 Exercises for cello" which can be found FREE HERE
4.  Pieces that we are currently learning as duets.  I am learning, "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin and arranged for cello by Kevin Mayhew, "Minuet" by Handel and "Duet No. 2" by Mozart which can be found HERE
5.  Understanding the notes that have been written on technique and practise homework during the lesson.

Christine always has her cello on hand.  Even when I play the solo Dotzauer exercises, there are times when she plays them with me and times when I play by myself.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to play the pieces with someone else.  I control my pitch better, I keep time better, it is a happier experience even when I get things wrong and my playing dissolves into something terrible to the ears.

One of the best things she does is watch me play, then try to work out what I am doing physically so she can SHOW me what I am doing and how to correct it.  It is invaluable learning by doing and seeing.  She ASKS what pieces I might want to learn, gives suggestions based on what I enjoy doing and even when I pick a piece that may be beyond my technical level at this point, always sees it as a great way for me to learn new things, no matter how long it takes, even if we have to learn it one bar at a time.

And she does it all with a great sense of humour and positive attitude.  Every music lesson, I move ahead with my playing and all of these things combined is what I really enjoy about my lessons now.

So that is where I am at in my 2nd year of playing this challenging instrument.  I look back on the journey and realise how far I have come and how I have enjoyed every step of the way so far.  I look forward to so many more and am ever so thankful for the day my partner stopped me outside a music store and said, 

"Hey! Look! There's a cello!"

I had these little beauties tattooed on my wrists in May!