musical musings
Since I don't have a ticket or pass for the synagogue (I usually sit in the Temple library and watch on closed-circuit - fewer people chew gum in the library than in the sanctuary for some reason, and it's less about what we're wearing and more about what we're learning), I'm not going to services this morning. I don't want to have to check in with a photo ID. Doesn't God already know who I am?
I tried to play Kol Nidrei this morning - from the worn, dog-eared copy that my teacher wrote on some 20-odd years ago - and found that I now have vibrato in both hands. Interesting.
Maybe I need to warm up, I thought, so I went to my old buddy, Cossman. Nope. Fingers tangled on the left hand, whole right hand shaking from the elbow downward. Hmm.
Take it down a notch, I told myself as I tried to play 3-octave scales. Okay, that's a little better. Go for some Bach. Bach always makes you feel better. Lutheran, schmutheran.
Prelude, first suite. That has always been my favorite "getting into your own head" piece, although after seeing "Noel" on WW I keep thinking about the weird repeat and leaving out two of the last three notes, but you can't have everything. I'd played it last night, albeit slowly, with a private student at her lesson.
Ouch. There's nothing there. String crossings are easy enough, since my right arm seems to have had a lot of espresso this morning even though the rest of me had chamomile tea. But the things that made it Bach, made it MY Bach, aren't in place.
In short, I sound like crap. I chose the first line of defense and started checking the intstrument out. Strings are pretty new, bridge is standing proudly, soundpost looks okay but I was never good at the finer points of that adjustment anyway.
Maybe I should get my bow rehaired. Maybe I should get my LIFE rehaired.
I even tapped the seams, hoping to find one open.
After all, I can fix an open seam. I can't fix...whatever else is wrong.
So it went back in its case after a thorough wipe-down. It's like being thrown from a horse, I suppose, and I should get back on. But it's my love and I maybe need to give it some space. Maybe it knows in some elemental, molecular sense, that the city where it got restored to its former glory is in mourning.
Do 'cellos need to sit shiva?
I tried to play Kol Nidrei this morning - from the worn, dog-eared copy that my teacher wrote on some 20-odd years ago - and found that I now have vibrato in both hands. Interesting.
Maybe I need to warm up, I thought, so I went to my old buddy, Cossman. Nope. Fingers tangled on the left hand, whole right hand shaking from the elbow downward. Hmm.
Take it down a notch, I told myself as I tried to play 3-octave scales. Okay, that's a little better. Go for some Bach. Bach always makes you feel better. Lutheran, schmutheran.
Prelude, first suite. That has always been my favorite "getting into your own head" piece, although after seeing "Noel" on WW I keep thinking about the weird repeat and leaving out two of the last three notes, but you can't have everything. I'd played it last night, albeit slowly, with a private student at her lesson.
Ouch. There's nothing there. String crossings are easy enough, since my right arm seems to have had a lot of espresso this morning even though the rest of me had chamomile tea. But the things that made it Bach, made it MY Bach, aren't in place.
In short, I sound like crap. I chose the first line of defense and started checking the intstrument out. Strings are pretty new, bridge is standing proudly, soundpost looks okay but I was never good at the finer points of that adjustment anyway.
Maybe I should get my bow rehaired. Maybe I should get my LIFE rehaired.
I even tapped the seams, hoping to find one open.
After all, I can fix an open seam. I can't fix...whatever else is wrong.
So it went back in its case after a thorough wipe-down. It's like being thrown from a horse, I suppose, and I should get back on. But it's my love and I maybe need to give it some space. Maybe it knows in some elemental, molecular sense, that the city where it got restored to its former glory is in mourning.
Do 'cellos need to sit shiva?