Music Education

What am I missing about PM Starmer's Video?

For someone who claims to love classical music, Starmer doesn't strike me as someone who is that passionate about it. Let's hear him play the flute. Does he go to concerts? How does he support music colleges? 

If he's that keen on music for kids then he'd make sure they have access to music education in school time with specialists. 

And there should be more music colleges. Nobody can become a musician by having a bit of a go on an instrument. It takes hours of practice every day!

And musicians should be financially supported. Like artists in Ireland, the government should pay them a basic salary because they can't get off the ground without financial help when they're just starting out. There's no career structure. 

Musicians, and dancers especially ballet dancers (many families flock to ballet performances during the Christmas season), like artists, are important to the economy, the status of a country and its culture. Without them life is very dull. They are part of the creative industry which brings in around £125 billion a year. So they deserve to be supported. It makes economic sense!

Music isn't something to fit around school. Kids will see it as less important than school subjects if that's all it is.

I'm really not sure about this myth that music, drama and sport give kids confidence because it gives them a voice they may not have in the classroom. What's the implication? It's mainly the unacademic child who prefers music, sport and drama? That's not true. And could be why parents tend not to encourage their kids to study these subjects unless they want to go to Oxbridge then suddenly music and sport are valued because they offer scholarships in those.

But these subjects don't give kids or teenagers confidence unless they're good at them. Who gives a kid a lead in a play if they're useless at acting? 

And music is difficult. Starmer, of all PMs, should know this. It's not one you can 'knock up' with a bit here and a bit there. 

Just as schools expect some kids to become mathematicians they should expect some to become musicians. This isn't possible unless a decent amount of time is devoted to it. And it's taken seriously. Just as seriously as the sciences so kids can carry on with music to degree level at an university or music college. The latter needs to open up more and be less restricted in number, a figure set by government (max 10 for main instrument which is what I learnt when attending an Open day) because that disadvantages everyone from school leavers to mature students. Unacceptable! 

The acceptance rate for the RAM is 10%. This makes it one of the hardest to get into especially given quite a few come from abroad. 

However, even unis are closing their music departments eg. Nottingham, Kent, Oxford Brookes, Cumbria, Wolverhampton, Lancaster. Music courses suffer from Humanities closing down in universities. This could prove disastrous.

Music does count. There's Music GCSE ( significant increased uptake in 2025) and A Level Music for a start! Schools should be encouraging kids to learn an instrument or two because that's how you gain a place at a college of music. And it helps with composition which is a component in GCSE. And grade exams count towards your UCAS points from Grade 6 onwards with obviously grade 8 giving you the most points. Music Theory also gives you UCAS points but significantly less. 

I didn't take music exams because I fast tracked to a repertoire (age 10) including concertos by the age of 11. The decision was up to the tutor not me.

Exam entries need to be cheaper too!! Grade 8 practical costs £137. That's stressful! If you don't get the grade you need or want then a retake may not be affordable. Music theory exams cost £68. That's £205 in total if you want to have the complete package. That's without the second instrument and private tuition which is astronomical. I was lucky that granny paid for my cello lessons and my cellos. So when Starmer tries to make the older generation poorer how the hell does that help. That affects not just their children but their grandchildren who, as a result, end up having less opportunities. Starmer only values cogs in the wheel not behind the scenes economic help.🤦‍♀️

And why are pop music courses and qualifications so ridiculously expensive?

Happy World Music Day 2023

 

Happy World Music/Make Music Day 2022

Happy World Music/Make Music Day! ❤🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵 🎻🎹🎸🎻🎷 The American musician, Joel Cohen, thought up the custom of playing live music on the French radio station he worked for to celebrate the beginning of summer time. However, nobody took up his idea until a couple of Frenchmen tweaked this idea and turned it into a widespread celebration of live music, produced by all musicians and accessible for all to hear, free of charge, irrespective of who they are. Music for all - What a great principle! 💖💖💖💖💖🙂 Although this Day started nationally in France in the early 80's, it has now expanded to being celebrated worldwide in over 120 countries. It's about making music and listening to music in public spaces. So grab your instrument, if you have one, and strike a few notes🎸🎻🎷🎵🎶; or sing out loud and proud👄🎵🎶🎵🎶; or turn up your MP3 player 📱👂🎵🎶🎵 and feel the stress just leave you.🙂🤗❤

It's also Humanist Day and humanists put a great deal of emphasis on the value of the arts which includes music, of course. So Happy World Humanist Day too!❤  I've written a short post on humanism, here:

https://philosophythoughtsasandwhen.blogspot.com/2022/06/celebrating-world-humanist-day-21st.html

World Music Day promotes the value of free public concerts and music events. I remember when I was visiting Prague, there were loads of easily accessible classical concerts around the city, simply advertised on a board in the street. There wasn't any formality around it, occurring very frequently, and with lots of variety and venues to choose from. Whereas I've never seen that in London (UK) - yes you can come across them but they are not prolific, not advertised out in the street so easy to miss. You have to keep looking for brochures or listings to find out what's going on and where. There is a lack of free concerts and events too, just as there is a dearth of free and accessible dance shows. And we don't all want to have to sit in a church in order to hear a free concert. Besides, these are invariably classical music concerts, not genres of pop music, so that restricts your choice of music concerts. 

So WMD is about making music accessible to all, not just the wealthy who can afford the expensive venues such as The Barbican, Sadlers Wells or the O2. Music is considered part of the good life, wellbeing and human flourishing. We can't have a society whereby wealthy can flourish by affording musical instruments, lessons and attending concerts while others completely miss out due to circumstances, lack of opportunities and a lack of diverse options for participating in music at all levels. And just because you attend concerts at expensive venues, that doesn't mean you want to be restricted to such venues all the time, you also want to attend easily affordable and free concerts regularly as well. 

Participating in music means not only that schools provide the music lessons, singing and instrumental, but also that they offer the subject at A Level as well as giving all pupils opportunities to perform. Furthermore, school pupils need to then be able to attend a music college to further their musical education and become performers. There are not enough music colleges in London never mind the whole of the UK. And those that do exist are, in a word, stuffy, and way too formal, thus not conducive to making music which should be a relaxing thing to do. If you're stressed you'll play badly. 

In this country too much value is given to certain fields such as, science, technology, engineering, finance, business and law and everything else is on a descending scale of not necessary. We heard this during the pandemic. Ballet dancers told to become IT Cyber Security specialists. Ballet is a physically demanding yet a creative, aesthetic profession whereas IT is sedentary, cerebral and repetitive one. It certainly isn't viewed as creative although sometimes it can be, for example, web design. Of course you need IT specialists but the creative industries provide much needed emotional outlet, thought provoking ideas and  relaxation. Music and other art forms  generate ideas which can set up interesting thought patterns in the brain that may not occur if the person doesn't incorporate creativity and imagination into their lives. 

Early Music Day 2022

Today is Early Music Day 🎶🎶🎻! This year is the 10th anniversary of celebrating Early Music Day, which is held every March 21st. This day was chosen in honour of Johann Sebastian Bach and because it is considered the beginning of spring it feels like an uplifting time of the year. 🌱🌼🌺🌷🌄

In terms of famous, key musical eras in classical music, Early Music includes:

the Medieval Period (500-1400)

the Renaissance Period (1400-1600), with composers such as Byrd, whose main purpose was to create secular compositions 🙂 rather than perpetuate the religious music of the past🥱; 

the Baroque Period (1600-1750, making this the style of music my 17th century philosophers,  Baruch Spinoza and Margaret Cavendish, would have heard. 👂👂🎶🎶🎶 Some famous composers in this era include Vivaldi, Telemann, Handel, and Johann Sebastian Bach. 

The Ambassador, Carlo Vistoli, asks the following pivotal question on the designated website for Early Music Day 🎼: 

"Why and how does Early Music still speak to us today, from hundreds of years away?" 

Good question! I think it's appeal is that it's emotionally and intellectually undemanding. Hence, students can study while listening to Bach, or Handel. This is less true of Smetana because you find yourself singing along to his lyrical music and wishing you were some place else. 🌄

I've been reading an excellent book* by J. Schröder written for performers of Bach's violin works and baroque playing technique. I think it has some pertinent points relevant to this question, some of which I agree with and will briefly discuss below. 

The exact sound and expression of music from earlier eras is basically impossible to recreate, let alone authentically. So we are not listening to the same sound production as the original audiences would have heard. Indeed, the instruments are rarely of the same period as the original music. For instance, Schröder tells us that 21st century audiences may sometimes hear a 17th century violin but this will not recreate the baroque sound because the set up of the instrument may be in accordance with the Classical, 18th century. The violinist may be using a 19th century bow together with 20th century strings. As Schröder highlights throughout his book, this not only impacts on the instrument's natural sound production but also on the musician's playing. As musicians, we need to adapt our playing technique according to the materials we are playing on or with, as far as possible, or at least be aware of the strengths and pitfalls of the instrument, strings and bow. This helps on a practical level to give us more control of the instrument. It also assists us in thinking about the extent to which we are able to, and creatively want to, partially recreate the atmosphere of early music, for instance, 17th-18th century baroque compositions. 

Perhaps one of the main attractions of Early Music for musicians is that the composers were often less prescriptive and allowed for more creative input by the musicians. For instance, baroque concertos usually give us musicians space to play a cadenza, which we can compose ourselves if we so wish. This gives the musician the space to have a direct compositional dialogue with the composer of the past and build on their musical themes, motifs and ideas. Another way we can personalize an early music piece is through adding or leaving out decorative extravagances such as trills and grace notes, giving us the freedom to express and personalise the piece as we wish. Whereas, as Vistoli points out on the Early Music Day website, such personalising and creative approaches to interpretation are no longer part of the process when playing later pieces, so he feels that:

"...one of its most fascinating peculiarities is to allow the interpreter to express themselves in many ways, and to give, even within the boundaries of the practicing"rules", the possibility to personalize that performance even more than later repertoires."

"For me, fantasy and inspiration go along with accuracy and historically informed practice." 

He's absolutely right about this. If I play a cello sonata by Vivaldi, I can add in decorative notes (sometimes suggested in my edition) as and when I please, to express myself and what I feel fits the mood of the piece. When I play a cello concerto by Boccherini, for instance, I can choose to play my own cadenza (that I have composed) for the end of a movement. Freedom of artistic expression was very important to Boccherini. And I think that's true for every musician. For example, when a royal patron commanded Boccherini to rewrite a passage in his composition, he responded by making it twice as long! 🤣👍 And he didn't change it, even when he was sacked. Now there's a good rebellious spirit! Maybe philosophers should do the same in response to peer review. Stick to what you want to say so we end up with the authentic version not an adjusted one suggested by an anonymous reviewer.

However, when I play later music, I do not have this inherent flexibility of adapting the composition by adding notes which give me the feeling of almost composing with the composer, as it were.  Having said that, I do prefer the intensely emotional tunes and atmosphere that later compositions express, especially in the Romantic Period, with the odd exception, such as Paganini, who is surprisingly categorised within the Classical Period alongside Mozart, yet his music is deeply passionate. The latter sounds more baroque-like, and so closer to Bach, whereas Paganini has the emotional style of the romantics. Equally surprising is to think of Wagner as a composer of the Romantic era given his dark, heavy-going style which has no appeal for me!

However, I leave you with this question: Should we attempt to or worry about recreating Early Music authentically given that it's an impossible task? 

I ask this because it's something I've heard promoted in masterclasses as the ideal but this isn't the full story, according to Schröder and Vistoli. 

Surely each musician should be free to interpret music from whatever period in the way they see it/feel it otherwise performances become too similar to each other? 

Pop stars are encouraged to put their own style onto a song which can lead to significant differences. A well known example is Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' which she wrote and sang in an acoustic style that sounded wistful. This song was later sung by Whitney Houston who turned it into a power ballad. One song two different interpretations! Dolly loved Whitney's interpretation. Maybe Bach would equally love various interpretations of his works if he were alive.

Maybe classical music should be more open to dramatically different interpretations of past repertoire?

I think the cellist Pablo Casals was more than happy to do this! He played Bach in a romantic style and that's how I was originally taught to play him. So perhaps we should follow in his footsteps. Certainly Bach's Cello Suites lend themselves to such reinterpretation, in my view. Even more so given there's no original copy of the Bach cello suites, therefore, we are guessing what Bach wanted. There's no definitive way of playing them. 

Nevertheless, I appreciate that I was given the opportunity to study how to adjust my playing style, musicianship and technique between early music and the Romantic Period so I enjoy playing both and find myself trying to be authentic on a modern instrument!🤔

Happy Early Music Day 2022! 🥳🎉🎊🎇🎆🥂🎼🎻🎶🎶

* Schröder, Jaap 'Bach's Solo Violin Works: A Performer's Guide' Yale University Press 2007

– 

International Cello Day (minor update)

For International Cello Day, I thought I'd go back to where it all started at the age of rising 6: the Royal Academy of Music group string classes (violin and cello) where I first learned to play the cello. As you can see in this photo I'm not playing a full sized cello that would be ridiculous at such a young age! All children start on small cellos just as they start on small violins. I could have gone either way: violin or cello? Having already started the violin earlier, I decided to choose to study the cello there because I had been keen to learn the instrument years back but it didn't happen because my mother favoured the violin. It's also a better instrument to begin with when you are little because they make tiny sized violins and Suzuki lessons were easier to find for that instrument locally 🎻. Here I am aged 3, practising the violin at home:

In the background you can see my first drum kit for kids and my astronaut suit hanging up on my playhouse, behind my bow hand. 

Before all this, I was already annoying my mother by insisting on playing her piano 🎹 instead of her 😂 when still a baby 👶. Here's a photo of me in action:

My mother taught me piano 🎹 until I went to school and so, aged 4, I started piano lessons there with an opera singer who taught music, especially at the senior school. So by the age of 6, I was playing all three instruments (and singing) as my main instruments. However, I was also still happily playing percussion instruments and the recorder for fun, alongside these four. 🙂🎵🎶🎵

So I'm passionate about children learning musical instruments. I am concerned about how much music education has suffered over the last two years, as well as the opportunities to meet up to play music or sing with others. 😒 All my singing studies have been undertaken in a group, initially with children of around my age then later with adults (men and women). 

Kids are never too young to start learning an instrument, in my view. It doesn't mean they have to become musicians, classical or otherwise, although I always wanted to be a musician, especially a cellist. But regardless of what the child chooses to do, it does enrich their life and help expand their concentration and learning capacity in subjects other than music as well.

I love music. I can't really imagine life without listening to music 🎧 or making music 🎼🎶🎵🎶🎵🎹🎻🎸💖💖💖💖💖💖

Here's a short extract from the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No.1 which I initially recorded as a music accompaniment to a ballet YouTube Short I choreographed and performed (available to view on YouTube here). Obviously, Saint-Saëns didn't intend this concerto as ballet music - I put the two together. For International Cello Day, I've posted it on SoundCloud as a sample track from my new cello album I'm working on, 'CelloRealm'. As the subtitle to the playlist for this album states, all tracks will be short extracts as tasters of the full version to be released at a later date. 

Saint-Saëns: extract from CelloRealm

#WorldPianoDay and Music Education

I know this blog is about the cello but I did say I'll stray into talking about other instruments, especially ones I learnt to play. I wish I played the piano like Barenboim or Edna Stern but that's not going to happen. Nevertheless, I did start the piano before either the cello or the violin since my mother plays the piano. I was very good at it. I could play contrary motion by the age of 4. Then my mother brought home a keyboard. She was Head of Music at the time so when I had a spare moment I'd play it. I enjoyed playing with all the features on it! My mother wasn't keen on me playing it because I'd become less interested in the piano. She had a point. I do prefer the keyboard because I can use it for arranging music in different styles/genres. However, I'm so used to having a piano around that I take it for granted. My mother lives in vain hope that one day I'll practise the piano with as much passion as the cello. But I prefer string instruments, so that's unlikely, but I think I should work at it more because here I am preaching about how all children should learn the piano while I'm not putting in the hours myself!👍

On Facebook today, I posted the following:

🎹🎼🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵💖 The piano is a beautiful instrument. It enhances any room.  Moreover, learning to play the piano is fundamental to classical music in various ways: music theory, aural skills, singing, accompanying other musicians/singers, composing and, of course, becoming a pianist. However, the piano isn't just for classical musicians. Jazz piano (Norah Jones) is one such example (I've done courses on jazz piano although I'm classically trained); pop/rock/soul/hip hop/R&B stars can play the instrument e.g. Freddie Mercury, John Legend, Carole King; Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga; Alicia Keys (learned to play Beethoven and Mozart!); comedians can also play the piano e.g. Victor Borge, Victoria Wood. It's a versatile instrument. 

The good news is now it's possible for most people to learn this instrument because you can buy a roll-up piano for a reasonable price (£15-30) and it doesn't take up much room. Lessons are expensive so we need schools to teach whole class piano which is possible with the roll up piano! So let's get kids playing piano!🎹

Is chamber music dead or a staple diet for all musicians?

When you are thinking about a musical career I don’t think you cross off any aspect of it. Your repertoire will include concertos, sonatas and recital pieces¹. Cellists may well have the goal of becoming a soloist but role models from the past show how you don’t just play with orchestras and piano accompanists as a soloist but you can also play chamber music. Many of the greats like Casals and du Pre have played in chamber ensembles. So it has always been the case that chamber music has been a component of a solo cellist’s repertoire. Everyone benefits from having a diverse repertoire because realistically you won’t have enough engagements to perform as a soloist. So it’s important to have variety in your repertoire and musicianship skills so you can respond to a range of opportunities.  

Young cellists all learn the solo repertoire, including concertos and recital pieces, irrespective of whether they wish to specialise in solo, chamber or orchestral playing. This is because they need to perform concertos, sonatas and shorter recital pieces in order to pass exams and auditions at all levels for a place (Undergraduate/Postgraduate) at a conservatoire. For instance, to audition for a place on the Royal College of Music undergraduate cello course, you need to demonstrate you can play “First movement of a concerto” and “A contrasting piece of your own choice”². Again, for a place on their taught postgraduate course, you need to prepare a “First (or significant) movement from a major concerto from the 19th or 20th century” and a “A contrasting piece of your own choice”³.  You will not need to demonstrate your ability to play chamber music with others or play within an orchestra for these main degree courses. The only other musician you are allowed to have playing with you is just the one accompanist:

“The only people in your audition room will be you, your accompanist and the audition panel.”⁴

The same is true of the Guildhall school of Music, with a few additions. For the undergraduate degree in cello, you again prepare “The 1st movement from a concerto in the standard repertory” and “One contrasting piece of the candidate's own choice.”⁵ In addition, you should prepare a listed study from the Popper High School of Cello Playing. Obviously the solo repertoire is still taught at undergraduate level and seen as an important way to assess proficiency in cello playing because to progress onto their postgraduate degree for Advanced Instrumental Studies, you again need to play “The first movement of a concerto from the standard repertoire with cadenza” and “The first movement of a duo sonata (with piano) written after 1800” in your audition⁶. Indeed, the extra element to prepare here for postgraduate study involves demonstrating you can play without any accompaniment at all: “One movement of unaccompanied Bach”⁷. As far as I can see, there are no chamber music qualifications or degrees at these two conservatoires. If you want to specialise in chamber music, you take an optional module/s eg Guildhall School of Music but this is only if you already have a fair amount of chamber music experience and are part of an ensemble, then you put your ensemble forward for consideration for a postgrad option. Afterwards, auditions for joining an orchestra require performing a concerto as a soloist eg Haydn. So the solo repertoire remains highly relevant, even for those who become orchestral players. It is the solo repertoire that is the staple diet for a cellist, not chamber music. The solo cello repertoire, including concertos, sonatas, recital pieces and unaccompanied pieces are also generally considered to be the best music written for the cello. For the top 10, see:

thttps://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/instruments/cello/features/best-cello-pieces/

If a cellist doesn’t learn these, s/he is missing out on the best cello music ever written!

So, just like everyone else, I learnt a core repertoire of concertos and recital pieces eg Waldesruhe (Dvorak), Vocalise (Rachmaninoff), The Swan (Saint Saens), sonatas and unaccompanied pieces eg Bach Suites. The purpose was to perform them with pianists or otherwise. I loved technique be it Sevcik for the violin or Feuillard, Franchomme and Popper for the cello. I was even taught some interestingly difficult exercises made up by Rostropovich. At a young age it was all about technique and performance (including reading the score carefully and interpreting how to play what’s written in it) because these are physical skills that are very demanding so it helps to train your fingers to be capable of complex dexterity. The history and musicology behind the music can be learnt just as easily and better when an adult. I think history does play a part in understanding a piece but it doesn’t warrant a deep study of it at a young age. This can be incorporated as and when relevant later to acquire a deeper appreciation of a piece of music and examine how to play it authentically. This is, however, difficult to ascertain because original first publications of scores did not always reflect the composer’s wishes and some were more vocal than others about how representative the score was of their intentions. There is no one objective source to consult which tells us exactly what the composer wanted. Some composers were more prescriptive compared with others who preferred the instrumentalist to have more freedom of interpretation. There are also many different arrangements which, by definition, do not replicate the original score and vary in how much they take the composer’s possible wishes into consideration eg in expression markings. Some pieces are transposed for a different instrument. While some are transposed for a related instrument eg violin to cello, others are unrelated eg horn to cello. Transposing, especially between unrelated instruments, means the instrument, as well as the musician, will express the music very differently from the instrument for which it was originally written. So when we refer to authentic renditions of a piece, what do we mean? What is and isn’t completely authentic is itself open to interpretation.  

Furthermore, there’s nothing wrong with reinterpreting the score and giving it a new, fresh approach. Some may view this as being almost a cross-over style but I think all musicians, classical or not, have made the pieces their own in some way throughout the ages. It’s unavoidable. Much as a writer has their own voice so a musician has theirs. Therefore, the way musicians interpret a piece of music will vary from person to person. Even classical drama eg Shakespeare is often given a contemporary interpretation. We don’t think a contemporary production of a period play is automatically worse simply because it isn’t an historically authentic production. We value the new light it sheds on the play as much as productions which re-enact the original play and the staging of it. Many of ‘the greats’ in the past approached cello pieces in this way eg Casals’ unique interpretation and recording of the Bach Suites. Singers are expected to make songs in their repertoire their own so why shouldn’t instrumentalists? I’m not saying never be authentic but it’s not entirely realistic to be so since we haven’t lived in the composer’s era or often even close to it!

To answer my question, I don’t think chamber music is dead and never has been but neither is it a staple diet for musicians. Many musicians try to be part of a chamber ensemble in the same way as most tennis players play doubles, at some point in their career, not just singles. Is it necessary to play chamber music? No, it isn’t. Just as a few top singles tennis players opt out of doubles it’s perfectly fine for a soloist eg cellist to do likewise and opt out of playing regularly in chamber ensembles and orchestras. They are not less good musicians or tennis players because they haven’t done so. They may well prefer to focus on one specialisation be it singles for a tennis player or as a soloist for a musician. It’s not something everyone wants to do but if they do then their focus may yield unique insights into the solo repertoire. Similarly, top tennis players, especially on the men’s tour, don’t play doubles eg Nadal but he brings something special to the court much as Serena Williams does in the women’s game.

It’s the musician’s choice. Music is a creative process not an academic pursuit so a literal interpretation is not as paramount as expressing an unique voice and providing listeners with an aesthetic experience.   

¹ Based on my comments on Steven Isserlis’s post ‘Some good news, amidst somewhat surreal times?’ 7/3/2017 available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1292516914129934&id=191956057519364

² http://www.rcm.ac.uk/strings/auditionrequirements/

 ³ ibid

⁴ ibid

⁵ https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/music/principal_study/strings_harp_and_guitar/auditions/#c405

⁶ ibid

⁷ ibid

What’s the difference between listening and really listening?

One of my earlier cello teachers would constantly say ‘You have to REALLY listen!’ (I use uppercase because she emphasized that word)¹. I’ve spent the rest of my life hearing that phrase in my head and repeating it. I’ve always remembered it despite not fully appreciating what it meant at the time. I thought: I am listening! What more can I do? What’s the difference between listening and really listening? Over the years I’ve come to realise two things. One, there are many ways of listening as a musician, many of which we take for granted. Two, there’s also different levels of intensity and concentration involved when listening to yourself and others.  

I started learning the violin and cello within group classes (3 & 5/6yrs of age respectively). It was fun playing with them as a group. This starts a child on the road to really listening which is of great value in itself and probably the best way to start learning an instrument rather than having individual lessons. In addition, I attended classes at a well-known theatre school from a very early age. So I had already learnt to listen, co-ordinate and co-operate with others whether it be playing classical instruments, singing, dancing, acting, musical theatre or working as a large group when putting on a show. In retrospect, I have come to appreciate the diversity of musical experience I was exposed to as a child which helped me later. It’s similar to sport. If you want to be a professional tennis player it’s a good idea to play other sports too when you’re younger. Likewise, if you want to be a professional musician it helps to participate in a wide range of musical experiences and genres. So, for me, working with others, including musically, comes naturally.

Really listening to your playing as well as the musicians around you is not a skill that is unique to playing with an orchestra or playing chamber music. All musicians in every genre need to develop these various musicianship skills. For instance, it makes no sense for a singer to go off on their own tangent leaving musicians to keep up as best they can. That would be a cacophony. Take a pop star, such as, Celine Dion. She is a solo singer but, nevertheless, has backing singers and a band. All of them have to co-ordinate and synchronize otherwise no-one will come to the concerts! There are often certain chords or drum beats that cue the singer to land certain notes and if this isn’t timed absolutely correctly then the song falls apart. Equally, Celine can’t just speed up in the middle of a song when she feels like it because it would confuse her backing singers and band and they’ll end up out of sync with her. Unhappy backers, unhappy band and one unhappy audience who couldn’t sing along to their favourite song.

It’s the same with classical musicians. The soloist is important but not to the extent that the conductor and orchestra are left to fend for themselves while s/he plays the concerto as s/he hears it in her head without paying any attention to the musical dialogue between soloist and orchestra. As for conductors, I don’t think paying attention to a conductor or choir leader should replace being sensitive to what’s going on around you musically. Conductors or choir leaders add something different to the mix. For instance, they give cues to improve anticipation, timing, and help a large group of musicians or singers gel together with ease. They impart musical ideas and feedback as and when needed.

Listening to yourself helps you maintain perfect pitch and intonation as well as a good tonal quality. It also trains you to have an ear for simultaneously listening to yourself and others with whom you are making music as well as how your combined efforts blend together musically and aesthetically. In addition, you have to be quick enough to adapt and adjust to the musicians around you and the conductor/leader in a matter of milliseconds to keep a balance between pre-prepared interpretation and an element of spontaneity within the musical interactions. So, for instance, in a concerto, it’s a dialogue between soloist and orchestra. It’s always a matter of knowing when to, figuratively speaking, talk and when to listen. If the two (soloist, orchestra) don’t do this and talk over each other it ceases to be a musical conversation, loses meaning and becomes a mess. The same applies to singing or playing a musical instrument accompanied by a pianist. When playing my cello repertoire with my cello teacher accompanying me on the piano, I found myself listening to what I was playing as well as what she was playing as an accompaniment and remembering to complement her to create a harmonious sound. This skill also translated well when singing pop and musical theatre songs with my singing teachers accompanying me and/or us singing as a group.

So to return to my two points at the beginning. What you take for granted is the variety of ways you listen as a musician:

1)      You listen to your playing/singing but not in a general way which merely results in you hearing yourself. You train your ear to pick up the slightest changes of pitch and tonal quality and learn how to make constant tiny adjustments to maintain consistency and perfection. Nobody achieves 100% perfection but we all have to strive for it to provide the best possible experience for the listener/audience.

Furthermore, different genres have different pitches. Classical music has the highest pitch, making its standard pitch slightly sharper than the norm. Some pop singers, especially divas, use a more classical pitch while most others’ pitch is slightly flatter to varying degrees. Musical theatre singers are mostly around the norm in pitch although those with some classical background may be closer to a classical pitch. Country and folk singers generally have a flatter pitch but there are exceptions such as Dolly Parton. Some genres have their own scale. For instance, the blues scale flattens the 3^rd, 7^th and sometimes 5^th even though it is a major scale. In classical music, minor scales characteristically have a flattened/minor sound so composers use this scale to write music in a minor key to depict sad emotions as opposed to major scales and keys which are typically seen as conveying happiness. Musicians nearly always choose one pitch and sing or play everything according to it.

I sing and play the cello (and other instruments) according to classical pitch, partly because that was how I was taught as a child and partly for technical reasons, such as it keeps you more reliably in tune. However, when making music with others, especially when singing with others, it is very useful to be aware of their type of pitch and adjust accordingly so you blend with them and avoid pitch clashes. This is part of what my cello teacher meant by REALLY listening: develop your listening skills so you pick up on small details and not just the general picture.  

2)      Pitch isn’t the only aspect of music you need to attune your ear to in order to have musical awareness. Other aspects include tempo, rhythm, rests, when and how others are beginning and ending notes, their colouring, timbre and volume. All this takes a huge amount of concentration and intensity. This is the difference between listening and REALLY listening. You cease to listen to music like a non-musician who can relax and let the music wash over them. For the musician, it’s a matter of combining all these different types of listening with heightened awareness and concentration and being attentive to the minutest details in sound production. It’s not a passive process but a constant, active process of analytical, critical listening.

¹Based on my comment on facebook in response to Steven Isserlis’s post: ‘All the World’s a (chamber music) stage…’ 28/06/2017 available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1417096905005267&id=191956057519364

Minor composers?

I am keen to bring to light lesser-known philosophers or even those hardly known at all. So similarly, I am interested in lesser-known and lesser-performed composers¹, especially from the classical and romantic periods. I search 2^nd hand shops and sometimes discover a gem or two of these so-called lesser-known composers. I’ve recently learnt about and listened to Raff², Rejcha³, Onslow⁴, Hummel⁵ and really liked all of them. Rejcha’s cello concerto in D major⁶ sounded very Boccherini-like so I’d love to learn that one. My favourite though was Raff’s Cello Concerto no 1 in D minor op. 193⁷. I was interested that Raff set up special classes for women composers! He also employed Clara Schumannn as a teacher at the Hoch Conservatory. Hummel was Slovak and there’s a museum⁸ in his birth place Bratislava dedicated to him.

To be honest, I’m not sure I see these minor composers as minor or their music as not great. I think it’s exciting to discover forgotten music! There’s something special in bringing forgotten/lesser- known philosophers or composers back to life again so they can be appreciated once more! Often when scanning a programme I check for new cello sonatas, or concertos that I might wish to learn or have learnt but don’t feature on concert programmes very much. I learnt Breval’s Sonata no 1 in C but don’t remember ever hearing it live at a concert. I was about 8 yrs old when I learnt it and I always loved playing the opening chords to it with gusto!

One needs to give an unheard piece a little more thought when interpreting it because it will influence the audience’s attitude towards it and the composer. The last thing a performer wants to do is put people off a newly discovered composer. I know I’m influenced by a performance. If it’s tedious I may not bother to learn the piece which is stupid but it happens. However, one of the ways to learn to love a piece one doesn’t connect with immediately is to research the background to it, the era, the composer, listen to it, study the score closely, feel your way into the emotions in the piece and if you know other musicians who are keen to learn new stuff or even know the piece talk to them about it, perform it to friends etc really try to get ‘into it’. You never know, you might love it in the end!

¹ Steven Isserlis ‘In praise of those who need it’ (03/04/2017) facebook, available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1322121787836113&id=191956057519364

²for more information about Raff, see: http://raff.org/intro.htm

³for more information about Rejcha, see:

 http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Anton-Reicha/Composer/9990-1

⁴for more information about Onslow, see:

http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/acc/onslow.php

Onslow’s cello sonata in C-minor No.2, Op.16 (1819), available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PuRh4-CCUs

⁵for more information about Hummel, see:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Johann-Nepomuk-Hummel/Composer/5667-1  

Hummel’s Variazioni alla Monferrina, Op. 54, for cello and piano available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEuGHBt6U4k (part 1 of 2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3U0gOJNf4Y (part 2 of 2)

⁶Rejcha, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in D major available to listen to at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aPpyG6GYdM

⁷ Raff’s cello concerto no1, available to listen to at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X_XtUs_E6Q

⁸For a video about the Hummel museum and to listen to Hummel’s Trio for 2 Violas and Cello in G major, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfdhW8UYqdw

The importance of slurs in a piece of music and the difficulty of deciphering original scores and manuscripts

I have learnt some of the Bach Suites and have performed Suite 1 Prelude in public. The issue of¹ how to create dance-like sound is a difficult one especially if there are slurs of 3-4 notes. The edition I use is the Barenreiter. (For the violin I have an edition of Bach’s 6 Sonatas & Partitas which I absolutely love because it includes facsimile of the autograph manuscript).  At the back of my cello suites edition that I use I have notes on the score (in German) that tell me things about the Anna Magdalena’s score amongst other things. Under notes on Suite V Sarabande I think it states how certain bars look in the Anna Magdalena score and the lute version of the score. So, in Anna’s version, when there are 4 quavers together they have a clear (deutlich) slur (bindebogen) over them in bars 1, 5, 6, 7, 16, 20 and in the lute version in bars 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18 a group of 4 quavers together have a slur on the last 3 but not over the first note.

A question that crossed my mind was: How does the slurring work in Bach’s lute version of the Sarabande because while looking at a website showing Bach’s autograph of it, it looks to me as though he tends not to include the first note in a bunch of quavers in the slur irrespective of whether it is a high note or a low note? The Barenreiter edition mentions in its notes that the lute version has bars in the Sarabande which leave the first note of a group of quavers un-slurred and then slurring the next 3 quavers in the group, as mentioned above, although this doesn’t include their thoughts on bar 5.       

However, it did occur to me that dances in those days were slower so the slurred notes are not such a problem because the overall tempo was sedate and slow. I think perhaps slurs suit the shape of the choreography. Watching this video² demonstrates the dance steps used for a sarabande and how it fits with the music. I think it shows that slurs can fit well with the dance and still maintain the beat. A slur on a lute would also come across very differently to listeners from a slur on the cello. Slurs are especially tricky here because lute notation, especially in early scores, is different from cello notation so can be misread by non-lute players. For instance, a slur may be written more minimally to keep the tablature style of score neater because, in the Baroque era, there was a preference for the visually pleasing rather than being strict about writing down every instruction with precision so the notation left it up to the lute player to assume correctly what was implied.  So, are there any implied slurs we should be thinking about as cellists when playing this suite?³ 

You may have already read Cardin’s article⁴ but it definitely was an exciting find for me because it relates to my research paper on the Philosophy of Music, ‘When is a Piece of Music the Identical Piece? Subtitle: The Problem of Identity in Music and Performance’⁵:

Abstract: It is difficult to be certain how composers felt their pieces should sound in performance. Nevertheless, this is desirable background knowledge for musicians aiming at an authentic interpretation. It is even problematic to analyse the composer’s intention behind the music when recordings of a composer playing their own piece of music is available to listen to (or see him/her perform it on video) because there can be differences in approach between recordings taken several years apart. For example, Kreisler composed Liebesleid and there are at least two recordings of him playing it (1930 and 1942) but he does not play and express it identically each time. This discrepancy between the different ways Kreisler plays this piece raises, I think, questions about identity and interpretation in music. In this paper, I shall attempt to explore the following research questions. When and why is a piece of music the same piece across many different interpretations and performances? Could analysing pieces of music in terms of types and tokens help to track the identity of a musical work over different editions of scores, performances and interpretations? Is it the same piece if it is one and the same piece that the composer had in his/her mind? Is the music the composer has/had in their mind always completely identical to each instance of it being performed and how easy is it to replicate what the composer had in mind when performed by others across time? Even if we say a piece’s identity is what is written in the score, what if different editions are heavily edited so the piece is somewhat different or if a performer changes the mood of the piece or adds additional grace notes or improvisations? Could a piece change its identity under certain conditions and cease to be the same piece?

¹ Steven Isserlis on Urtext editions, (10/05/2017) available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1366092960105662&id=191956057519364

² ‘Basic Steps for a Sarabande’ from www.dancilla.com, available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=judV76gLib0

³ For further information about slurs in the baroque era, see:

http://www.slweiss.de/London_unv/an_6Appendix_3.pdf

⁴ Cardin, M., (2001) ‘The slur concept in the late Baroque lute Tablatures’, in The London Manuscript unveiled - 6. Appendix 3, The slur concept, available at:

http://www.slweiss.de/London_unv/an_6Appendix_3.pdf

⁵ available and downloadable on my academia.edu site:

https://www.academia.edu/32731874/Abstract_Paper_Title_When_Is_a_Piece_of_Music_the_Identical_Piece_Subtitle_The_Problem_of_Identity_in_Music_and_Performance

The importance of cello fingering decisions

Steven Isserlis raised a very important point about choice of fingering which is central to learning/practising/performing a piece of music! The focus of his post¹ was the Dvorak cello concerto, especially a sequence of three slurred eighth-notes (E, D, B) at the beginning of the 2^nd subject in D.

First, I sang the notes to get a feel for the passage in question then reached for my score for more detail. I sat and worked through that section ie from B as first note with p, piu tranquillo under it 3 ½ bars before the A, which is the first note in the theme, through to the start of the tenor clef 6 bars ahead to put the 3 notes into context. I wrote down every possible fingering combination and I played my air cello working out the feel of these various possible fingerings before sitting down with my actual cello and playing the passage including the next six bars to see which fingering would, to my mind, preserve the legato and beauty of this second subject in Dvorak’s cello concerto. I took into consideration the problems you raised about accenting or causing a glissando if opting for staying on the A string. Here are my thoughts:

My favourite option is to stay on A string and do F# on 3^rd finger 4^th position, shift to 4^th finger on E, 2^nd finger on D then stretch back/minor shift to B on 1^st finger then D with 4^th finger etc.

Why? 1) Generally speaking, it is technically better to incrementally inch your way up and down the cello like a crab when staying on the same string than create larger distance shifts (unless you want a large shift for dramatic effect under certain conditions). 2) I found this fingering was the most reliable way to consistently achieve legato with no audible shifting or accent sounds between notes. This is the sequence of fingering you worried produces an accent on the E. When playing it I discovered that this doesn’t happen if you don’t think of it as a shift as such but instead, I take this mental/technical approach:

Start on a short up bow close to the frog of the bow for the A then long, free flowing down bow on the F# with a soft bowing hand/wrist and warm vibrato with left hand. Then, just before moving to the E, fractionally stop left hand vibrato and mentally picture where your 1^st finger is naturally hovering above the E so that the shift for the left hand becomes like a mid-air finger substitution between the 1^st finger hovering over E and the 4th finger shifting to the E. Aim for the E (with the 4^th finger) while shifting/substituting very swiftly, in that split second you lighten and change bow to play E on an up bow (and the following 2 notes). This way you avoid the unintended accent on the E and the glissando between E and D isn’t a problem since your 2^nd finger is already in position to play the D. Then the B is achieved smoothly too by turning the slight shift back into a stretch with the 1^st finger to lessen the shift so there’s no audible movement here either. This way, all the notes are even, there’s no audible break in the legato and the shape of the theme stays intact.

The other options I experimented with and decided against:

E with 1^st finger 4^th position and shift back to 4^th finger first position: I didn’t find I ended up with a glissando. I think that’s because I avoid this by speeding up my left hand shift while lightening the bow. However, much as it is quite easy to find the notes intuitively with less practice because it’s just 4^th position to 1^st position, I found it can produce inconsistency of execution in that at times, you can hear a slight thud as you land on the 4^th finger D if you don’t time your fast shift with lightening the bow perfectly. So in terms of preparing it for a performance, it’ll take more practice (shift/bow exercises).  

Crossing to the D string:

This, I find, is the scariest option because 1) it’s easy to miss that note on D and 2) it can cause tension in the left hand, it feels stiff and you can’t move and vibrato freely and it’s easy to cause a break in the sound while shifting across and up while changing string. So I’d find it harder to keep the legato and theme smooth and natural. I feel it is prone to erratic results eg accidental glissando, break in legato, break in sound while jumping over to it, missing note etc so requires more practice and is more nerve-racking to perform. Therefore I’d discount it on those grounds. It also sounds more muted and less clear and bright than the A string which is a shame for such a tuneful passage. Nevertheless, generally speaking, the easiest/most reliable way to locate a note which is also an harmonic note, as this D is, is by flicking my hand up to play it as a harmonic either for the whole note or momentarily to check I’ve landed it before pressing down and vibrating. It also gives me the option of discreetly correcting the note before pressing down on it which gives the illusion of getting it right every time even when you haven’t! Also, it avoids glissando and is easier to keep legato than shifting and immediately pressing down. 

These are just my thoughts on the way I’d go about it. Just a mixture of personal preference and the way I was taught to approach pieces. This is just the kind of stuff I get passionate about. I can spend all day just thinking about those 3 notes, working on them in context, playing them until I know the section off by heart and feel it’s going in the right direction (to be honest, I looked at the bar mentioned and then could play the rest through hearing it in my head without looking at the music). To my mind, all musicians should ideally work in this way on every bar of all their pieces ie work through all the options and repeat/internalise their preferred option until it feels second-nature. I know it takes time but if you love music and playing your instrument then you don’t notice. I love paying attention to detail and taking my time over a piece of music and probing deeply into the practical, technical playing dilemmas as well as the meaning, feel of the music and the composer’s mind/intention. The listener is key. As a performer you want to convey the feeling of the piece, connect emotionally and give them the best possible experience of the piece. Engendering an interest/passion for so-called boring technical details, I think, can enhance the enjoyment of listening to classical music performances live because you focus harder on the instrumentalist when you are more knowledgeable. Hence, I feel strongly that musical instruments and classical music should be taught in schools. Children and teenagers should be taken to concerts and their tickets should be substantially discounted or even free otherwise they are prohibitively expensive for families. This would encourage the next generation to like and attend concerts and take their children to concerts and so on.

¹Steven Isserlis ‘the emotion is in the detail’ (02/02/2017) facebook post, available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1261992437182382&id=191956057519364

Dvorak's quasi portamento in his B minor Concerto

I found a fascinating question about Dvorak’s B minor Concerto on Steven Isserlis’s facebook (13/01/2017)¹ which gave me food for thought. His questions were: What did Dvorak mean when he wrote ‘quasi portamento’ as a marking at bar 166 of the 1st movement of his B minor concerto? Why does he write ‘quasi’ and should we read it as portamento literally or as something more akin to 'portato'?

My response was as follows:

I think if Dvorak meant ‘portato’ he would have written it in as such, besides, the markings would be different ie there would be dots under slurs and Dvorak didn’t put these into his score. So, my view is that Dvorak meant ‘portamento’ (sliding between notes, literally in Italian it means carrying so you get the idea of carrying one note into the other). If we take the word ‘quasi’ to mean ‘like, as though’ then he may have written this in to avoid players taking the sliding/gliding aspect of ‘portamento’ literally and playing it too glissando-like! In my score (Simrock, Elite edition 594) the word ‘cantabile’ appears before the words ‘quasi portamento’. This gives us a feel as to how Dvorak would like us to play this bar. So, this bar should be played as though it is being sung due to the ‘cantabile’ and, more specifically given the addition of ‘quasi portamento’, smoothly, effortlessly gliding between the notes much as I would when I sing it but without exaggerating it. Perhaps Dvorak wants to avoid the tendency some instrumentalists have of having an audible bow change or catch in their sound between notes which interrupts the flow of the phrases and reduces the expressive, singing quality of the cello.  It’s ‘mf’ so it’s neither quiet nor loud but wants to be heard especially since the notes coming up decrescendo to a ‘pp’ without fading into being inaudible. The ‘pp’ is played ‘dolce’ so the ‘quasi portamento’ will need to be played in a way that will naturally lead the ear and mood into the sweetness/tenderness of the dolce and so not shock the listener into a sudden quietness and sensitivity. This is also why Dvorak could not have meant ‘portato’, it wouldn’t work in my opinion, because it will cause too sudden a change from the stronger, more accentuated mood of a ‘portato’ which won’t lead smoothly into a ‘pp dolce’.  Also, there are two triplets in this bar which inform us of the time and rhythm of bar 166, perhaps indicating a lightness of touch to the notes.

¹available at: https://www.facebook.com/Steven-Isserlis-191956057519364/

Is cello technique useful or is it an unnecessary chore?

Is it helpful to learn how to draw a completely even bow close to the bridge¹? A benefit can be that it may instil more consistency and control with a fuller, richer sound. I’ve been taught this exercise but it wasn’t so that I then play all the notes in the same way in my pieces! It’s meant to be one of many different bowing exercises (not as a playing style in itself) so, when it comes to bringing phrases to life in pieces, this bowing technique is then combined with other ways of bowing to create the variety of phrasing and expressiveness needed. The purpose of developing physical skills is to enhance your musical aims. One way my tutor ensured this happened was to set me a demanding piece, then before beginning it and during learning the piece, I was taught exercises which developed the relevant, necessary techniques for playing it well and musically. In addition, if difficulties arose within the piece then an exercise would be added to overcome it eg Goltermann can give you a thumb injury if the bowing is not completely proficient so extra tips and adjustments needed to be made. This also meant that I could play the piece more confidently and feel relaxed, physically and psychologically, as a result of the new-found ability and bowing control. So I’d add that, in addition to the main goal of musical aims, other benefits that come with technique is feeling more relaxed, confident about playing/performing difficult pieces as well as injury prevention which not only makes you a more physically relaxed, healthier cellist, it also means you can practise for longer when you need to without side-effects. Hence, I’m a fan of technique. However, I think learning technique shouldn’t be a chore otherwise it’ll put the student off not only learning technique but also the cello! Not to mention if you spend all day repeating the identical exercise, you’ll just end up with repetitive strain injury! Tension, both physical and psychological, is the enemy of good cello playing and creates further tension producing fear of performing which is one of the root causes of stage fright/nerves. It’s also ignoring all the important musical and physical work you can do away from your instrument eg thinking through the score, learning about the piece/composer/era, physical exercise to make you stronger, exploring different expressive options and looking through the full score rather than just your own part (which I have to admit I wasn’t taught to do by my tutors so it’s something I’m only discovering for myself in recent years).

I’m sure students don’t like technique because it seems boring compared to playing a piece and is often seen as difficult to master. It’s the task of the tutor to show its relevance and not overwhelm the student with too much technique all at once eg the Rostropovich exercise I was given wasn’t long but was fun even though it wasn’t an easy exercise because it was both physically and mentally demanding - a co-ordination brain-bender!

Every good teacher should educate/train the student in such a way that they can carry on without them because they have all the skills they need for the job. Students should be able to go beyond their teacher(s), strike out on their own, come out with different ideas and s/he/they should be pleased and proud of them when they do.

As for practising hard, I think we should practise hard, even when young! I did 3 hours a day on the cello when very young and I enjoyed it but it was physically hard at that age. So I invented a way to bandage my fingertips (as injury and pain prevention) to be able to regularly play long hours but my mother cut it back to 2hrs a day so I wouldn’t have to do that. It made it more manageable although I did find it a bit of a tight squeeze for getting everything I wanted to get done per day before my next lesson. Within those hours I did scales, arpeggios, technique then an easy-ish piece as a repertoire warm up and then studied/played one of my pieces in detail paying close attention to playing correct notes, tonal quality, composer markings, structure of piece, phrasing, bowing, checking for left hand tension and correct positioning of arm, posture, expressiveness, emotion etc. until I knew it like the back of my hand, and could start playing it at any point in the score and could express myself through the music with ease. However, when you are very young you need a parent to help you check that you are doing all the right things. Later you can use a mirror to check posture, arm positioning and so on. Your cello, voice, is an extension of yourself so eg the bow is part of your arm not separate from it so to speak. Your cello is also your friend, don’t go into battle with it! My cello used to stand next to my bed so it was there as part of my life right from the age of 5yrs 11 months, not something I left neglected in a corner and had to force myself to play/practise. Well, the famous tennis player Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario apparently used to sleep next to her racquet which was tucked up in bed with her (or at least that’s what I heard!) so it’s not that weird to have my cello next to my bed! At least it’s not in my bed!

¹see Steven Isserlis’s facebook post (11^th April 2017) ‘Technique?’ available at:

https://www.facebook.com/Steven-Isserlis-191956057519364/ )

A general introduction to my cello blog

I’ve been writing on facebook about the cello, how to play it ie discussing technique I’ve learnt when studying the cello as well as musical interpretation and cello repertoire. So I thought I’d bring my thoughts together in a blog. My early blogs here will be those I wrote in response to the posts of the world famous cellist, Steven Isserlis. I’ll give a link so you can read what he wrote because here I shall only include my responses which I shall slightly adapt for this blog for readability. Later I shall write not only about my facebook posts but go on to discuss how I go about practising the cello, the repertoire I play, concerts I go to and more.   

I’m particularly interested in the cello because I’m a cellist and therefore this is the focus of this blog.  I am also a singer but my training is in musical theatre and pop rather than classical repertoire /opera so my thoughts on singing may wander in from time to time. I started playing the cello at 5yrs old, having nagged my parents and granny about playing the cello since 1 ½ years old after I went to my 1st concert and heard/saw a cello in a piano trio. I started learning the cello in group classes for children at a college of music then studied privately with 3 other teachers all of whom were top professional cellists who were taught by amazing, well-known cellists themselves.

Before I started playing the cello, I began the violin and piano at 3 and 4 respectively. So I may stray into discussing the violin and piano even though I’m not at my finest when I attempt to play these but I love the sound of the violin and it does have a vast repertoire! The piano, to my mind, conveys less emotion, unless you are Daniel Barenboim, who manages to produce sensational colouring, partly by understanding how to make the keys hit the hammers inside the piano in a way which avoids some un-aesthetic pitfalls of the sounds a piano can make as well as how to sustain the sound and create the illusion of crescendo and diminuendo. I haven’t managed to master this on the piano yet. I’m hoping I will succeed one day but I’ll never reach his heights.

There are many incredible professional musicians out there. (There are also amazing non-professional musicians out there as well.) I won’t be able to mention them all so if I don’t mention your favourite it’s not because I think they are lesser than it’s just I can’t cover everyone or everything. However, you are welcome to mention them in comments below or any other music, especially cello-related, comments/questions you may wish to share/ask below (as long as they are positive and courteous).