Almost 7 years ago when i restarted cello lessons, (I had played as a girl), I discovered the most beautiful piece of music. When I listened to it I knew that music described who I was....my personality....how I acted and thought. I felt connected to this piece of music...It is the Brahms E Minor Cello Sonata. At lesson day I told my teacher, Carole, about it and how excited I was about it and I would work hard and do whatever it took to play it. I was playing about 4 months at that time and the E Minor , to me, was like being at the bottom of Mt. McKinley and wanting to climb it with no experience. Carole smiled and said something nice as she usually does . The following lesson she brings with her a copy of the first page of the E minor. She said....."there is no reason you can't learn a few lines right now". She knows how to fuel a dream. So, we took a few measures every week as a part of my lesson work until about 4 lines when it was time to move on with "real world" cello learning. Some day I knew I would be playing this beautiful piece of music.
I purchased a Pablo Casals Masterclass DVD of the E Minor and watched it off and on as the years passed. Always wishing I was that student in the video whose playing was being corrected . I had Pablo's words ,corrections, and opinions memorized.
It was almost 4 1/2 yrs. later before it was the appropriate time for me to start learning my dream piece. We worked thru out the winter months on the first movement which was the only movement I wanted to play. It was challenging and exciting all at the same time. I watched that Master class video and Carole and I discussed techniques and worked all the many problems......
I was so engrossed for several months with this wonderful music. Unfortunately, as is normal in the learning process, I could only take it so far. By that I mean, I could "play" it technically but making music required more capability than I had at that time. So, I had to let the E Minor go to be revisited a few years down the road. I always have withdrawal issues when I have to put down music I have been working on a long time...it is like a friend that I know and am fond of... and I had been working on this piece for about 4 1/2 months. But, I understood and was looking forward to the future.
That future has come and I have been working on this music for more than several weeks now with weekly critiques from Carole. Although challenging and time intensive it was a joy to work on and complete.
I have included a snippet of it if you would like hear it's profound , deep, and serious beginning and direct contrast of the soft, sweet, and ethereal part... followed , yet, by an area full of drama...a study of complexities , passions, and emotions is what this Brahms is all about.
I purchased a Pablo Casals Masterclass DVD of the E Minor and watched it off and on as the years passed. Always wishing I was that student in the video whose playing was being corrected . I had Pablo's words ,corrections, and opinions memorized.
It was almost 4 1/2 yrs. later before it was the appropriate time for me to start learning my dream piece. We worked thru out the winter months on the first movement which was the only movement I wanted to play. It was challenging and exciting all at the same time. I watched that Master class video and Carole and I discussed techniques and worked all the many problems......
I was so engrossed for several months with this wonderful music. Unfortunately, as is normal in the learning process, I could only take it so far. By that I mean, I could "play" it technically but making music required more capability than I had at that time. So, I had to let the E Minor go to be revisited a few years down the road. I always have withdrawal issues when I have to put down music I have been working on a long time...it is like a friend that I know and am fond of... and I had been working on this piece for about 4 1/2 months. But, I understood and was looking forward to the future.
That future has come and I have been working on this music for more than several weeks now with weekly critiques from Carole. Although challenging and time intensive it was a joy to work on and complete.
I have included a snippet of it if you would like hear it's profound , deep, and serious beginning and direct contrast of the soft, sweet, and ethereal part... followed , yet, by an area full of drama...a study of complexities , passions, and emotions is what this Brahms is all about.
All that change of mood and tone in one minute...Brahms was awesome !!!!!......
I feel I have crossed the first finish line in my cello journey. I had been thinking , for awhile, what the next finish line is that I want to cross. I like to set a piece of music up at the finish line and then the weeks , months, and years of lessons and practice will lead up to it and allow me to cross it by playing the piece I had set as my goal. This next finish line will the Haydn Violin Concerto...Adagio....transcribed for cello
(by a very generous and kindhearted fellow cellist).....
Here is a snippet of it that will give you an idea of its beauty. It reaches my heart every time I listen to it....a very worthy goal for me :-)
I feel I have crossed the first finish line in my cello journey. I had been thinking , for awhile, what the next finish line is that I want to cross. I like to set a piece of music up at the finish line and then the weeks , months, and years of lessons and practice will lead up to it and allow me to cross it by playing the piece I had set as my goal. This next finish line will the Haydn Violin Concerto...Adagio....transcribed for cello
(by a very generous and kindhearted fellow cellist).....
Here is a snippet of it that will give you an idea of its beauty. It reaches my heart every time I listen to it....a very worthy goal for me :-)
There will be several years of hard work, for sure, before I am able to write a Crossing the Second Finish Line musing but, the real joy for me will be in the journey and all the beautiful music ahead of me that I will need to learn/play to get to this point:-)
QUOTES......
A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work. -
Colin Powell
So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable. -
Christopher Reeve
A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work. -
Colin Powell
So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable. -
Christopher Reeve
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