University or Conservatory

For the past few months now I have been writing college essay’s and filling out countless applications. I have visited seven schools since my last blog post and am more confused than ever about where I want to go to college. My main struggle now is do I want to attend a traditional university or do I want the conservatory life?

Universities play to the part of me that likes big and flashy. I’ve now visited Northwestern, DePaul University, Oberlin College, and Temple University. They were all magnificent and they all had so much to offer. All four were either in a city or right next door. They all had great Libraries with every book you could ever need or want. And they all offer academic classes that would challenge and excel me intellectually. And I think THAT is what I want in college!!

Most of the Universities, however, seemed to have many distractions. There would always be more parties at a University. There would be sports functions tempting me away from the practice rooms. And did I mention that generally Universities do not have many of those?

Conservatories, on the other hand, entice the musician in me. When I enter any conservatory I can feel the energy and focus surging through the building. As my Dad said during our visit to Cleveland Institute of Music, “You can tell that the business of music is happening in this building.” It’s invigorating for someone like me who would be happy to just practice cello until they die. Conservatories have so much to offer in the way of music. One amazing bonus to a conservatory is the vast number of concerts held weekly. Someone will always be giving a recital, there will be many visiting artists, and there are more orchestra concerts than you can keep up with. As a conservatory student you ingest so much music you get sick!   And I think THAT is what I want in college!

There is my problem. There are parts of both that I love. I am not asking for you to tell me what to do, because in the end I will have to do what I feel is best for me. But I would love to know if there are other pros and cons that you think should be brought up. ALSO, there is a poll on the side of my page. So, let me know! 

The problem with being a musician...

I know it has been some time since my last blog post. I have been so busy writing essays for my DE English course, and for my college application I could not find time to sit down and actually enjoy writing. So here it goes... sorry if I am kind of rusty. 

My topic today is one of the sad truths of being a musician. For the past seven years in Chattanooga, TN I have lived a sheltered and supported musical career. There are a number of amazing musicians, conductors, and teachers that have inspired and encouraged me. I would like to imagine that every young musician experience the degree of support that I have.

I know that for me, and many of my dear friends, it is senior year. In fact, it is half way though senior year, and if the next semester goes by half as quick as the last did, I will be leaving tomorrow. That is my sad realization. We must leave. Unless you are lucky enough to live in New York City, Boston, Cleveland, or Chicago, you have realized this as much as I have. Being a musician means branching out, and making connections. I have applied to nine amazing institutions that can all offer me an amazing educational experience. It should be exciting to leave, and make it on my own.

At first I lost sight of the positive aspect of leaving. All I could think about was leaving my supportive amazing environment, my incredible parents, and crazy friends. I terrified myself thinking about the negatives of leaving. Just getting into a great music institution is a stressful process, I can not fathom what it will be like to actually attend one. How will I ever do it?

Then I remembered how much I love my instrument. I remembered that when I leave home, I get to take my cello. That might seem like a “duh” kind of moment. Maybe it was. But I finally had that "dud" moment, and I understood that leaving will not be that bad. I will meet new people, make new friends, and most importantly, I will get to play music at a higher level. I am going to HATE leaving, but I am going to love leaving with my cello. If you are going through this same sort of predicament please, please, please do not dread the end of the year. Find excitement in anything. Enjoy this experience, because it only ever happens once. 

Leaving means a brand new beginning. It means starting a new chapter of life. Why not enjoy it? The lesson I learned is Universal. Whether you go off to a conservatory, or study engineering at University of Michigan, get excited. Cry, weep, break down. But then pick yourself up, and march on knowing that you are pursuing what you love. 

Being an Orchestra Savant Lesson #3- Following the leader isn't all that easy!

In every orchestra we all know who the boss is.. It doesn't even have to be discussed. The principal cellist is the leader in the orchestra... Oh sorry, the cellist inside of me is coming out. Of course I know the conductor is the boss. I was just messing with you!

        No matter who you are in the orchestra you cater to the every whim of the conductor. But sometimes it can be hard to read what they want from you just looking at the end of a stick. There are so many different styles of conducting it really does take skill to intepret them.
       In my personal opinion the best way to hone in on this skill is to sit in the back of the section. And I don't just mean the back, I mean last chair! I know most of us hate being back there but you can't learn more anywhere else in the orchestra.
       I remember my first year at Sewanee Summer Music Festival I spent the first three out of the four weeks in the last few chairs. I don't think I had ever learned that music about orchestra and boy was it exciting! Sitting in the back forces you to pay extremely close attention to the conductor because it can sometimes feel like you are jumping into a moving car.
        First off, it's difficult to see the conductor. If you aren't careful you can easily fall into the habit of staring into your music and just zoning out. At least when you do that in the front the conductor stares you down till you stop. This forces you to sit up strait and learn your music really well because you only ever have time to glance at it! Second, if you are sitting in the back of the orchestra you don't have as much support as if you were sitting in the middle or the front. In the front, you have the support of the other principal players and in the middle, you have th e support of you entire section.
      This is why sitting in the back of the section is such a great learning experience. It becomes essential for you to learn exactly what the conductor is giving you because more often than not, they are your only life line. You are literally forced to learn how to follow.
      Following is not only a hard skill to learn, it's a hard skill to want to learn. But unfortunately, to become a great musician it's something you have to master. It's important also for playing in a small ensemble and EVEN for being a soloist. The best soloist puts down their ego and learns how to follow the music, not their own personal goals.
       

Becoming and Orchestra Savant Lesson #2- Breathing part II

I know I've already dedicated one whole blog to breathing and if you want to stop reading because you are tired of me rambling on about this topic, I won't be offended. But I can't leave out breathing when discussing the basics of orchestral playing. I promise I will try to be succinct!

In orchestra it can be difficult to stay connected on the high level that I discussed in my last blog post.  While listening isn't any less important than breathing, it can sometimes be hard to do one well without the other. As you may have picked up from my other posts I believe breathing to be the mortar of all music making. It absolutely holds everything together.
        But in orchestra it holds a particularly interesting role. Its always been my opinion that an orchestra should seem like one instrument opposed to sixty players banging out notes. This is the essence of why professional orchestra auditions are so rigorous. They are looking for a musician that will fit in perfectly to their well oiled machine. They don't want someone who will stick out like a soloist. And if an orchestra really does act as one organism it is essential they breathe together.
       Of course your mind jumps to ninety people trying to breathe together and that's honestly a pretty funny image, but that is not what I meant. I just mean breathing together can help with gesture and musical direction. It connects you in a very physical way. One simple example of this is breathing with your section leader or conductor before an entrance. When you have ten to twelve say... Cellists, it can be hard for everyone to start together, even with a cue from your leader. Breathing offers an easy way for everyone to connect. There are many other deeper reasons as well like phrasing, rhythmic security, etc. And when you achieve that high level connection, you give the music the ability to ebb and flow effortlessly. The music begins to breathe and speak for itself. 
      Can you see how this would be connected to listening? Letting the music speak for itself is the highest achievement. It really should be what we aim for as musicians. Unfortunately, the more instrumentalists you have in one group, the harder this becomes because everyone has there own idea of how it should be done.

       Both breathing and listening are a release of sorts. They allow instrumentalists to focus on others and a common goal and let go of their own ideas and adopt the group's vision. Mastering both of these things can be truly challenging but the result is extremely gratifying.

I hope I was succinct enough... Don't forget, more tomorrow!

Becoming an Orchestra Savant Lesson # 1- Why are you even here/hear?

         I've now been playing in orchestra for six years and while that doesn't make me an expert, I have learned a lot. I've played in both good and bad orchestras. I've played with professionals, college students, high schoolers, and beginners. I've been the principal and I've sat in the last chair. It's been fun but in many cases a challenge and if I've learned anything it's that you can't plop yourself in a chair and expect it to be easy. It doesn't matter how good you are, playing in an orchestra takes a lot of work.
        So, for the next week I will be exploring the seven basics for 'mastering the art of orchestra playing.' As I've said, I am absolutely not an expert and would never claim to be. I am only sharing my humble and growing opinion. So, here it goes!!

        Two years ago while atttending Sewanee Summer Music Festival I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Kenneth Kiesler. While he is both an amazing conductor and educator... he is more than terrifying. I can still remember that brilliant rehearsal like it was yesterday. We were rehearsing Shostakovich's 12th symphony (which if you don't know... is very hard). We had been sawing away for a little over an hour and the theme so far had been 'listening'. Kenneth Kiesler kept shouting,"You're not listening! Do you even care? Why are you even here?"
       We all looked around, totally confused. What did this man want from us? He began to point at people in pairs and he commanded them to pick up their parts and switch places. In only a few minutes the orchestra was in shambles! There were woodwind players in the percussion section, the concert master was sitting last chair viola and we had a violist for a concertmaster!!! I personally was sitting next to a French Horn player.
       With all of our parts in front of us and our new stand partners, Kenneth Kiesler gave the down beat without a word. In one second we were an entirely new orchestra. We were an orchestra that was 'listening.' Everything finally clicked.
        If I haven't lost you, that's great but just just in case I'm going to do some explaining. Before Kenneth Kiesler's little experiment we weren't really listening. Sure we were being conscious of the melody and trying to stay below it dynamically. Frankly, this is a perfectly fine way of playing in orchestra. There are many orchestras that do this very well and are pretty good orchestras.
        But the kind of listening that Kenneth Kiesler was demanding was something entirely different. This level of listening requires you to listen to individual players in the orchestra and actually care about their part. This makes it essential to have complete mental focus. To be perfectly honestly you should care about your part least of all.
         Let me just say, if you aren't completely mentally exhausted after playing an entire symphony, you've done something wrong. I remember having a hard time forming lucid sentences after performing the Shostakovich Symphony! But it's worth it because the music comes alive in an unreal and chilling way. It starts to breathe and it becomes less about playing your notes and more about following the music.
        Kenneth Kiesler taught me that day about being a musician rather than an instrumentalist. Which is my own personal way of distinguishing the good from the not so good. A musician is someone who is captured by the music and an instrumentalist is captured by their own sound and is self-obsessed.
       ANYWAYS, I digress. Being a great orchestra member demands a tireless, high level of listening. It can turn a fairly good orchestra into a brilliant one. So, I challenge you to listen and completely wear yourself out during your next orchestra rehearsal. Like I always say,"If it isn't hard, it's probably not worth it."
     

Different But The Same??

I’m sorry that it’s been so long since my last blog... I didn’t feel like I had anything to say, and I'm definitely not writing to waste anyone's time. This past week I had an emotional adventure with my cello that made me rather nostalgic about my beautiful instrument. I think the story is pretty cool, but maybe everybody thinks the story of getting their instrument is ‘cool.’

            I can still remember it all clearly. That summer had been trouble from the start. My carpal tunnel had gotten worse tenfold and even though I was at a music festival I wasn’t playing more than an hour a day. My teacher had told me at the beginning of the summer it was time to start looking for a new cello. My old cello was holding me back and exacerbating my carpal tunnel. With all of my free time up at Sewanee Summer Music Festival I began to look into cellos. What they were made of, their basic setup, and signs that point to a good instrument. Of course the more I surfed the web, the more I wanted to start playing all the amazing cellos I was seeing in many shops' inventories.

            One thing led to another, and I ended up calling Regie Williams and talking to him about getting a cello. He asked me questions about myself and what I looked for in an instrument. Everyone says you have a feeling, but I didn’t believe it. When Regie told me about an ‘old English cello’ that he was selling I suddenly felt a great urgency to get down to Atlanta and play it. I would do anything to play it, but how was I suppose to get down to it? I had no car. I knew it would have to wait. I wasn’t too disappointed since I hadn’t even played it, but I didn’t feel right about it either. I told Cremaine Booker (a fellow cellist) about my predicament, and before I knew it we were in his car and headed down to play my English cello.

            It was a great time. We listened to all of Beethoven’s third symphony and Cremaine taught me about its history and meaning. We talked about theory and cello. We finished the ride blasting Shostakovich’s 12^th symphony. If you’ve never heard this symphony, stop reading my blog NOW! Go listen to it, it’s amazing! Anyways, the three hour car ride seemed to take only an hour. The closer we got the more anxious I became.

            When we walked in the shop, I became truly excited. It’s hard not to with a hundred some odd instruments surrounding you. We headed to a room in the back and he had set up a chair for me to play in. He gave me a cello (not my English cello). I played around on it for a second and knew it wasn’t for me. Too bright, no soul. No passion. He gave me another that was a little better. But it still wasn’t something I loved. Regie came in and set down a cello in the corner of the room and walked out. Just looking at it I knew it was my English cello. I immediately handed Cremaine the cello I was playing and picked up the cello in the corner.

            It was a blonde instrument which was rather funny, because I told Cremaine on the way up that I’ve NEVER wanted a blonde instrument. It is a dirty blonde though! My English cello can only be described as different. It doesn’t take any musician long to spot its ‘flaw.’ It has a flat top. No arch. At one point in the 125 years it's been around the front must have caved in. It’s in perfectly good condition now after some reconstructive surgery. I don’t know when or where it happened, but it’s got a scar right down the middle to show for it. However, this didn’t change my mind. It was still amazingly beautiful.

             I was so nervous I waited a minute or two before I played it. I just sat there, bow in hand, waiting. What would I play? Elgar seemed too drastic. Popper was too formal. Haydn didn’t feel right. I finally settled on a G major scale. I know that’s rather boring but it was safe and who doesn’t love a G major scale? As I played the G, I could feel the whole cello vibrating. It was happy somebody was playing it. As I moved to the A, Cremaine just laughed. I knew I loved it but why was he laughing? Of course, he wouldn’t tell me. He didn’t want to affect my choice. If I was going to choose this cello, he wanted it to be purely my decision.

            Like I said, I always thought that getting a ‘special feeling’ about an instrument was weird but I knew within two notes of playing my English cello that I had made my choice. Of course I wasn’t completely close-minded. I continued to play more music. But nothing in the cello made me want to set it down. I tried out a few other instruments but even the more expensive instruments weren’t for me. I knew I could try a hundred instruments and I still wouldn’t find one I loved more.My English was loud, had power, strength, a bold but rich tone. It was everything I could ever want.

            My cello teacher still thinks I got swept up into the Romance of it all. It is an older instrument and it sure is beautiful. It took a while to get Annie’s approval, and maybe I never really got it but I knew that cello was mine. Everyone who heard it loved it but most importantly I loved it. I knew somehow it needed me. It was broken, just like me. With all the carpal tunnel problems I had been having, I felt like my injuries had broken me as a musician. This cello was like me. And just as much as I chose it, my English cello chose me.

Don't be a Suzy

It takes many things to be a runner but I’d say that two of the most important aspects are intelligence and perseverance. Imagine running in a marathon and on the twentieth mile. At that point your whole body is screaming for you to stop and just walk. Your mind is racing and what seems like millions of questions are going through your head. Would it matter if I stopped? Who would care but me? Do I even care? Many people have a hard time not listening to those voices in their head. A truly amazing runner is able to stay focused and eliminate those thoughts from his mind.

While it may not be exactly the same, a musician has to have that same sort of perseverance in the practice room. I’ve always believed that you must be your own teacher and listen for your mistakes. That can be an arduous task and if you aren’t mentally prepared for it, you can get down. After all, your sitting there listening to sometimes very bad noises. This is where the runners mental strength is essential. I’ve seen it time and time again at music festivals and at school. I walk by and hear a musician make a mistake and then move on. They sometimes routinely practice it and try to make it better but it’s always with a stern face and a defeated attitude.

In most cases, no one knows how not to practice this way. Don’t you just turn on the metronome and repeat and repeat and repeat. Why would it matter if you weren’t in a perfect mood? Well, I’m no expert but practice with that attitude never gets you far. I’m not saying it doesn’t work because for a while it does. It helps you get to where you need to go but not as far you could go.

So this begs the question, how do you stay positive while practicing something your awful at? Quite frankly, I don’t know. Or I do but it’s not a clear cut answer. Unfortunately, this process is different for everyone. You have to find little things about music or about the pieces your playing that make the mistakes worth while. For me, I treat it like a puzzle. I like figuring out exactly what’s wrong and approaching it like a math equation. There are many elements and degrees that once I figure them out will produce the sound I want. Is my bow in the right place? Am I using enough pressure? Is my left hand in tune?

But this doesn’t work for everyone. I would even guess it works for hardly anyone. You might try just having a positive mantra. It seems like a simple solution to the problem I’ve set up. I also personally try and remember that I love the piece I’m playing, and the more I practice it, and figure it out, the closer I’ll get to performing it. Keeping these simple thoughts in mind, can completely alter the success of your practice period.

It’s like taking notes in an academic class at school. Suzy might take her notes perfectly and evenly, and it looks absolutely wonderful but Tommy took his notes and they looked disgusting and jumbled. Tommy aced his test and Suzy bombed it. It doesn’t mean that Suzy wasn’t trying, and wasn’t working hard because she was. However, she hadn’t found what worked for her. While Tommy’s notes are jumbled and crazy, it’s what he understands. He knows what works for him. In practice, you have to do the same thing. You have to find your own way of practicing and staying positive. No teacher can tell you exactly how to do something, because in the end it’s your cello and your music.  

Dun, dun, dun daaaaaaaa

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always had one composer in my life that makes me fall further in love with my cello and classical music the more I listen to his music. Good day or bad, he was always there for me in one way or another. I grew up on his symphonies and played his quartets. I read his letters of poetry and studied his scores. If it wasn’t for this one composer, it is doubtful I would be so captivated by music like I am today.

For me, that one composer was Beethoven. I know it may seem a bit generic but Ludwig Van Beethoven is and will always be my favorite composer. He changed my life. Some of my first musical memories are listening to his 9^th symphony. And I can still remember today sitting down to the piano and playing “The Fifth Symphony” from my first piano book. Who can’t recognize the opening theme? (Dun, dun, dun daaaaaaaa.. dun, dun, dun daaaaa.) Even from my ‘younger’ days, Beethoven had an obvious effect on my life but as I got older and became more advanced in my cello playing his music became more than just music I liked.

I was fortunate enough last year to be able to travel to Germany for a month as part of an exchange program. While I wasn’t miserable there, I would be lying if I said I was happy. I was thrilled to speak the language I had been studying and to be in another country, but I had never been separated from my cello for more than a week. I thought I would be able to handle a month of separation but of course there is always something to make matters worse. For the first two and a half weeks, I had no contact with home. Not through internet, or phone. I felt completely isolated and out of place. It was definitely a challenge and as the weeks seemed to be passing by like months I quickly became an emotional mess. I was more than ready to be home by the third week and counted down not just the days, but the hours.

The third weekend I was there though, my host family decided to take me to Bonn, Germany. For those of you who don’t know, Bonn is the city where my beloved composer Beethoven was born. The plan was to visit his birth house. I was truly ecstatic. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever been more thrilled. It definitely tops going to Disneyworld when I was five! As we walked up the street, every so often there would be a picture of a composer and their name in the sidewalk; Clara and Robert Schumann, Edward Elgar, J.S.Bach and all the greats. And then, right in front of his house, Ludwig Van Beethoven. The house was small and obviously very old but absolutely lovely.

 As I walked in the door it was like the weight had been lifted off my shoulders. It wasn’t just being in Beethoven’s house that made me feel better, but it was being with musicians and fellow Beethoven-lovers. For the next few hours I didn’t just wander through his home, but I spoke with musicians who loved him just as much as I did. I talked with an old lady from New York about her life of playing Beethoven piano sonata’s and concertos and how she had always wanted to visit his home. She told me a few stories about performances of her favorite Sonata’s and she expressed to me that more than any other composer, she loved him the most. She couldn’t express why, but it had always been that way.

I walked through the exhibit and found myself asking that same question. Why do I love Beethoven so much? I listened to the audio tour and saw such meaningless things that were so important at the same time. His eyeglasses? Walking cane? Quills? All simple stuff really. Let me clarify, there were also amazing items like his instruments, portraits, scores and pianos. But even the small simple items had extreme meaning just because they were his. It seems slightly weird doesn’t? To find such value you in a quill? But when you think about it, it isn’t really that strange at all. How many men have effected billions of people, been listened to by hundreds of generations, and will be appreciated by the next hundred. What an incredible power Beethoven had.

At the very end of the tour were Beethoven’s scores. As part of the audio tour they gave to listening clips; one of what Beethoven would have heard of the Fifth Symphony, and then one what he would have heard of his Ninth Symphony. I must have looked like a blubbering buffoon, but I just started sobbing. To be completely deaf is one thing, but to hear only muffled sounds and muted tones is maddening. It was like being outside a concert hall. You can hear that music is being played but it is impossible to know exactly what is being played and you can never ever know. I’d never been able to imagine Beethoven’s sorrow and I still can’t today, but that was the closest I had ever come.

To this day, I have a hard time not crying when I listen to any Beethoven piece. His music will always have a special place in my heart and I will always love playing his music more than any other composer. I look forward to figuring out why Beethoven has such a hold on me and that little old lady and what makes his music so different.

"Take Me Out To the Ball Game"

Last night I attended a Chattanooga Lookouts ballgame. Everything was perfect. The Temperature was just right, it wasn’t too humid and as I kicked back with an ice cold coke zero I began to think back on the years I had spent at the baseball field. To be honest, I haven’t attended many games but I have been to enough to know all the traditions. As I began to think about it, most of them were centered around music.

As the baseball game started we all stood for our national anthem and as I glared down into the field and looked for a singer who I would end up disliking for one reason or another, I instead saw 25 trombones. Honest to God, there they were. The stadium filled with the wonderful choir almost as if we were in a cathedral. The sound was marvelous. As it came to a close everyone sat down and murmured to their neighbor about how cool that was and all the little kids were pointing and tugging at their parents shirts asking, “What were those instruments.”

What a great start to any ballgame but the music didn't  end their. Next is the ‘national anthem of baseball’ which is always sung at some point in the game. You all probably have it memorized and if you don’t, I’d suggest memorizing it now so you don’t embarrass yourself later.

“Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowd;

 Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks, I don’t care if I never get back.

Let me root, root, root for the home team,

If they don’t win it’s a shame, for it’s one, two, three strikes your out,

At the old ball game.”

It’s one of those songs that puts a smile on every American’s face when they hear it. It gives you somehow pride to be an American. But why is that? It’s just a song with rather corny lyrics and bad grammar but when it’s played everyone sings along excitedly.

Ahhh! Now here is the point to my passage. Music, no matter how cheesy is important. I would argue that nothing else in the world can bring together that many people. I’m sure as I sat there singing that simple tune, there were Democrats and Republicans, Christians and Atheists, Woodwind players and String players happy to just be there. Contrary to what I may have believed, it doesn’t have to be Beethoven Symphony No.9 to be a deep piece of music.

Soap Box #1

My student (singular) knows how serious I get about the connection between musicality and breathing. As a string musician you have to think about 20 million things before you start a performance: bow placement, bow pressure, bow speed, tempo, dynamics, your pianist. The list is overwhelming. I demand a lot from my student and he always gets frustrated when I stop him again and again because he didn’t breathe. He thinks I’m being ‘silly’ and one day he even said, “I just don’t see why.” I immediately laughed when I could think of ten reasons ‘why’. I pulled out my soap box, and for the remainder of the lesson I explained exactly why breathing, above all else, was most important.

I started with what I believed to be the most important reason of all. Breathing is an immediate way to connect to the piece your playing, and to remain engaged throughout the piece. It allows you to feel the tempo, and emotion. It can connect you to the audience. And what is more important than that? Nothing is more important than properly expressing whatever piece you are playing to the audience. That’s the point of performing. Enough said.

Breathing also plays an important physical role as well (duh!). Before you delve into any performance you can experience a wide variety of tensions and anxieties. I can’t stress enough the importance of a good breath before the first note of any piece. Part of making a good quality sound comes from being relaxed! Can you imagine if you walked into a yoga class, and they told you to breath as little as possible and when you did take breaths they had to be shallow and quick. NO, of course not! In the first yoga class basically all you do is sit and breathe. It seems like such a simple task but the conscious act of breathing before you play can perfectly prepare your body for the strenuous task ahead.

The wonderful thing about music is the opportunity to create with other people. It’s true, most classical musicians spend 90% of their time in the practice room alone, but that’s not why we do it. I can remember the first time I truly learned the importance of breathing in music. I was only in eighth grade, and it was at a summer music festival at Tennessee Tech University. I had never played in a small ensemble before and I was thrilled about the opportunity. I remember sitting behind my cello hoping not be called on or even looked at. But sure enough, my coach turned to me and told me to start the quintet. She gave me the tempo and then stared at me in anticipation. Of course the first attempt was a miserable failure! She told me to ‘breathe’ and move with the music. The second attempt was only marginally better but by the end of the first rehearsal I had learned how to breathe out of necessity. I took that lesson to the practice room, to orchestra, and it became second nature to take a big deep breath before I started anything. It wouldn’t be until many years later that I would truly understand the gift that chamber coach had given me.

I could probably continue to speak on the topic of breathing for many days but inevitably everyone would get bored except for me. So I will keep this post succinct. I obviously didn’t even scratch the surface if you consider the fact I didn’t even mention wind players or singers. In the end, performing, collaborating, and expressing yourself would be impossible without the simple act of breathing. Breath in (1,2,3), breath out(1,2), repeat and repeat and repeat...

But wait, don't you love music??

We all have things that irk us to the core; pet peeves that we just can’t stand and for me it’s when someone claims to ‘love’ music, and then later say they ‘hate’ Country and find classical music ‘boring.’ But wait, don’t you love music? I’m confused. It’s like someone claiming to love Shakespeare, but not liking his sonnets. It doesn’t work. I’m not saying it’s necessary to want to listen to all music, but it seems only right to respect its existence and understand how it could been enjoyed.

Quite frankly, I don’t personally listen to the Country genre of music (I hope I haven’t offended). When it comes on the radio I change the channel, but I don’t hate it. I can understand why many people enjoy it. While it’s not my personal choice, I do respect its history. For many people, Country music is what they grew up on and listen to everyday. It has helped them celebrate their triumphs, and grieve their losses.Who am I to say it’s not good music and to condemn someone’s way of expressing themselves?

This begs the question what can be classified as music? I am by no means an expert on the subject, although I am seventeen years old, which makes me ALMOST an adult. But this is exactly the reason I am writing this blog. To discover in depth what music is to me, to my friends, and to my family. This blog will include but not be limited to my experience with music, my love for music history, my life as a classical musician, and what it takes to truly love music.

Here is a little bit about me. First off, I’m a cellist. I could say it a million times and still feel like I haven’t emphasized it enough. I am a cellist. I eat, sleep, and breathe cello. I have been playing for approximately seven years and I’ve loved every minute of it. I can’t wait for the next seventy years of learning how to be a musician. My favorite composers are Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler but put any composer on and I won’t mind at all. I do of course like ‘normal’ people music too and mostly I choose to listen to Indie, Oldies, and good ole’ Rock n’ Roll.

Finally, I need a favor. I’m not only here to express my own opinions, but to learn as well. I want to expand my knowledge on music and become a better writer. So please, comment and makes suggestions, express your own opinions, or suggest a good song! It’s all welcome.