Sometimes looking at your technique can be very worthwhile. Instead of spending many hours practicing something and making very little progress, you can try to find out a different way of doing things that will make a passage or a piece of music easier to play. A lot of this is based on intuition. You can somehow tell when something is not comfortable and awkward. You can also tell when things feel right.

There is another area of cello playing in which you can make things more comfortable. Aside from physical movements and positions, you can work on picking a better bowing or fingering. This can really make a huge difference. A passage played with an awkward fingering or bowing can be awkward sounding and unmusical. An incorrect bowing or fingering can take away the energy, fluidity, and sense of a passage of music. Picking fingerings and bowings is almost an art form. It is something you get better at the more you do it. I sometimes found myself spending several hours just on one line of music trying to decide what the best fingering for it is

Sometimes you also have to make compromises. There may be no perfect fingering or perfect bowing. Composers sometimes put slur marks over several notes in a row. Sometimes the melody doesn’t fit any comfortable fingering. And so you make a compromise that preserves the music as much as possible. You also try to pick something which is technically stable. You want a fingering that, when you get nervous, will still be useful. Sometimes a more solid stable option is the better way to go.

There is one more side of bowings and fingerings that I find fascinating. Sometimes bowing and fingering can look wrong on paper, but be very comfortable when you’re actually playing the cello. Or the opposite can be true. You can have the fingering which looks great on paper. It fits certain positions. But when you actually try to use it it just doesn’t work.

Let me describe the latter one first. One thing you can do is to listen to recordings and try to copy recordings. But what happens then is that you are taking someone else’s interpretation and you’re putting your own interpretation on top of that person’s interpretation. I know, this is confusing. To take things one step further, the person on the recording may have heard another recording that they are trying to copy. So you end up with a stack of layers of interpretations.

In my mind, these types of interpretations sound complicated and a little bit confusing. Many of the markings in the score are not followed. Tempos may be different. Certain things may sound like they came from another recording or from another artist.

I prefer interpretations that make things simpler. Ideally the longer you spend studying a piece the more simple it begins to sound. I am not talking about oversimplifying or making things sound trivial. I am talking about making a peace easy to follow, easy to understand and brief. Ideally, a 10 minute piece sounds like a four-minute piece. A lot of this comes from studying the score, studying tempo markings, studying articulation markings, studying the overall style of the composer.

It is as if the more time you spend interpreting music, the more it sounds like you did not spend time doing this. Funny isn’t it?

Luke
cellojourney.com

1. Watch 21 episodes of Cello Journey directly on your TV.

2. Play and replay episodes without waiting.

3. Watch with high quality picture and sound.

4. If you play the cello, you can play along.

5. Share Cello Journey with those that may not have high speed internet.

The picture and sound is just great. When making this DVD I was at first nervous. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. There were many issues involved, from audio production to DVD menus. It came together wonderfully. There are not too many cello DVDs out there. I hope you will get this one.

I appreciate your support very much.

I really appreciate how everyone is so patient.

One of the things I find interesting in music is how different beats have a different feel to them. I think there is a reason why a downbeat is called a downbeat. It should have a certain solidity to it.

I will sometimes hear a recording where the upbeats are slightly stronger than the downbeats. There doesn’t seem to be enough resolution.

On the other hand, I will hear recordings where the artist gets it just right. The music feels like it is resolving things all the way through.

Do you sometimes encounter this too?

Photo Credit: Chilling Soul

YouTube Version 2
Direct Download Version 2

I thought I would put up two versions of the same episode. It is difficult to pick one sometimes. There may be a different feeling in each. Let me know what you think.

In this episode we play the Meditation from the Opera Thais by Jules Massenet.

The Thais comes from an interlude towards the end of the opera. It is usually played on the violin. It is marked Andante Religioso and there is a reflective mood throughout.

This piece is special to me because, over the years, my mother has played it in church on the violin. I wanted to do a good job with it. We hope you enjoy it.

We are cooking up another episode with a really good surprise piece. It will be out towards the end of April. Please stay tuned and thanks for being patient.

Luke

There are many questions that I get asked. I try to provide good information and links to resources. If you have a question you can leave a comment below or send e-mail.

1. Classical music sounds good recorded live. It does not require much mixing or mastering. This makes it ideal for video.

2. Classical music is abundant. There are several hundred pieces that one can play. There are cello pieces and also music for other instruments which can be transcribed. Much of classical music is in the public domain. A typical pop band has 1 to 3 hit songs. On Cello Journey the repertoire is pretty much unlimited.

3. The distribution of audio and video on the internet. With services like YouTube and iTunes, Cello Journey has been seen over 500,000 times. It can be viewed on computers, iPods, cell phones, Apple TVs, and other media players.

4. Anyone can subscribe to a video podcast like Cello Journey and receive episodes automatically.

5. There is feedback and conversation. It is great that everyone can respond either through comments, e-mails, suggestions, or even by writing on their own blogs.

6. With classical music it is possible to build a relationship with the audience over time. With each episode and each new piece the audience gets to know the musicians better. The musicians get to know the audience better.

Should I write more about this?

Ok, obviously not.

But composers like Mozart did write many letters. In those days this was the usual way to communicate over distances. You can actually read some of them at Project Gutenberg. I just thought it was interesting how Mozart regularly wrote music and also wrote words.

One thing I found fun is how Mozart mentions how pleased he was when someone “recognized him right away.” These were the days before drivers licenses and television.

There seem to be some obvious answers such as a steady tempo. But there are many classical pieces with a steady tempo. You might say that it is the instrumentation. But there are pop songs for voice and piano. You might say complexity. But there are complex pop songs and classical music pieces with very simple melodies and textures. The differences I’ve mentioned so far seem to have all kinds of exceptions.

But there is one difference which seems more consistent. I am referring to repetition. In both genres you have a meter which repeats. But in pop music there is a different balance between new material and repetition. There is usually more repetition. There is a drum track. There is a kind of melodic or harmonic groove that can last throughout large sections of a song or the entire song. In classical music something is usually only repeated three times, then the composer writes different material. The overall balance is more towards new material and less towards repetition.

Maybe there are some other consistent differences that I am missing.

We rarely use full composer names.  I often hear statements like these, “What do you like better, Mozart or Haydn?” “I am playing the Dvorak.” “Mendelssohn is my favorite.” “Last year they played lots of Bach.”

There is nothing wrong with this. But it somehow gives me a funny feeling.

In your daily life you can often hear, “What do you like better Coke or Pepsi?” “I am a huge fan of Dell.” “U2 is the coolest.” A brand has all these ideas and emotions associated with it. Coke and Pepsi are more than just types of soft drink. When someone says that they like the band U2, they may be talking not just about the band’s music but also about their image and attitudes.

Ludwig van Beethoven was a person, not the word Beethoven. A person that lived about 200 years ago. He had ideas, feelings, habits, a family, a life story. How would we play his music if one day we could meet him and talk to him? If we could say, “Hi, Ludwig. How are you? I am playing your sonata right now.”

What does it mean when someone says, “I am playing Beethoven for my next concert”? Are all his pieces so closely related?

What does it mean when someone says, “I am playing the Brahms E Minor”? This refers to the Sonata in E Minor by Johannes Brahms. Should not one say, “I am playing this haunting piece with soulful harmonies and a beautiful theme at the beginning”?

Sometimes I worry that we may not play the music in the piece but rather express the brand in some way. There is something interesting in playing a piece for someone and not telling them its name.

What do you think? Is there anything to what I am saying?

We tend to respond differently to video, audio, and text. I think a blog would be helpful. I have many ideas of what I could write about and get your feedback on. You could also suggest topics. A blog gives a chance for a conversation.

There is a deeper idea here. I think it is good to connect music with other things.

Comments are really appreciated.

A new episode is in the works. It the Tarantella by Squire. We will try to record it next week. I used to play this piece quite a bit when I was first starting the cello. It has great melodies, double-stops, and a good overall feel. It is very rewarding to play when you are learning the cello because it sounds so good.

In this episode we play the cello concerto in C Major by Joseph Haydn. We decided to play it with organ since it sounds more like an orchestra and it makes a nice match. We are playing in a wonderful church called Mountainview United Church. We hope you enjoy it.

Luke

Click for more info:

In this episode we play the Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch. This piece is based on a Jewish prayer recited in the synagogue at the beginning of the evening service on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. You can find out more information at the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kol_Nidre

In this episode we play the Sicilienne by the French composer Gabriel Faure. I recently went on a trip to Quebec and had a chance to eat some great French meals. As a result, I did a bit of French cooking myself. I noticed that the common theme in this type of cooking is how ingredients tend to fit well together. A sauce will fit everything else that is on the plate. Flavors and textures go in and out of each other to create a greater whole. This piece is similar in that its melodies fade in and out of each other. Harmonies, colors and textures blend well together and undergo subtle changes. I hope you can sense that in the music.

In this episode we play the variations by Ludwig van Beethoven on a theme by Mozart, “Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen”. This is based on a theme from the opera The Magic Flute originally sung by a soprano and a baritone in a duet. Musicians in Beethoven’s time were very adept at playing and improvising variations. They could even improvise on a melody or favorite tune given to them by a member of the audience. Beethoven wrote many variations for piano solo and many variations for cello and piano. We hope you enjoy it.

In this episode we play the first of three Fantasiestucke (Fantasy Pieces) by Robert Schumann. This piece was originally written for clarinet and piano but I think it sounds good on the cello. Schumann often wrote sets of miniatures that each have their own mood. In this one there is some tension between triplets (three notes per beat) in the piano and duplets (two notes per beat) in melodies in both the cello and piano. This adds unrest to this emotional and romantic piece. We hope you enjoy it.

Rostropovich was a bit before my time with the cello. I did not have an occasion to hear him play live. He cut back on performing on the cello over the years due to his age. I remember when I was young I was very inspired by his playing and it is one of the reasons I became a cellist. His recording of the Rococo Variations by Tchaikovsky had a big impact on me when I was starting the cello.

He had an incredible ability to play with a sustained rich sound. His playing was remarkably clear. He made the cello sound very easy to play. He may have influenced what people expect to hear from a cello forever. It seems sometimes that he did not play the cello, but an instrument like the cello except with fewer limitations and additional qualities.

I think there is a great deal to learn from him and his playing. For years cellists will continue to listen and watch his playing on recordings to discover what is possible on the cello.

There are two things I wanted to mention about Rostropovich. Often I am driving in my car and I listen to the radio and think to myself “What a wonderful cellist? Who is that?” Then I almost always hear that it is Rostropovich. Another thing is that you can put his playing on for just 2 or 3 notes and I can usually already recognize it.

Rostropovich will be dearly missed and my thoughts on him will continue to develop over the years. I hope that we will not forget him and continue to learn from him.

In this episode I play another dance by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is the Allemande from Suite No.2. What I like about this piece is how it flows along and how each phrase seems connected to another phrase. I hope you enjoy it.

For feedback please leave comments or e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com

Sorry about the delay.  The episode is almost ready but I had very little time this weekend to actually put in on the internet.

The music of Cello Journey has been played on a number of other podcasts including The Daily Source Code and Rocketboom. Thank you to all podcasters who have played the music.

There has been a great deal of wonderful feedback from viewers. Thank you very much for the feedback and e-mails. I think it is thanks to this encouragement that Cello Journey continues on. I hope you had a good year and will have a good year coming up.

There are some interesting episodes we are thinking of doing in the near future that will likely include Bach, Tchaikovsky, a Brahms sonata and Schumann.

Here is to another year of Cello Journey!

In this episode we play the Allegro Appassionato by Camille Saint-Saens. This is a rather fast passionate and exciting piece. Part of its passion is in its abrupt changes of tempo and loudness. Even though it is exciting, it is in B minor and hence in a sad mode. Also many of its melodies come down rather than go up.

For feedback please e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com

The one year anniversary of Cello Journey is coming up on March 27. Thank you to everyone for watching, leaving comments, sending e-mails and your overall support.

This prelude is the introduction to Suite No.2 by Johann Sebastian Bach. Even though this prelude is a bit sombre, I think it has a special warm mood to it. It communicates something about life being confusing at times and how it can be difficult to make sense of things. I think this piece is about trying to make sense of things and putting them together. I hope you enjoy it.

For feedback please leave comments or e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com

Slight delay with the episode. I ran into some computer issues. It should be out this weekend.

The music for this episode is the chanson or song by Gabriel Faure called Apres un Reve (After a Dream). At the time Faure wrote this he was having a difficult time in his life. A woman that he loved broke off an engagement to him. Gabriel was very disappointed, gloomy and sad. He wrote a number of pieces that reflect this mood.

The poem that this piece is based on describes a dream with visions of heaven, being with one’s true love, and happiness. At some point though the singer sings that he wishes the dream would return. Perhaps you have some dream that you wish would return to you. I hope you enjoy it.

For feedback please e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com or leave comments.

Poem

Dans un sommeil que charmait ton image
Je revais le bonheur, ardent message;
Tes yeux etaient plus doux, ta voix pure et sonore
Tu rayonnais comme un ciel eclaire par l’aurore;
Tu m’appelais, et je quittais la terre
Pour m’enfuir avec toi vers la lumiere;
Les cieux pour nous entr’ouvraient leurs nues;
Splendeurs inconnues, lueurs divines entrevues…
Helas, helas, triste reveil des songes !
Je t’apelle, o nuit, rends-moi tes mensonges;
Reviens, reviens radieuse
Reviens, o nuit mysterieuse

English Translation: (This is a rough translation with the help of an online translator)
In a sleep which your image charmed
I dreamed happiness, ardent mirage;
Your eyes are softer, your voice pure and clear
You radiated like a sky brightened by the dawn;
You called me, and I left the ground
to flee with you towards the light;
The skies between us opened their clouds;
Unknown splendours, divine gleams…
Alas, alas, sad awakening from dreams!
I call you, O night, return to me your illusions;
Return, return radiance
Return, O night mysterious!

Thank you to everyone for watching Cello Journey, posting comments and sending e-mails.

The next episode should come out during the first week of January.

Luke

In this episode I play the Gigue from the first suite by Johann Sebastian Bach.  It is a lively dance that ends the suite and also completes the suite on Cello Journey.  I hope you enjoy it.

For feedback please e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com or leave comments.

This week the Prelude from the first episode was used on a really wonderful and very popular video podcast called Rocketboom. You can check out the episode here:

Rocketboom

In this episode we play the 2nd half of Sonata No.4 by Ludwig van Beethoven that we started in an earlier episode. There is much care and detail that Beethoven put into this piece. There are tempo changes, accented notes and complex rhythms. The music gets suddenly louder or softer.

This music is characteristic of Beethoven’s later period where he combined a lot of structures and changed things around. The movement starts with a slow section that is almost timeless in nature. You can hear a quote of the theme from the first movement. Later begins a faster more energetic section. There are a lot of interruptions but eventually the music drives towards the end. We hope you enjoy it.

Some things have come up and the episode will be delayed by a few days. Hopefully it will be out by Friday. Thank you for waiting.

This is a special Halloween episode of Cello Journey. Me and Ross play the Gnomentanz (Dance of The Gnomes) by David Popper. It is a somewhat menacing and spooky piece with a happy major section in the middle. Happy Halloween!

For feedback please e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com or leave comments.

Photo ©iStockphoto.com/Jim Jurica

In this episode I play a dance by Johann Sebastian Bach called a Courante. There is only one more dance after this and then the first suite of dances by Bach will be complete on Cello Journey. I hope you enjoy it.

For feedback please e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com or leave comments.

A big congratulations to both of you!!!

In this episode we play the first half of Sonata No. 4 by Ludwig van Beethoven. First there is a tender slower section and then a lively faster section.

For feedback please e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com or leave comments.

The music for this episode is Papillon (Butterfly) by Gabriel Faure. Recently I happened to watch a butterfly in a field. It was either flying around quickly or it would land to rest and you could see its beautiful wings. In this piece there are fast parts and melodic parts. I think these represent the behavior of a butterfly. I hope you enjoy it.

For feedback please e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com or leave comments.

This is a special edition of Cello Journey. There is a pair of nice swans that live nearby and I thought I would put together a video of them along with the music of The Swan. They always swim together. I hope you enjoy it.

Episode Info:
In this episode we play a famous piece by the French composer Camille Saint-Saens called The Swan. It is a part of the Carnival of The Animals which is an orchestral suite but this is a section where the cello represents a swan and the accompaniment represents the rippling waters that the swan glides upon.

Higher quality sound/video can be downloaded at cellojourney.com
For feedback please e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com or leave comments.

In this episode we play a famous piece by the French composer Camille Saint-Saens called The Swan. It is a part of the Carnival of The Animals which is an orchestral suite but this is a section where the cello represents a swan and the accompaniment represents the rippling waters that the swan glides upon.

Higher quality sound/video can be downloaded at cellojourney.com
For feedback please e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com or leave comments.

The music for this episode is the Hungarian Rhapsody by David Popper. It contains a number of Hungarian melodies and songs. The video is a bit out of sync with the audio towards the end. I will fix this and upload a corrected version.For feedback please e-mail cellojourney@gmail.com or leave comments.

In this episode we play a piece by the French composer Gabriel Faure. It is the Elegy. This piece is well known among cellists and audiences and I received quite a few requests for it. We thought we would play it. Both the cello and piano have very nice parts in this piece.

Elegy Op. 24

The music for this episode is Village Song by David Popper. It has nice melodies and an innocent quality about it. Happy Father’s Day to any dads that might be watching. Please leave comments or send e-mail to cellojourney@gmail.com

Solos for the Cello Playe…

In this episode I am joined by a good friend and pianist Ross Inglis. The piece is Vocalise by Sergei Rachmaninov. It is originally for voice and piano and it is a song without words.

Since recently it was Mother’s Day I thought I would play something related to this. It is a piece by David Popper called “Once Upon More Beautiful Days: In Memory of My Parents”. I would like to dedicate it to all mothers that might be watching.

YouTube

In this episode I play another piece by David Popper. It is called a Tarantella. This type of dance comes from southern Italy. It is danced by couples and I think it is still played at some weddings to this day. It is fairly energetic, upbeat and I hope it gives you a bit of energy too. I recorded the comments separately because I found it a bit hard to concentrate right after talking.

Encores

The music for this episode is a dance written by David Popper. He lived about one hundred years ago and he was fairly well known at the time. He travelled and performed on the cello and also wrote lots of cello music. He must have been a very hardworking person. I think this music is a bit lighter and more fun. It is a dance called a Gavotte.

If you like Cello Journey please vote for it on the right by entering your e-mail. They will send you an e-mail with a link to click on to complete your vote. This helps to let others know about the podcast. PodcastAlley is known for keeping your e-mail safe. Thank you in advance.

There are some holidays coming up so I thought I would play something more reflective and thoughtful. This is a dance called an Allamande, also by Bach. I always think of it as being a bit shy at the beginning and more outgoing towards the end.

Johann Sebastian Bach: Si…

In this episode I play a slower dance also by Bach. It is called a Sarabande. You can try to imagine someone dancing to it if you like. Please keep the feedback and comments coming.

I will try to make an episode by Saturday morning of each week. Also, I am working on improving the look of things, like the backdrop. I received a helpful e-mail about this.

Johann Sebastian Bach: Si…

In this episode I play something more dance-like and folk-like. It is also by Bach. Thank you for the feedback and please keep sending it. I might play more Bach in the future since he wrote so much good music for solo cello.

Johann Sebastian Bach: Si…

It is nice that they put the video on youtube.com on the Featured Videos page. Right now 6137 people have seen it. (35,600 as of April 12)  That is really great. I will make another episode on Saturday so please watch for it.

The music in this episode is The Swan by Camille Saint-Saens. It is more singing in quality. This piece is normally played with a piano. Maybe in some future episodes I will bring other musicians onto the show to play with me. Please stay tuned.

Le Cygne (the Swan) Cello…

In the first episode I play some Bach and introduce the video podcast. For now I just want to play for people. In the future there may be some slight changes with the format. Please visit cellojourney.com or send me feedback via e-mail to cellojourney@gmail.com

Johann Sebastian Bach: Si…