Video of the Week: Goshu!

Find yourself an hour to enjoy this one!  The young kids will need someone to read the English subtitles, unless they know Japanese!

Here is the story of Goshu the Cellist, struggling to learn his Beethoven symphony part - the best cartoon cellist I've ever seen! Watch how the animals help him practice..

BONUS question for students: Which Beethoven Symphony are they playing? Answering this gets you TWO ENTRIES for our draw June 18! (Yes, write it on two slips of paper!)

And it's not too late to go back and watch any videos you missed and enter with answers from those!

Video of the Week: Dvorak Humoresque

This was a piece I didn't like much when I learned to play it on violin.  The parent of one of my cello students voiced that she was really looking forward to their daughter learning it, they loved that piece!  ???  Well, okay, I guess we all have our own tastes.  I don't have any recordings of my violin playing, and I suspect I was pushed through the repertoire at the speed at which I could learn the notes, never mind my other skills.  I know I never mastered violin vibrato, and my bow skills were probably still pretty limited when I learned it, I guess, so there was no gracefulness, just an odd staccato melody... so what was to like about Humoresque?

Then I saw (and heard) this recording!  No doubt it was this gracefulness, inflection, and singing which Dvorak intended, not the beginner violin sound!  So!  Students, work on those bowing skills to be able to make MUSIC of this and enjoy it as much as I do now!

Students:  How do you say this composer's name and in which of these categories does the music belong - Modern, Romantic, Classical, Baroque?

Video of the Week: Vivaldi for Siblings

Well, no, there's no evidence that Antonio Vivaldi wrote his Concerto for Two Cellos in G minor for siblings, but with so many siblings in our cello studio, I just thought I would dream of each set playing this together some day!  You can start now by listening!  :-) Not too far away for the Chan brothers!

Students: The music would fall into which of these categories - Modern, Romantic, Classical, Baroque?

Video of the Week: Legato String Crossing Technique

Okay folks, time for a teaching video again!  Here is Paul Katz of CelloBello.  http://cellobello.com/lessons/9

Students: Try this at home and show me at your lesson! Scroll over and read the Learn Think Feel Listen points, or print and read the pdf, and write one point from there that you find helpful on a slip of paper as your entry for the Cello Bello bag and pencils!

Take some time to read "How to use the lessons", look at the other lessons, interviews, etcetera while you're at CelloBello.  Paul Katz has been very generous to share all this with us, just for donations, let's not let it go to waste!

#rescueddolls

Bratz Boy Hair Rescue

 Premature balding?

Asymmetrical attitude?

Here he is with his new face, and hair combed forward pre-haircut.  Now the last time I cut a doll's hair, I was about 12, and it wasn't really pretty.  Cured me for a long time!  But in the mean time I have several years' experience with my own boys... granted, human hair grows out if you mess it up...  But I was ready to tackle this guy.  I had already soaked his head in fabric softener, and rubbed off the remaining flocking so that it wasn't patchy.  

I cut his left side it to be more symmetrical with the right, but without copying it exactly, as I wasn't really enamored with that part of his hair, either. 

 I think he'll be keeping this cap on most of the time...

 Either backwards...

Or forwards...

 It much improves this back view, too! 

Just waiting for his wardrobe to be completed now.  Another doll lady suggested some dolls need T shirts that say, "I cut my own hair!" :-) #rescueddoll

 

Glue head!

I've been hearing about glue head amongst the other doll rescuers (#rescueddolls), and now I have had my first experience.  This Ever After High doll, purchased at our thrift store, came home with very waxy hair.

You can see how it separates at the roots with a very oily look.  It is not wet with water.

What to do?  A regular shampoo and conditioner didn't help.  I've heard of people using Goo Gone, but I didn't happen to have any of that.  Some people cut the hair out and re-root with new hair.  Too much work! YouTube said I could use baby powder, but the closest thing I had was corn starch. 

After the corn starch has been rubbed into the hair and had a chance to absorb the oily/waxy glue residue, it was washed again in cool water...

 ...and hung to dry.

The results?  Better, but not great.

Repeated the treatment.  Better yet, but still slightly oily.  No longer leaves a waxy feel on my fingers, so this might be as good as it gets in my hands. 

No longer separating and looking wet. 

What did I NOT do?  A boil wash.  Rumor has it that only melts the glue in the head and lets more seep out.  All washing was with cool water.