Fun and interesting documentary on tiny houses... Takes me back to my studio apartment on Garden Street, which I thought of as my 8 x 12 four-bit room, and the one in the house up the street I also looked at, designed by a European and much more interesting than mine. Great for one person living. You know, I don't think I have any interior pictures of that apartment.
Maybe I should build one of these tiny mobile houses for a cello studio when we downsize.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Fellow cello, Corbin Keep, aka "The Wild Cellist" and Eva De Zwart with her amazing composition... Be inspired!
A clip from the debut of my [Corbin Keep's] kids show, "Say Hello to the Cello," at the Bowen Island Community School, Feb 13, 2013. This clip is of my onstage partner, 8 year old Eva De Zwart and I playing a song she wrote called "The Lonely Fern." Eva, her mom Tanya & I co-wrote the lyrics, but the music is all Eva. Note how quiet and attentive the audience is - they're 150 kindergarten-through-grade threes! The sound was not recorded from the stage - it's from the camera mic!
In the meadow
Growing, longing, wishing for friends and trees
Mother nature
Father wind, blow your spores, round her knees
Lonely fern
Lonely fern
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
My sister was sharing an interesting article about Doppelgangers.
It reminded me that someone had found a match of my son to a celebrity. I wondered if they used a special software to do it, and sure enough, Google gave me several choices.
Started playing with one and found an interesting thing....
It reminded me that someone had found a match of my son to a celebrity. I wondered if they used a special software to do it, and sure enough, Google gave me several choices.
Started playing with one and found an interesting thing....
MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Free family tree - Family history
Son number 1 was watching his face morph to one of his matches, Tom Cruise, and he said something like, "You're in there, too!" I suppose that shouldn't be surprising as he and I definitely share genes, but it's still kind of weird.
Anyone else who knows me out there see it?
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Five hours a day?
I had the opportunity on Sunday to attend a masterclass with award-winning cellist Arnold Choi and his (on loan) $11,000,000 "Bonjour" Stradivarius cello. The students ranged from age 9 to about 15, so much of his teaching was in the range of what I teach. He had some similar ideas that I had regarding how to address the students' playing (nice to get that reinforcement) and I got some new ideas from him, too. Even a few tips I can use myself in my own playing!
He also did a short Q & A session afterwards. One question was regarding his comments to a 12 year old student who didn't have his piece memorized. The student explained, "I've only had it for three weeks." Arnold's reaction to that was, "Three weeks is a lifetime!" That was news to most of us in the audience, so someone asked about that. For Arnold, at that age he would learn the notes to a piece in one week, and of course work longer to refine it. But he was practicing five hours a day from the time he was five years old, and this student was usually practicing one hour a day.
So another comment from the audience about how self-motivated he must have been to practice five hours a day. "Oh no! My parents MADE me! I wanted to be outside playing!" And he added how thankful he is for that now. He said the ages 5 - 12 are the golden years for learning to play. All those hours of practice then make all the difference for him now. Some of his peers didn't begin until they were 8 or 11, and they now have to work much harder than he does.
Does one HAVE to practice five hours a day at five years old to be a professional cellist? No, but it helps! It would take very dedicated and probably creative parents to undertake such a venture. When older, yes, five hours would probably be recommended. I have heard that one should not practice more than five hours a day, or it becomes counter-productive. No worries on that happening here....
Here is a short video regarding the young musicians chosen to receive instruments from the Canada Council, in which you can here Arnold Choi at the end.
He also did a short Q & A session afterwards. One question was regarding his comments to a 12 year old student who didn't have his piece memorized. The student explained, "I've only had it for three weeks." Arnold's reaction to that was, "Three weeks is a lifetime!" That was news to most of us in the audience, so someone asked about that. For Arnold, at that age he would learn the notes to a piece in one week, and of course work longer to refine it. But he was practicing five hours a day from the time he was five years old, and this student was usually practicing one hour a day.
So another comment from the audience about how self-motivated he must have been to practice five hours a day. "Oh no! My parents MADE me! I wanted to be outside playing!" And he added how thankful he is for that now. He said the ages 5 - 12 are the golden years for learning to play. All those hours of practice then make all the difference for him now. Some of his peers didn't begin until they were 8 or 11, and they now have to work much harder than he does.
Does one HAVE to practice five hours a day at five years old to be a professional cellist? No, but it helps! It would take very dedicated and probably creative parents to undertake such a venture. When older, yes, five hours would probably be recommended. I have heard that one should not practice more than five hours a day, or it becomes counter-productive. No worries on that happening here....
Here is a short video regarding the young musicians chosen to receive instruments from the Canada Council, in which you can here Arnold Choi at the end.
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