Category Archives: Cello

In the dead of winter…

At this time of year, my husband and I get restless because we’re housebound so much due to the extreme cold. So naturally, we begin to think of ways to make the house more pleasant.

I went out for three hours on Saturday to do administrative teacher-type stuff, and came back to a cheery yellow kitchen. The transformation was literally that simple; I was present for practically none of the emptying of the room, the preparation for painting, the actual application of colour, and the replacement of the removed items. I left one boring kitchen, and came home to a different, bright one.

Yesterday, the bathroom was painted sage green and white. It looks fabulous. HRH even went so far as to paint the outside of the claw-foot bathtub sage green, which looks very cool. I was here for half of this particular endeavour, but I was away at the Beethoven rehearsal for the latter half.

It was, in fact, a very busy day. I had a three-hour rehearsal for the Beethoven, then came home to study group already in progress (in which time flew, making us late for…), then a Changeling game (which also went late thanks to our belated arrival, plus various things like dinner and bookkeeping and the first combat session of the story!).

The Beethoven: It never ceases to amaze me that I can sight-read brilliantly, but fall apart at simple passages that are played really fast. The symphony already sounds phenomenal; I can’t wait to hear the choir with it. I’m incredibly fortunate to be able to play with this ensemble.

The study group: Ah, the joys of discussing deity concepts, and the balance of male and female energies. Always fun. The nice thing about this group is that it’s made up of experienced people, so the discussion is very different from the discussions I usually have with students, for example.

The game: It’s been so long since I’ve made a character for a new game that I’d almost forgotten how much I hate it. Unless I have a very clear concept that pops into my head, I have to slowly try out bits and pieces that either work or don’t. This is the third session of world-building and intro games, and I’m still not settled on who this character actually is. It’s been frustrating because I’ve really missed gaming, and to struggle with a new character when I so desperately want to dive right in has been so maddening. Last night was as close as I’ve been able to come to feeling comfortable with her; dropping her age from eighteen to eleven has really helped nail it down and free me up to enjoy the game and explore her personality. I know that part of my problem is derived from my habit of firming up a character’s personality through gaming; it’s hard to know what a character is like until you’ve put him/her through some paces in context. I’m lucky to have an understanding group who chose to play a couple of experimental sessions to introduce the system and the world, which gave me a chance to stretch my muscles a bit and discover the character’s actual personality.

On today’s agenda: fleshing out the anthology series proposal for my publisher; working out a couple of brick-wall type passages in the Beethoven; and refilling my black ink cartridge with the ink that just arrived in the mail. Of course it leaked, so I have to email the company and ask for a new instruction sheet. Not much ink was lost, but as anyone who has ever had a leaky fountain pen knows, even a small amount of ink creates a disaster of epic proportions! And tonight, my CD-ROM drive gets replaced by the burner drive! Hurrah!

Concert Update

I just learned that my chamber orchestra concert on February 8th is not being held at the rather cold Valois church in which we usually play (hurrah!). Instead, we’ll be performing at St-Paul’s Anglican Church, located at 377 44th Avenue in Lachine (cross street Broadway; just north of the Lakeshore, or Blvd St-Joseph as it’s known in Lachine).

Our programme has altered slightly as well: besides the 104th Symphony (London) by Haydn and the Italian Style overture by Schubert, we’re playing Albinoni’s Adagio as well as his Concerto for Two Oboes, and Schubert’s Rosamunde Ballet Suite. Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony has been postponed to a later concert, which suits me perfectly, since it’s not one of my favourites.

Now, off to orchestra!

From the “It’s A Small World” File

Yesterday was the first rehearsal for Beethoven’s Ninth. Walked in, sat down, smiled at the bassist, said hello to the cellists I played with last November, and set up. The conductor (who’s a riot) announced that just for kicks, we’d start off with the fourth movement.

Yes. The movement. It’s what the Ninth Symphony is all about, really.

Me: Erk! Gulp!

(You see, the cellos figure prominently in the forth movement. Erk, indeed.)

And then the conductor lifted his head from his score and said, “Is that good for you, Brad? Can you do half a rehearsal here, then half off wherever else you need to be?”

Naturally, not knowing everyone in this symphony orchestra, I turned my head to follow his line of sight. As I did, a voice said, “No, I’m all yours today. It’s good.”

I blinked. I know Brad. Last time I saw him was, oh, seven years ago.

So we played (and what a ride, to sight-read the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth – I mean, really), the cellos got lots of compliments, and eventually we took a break. I put away my cello and got my water bottle, then picked a path through the chaos of instruments and strangers wandering around playing random bits of music to themselves all the way to the back where Brad sat with his trumpet on his lap, talking with someone else who was, oh my gods, the music teacher from my old high school.

I waited politely until they’d finished their topic of conversation, and when Brad turned to me, I said, “Last time I saw you, you were standing in the doorway to my apartment, holding out a bottle of IBC root beer and telling me that you couldn’t stay for my housewarming.”

We exclaimed and laughed a bit and caught up on the past seven years. He’s married, too. He complimented me on having reached a level of ability equivalent to playing with this symphony (and ooh, didn’t my ego need that bit of bolstering, although I admitted I was an emergency fill-in). Then he turned to introduce me to his friend Murray. I smiled and say, “Yes, Murray Rosenhek. You taught music at Mac High while I was there.”

He charmingly admitted that he didn’t remember me, which was highly amusing since, as I quickly assured him, I never took one of his classes. All my friends took music, but as our school didn’t teach strings, I took drama instead. When he asked with whom, and I told him Elaine Evans, he said, “Oh, that was twenty years ago!” as if that explained his memory lapse. Brad got a good laugh out of it.

It was good to share memories with someone who had been instrumental (if you’ll pardon the pun) in getting me into orchestra. It all began rather oddly. Brad, having access to Concordia’s database of students, contacted me via e-mail with compliments after he’d seen me sing in LLO’s production of The Pirates of Penzance. We started messaging, got to know one another, hung out a bit, and then one day he proposed an interesting gig: his wind orchestra was performing a really modern symphony by Johan de Meij called Lord of the Rings, and they had the idea of writing a dramatic narrative to introduce the symphony as a whole, as well as the individual movements. Would I be interested in performing something like that? And did I know someone with a good deep voice who could co-narrate with me?

Heck, yes!

Thus it was that Tal and I were guest performers with the Lakeshore Concert Band in May of 1998. (Okay, so Brad and I haven’t seen one another in six years. Feels like longer.) One of the last times I saw Brad was when he invited me along with some of the concert band to attend a Canada Day chamber orchestra concert in Pointe-Claire village. They all urged me to talk to the conductor and ask about joining. As secure as I was in my dramatic abilities, I was just as insecure about my cellistic talents, and as much as I wanted to play with an ensemble the level of technique displayed in the concert scared the hell out of me.

Has anyone made the connection yet?

Yes. I eventually managed to screw up the courage to call that conductor and inquire about a place for a cellist in the Lakeshore Chamber Orchestra. It’s now my third season with them.

And now Brad and I are playing together in Cantabile. Small world, indeed.

Fleeting

Not dead. Busy.

Honest. Majorly successful concert on Saturday night, teaching, writing reviews for a deadline, working with authors for another deadline, writing a novel for a deadline, descending to the Underworld with some good friends for a very special occasion; my agenda is just chock-full.

You all might get a detailed update, but maybe not.

Bye!

Bittersweet

This was a particularly bittersweet weekend, now that I look back on it.

Saturday was Montreal’s F/SF convention, and it was glorious to be back in the midst of adult geekdom. I saw people I hadn’t seen in years, talked SF talk I hadn’t heard from my own lips in ages. The main difference between working with the occult community is that people come into a store asking you to save their lives and solve their problems. In the SF book community, the worst thing that happens is they bore you with all the details of a story.

I met two wonderful authors whom I’d never met before, and spent time with two others I had met way back when I was still working at the F/SF bookshop. I met famous artists and other funky retailers (let’s face it, a convention is for networking as well as enjoying). And I counted at least six NaNo participants who ought to have been at home writing. Okay, three of us were working, but still. And there were probably more that I didn’t recognise on sight.

I had to field repeated eager queries regarding our defunct F/SF bookstore, which was the bitter part. It closed three and a half years ago due to loss of customer base to the big box stores like Indigo and Chapters. We resurrected the store sign to hang next to the author signing table for the duration of the convention, and while it was a terrific idea, it dredged up all sorts of cry-in-your-beer feelings among ex-staff and customers alike.

I’ve been struggling with that cold for about five days now, and medication made me foolishly think that my vivacious rosy-cheeked healthy appearance at the convention was a reflection of reality. To my deep disappointment I awoke on Sunday feeling like someone had pummeled me all night and poured sand into my mouth. I was stiff all over, and the sinus congestion, hoarse voice and runny nose were present once again.

If I’d been able to stay home on Sunday it would have been ideal. I had a rehearsal for one orchestra and a concert for the other, however, so off I went. We’ve lost yet another cello in my new orchestra, so they put me in the second chair next to the principal, which scared the hell out of me. I’ve had the music for two weeks and frankly, I suck. I was feeling dreadful as I packed up after rehearsal when one of the other cellists stopped me and said that if our mythical replacement cellist didn’t arrive for the dress rehearsal and concert, she’d sit in the second chair. I fell over myself thanking her. She proceeded to give me a lovely pep talk, telling me that I was doing just fine, that it was difficult to come into any group a couple of weeks before performance, and to do so when the piece was the Elgar was even more difficult. She was absolutely darling, and so genuine that I walked away feeling much better. On top of that, they’ve asked me if I’d be interested in playing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with them in February, and of course I said yes.

My husband had baked peanut butter cookies and prepared a roast beef dinner for me, so I was fed and warmed for a bit before we dashed off to my LCO concert. I have to say that this was the unexpected highlight of the day, and definitely among the top three performances the orchestra has pulled off in the last couple of years. It was thrilling, absolutely thrilling, and it’s unfortunate that we had only a half house. My stand partner turned to me and said, “Seems like this will be one of those nights where the performers outnumber the audience.” “They call this intimate,” I told him with a grin. We blew them away, and it’s a pity that more people couldn’t be there for it. Heck, even I didn’t want to be there: I wanted a warm bath, candles, bed, and cats. I felt completely energised when we left, though, a switch from the dragging reluctance I’d experienced on the way in. Kudos to Ceri and my husband for making it out to support us. At least we have proof that the night was stunningly successful on the artistic front, if not the financial front.

So yes, my overall weekend was quite bittersweet. Good things; painful things. I haven’t added to my NaNo word count since last Tuesday. Ceri’s coming over for another round of dueling laptops today, and I’m hoping to double my current total. I’ve lost five days due to work and illness, although I’ve been writing in my notebook at bus stops and so forth. I have major catching up to do. It will be nice to sit and create as opposed to running about like a mad thing. Lots of tea, more peanut butter cookies, and a hot tasty supper will go a long way towards kicking this cold, too.

Concert Reminder!

This reminder deserves a post of its own.

It’s time for the Lakeshore Chamber Orchestra fall 2003 concert!

Over three decades old, this orchestra continues its strong presence within the Montreal community under new conductor Douglas Knight. The fall concert features Schubert’s Third Symphony, a La Traviata prelude, Mozart’s Andante for Flute and Orchestra, Rossini’s Italian in Algiers overture, the second movement of J.C. Bach’s Cello Concerto, and Mozart’s Paris Symphony.

The concert takes place on Sunday November 9th at 7:30 PM in the St. Joh Fisher Church, corner of Summerhill and Valois Bay Avenue in Valois, Pointe-Claire. Admission is $10 for adults; students and children 18 and under are admitted free of charge.

Take an evening off and enjoy some spectacular music!